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| In Oakland, Moon
Stresses Family Speech of Unification Church leader criticizes childless women Don Lattin, Chronicle Religion Writer |
Tuesday, March 13, 2001
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Seeking to forge a new alliance with African American churches, the Rev. Sun Myung Moon barnstormed through Oakland last night on the latest stop of a 50-day, 50-state tour. Moon, the controversial Korean-born sect leader and founder of the Unification Church, spoke before a crowd of about 2,000 at a banquet to "celebrate faith and family" at the Oakland Convention Center. Two wide screens helped broadcast his message -- emphasizing how men and women have to come together to unite humankind -- to the enthusiastic, largely Asian audience. "There are 6 billion people in this world right now, but there are two kinds of people -- man and woman," Moon said. He went on to say that every woman should bear a child, and if she did not, "I'm sorry to say, you're disqualified as a woman." At a news conference earlier in the day, the U.S. leader of Moon's messianic religious movement, which now calls itself the Family Federation of World Peace and Unification, defended his church against charges that it is a dangerous cult. "All the prophets of history are misunderstood," said the Rev. Michael Jenkins. "Jesus was called a cult leader." Since the 1970s, Moon's critics have accused his church of brainwashing its members, and using their labor to amass a global business empire and media network to promote his religious and political views. In recent years, Moon has sought to strengthen ties with the African American churches, as well as with the equally controversial leader of the Nation of Islam, the Rev. Louis Farrakhan. Jenkins worked closely with Farrakhan on the Million Family March last October in Washington, D.C. "We believe the honorable Louis Farrakhan is another man anointed by God," Jenkins said. Unification Church teachings that the 81-year-old Moon is a new messiah destined to unify the world's religions has kept many mainstream Christian leaders from working with the Korean evangelist, while others have no hesitation in associating with him. At yesterday's news conference, the Rev. William Perry of the Gospel Harvest Church of God in Christ, a black Pentecostal congregation in Oakland, praised Moon as "God-sent and God-anointed." Perry was the only Northern California minister at yesterday's news conference. The two other speakers were the Rev. Jesse Edwards, who pastors a Pentecostal church in Philadelphia, and the Rev. Connie Crawford Banza, pastor of the Church of the Living God in Chicago. "Rev. Moon is not my messiah. Jesus is my messiah," she said. "Rev. Moon is a small God, like you and I." Edwards, a white Pentecostal who has flown in for eight of the first 16 stops on Moon's whirlwind tour, said he had met Unification Church leaders three years ago at a meeting sponsored by the Rev. Jerry Falwell. Edwards said he was impressed with Moon's strong stand against premarital sex, adultery and divorce, and is not bothered by the sect leader's unique brand of theology. "We don't discuss doctrine," he said. "We all disagree about how you get to heaven."' E-mail Don Lattin at dlattin@sfchronicle.com. |
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