Revenge of a cult survivor

Who killed former Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe and why? The answer may surprise you...

Yamagami Tetsuya´s revenge

Among Contras and Zambos

“Nicaragua Was Our Home” is an interesting documentary, or rather propaganda piece, about the Contra War against the leftist Sandinista government of Nicaragua during the 1980´s. The piece is pro-Contra and depicts the Sandinistas as marauding genocidal butchers and anti-Christians. The film maker, Lee Shapiro, was later killed in Afghanistan during another daring attempt to tape an anti-Communist documentary. It´s not clear whether he was killed by the Soviets or simply mugged and murdered by the Muslim fundamentalists he had accompanied into Soviet-occupied territory. Shapiro was a “Moonie”, a member of the South Korea-based Unification Church, which is strongly anti-Communist. The Moonies claim to be Christians, but critics regard them as a cult. Note the irony of a “Christian” group supporting the Islamist rebels in Afghanistan…

Shapiro´s film about Nicaragua is taped in western Nicaragua, inhabited by the Miskitos and several other Native (“Indian”) groups, as well as by Creoles. The Miskitos supported the 1979 revolution against the hated US-backed dictator Somoza, but soon had a fall out with the Sandinistas (the FSLN), the dominant force in the anti-Somocista movement. The Sandinistas, dominated by Spanish-speakers from eastern Nicaragua, refused to recognize the Miskito demands for self-government and Native land rights in the western part of the country. By 1981, the political conflict had turned violent, many Miskitos taking up arms and siding with the US-backed Contras, who wanted to overthrow the FSLN government. The Sandinista army responded by forced deportations of thousands of Miskitos from the war zone, ostensibly to “protect” them but in reality to undercut civilian support of the Contra forces. Many Miskitos fled the country, ending up in refugee camps in Honduras (where the Contras had their bases). In 1987, the FSLN did grant autonomy to the Natives and Creoles of western Nicaragua, but by then it was probably too late to turn the tide. In 1990, the Sandinistas were voted out of power (they are back again today). The two autonomous regions still exist, however.

For obvious reasons, I can´t judge the concrete charges made by Shapiro in “Nicaragua Was Our Home”. He claims that the crimes of the Sandinista army include the deliberate burning of churches, the bombing of entire villages, sheer plunder, and so on. What makes the documentary interesting is that it also shows Miskito culture. Many of the Miskitos are clearly mixed race (Black-Native) and speak Creole English alongside their native language. Indeed, many look more Black than Indian. Spanish is only spoken by the Miskito leaders who were educated at Managua or in Cuba. They are apparently defectors from the FSLN. The culture of the Miskitos is heavily centered on Christianity, with the Moravian Brethren (of all groups!) being the main denomination. Others are Catholic, and some of the people interviewed are foreign Catholic missionaries active in the area. The entire area looks isolated and frankly primitive. Fishing for subsistence seems to be the main economic activity. The documentary also features the Contras, and even shows a battle between Contra forces and Sandinistas, with Shapiro trying to tape the action at a decidedly unsafe distance.

If you can stomach the propaganda aspects of this production, I actually recommend it as a kind of political-ethnographic study…

Discovering the dark side of Moon

"Exposition of the Divine Principle" is a new translation of the sacred scripture of the Unification Movement or Unification Church, a controversial new religion founded by the Korean reverend Sun Myung Moon. An earlier translation was simply called "Divine Principle". The Unificationists claim to be Christians, but their doctrines are very different from traditional Christianity.

According to Moon, God has a twofold structure, explicitly compared to the principles of yin and yang typical of East Asian religious philosophies. Adam and Eve fell due to a sexual transgression. Eve had sexual intercourse with Satan and hence received a Satanic, sinful nature. Eve then seduced Adam, who also partook of the Satanic nature. This was the fall. (It's also a version of the "Serpent Seed Theory".) As for Jesus, he wasn't God incarnate. He was a perfect man. However, Jesus failed in his mission. The crucifixion wasn't part of God's original plan. Nor was Jesus physically resurrected. His resurrection was purely spiritual. The disciples saw him in visions. Since Moon believes that the crucifixion was really a failure, he hates the cross and has started a campaign among Christian churches to take it down. He even convinced a group of evangelical clergy to travel to Jerusalem and bury a cross in the ground. (You can see this on Youtube.)

Apparently, there is no physical resurrection at all. People are figuratively "resurrected" when they join the Unification Church. The final resurrection is spiritual: when humans die, their spirits enter paradise. There is also a kind of re-incarnation: spirits of the dead return to Earth as guardian spirits of the living. For instance, Elijah was the guardian spirit of John the Baptist. Hell does exist, but will eventually be emptied and abolished. Sun Myung Moon thus teaches a form of universalism.

"Exposition of the Divine Principle" further tell us that Jesus will return as an ordinary but perfect and sinless man. He will be born from a woman, and hail from Korea. He will become the True Father and the Messiah. This is the Second Advent of Christ.

Could it be...?

"The Divine Principle" doesn't explicitly say that Sun Myung Moon is Christ who has returned. However, it certainly implies it. Who else could it be? The Unificationists call Sun Myung Moon "Father" and refer to him and his wife as "the True Parents". Conclusion: Sun Myung Moon claims to be Jesus Christ who has returned as a sinless, spotless man.

Small wonder that the Unification Movement gives traditional Christians the big chill. The "Moonies" are considered to be a blasphemous, heretical cult.

And then, maybe not. The Discovery Institute, an Intelligent Design think tank based in Seattle, counts evangelicals, Calvinists, Catholics and traditionalist Episcopalian among its members and supporters. However, one of its leading members is actually a Moonie: Jonathan Wells, author of the bestselling anti-Darwinist book "Icons of Evolution". It seems conservative Christians regard the Moonies as a cult...except when they write creationist books!

"Exposition of the Divine Principle" is an incredibly dry work of theology. It's not a particularly interesting read. People who want to know more about Unificationism without being bogged down by theological trivia can consult other books. George Chryssides has written a scholarly (but very uncritical) book about the church and its belief system, "The Advent of Sun Myung Moon". There are also critical books on the subject.

I suppose none of them is distributed by the Discovery Institute. :P