Correspondence
CORRESPONDENCE Moon Talk Andrew Ferguson hits a bull's-eye ("Can Buy Me Love: The Mooning of Conservative Washington," TAS, September 1987). I covered a Unification Church rally the first summer I...
...24.50 (c1) $9.95 (pa) Holmes & Meier Publishers, Inc...
...illus., bibliog., index $39.50 (c1) POLAND 1939-1947 John Coutouvidis and Jaime Reynolds "The best overall treatment of these events in English...
...More exploration is needed to answer the many questions raised by Ferguson's inquiry and to uncover the full scope of Moon's secretive operations...
...Lisa Outrequin Villebon-sur-Yvette, France 48 THE AMERICAN SPECTATOR NOVEMBER 1987 Andrew Ferguson replies: I thank Richard Brookhiser and Jonathan Emord for their comments about the Unification Church and its role in the conservative movement...
...The theological premises of Christianity, so far as I know, are not anti-family, and make a great deal of room for democratic capitalism...
...It can't include a Korean preacher who thinks he's God, or close to it...
...This being the case, Mr...
...It's only fair to add that I've gone on two junkets of the World Media Association, which were interesting and informative...
...Whether he arrives at his anti-Communism through political or religious belief should not be a problem...
...Ferguson's cohorts, have been willing to put up with peer disapproval, even "persecution" in the holy Judeo-Christian tradition, by maintaining their commitment to the Unification Church as well as "Western values about the dignity of the person and the value of freedom...
...Tyrrell...
...What has philosophical approval of a free market and democracy done to stop Soviet expansion...
...Even those who do admit to Ferguson that they accept Moon funds profess ignorance of the source of the funding...
...He is not therefore me...
...Given the sordid history of Moon cult activities and Moon's conviction for tax evasion, this professed ignorance places squarely in issue whether fund recipients are acting responsibly, in a publicly accountable manner, by not clearly identifying the source of Moon funds before they accept them...
...She knows that politics is, alas, the art of the possible...
...This isn't what I signed on for...
...Ferguson as an adherent, I'm sure it could use a break...
...I suspect an illiterate echo of "nowadays...
...Most conservatives, I believe, would see a penurious Unification Church (admittedly, about as likely a prospect as a gulag-free world) with far more clarity...
...Foreign Affairs 1986 400 pp...
...And I'd much rather associate with them, and have them as my friends, than I would your editor, Mr...
...he says things about the United States that should not be said about any human creation—not to mention what he says about himself...
...So what...
...Whatever his faith, with Mr...
...Bethell tells his readers that the whole matter is moot, having researched it by talking to a friend of his and Arnaud de Borchgrave's, who told him it was moot—an interesting journalistic technique...
...Moon a greater, more immediate threat to the USA than the suave Gorbachev...
...I can only suppose that other readers shared my bewilderment as we plowed through a succession of standard issue anti-Moon stories supplied by the former Moonies of the Cult Awareness Network...
...appendixes $49.50 (el) THE NUCLEAR DEBATE Deterrence and the Lapse of Faith Robert W Tucker "A thought-provoking and original essay which examines the growth of skepticism about the present system of nuclear deterrence?' —Foreign Affairs 1985 160 pp...
...This is particularly so whenrepresentatives of the organizations have been known to engage in illegal practices...
...Choice 1986 glossary, index Vol...
...A more serious and sustained criticism of the article was offered by Tom Bethell in his column last month...
...If there are any former Moonies who don't look back with horror at their past, Andrew Ferguson is unlikely to meet them at the Cult Awareness Network...
...The Moonies who ran the show (Larry Moffitt was the chief impresario) were unfailingly hardworking and helpful...
...illus., tables, maps, photos, bibliog., index $59.50 (c1) THE FUTURE OF AMERICAN STRATEGY David C. Hendrickson "Among numerous books that project national security into the future, this one is unique in arguing that the threat that drives national security thinking may be the deficit rather than Soviet military power?' —Choice 1986 222 pp...
...Join the IRS-Dan Rather chorus if you will: after all, you only have history to face for it...
...I hope other conservative journals will follow the Spectator's lead and will seek to render fully accountable all facets of Moon's operations...
...Thomas Sowell Hoover Institution Stanford, California HOLMES &MEIER ITALY 1943-1945 David W. Ellwood "[A] beautifully balanced and beautifully written study of the Allied Occupation of Italy...
...those of the Unification Church do not, as Bethell can discover if he desires...
...We are in the business of defending the best of the West...
...It will take a miracle...
...It is a healthy press function, essential to preservation of our republic, to find factual answers to vexing questions about the exercise of power by semi-secret organizations in our society...
...2: The Nuclear Powers Revised and Enlarged Edition John Baylis, Ken Booth, John Garnett, and Phil Williams From a review of the first edition: "An outstanding review of contemporary strategy...
