Former Michigan Congressman, And Lobbyist/Loyalist for Rev. Moon, Now Indicted As Shill for “Islamic charity”
His name is Mark Siljander. He is a former Michigan Congressman and former US ambassador to the United Nations, and he is presently under indictment:
as part of a terrorist fundraising ring that allegedly sent more than $130,000 to an al-Qaida and Taliban supporter who has threatened U.S. and international troops in Afghanistan.
The former Republican congressman from Michigan, Mark Deli Siljander, was charged with money laundering, conspiracy and obstructing justice for allegedly lying about lobbying senators on behalf of an Islamic charity that authorities said was secretly sending funds to terrorists.
One would think that the orthodoxies of the Christian Right would clash with the Unification Church of self-proclaimed messiah Sun Myung Moon. But amongst the strange bedfellows of politics, there are those who are somehow able to relate to both.
One is former Rep. Mark Siljander (R-MI), who now is running for the GOP nomination for Congress from northern Virginia. Siljander served in the House from 1981-86, but was turned out by the voters, partly because of extremist statements that smacked of religious bigotry. In 1986, for example, Siljander taped a message soliciting campaign support from ministers to “help break the back of Satan.” He now says he wants to keep religion out of his campaign.
Nevertheless, a politician’s past is often a prologue. Siljander has been a steering committee member of the secretive, theocratic Coalition on Revival (COR) since 1986. In 1990, he was listed as a leader of a COR political arm, the National Coordinating Council (NCC) whose agenda includes the abolition of public schools, the IRS, and the Federal Reserve by the year 2000. The NCC also calls for taking over county governments and the establishment of “Christian”-controlled county militias.
Siljander is slated as a columnist for COR’s new journal, Crosswinds. While COR wages war with the “forces of darkness,” Crosswinds is to provide a “helicopter view of the battlefield.”
COR steering committee members are required to agree with such doctrines as “We deny that anyone, Jew or Gentile, believer or unbeliever, private person or public official, is exempt from the moral and judicial obligation before God to submit to Christ’s Lordship over every aspect of his life in thought, word, and deed.”
How then to account for Siljander’s involvement in political fronts of the ever-controversial Rev. Moon? Siljander spoke at conferences sponsored by CAUSA, a Moon political unit, in 1985 and 1986. These meetings promote the Moon doctrine of “Godism” or “CAUSA ideology.”
“Democracy arose out of the lack of absolute values, absolute power, and absolute being,” wrote top Moon evangelist Rev. Chung Hwan Kwak in 1983. “When there are no absolutes, the majority opinion is considered the best idea. Godism however, has not been the majority idea…Therefore through democratic elections, people have not selected God’s will, goodness, True Parents, or the Messiah. Our goal and purpose is to follow Godism.”
The “True Parents,” according to Unification Church theology, are Rev. and Mrs. Moon. The Unification Church is the “True Family.” Moon himself desires the “subjugation of the American population and government,” and “an automatic theocracy to rule the world.”
Siljander told the Times of Springfield, Virginia, that he returned his speaking fees when he found out that CAUSA was a Moon group. This knowledge did not, however, prevent his joining the national policy board of the American Freedom Coalition (AFC) in 1987. AFC is another Moon front, formed by the political marriage of CAUSA and Christian Voice. Christian Voice is a political network and lobbying group, on whose advisory board Siljander has also sat.
Many conservatives, however, are wary of Moon. Bob Dugan of the National Association of Evangelicals warned in 1988 of covert Moon control of the AFC, and that “Christian theology…cannot be reconciled with Unification theology.” Paul Weyrich of the Free Congress Foundation told CBS in 1985, that “All Americans should be concerned” because Moon “opposes the constitutional system of government in the United States of America.”
Christian Right candidates usually portray themselves as advocates of “traditional values” or “family values.” What does Mark Siljander think about the “True Family” of Rev. Moon? Does the candidate count democracy among the “traditional values?” Virginia voters may want to know.
Michelle has more as does Hot Air
January 16, 2008 - 05:15 PM on January 16th, 2008
I found your site on technorati and read a few of your other posts. Keep up the good work. I just added your RSS feed to my Google News Reader. Looking forward to reading more from you.
Aaron Wakling
January 16, 2008 - 06:01 PM on January 16th, 2008
[...] Right Voices wrote an interesting post today on Former Michigan Congressman, And Lobbyist/Loyalist for Rev. Moon, Now Indicted As Shill for “Islamic charityâ€Here’s a quick excerpt His name is Mark Siljander. He is a former Michigan Congressman and former US ambassador to the United Nations, and he is presently under indictment: as part of a terrorist fundraising ring that allegedly sent more than $130,000 to an al-Qaida and Taliban supporter who has threatened U.S. and international troops in Afghanistan. The former Republican congressman from Michigan, Mark Deli Siljander, was charged with money laundering, conspiracy and obstructing justice for allegedly lying abou [...]
January 17, 2008 - 11:47 AM on January 17th, 2008
Funny that line by Weyrich given that Moon has been the number one funder of the conservative movement over the last 25 or so years. Latest estimate on how much he spent in overseas cash funding the Washington Times is 3 billion alone.
google “moon japan spiritual sales” and see where much of the billions Moon funded the right with originated.
Moon brags about using the WT to “influence” America. Our nation has being ripped apart ever since conservative leaders accepted Moon at their table. Chile used to not allow Moon into their country because he disrupted the political systems. In 1989 US News and World report stated that “virtually every conservative organization in DC had ties to Moon”.
If you study Moon you will find the new right of today has been molded into his image in many ways. I am so old I remember when Republicans weren’t authoritarian, homophobic, anti-science, union-hating theocrats. I remember when there would have been no way Republicans would have licked any presidents boots like they do Bush’s.
If you look you will find Moon held the right’s had every step of the way the last 25 years. I guess that is why there is not one word about Moon at Hot Air.
Moon is moving on the mega churches now. They love him. Liberals now send him greetings because they the right’s leaders have mainstreamed him to where people foolishly think he is benign and accepted him.
January 17, 2008 - 01:11 PM on January 17th, 2008
Ms- Moon can be traced to many religious leaders that are aligned with the right, but I am not sure how that translates to to the right has held the hand of Moon.
I’m thinking that you might be so old that you are actually into the stage of dementia..
January 17, 2008 - 02:36 PM on January 17th, 2008
I new there was something realy realy bad about that SUN MUNG WEIRD MOON he is a false prophit and a al around freak
January 19, 2008 - 11:31 PM on January 19th, 2008
[...] Read the rest of this great post here [...]
February 1, 2008 - 12:06 AM on February 1st, 2008
[...] Former Michigan Congressman, And Lobbyist/Loyalist for Rev. Moon, Now Indicted As Shill for ???Islam… [...]