Rally to call for “One Family Under God”
From the Philippines Inquirer:
Martin Luther King III and Hyun Jin Moon are scheduled to address participants of the Philippine leg of the Global Peace Festival 2007 slated for December 12, at the Quirino Grandstand of Rizal Park in Manila. Organizers said 250,000 will attend the festival.
Luther King, of course, is the son of Martin Luther King Jr and current head of the King Center for Nonviolent Social Change, while Moon is the son of Rev Sun Myung Moon, the leader of the Unification Church. Moon Jr is the co-chair of the Universal Peace Federation and heads various organisations controlled by his father, including the Washington Times Foundation. The “Global Peace Festival” is just one of numerous international rallies and events by which Rev Moon and the Unification Church now seek extra credibility through “peace” rhetoric.
A promo for the festival can be seen below. Apparently the event is being endorsed by House Speaker Jose de Venecia (who recently fended off allegations concerning old business dealings), and by Leonida “Baby” Bayani Ortiz, the glamorous former governor of the Philippine National Red Cross and now national secretary of the National Council of Women of the Philippines.
Rev Moon has put considerable effort into forging links with black Christian leaders in recent years. Zambian former Roman Catholic cardinal Emmanuel Milingo now calls Moon “his Messiah”, while in the USA at least one African-American church leader was inspired to throw his church’s cross into a dumpster after hearing Moon’s teaching against the Christian symbol. Milingo and Independent Old Catholic Archbishop Augustus Stallings also work together in a Unificationist-backed lobby group called “Married Priests Now”. There are also links between Moon and Louis Farrakhan, which were examined by Frederick Clarkson back in 2000. An endorsement from somebody who embodies the legacy of Martin Luther King would doubtless be especially useful for the church’s wider strategy.
UPDATE: When I wrote the above I was unaware that Luther King has been associated with the UPF for several months. This press release is from September:
Martin Luther King III, the eldest son of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., today appealed to more 400 leaders of the Universal Peace Federation gathered in New York City to make a new commitment to fulfilling the humanitarian promises of the United Nations, especially the Millennium Development Goals. The UPF, founded by Rev. Dr. Sun Myung Moon in 2005, is an international network of individuals and organizations dedicated to peace…
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[…] Luther King III Joins Son of Rev Moon in Philippines Festival Global Peace Festival 2007 […]
[…] It is worth noting that the UPF has recently been working closely with King’s son, as I blogged here. […]
[…] It is worth noting that the UPF has recently been working closely with King’s son, as I blogged here. […]
[…] at UPF Global Peace Festival, alongside Rev Moon’s son Hyun Jin Moon; I blogged this event here. The following month, a piece appeared on the Unification Church’s website entitled […]