Ed Brayton is a freelance writer and speaker. He is the co-founder and president of 
Church and State magazine has an interview with John Gorenfeld about his new book, Bad Moon Rising, and his longtime interest in the Rev. Moon and his activities. I like this answer:
If Moon didn't exist, a James Bond movie would invent him. It's not that his theology is odd, but that he gives these mad speeches about installing himself as world leader. In Washington it's treated as a campy joke. Only it's not, because he publishes a major newspaper.I was drawn to the contradictions that ensue when Moon appears at fancy Beltway dinner parties and embarrasses the audience. Right-wing Republicans, keen on keeping the money flowing, will listen uncomfortably for 45 minutes to Moon as he chops the air with his hands and shouts things like, "Free sex is centered on Satan!" and, "No one can oppose me!"
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So, what does everyone think is going to happen when the batshit crazy old guy finally kicks off?
Moonies all climb mountains waiting to be raptured?
A Heaven's Gate thing?
They all anoint Rupert Murdoch as the next rich guy who can nanomanage their lives?
A sudden surge in common sense as they all realize they've been suckered? (not expected)
Posted by: NJ | May 22, 2008 10:29 AM
This is, by far, the best part of that interview:
Posted by: Wes | May 22, 2008 11:11 AM
What the Moonies are going to send Gorenfeld to Michigan? (Just kidding!) :D DJ
Posted by: DingoJack | May 22, 2008 11:21 AM
"If Moon didn't exist, a James Bond movie would invent him."
All he needs is a Persian cat.
Posted by: Bill in NC | May 22, 2008 11:45 AM
More like Blofeld's sidekick.
Blofeld: Oddjob, make sure something...unpleasant, happens to Mr Bond. -DJ
Posted by: DingoJack | May 22, 2008 11:49 AM
Oddjob was Goldfinger's sidekick. But the Oddjob analogy is good.
Posted by: Bill in NC | May 22, 2008 11:58 AM
Sorry about that chief. -DJ
Posted by: DingoJack | May 22, 2008 12:04 PM
A sudden surge in common sense as they all realize they've been suckered? (not expected)
Look up Millerites and Seventh Day Adventists for a likely answer.
Posted by: QrazyQat | May 22, 2008 12:40 PM
Moon has a very slick son who is a Harvard graduate, and I expect when the old man dies, the son will take over and try to take this business much more mainstream, like Scientology, making a mythical figure of the founder. I guess the Moonies are no worse of a scam than Amway, and old man Moon is probably no crazier than Joseph Smith, but it still just amazes me that so many people believe in these lunatics.
Is McCain taking money from this loon?
Posted by: Elizabeth | May 22, 2008 8:22 PM
"More or less dangerous" is in the eye of the beholder.
If we want to be quite objective about it: in a world that is desperately overpopulated and heading for a climate catastrophe, preaching that contraception is against God's will is as dangerous as bringing a hand grenade to a space station and as evil as advocating mass murder (via the dieoff that inevitably goes with overshoot) on a scale that would make Hitler look like a wannabe. Yes, that would be the Pope I'm talking about. The most dangerous and most evil head of a religion by virtue of the number of members and the impact of the policy.
That being said, Moon is right up there, and is certainly quite a bit more vile than even those Popes and Mullahs who inveigh against condoms. Moon is vile in a visceral sense, like a cheesy rendition of "Jingle Bell Rock" sung in a voice that drips with earnestness, or like walking barefoot on the beach and stepping in a pile of fresh dog doo so that it squishes between your toes.
Moon's obsession with sex is vile, and the language he uses for it oozes vileness. His avarice for naked power is vile, in the same manner as a rampant MRSA infection. His willingness to sacrifice thousands of brainwashed teenagers to his limitless appetites for the money they raise selling flowers on street corners, is as vile as any other form of slavery, except that instead of putting the people in chains, he's put the chains in the people. And his talk of "subjugating" the United States of America is vile in the same manner as enemy propaganda in World War Two that depicted us Yanks as weak and pathetic and unworthy of the fight.
The best solution to Moon may not be to simply revoke his green card on a charge of meddling in our domestic politics; but instead to drain the swamp on his financial empire. Along the way, make public those videos of the man ranting and waving his arms about sex and about being the True Father and all of that nonsense.
The Feds could, if they wanted, find more than enough legal grounds to put that man completely out of business.
Posted by: g347 | May 23, 2008 5:35 AM