Uh, Oh — Religion October 3, 2003January 22, 2017 MARRIAGE Katie Ferguson: ‘John Stone misses the point [when he writes, Perhaps conservatives in general (and the Catholic church in particular) should worry less about gay marriages and more about straight divorces and the effects they are having on our children.] It is precisely the Catholic Church’s job (in particular) to worry about ‘moral’ issues such as gay marriage. And the Church DOES worry about the effects of straight divorce on children. Mr. Stone may disagree with some conservatives’ efforts to amend the Constitution to prohibit gay marriage (which I happen to oppose as well); political actions by a few does not justify an attack on the Catholic Church’s teachings. No one is ‘forced’ to be Catholic; if you oppose the teachings, go to church somewhere else.’ MOONIES Call me crazy, but I don’t believe that the Reverend Sun Myung Moon is the messiah. Indeed, it makes me nervous that he thinks so (he does, after all, control one of our nation’s capital’s two daily newspapers). John Gorenfeld, writing in Salon Sept. 24, 2003 | Last December, at his three-day God and World Peace event, the Rev. Sun Myung Moon drew a notable slate of political figures, from Sen. Richard Lugar, R-Ind., to Rep. Danny Davis, D-Ill., and, perhaps most notably, James Towey, director of the White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives, who offered some respectful opening remarks to Moon’s Unification Church faithful. Moon followed, and called for all religions to come together in support of the Bush plan for faith-based initiatives. Coming from Moon that made perfect sense, because he already believes all religions will come together — under him. “The separation between religion and politics,” he has observed on many occasions, “is what Satan likes most.” His gospel: Jesus failed because he never attained worldly power. Moon will succeed, he says, by purifying our sex-corrupted culture, and that includes cleaning up gays (“dung-eating dogs,” as he calls them) and American women (“a line of prostitutes”). Jews had better repent, too. (Moon claims that the Holocaust was payback for the crucifixion of Christ: “Through the principle of indemnity, Hitler killed 6 million Jews.”) His solution is a world theocracy that will enforce proper sexual habits in order to bring about heaven on earth. What sort of proper sexual habits? According to Moon, in order to restore blood purity, very specific practices are prescribed. Sex before marriage is out of the question, and when sexual consummation does happen, it must adhere to very specific instructions. First, a photograph of Moon must be nearby, so that everything occurs under the reverend’s watchful eye. After two nights of woman-on-top sex, the couple reverse positions, whereupon the man, according to Moon, restores dominion over Eve, via the proper missionary position. Then, according to the instructions attributed to the U.C.’s American Blessed Family Department, “after the act of love, both spouses should wipe their sexual areas with the Holy Handkerchief” –referring to the church-supplied washcloth — which must “be kept individually labeled and should never be laundered or mixed up . . . “ To hear Gorenfeld interviewed on this topic, and some discussion of the support the Reverend Moon has received from the Bush camp, click here (and select the September 28 program).