...The enemy of my enemy may be my friend...
...But that widespread reaction does show that the lines are getting fuzzy when it comes to separating the church from the Times and, more seriously, from the conservative movement as a whole...
...Part of the reason for the kid gloves may be that for as long as anyone can (continued on page 48) THE AMERICAN SPECTATOR NOVEMBER 1987 9 CORRESPONDENCE (continued from page 9) remember, conservative gatherings of any kind featured someone remarking on the need for our point of view to be represented in the mainstream press and in the highest political circles...
...1: Theories and Concepts Vol...
...29.50 (c1) $14.95 (pa) THE MEMOIRS OF RAYMOND ARON Fifty Years of Political Thought Raymond Aron edited by Arthur Goldhammer In this, Aron's final work, one of our century's most profound political philosophers chronicles and interprets more than fifty years of political and intellectual life in the international arena and assesses his work, including the seminal Peace and War, and its impact on the thought of our turbulent times...
...Larry R. Moffitt Executive Director World Media Association Washington, D.C...
...New York/London 30 Irving Place, New York, NY 10003 THE AMERICAN SPECTATOR NOVEMBER 1987 49...
...bibliog., index $49.50 t. (c1) $29.50 t. (pa) THE FUTURE OF AIR POWER Neville Brown "[A]n extremely readable review and analysis of the development, current status and predictions for the future of air power...
...Bethell is under the impression, apparently, that I consider the Rev...
...Jonathan W Emord Washington, D.C...
...No, Mr...
...He might have gotten this impression from sloppy writing on my part (it happens), forin conclusion I had written that "under other circumstances the church would be anathema, roundly condemned as subversive of the very values conservatives have united to defend...
...Okay, he was snide and he went through the motions of laying on the caustic lime undercoating traditional in Moon-Takes-Over-World articles, but his heart clearly wasn't in it...
...Bizarre, but understandable...
...For-the-record: The members of the Unification Church I've met are honest, hard-working, God-fearing people...
...Some Franciscans probably did, too...
...I defy him to cite a single instance where it would be in any way superior to "modern...
...If I am going to be a member of an unfashionable religion, I expect press vilification commensurate with renegade beliefs...
...AF has written some far wittier and more informative articles—he's always been one of my favorites and I do hope this is a temporary lapse and not permanent regression...
...I am always honored whenever someone mentions my religious affiliation in a news story, especially when they are trying to work up a lather...
...C Crowther-Smith Oxford, England Cruel to be Kind Your August cover (on Jimmy Carter and Rosalynn) was the most vicious I have ever seen on any magazine...
...It bothers the author that religion and politics are being mixed, but religious motivation has thus far been the only force powerful enough to convince someone to weather the awesome financial sacrifice of playing David to the Washington Post's Goliath...
...Moon," I wrote then (NR, July 9, 1976), "is a shameless blasphemer...
...On the religious plane, that includes Christianity in its sundry forms...
...a very valuable resource for researchers and planners alike —Military Review 1986 275 pp...
...even the Deism of someone like Jefferson...
...Are copies available for framing...
...In founding the Washington Times, Reverend Moon was the only one with the guts to put his anti-Communism ahead of his pocketbook...
...He says that "Macau's own sorry fate might have been very different had Margaret Thatcher's back been a little stiffer...
...Was it a reprint from the National Enquirer...
...I believe Rev...
...To change the subject, though not the source: TAS English is usually so exemplary that I am horrified by the same Mr...
...He offers no evidence to rebut the considerable amount I offered, but only mentions that Christian monasteries too are antifamily and socialistic...
...John Lofton, Columnist Washington Times Washington, D.C...
...Richard Brookhiser Managing Editor National Review New York, New York The article by Andrew Ferguson in the September TAS breaks with conservative silence on the Moon organization, its relationship with the Washington Times, and its financial support of several prominent conservative organizations...
...Ferguson kept returning to the same conclusion that Reverend Moon is granted validity by conservatives because he is in fact a rightful and accepted player on the Washington political scene...
...But I am very upset that he uses my organization, CAUSA, and my church, the Unification Church, as wadding for his loads...
...For some reason, religions unfailingly seem to prosper in direct proportion to the hostility coming against them...
...Times Literary Supplement 1985 280 pp...
...Ferguson has revealed his own apostasy (is the conservative movement a cult...
...This curious equivalence aside, I'll reiterate that my characterization of the church was based on its theological premises—insofar as these can be known—rather than on the internal make-up of the church or the church-mandated habitsof its adherents...
...McGurn's use of the neologism "modern-day...
...The Spectator received a number of angry letters, and some cancelled subscriptions, from people condemning what they took to be a vicious attack on the Washington Times...
...As a placard in Berlin said, "We love our enemies, but we hate their walls...
...If they were, woe to the Western world...
...Congratulations...
