Unification Church founder Rev. Moon dies at 92

Moon said in his autobiography that he asked Kim to give up his nuclear ambitions, and that Kim responded that his atomic program was for peaceful purposes and he had no intention to use it to "kill my own people."

"The two of us were able to communicate well about our shared hobbies of hunting and fishing. At one point, we each felt we had so much to say to the other that we just started talking like old friends meeting after a long separation," Moon wrote.

He added that he heard Kim tell his son: "After I die, if there are things to discuss pertaining to North-South relations, you must always seek the advice of President Moon."

When Kim Il Sung died in 1994, Moon sent a condolence delegation to North Korea, drawing criticism from conservatives at home. Kim's son and successor, Kim Jong Il, sent roses, prized wild ginseng, Rolex watches and other gifts to Moon on his birthday each year. Kim Jong Il died late last year and was succeeded by his son Kim Jong Un. Moon sent a delegation to pay its respects during the mourning period for Kim Jong Il.

Moon also developed good relationships with conservative American leaders, including former Presidents Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush. Still, he served 13 months at a U.S. federal prison in 1984-1985 for tax evasion. The church says the U.S. government persecuted Moon because of his growing influence and popularity with young people in the United States, his home for more than 30 years.

As he grew older, Moon quietly handed over day-to-day control of his multibillion-dollar religious and business empire, which included dozens of companies ranging from hospitals and universities to a ballet troupe, to his children.

His youngest son, the Rev. Hyung-jin Moon, was named the church's top religious director in April 2008. Other sons and daughters were put in charge of the church's business and charitable activities in South Korea and abroad.

After ending a first marriage, Moon remarried a South Korean, Hak Ja Han Moon, in 1960. She often was at Moon's side for the mass weddings.

The youngest son told The Associated Press in a February 2010 interview that Moon's offspring do not see themselves as his successors.

"Our role is not inheriting that messianic role," he said. "Our role is more of the apostles, where we share ... where we become the bridge between understanding what kind of lives (our) two parents have lived."

Moon is survived by his second wife and 10 children.

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[anewracehasbegun]

Thank you Rev. Moon for all you began. Your legacy will go on and on and on. The thousands of couples you have married over the decades have begun a new culture of heart and are passing that on to our children and grandchildren. All the anti-religious, anti-Unificationists and atheists can post all the negative comments they want, but have they met us and our children? We have made a difference and will continue to make a difference in this world, simply because we love and give unselfishly to our local communities. The people within the movement are Rev. Moon's legacy, not organized religion, not business empires, we use those things yes, but we also raise excellent citizens who are extremely altruistic. Talk to one of us before you judge.

[bigtiny99]

multi-billion dollar empire.....god is good!

[waynenipper]

Some of the most dangerous concoctions of the human mind are the concept of God and organized religion. Over the millennia, and to this very day, religion, in its many and diverse forms, has been the principle 'cause' for the elimination of humanity through death and destruction.

Organized religion is clearly a monumental fraud perpetrated on those seemingly devoid of clear, rationale, intelligent, and independent thought. It would appear having others do your thinking is the norm, and is, apparently, quite acceptable to the gullible, weak-minded multitudes.

The survival of various religions over the centuries has continued through the exploitation of human frailties, fear, and the promise of eternal salvation for those whose ignorance and/or innocence is such as to blind them to such deceit. Those souls, who espouse 'faith' as their answer, are at the pinnacle of self deception. As the philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche once stated "Faith: not wanting to know what is true." Albert Einstein writes "The word God is for me nothing more than the expression and product of human weaknesses, the Bible a collection of honourable but still primitive legends which are nevertheless pretty childish."

Quite simply ... God did not make man ... man made God.

See also ... PAT CONDELL - 'THE FAITH OF IDIOTS' and 'Godless and Free' ... on YouTube:

[ugacrew]

I would love to know if Einstein thought "death" was a figment of man's imagination.

[ugacrew]

Waynenipper,

This very intellectual input if much appreciated and quite rare on these posts. I agree with you 100% about "organized" religion. It does pray upon the weak.

[tmittelstaed]

I think he's probably getting a revelation of how wrong he was right now.

[jonnyooh]

Heck almighty, I wuz jist gittin ready to join up with that church. I heard there wuz a lotta Fox Nooze morons goin there, so I knowed that wuz probly fer me. I donno wut I'm gonna do now. I reckin I'll tune in and see wut Mr. Murdoch wants me to do.

[Rejco100]

Say hello to Ronald Reagan, Jerry Falwell, and Ted Bundy when you get down there.....

[jonnyooh]

Tell them Karl Rove will be down before long.

[Herne42]

organized religion should be abolished

[formerlyluvnut]

ALL religion should be.

[unclebernies]

I hate to say it but his afterlife elevator trip is not going up.

[formerlyluvnut]

Hmmmm, I thought he pooped a few years ago. Oh well, see ya dude.

[ugacrew]

The Scriptures teach us that it is appointed to man to die once. We can accumulate all of the wealth and fame we may, but we come into this world with nothing and we leave with nothing. Ashes to ashes, then dust to dust.

We can argue our religion superior to the next, and we can declare boldly there is not God. Yet, no one can explain regardless of their religious belief or atheist belief how it is that we do die, or what can be done to prevent death altogether.

If nothing else, death itself is a God over all of us. I hope Mr. Moon prepared himself, despite his beliefs and teachings, to confront death despite his inability, like each of us, to conquer it.
ugacrew (original)

[ugacrew]

newster90210,

Yes, we are, as you say "basically were all worthless broke saps with nothing start to finish," but that may be why they say "live a little."