Moon Shadows
ewish "hysteria"
about the Unifica-
tion Church, Rich-
ard Rubenstein
said, is "un-
warranted." He asserted
that Jews comprise only
about four percent of
church membership (oth-
ers say it is as high as 20
percent), and their involve-
ment with the church is
the inevitable by-product
of "a free society in which
we do not segregate Jews
from others."
He conceded that the
church had used "high
pressure" recruiting tac-
tics, but claimed these had
ended about 15 years ago.
Since then, he said, it has
created "a network of in-
stitutions which have
made a significant con-
tribution to American life."
But Michael Warder, the
executive vice-president of
the Rockford Institute in
J
Rockford, Ill., said such
Unification Church-linked
"institutions" as the
Washington Times, think-
tanks, and high-profile in-
tellectual conferences are
designed to "legitimize
Moon's theological claims
and his entire movement."
In addition to these two
goals, Mr. Warder said the
Unification Church intend-
ed that a byproduct of the
1976 interdisciplinary con-
ference that introduced
Rabbi Rubenstein to Rev.
Moon would be for "some
of these prestigious
scholars to join the move-
ment — or, at least, help
mute criticism of it."
Mr. Warder was in the
Unification Church from
1969 to 1979. He was also
"secretary general" of the
1976 conference that Rab-
bi Rubenstein attended. ❑
A.J.M.
Richard Rubenstein: "I never turned my back on the Jewish community."
1
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Jews a "faithless" people
who crucified Jesus in a pact
with Satan: The Devil would
get his body; the Jews would
be rejuvenated.
By killing Jesus, Rev.
Moon stated in 1971, Jews
"had to suffer for 2,000
years. Countless numbers of
people have been slaugh-
tered. During World War
Two, six million people were
slaughtered to cleanse all
the sins of the Jewish people
from the time of Jesus."
Even if Rev. Moon had not
made such statements, his
church's fund-raising tech-
niques (young, impres-
sionable adherents selling
flowers on street corners)
were enough to cause con-
cern among many.
Also alarming are Rev.
Moon's political goals — and
his blueprint for reaching
them:
A congressional commit-
tee determined that the Uni-
fication Church aims to es-
tablish a "worldwide gov-
ernment in which the sepa-
ration of church and state
would be abolished and
which would be governed...
by Moon and his followers."
And the Korean himself has
said, "Before long, ... we will
influence the whole of the
U.S. by influencing the in-
tellectuals first. We are go-
ing to use them as the basis
for the political world."
Strange Alliance
T
hat a rabbi would ally
himself with anyone es-
pousing such goals is
odd. Another oddity, as
Michael Berenbaum of the
U.S. Holocaust Museum said,
is that the alliance is between
"a non-believer and a messi-
anic movement."
Even more odd is that it is
between the man who broke
Jews' theological silence
about the Holocaust — and
someone who calls the Nazi
slaughters retribution for
the crucifixion.
But Rabbi Rubenstein
does not regret being in-
volved with Rev. Moon.
"Neither Rev. Moon nor
anyone associated with him
has ever acted with less than
complete honor in their deal-
ings with me," he said.
Last year, Rev. Moon ask-
ed Rabbi Rubenstein to
chair the advisory board of
the Washington Times, the
District of Columbia news-
paper into which the Korean
has poured about $900 mil-
lion since he founded it in
1982.
Rabbi Rubenstein is con-
vinced that the Times is
completely independent of
the Unification Church and
that the paper's editors are
more politically conserva-
tive than Rev. Moon.
(Rabbi Rubenstein de-
scribed his own politics as
"conservative centrist.")
But since the Times
started, numerous employ-
ees have quit, citing Moonie
interference. Among these
are James Whelan, the pa-
per ' s first editor, and
William Chesire, the paper's
editorial director from 1984
to 1987. Mr. Chesire said he
departed after Rev. Moon's
"henchmen" and the South
Korean embassy in Wash-
ington tried to squelch an
editorial criticizing the
Seoul government for
suspending talks to intro-
duce more democracy to
South Korea.
The Times, said Mr.
Chesire, who is now with the
Arizona Republic in Phoenix,
"has no credibility with
thinking people. It serves as
a knee-jerk, right-wing bul-
letin board."
A 'Renegade?'
O
ver the years, Jewish
doors have opened —
just a crack — for the
rabbi. In 1987, for instance,
his alma mater, the Jewish
Theological Seminary, in-
cluded him among the 17
alumni to whom it was giving
honorary doctorates upon
its 100th anniversary. Six-
teen alumni were cited for
their contribution to Jewish
thought and scholarship;
Richard Rubenstein was
cited for his contributions to
religious thought.
"They recognized that I
had said something that had
made a difference," said
Rabbi Rubenstein. "But
they were also honest
enough to know they could
not regard this as part of the
religious mainstream. They
were gentlemen about it."
By linking himself with
Rev. Moon, Richard
Rubenstein has made it very
difficult for the Jewish
community to fully open its
doors to him. No one says
his Moonie connection has
compromised his theology.
But it has surely compound-
ed his heresy, and, in some
circles, further muddied his
reputation. Not only did he
announce the death of the
traditional God of Judaism;
now he consorts with a self-
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
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