...When the Washington Star folded, at least a dozen newspaper chains and a good many wealthy conservatives examined the market and rightly concluded that a frontal attack on the Washington Post would be damned expensive...
...Ferguson should not have passed up the opportunity to let us in on his own religious leanings...
...My article was plainly nothing of the sort...
...Ferguson's article reveals a peculiar reluctance on the part of many who accept Moon funds to explain why they do so, begging the questions: What do they seek to hide and what does Moon seek to gain...
...It was only after 150 column inches of copy that an explanation was given...
...We walked through the divided city with East German agents snapping our photos, then prayed right next to the wall (within the two meters claimed by the East) for the abomination to end...
...What silly, stupid, arrogant nonsense, sir...
...I didn't mean to jump the gun...
...Reverend Moon is ready to proclaim the presence and love of God at any cost...
...But then, I think the same of Mary Baker Eddy's and Joseph Smith's...
...Ferguson deserves accolades for his First Amendment foray into the alltoo-secretive world of Sun Myung Moon...
...Furthermore, with appeals for funds from RET coming once every two issues, why are four valuable pages used for inside-the-Beltway pouting...
...As for the other letters reprinted above, and the many others like them I received, I'm not sure that there is in them anything to which I can usefully reply—except to thank John Lofton for reminding us (again...
...That was the subject of my article...
...Beth-ell's critique was rather gentle—far gentler, I suspect, than what his friends in the church were hoping for—and by my lights wholly ineffectual, since he painstakingly challenged points I hadn't made, meanwhile leaving unaddressed the article's main thesis...
...Some Moonies, unlike Mr...
...1 326 pp...
...And in his zeal to separate sheep from goats—to say who can and cannot be legitimate members of the conservative movement—Mr...
...Andrew Ferguson's article on Reverend Moon's "quest for legitimacy" was not more negative in tone...
...highly readable and recommended for all levels...
...Andrew Ferguson has been slighted by the Washington Times, and was retaliating courtesy of The American Spectator...
...Moon's theology is fantastic...
...Beyond that, I can only point out that no one has written to challenge the matters of fact that made up the bulk of the article...
...Bethell took these "other circumstances" to be a "gulag-free world...
...I covered a Unification Church rally the first summer I worked for National Review, and was, to put it mildly, weirded out...
...Up to Date May a Goddam Limey comment on William McGurn's excellent article ("Holy Macau," TAS, August 1987...
...Bethell suggests that my portrait of the church as "anti-family" and "socialistic" is overdone...
...Ferguson, the conservative movement is not "a movement upon which, it is safe to say, the survival of freedom depends," as you write...
...of his unparalleled devotion to Our Savior, and to ease Larry Moffitt's curiosity, if he insists, by announcing that I'm an Episcopalian (high-church...
...There was never the slightest pressure to influence what I wrote afterwards...
...Finally, Bethell, to his credit, understood something that many other letter-writers missed: I was not addressing myself to the issue of church influence at the Washington Times...
...2 209 pp...
...Moon, and, yes—dare I say it—even Mr...
...William Lay Vice-President CAUSA International New York, New York I couldn't help feeling disappointed that Mr...
...Judaism...
...34.50 (c1) $18.75 (pa) Vol...
...spring 1988 450 pp...
...Conservatives have to be clear on this...
...Why didn't you cover the CARP demonstration at the Berlin Wall August 8? Everybody's who's anybody in the Eastern bloc has probably been talking about it ever since...
...I've been in the Unification Church for seventeen years—been reading your journal for about one-third of that time—and will be among the first to agree that Moonies are not run-of-the-mill conservatives...
...bibliog., index $34.95 (c1) $16.95 (pa) CONTEMPORARY STRATEGY Vol...
...The specific "other circumstance" I had in mind was a money-free Unification Church, the point being that it is only money, and not some philosophical consanguinity, that makes this decidedly unconservative organization attractive to conservatives—even to the degree where it can call on reputable journalists to defend it in public...
...it is principled action that yields these forms of force...
...The future of freedom depends on and will be determined by God Almighty, by Jesus Christ—a power far higher than the conservative movement, Mr...
...That wouldn't stop me from writing for the Christian Science Monitor or the Deseret News...
...The fact is that power does not come from the barrel of a gun, nor does it come from money...
...Where's the bile...
...Tyrrell, who has called the Bible "an old book full of foolishness...
...On a less pragmatic level, questions are raised concerning whether recipients of Moon funds who publicly proclaim conservative values can avoid being viewed as hypocritical if they accept finances from enterprises controlled by one who seeks implementation of an agenda not merely alien to most conservatives' objectives but in opposition to them...
...It is odd that a citizen of the Superpower recently defeated by a mere Indo-China (as it used to be called) should imply that Maggie should lead this now comparatively puny Kingdom against the full might of the Communist Celestial Empire...
Vol. 20 • November 1987 • No. 11
