Rev. Moon's event raises local
hackles
By Kelly Ettenborough and Chip Scutari
The Arizona Republic
March 13, 2001
Tonight's prayer dinner designed to bring religious faiths
together has upset some Christians because the controversial Rev.
Sun Myung Moon is the keynote speaker.
The Arizona Ecumenical Council, which represents 700
Protestant churches in Arizona, would not have been a sponsor for
"America Come Together" if its leaders had known the Unification
Church founder was a speaker and the main sponsor, said the Rev.
Paul Eppinger, executive director of the council.
Eppinger said he is uncomfortable about the ties to Moon but
will attend anyway.
Rep. Mark Anderson, R-Mesa, said the $25-a-plate dinner
tonight at the Phoenix Airport Marriott stems from President Bush's
creation of a White House Office of Faith-Based and Community
Initiatives.
"There are controversies on both sides of the aisle," said
Anderson, a Unification Church member who was married during a mass
wedding ceremony in New York's Madison Square Garden.
"There are people who are worried that churches are going to
overtake the government. And churches out there are worried that
government is going to take over churches," he said. "The concept of
the dinner is to attract people from all different faiths and
religions.
"It's been very clear from the beginning that Reverend Moon
would be one of the speakers," Anderson said. "The invitations state
that. There's been no attempt to conceal that fact at all."
Moon, 81, formed the Unification Church in 1954. In 1992, he
and his wife declared themselves "the Messiah and True Parents of
all Humanity."
Local speakers at tonight's event include Arizona House
Speaker Jim Weiers and Doug Wead, who lost his bid for an Arizona
congressional seat and is an unofficial adviser to Bush.
Former Congressman Matt Salmon was asked to be on the
invitational committee for the event. Considered one of the GOP's
top contenders for the 2002 governor's race, Salmon said he believes
in the spirit of the event.
"I believe in religious freedom," said Salmon, a Mesa
resident who can't make the dinner because of a business trip. "I've
been supportive of the Buddhists, the Muslims and all kinds of
religions."
Larry Miller, executive director of Arizona Call to Renewal,
attended a similar event in Washington, D.C., in January and said no
one tried to convert him. Some members of his group, which aims to
fight poverty, were concerned with involvement with the Unification
Church, but others were pleased that so many groups were meeting,
said Miller, a Sun City resident.
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