Bad Moon Rising: How Reverend Moon Created the Washington Times, Seduced the Religious Right and Built an American Kingdom

by John Gorenfeld

(2022 This book is now available for free at the author's website.)

What does it say about American politics when a famous 1970s cult leader publishes a Washington newspaper, dresses up in the U.S. Senate offices like King George III, and no one in D.C. seems to care? One night in 2004, at one of Washington's most outrageous dinner parties, members of Congress bought a shining crown and robes to a billionaire mystery man who calls himself the True the Reverend Moon, sushi mogul, conservative philanthropist, and publisher of the right-wing Washington Times . After journalist John Gorenfeld broke the story of Moon's  coronation, the New York Times compared the scandal to an act of the Roman emperor Caligula.
 
Now, in a witty work of investigative journalism (as featured on NPR), Gorenfeld explores the rest of the saga--the fascinating, absurd and politically-embarrassing story of U.S. politicians who jet-set with Moon. A cultural icon of the 1970s, Moon was once associated with mass weddings and parents who hired deprogrammers to seize their children from him. But as Gorenfeld discovers in telling the stories of people caught up in his world, Moon has long been the best-kept secret of the Right--despite naming himself Messiah and making megalomaniacal speeches better suited to Marvel Comics than Politico. Join the author on an arresting journey into 40 years of political decline, told through the saga of Moon and his shameless relationships with an all-star cast of GOP celebrities, ranging from Richard Nixon to George H.W. Bush, and from Jerry Falwell to Pat Boone.

"Bad Moon Rising is stunningly good. Stylish, exquisitely researched, and morally courageous, it reveals corruption to a depth and breadth unimagined by mere novelists."

-- Rick Perlstein, author of Nixonland


"A creepy kleptocratic tale of perverse messianic delusion and amoral Washington elitists that would be utterly unbelievable if not for the fact that it's all horrifyingly, ridiculously true."

-- Ken Layne, Gawker


"Most of the press has treated Sun Myung Moon as an entertaining eccentric, overlooking the consequences of his widening reach into the corridors of power in thae United States. John Gorenfeld has produced a book that explains--cogently and persuasively--why we need to seriously consider the Rev. Moon's broadening influence and its implications."

-- Dennis B. Roddy, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette


"The kind of fierce, uncompromising journalism that always matters in a world of ruthless phonies." 

-- Tony Norman, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette


"an excellent new expose...If Don DeLillo had taken a lot of acid and grown a funny bone before he wrote Mao II, this is the book he might have written. What's scary is that it's true. Gorenfeld isn't a sensationalizer; indeed, with material such as Moon provides, he can more than afford understatement."

-- Jeff Sharlet, The Revealer

Genres: Religion, Cults

329 pages, Hardcover

First published March 1, 2008

Reviews

[Nik Maack · Rating 2 out of 5]

Interesting, but so badly organized. The book became quite a chore. The order of the chapters makes no senses, and the author rushes through stories that need more detail. Too bad, as it is a subject matter I have a lot of interest in. I hate it when a subject I am fascinated in is made dull.

[Brett · Rating 3 out of 5]

Back in 2008, when this book was new, there was a chart Gorenfeld had created that I saw on the internet comparing the beliefs of George Soros and the Rev. Moon, that hilariously illustrated the extremism of Moon compared to his left-wing counterpart. Sadly, that chart is not included in this book and appears to be lost the vagaries of time. Reading that chart alone is really pretty much as good as reading the entirety of this book.

Moon is a fascinating figure, an obvious loon with money to spare who made a big impact on the religious right in America. It was a sometimes uneasy arranged marriage, but in the end Moon's financial support allowed him make big inroads among conservatives. His funding of the Washington Times, losing billions of dollars over the years, was a sort of pre-cursor to Fox News, creating an alternative reality.

The best parts of Bad Moon Rising are when Gorenfeld just gives us extended quotes of Moon's remarks where he makes claims such as that his enemies to be destroyed are America and Christianity or that every dead U.S. President has (from heaven) endorsed Moon and his church. Many will be familiar with the "Moonie" mass marriage ceremonies of the 1970s and early 80s, and the cult deprogramming efforts of young people recruited into the church (and the fears of a Jonestown redux). I'm just scratching the surface here of this wild story.

The centerpiece of the book is a very strange event in 2004 where Rev. Moon was crowned King of the Universe in a ceremony held in the Dirksen Senate Office Building, which is part of the U.S. Capitol complex. Rep. Lanny Davis actually placed a crown on Moon's head. Sen. John Warner was also involved as were a dozen or so other Congressmen.

So there's a lot of funny and interesting material, and Gorenfeld is a talented writer, but the book lacks organization, which does limit its power. Some of it is repetitive, some seems to needlessly jump around in time, and some lacks enough context to help the reader fully understand.

Figures like Moon are extremely my personal jam, so I still enjoyed the book quite a bit, but if you're not intensely into this kind of thing, I'm not how well this is going to hold your attention. Anyway, Moon died in 2012 and thus far has not returned from the dead to rule over his earthly kingdom. There are a few other books about him, but I don't think they will be as funny as this one. Even with him gone, his influence remains with the continued publication of the Washington Times and the various other Moon-affiliated, strangely-named church sub-units.

[Grump · Rating 1 out of 5]

I was hoping for the story of the Moonies. How they started, made all kinds of money and did weird stuff. This dull book is only a bunch of fairly current stories about Moon’s influence in Washington. There’s very little origin story and only a few mentions of sex hang ups, marital caning and some odd juice-drinking. The weddings are only sorta mentioned in passing. I guess it was a big deal that senate republicans attended Moon’s ‘coronation’ in a government building. Evidently the republicans will take money from anyone. Big news.

Intensely boring.

[Lauren · Rating 2 out of 5]

Very dry. Reads like a textbook.