WASHINGTON, Dec 1 (LSN) – Moonies leader Sun Myung Moon of the Unification Church held a massive publicity stunt Saturday, called “Blessing 97.” About 25,000 people gathered in the RFK Stadium in Washington, DC, and the event was linked by satellite to 84 countries. Moon claimed to be marrying 39.6 million couples, 3.6 million for the first time with the rest renewing their “unions.” Characteristic of Moon's antics, 2,500 of the couples had met only days before they were “married,” and they were matched by Moon himself.
Reportedly, 6 different church leaders were invited to bless the crowd during the ceremony. The Washington Times reported that the various religious leaders came from the Hindu, Islamic, Orthodox, Buddhist, Sikh and Christian religions. The Times claimed Louis Farrakhan, leader of the Nation of Islam, and Rev. Jerry Falwell were among the leaders. During a similar festival in 1995, Moon “married” 360,000 couples. Prior to the 1995 event local area churches received promotional material from the ‘One World Family Crusade,’ the Virginia-based organization connected to Sun Myung Moon. One such item read, “On August 24th, 1992 at the Gala banquet for the 1st World Culture and Sports Festival, Rev. Moon declared he and his wife were the ‘True parents of all mankind, the Savior, the Lord of the Second Advent, the Messiah.’ We affirm that this is true.”