Moonies knee-deep in faith-based funding (bushie's healthy marriage plan)

[Kadie]

Moonies knee-deep in faith-based funding
Pushing celibacy, marriage counseling under Bush plan

Don Lattin, Chronicle Religion Writer
Sunday, October 3, 2004

President Bush has some new troops in his crusade to promote "healthy marriage" and teen celibacy with federal funds -- followers of the Rev. Sun Myung Moon, the controversial Korean evangelist and self-proclaimed new world messiah.

At least four longtime operatives of Moon's Unification Church are on the federal payroll or getting government grants in the administration's Healthy Marriage Initiative and other "faith-based" programs.

Two of those Moon associates were in Oakland last week leading dozens of local pastors and social workers enrolled in a "Certified Marriage Education Training Seminar" at the Holiday Inn next to the Coliseum.

In some ways, Moon is an unlikely ally for President Bush's crusade to promote traditional family values.

The 85-year-old Korean is perhaps best known for presiding over mass marriage ceremonies for devotees whose unions are arranged by Moon or other church leaders. After marriage, Unification Church couples are given detailed instructions for their honeymoon, right down to the sexual positions they are supposed to assume during their first three conjugal couplings.

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http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2004/10/03/MOON.TMP