Inquisition (book)

"Inquisition" is a 1991 book by Carlton Sherwood about the early 1980s investigation and trial of Rev. Sun Myung Moon, leader of the Unification Church for alleged tax evasion (see Rev. Moon tax case). The book, subtitled "The Persecution and Prosecution of the Reverend Sun Myung Moon", alleges that there were elements of racism and religious persecution in the prosecution of the Moon case. The book was published by Regnery Publishing, an American publisher which specializes in conservative books.

Questions of bias

Since publication, Carlton Sherwood has maintained that the book presents an objective view of the incident. In an off-camera interview with "Frontline", he specified that the Unification Church exerted no editorial control over the book [Citation|year=2004|date=10 Sept.|title="Hannity & Colmes gave Stolen Honor film producer Carlton Sherwood a forum for more smears of Kerry"|publisher=Media Matters for America|url=http://mediamatters.org/items/200409100003] . He also maintains that he began to write the book with very different intentions - he was hoping to uncover dirt about Moon, but ended up concluding that he and his followers “were and continued to be the victims of the worst kind of religious prejudice and racial bigotry this country has witnessed in over a century.” [cite web|url=http://www.roryoconnor.org/blog/index.php?p=65|title=Rory O'Connor blog|work=|accessdate=2007-05-29]

Critics have alleged that Sherwood has strong ties to the Church that preclude objectivity. MediaChannel.org reports that “Alfred Regnery [former president of Regnery Publishing, which published "Inquisition"] , was told by Carlton Sherwood that the Moon Organization would purchase one hundred thousand copies of Inquisition – at least according to former Washington Times editor James Whelan, another Regnery-Gateway author. But Alfred Regnery denies it.” [cite web|url=http://www.mediachannel.org/originals/moontranscript2.shtml|title=Moon Transcript 2|work=MediaChannel.org|accessdate=2007-05-29]

At some point, PBS's "Frontline" apparently "obtained a copy of a letter addressed to Sun Myung Moon. The letter was written by James Gavin" - described by Frontline as a "Moon aide" (Unification Church sources place him as a "special assistant" to well-known Moon aide Bo Hi Pak [cite web|url=http://www.tparents.org/Library/Unification/Books/Tims2/Tims2-a09.htm|title=Truth is My Sword, Volume II|work=True Parents' Organization|accessdate=2007-05-29] ). In the letter, Gavin tells Moon he reviewed the ‘overall tone and factual contents’ of Inquisition before publication and suggested revisions. ‘Mr. Sherwood has assured me that all this will be done when the manuscript is sent to the publisher. When all of our suggestions have been incorporated, the book will be complete and in my opinion will make a significant impact… In addition to silencing our critics now, the book should be invaluable in persuading others of our legitimacy for many years to come.’"

References

External links

*ISBN 0-89526-532-X "Inquisition : The Persecution and Prosecution of the Reverend Sun Myung Moon"