Unification Church Ads Won’t Be Printed In Top Idaho Papers Publishers Cite Sexual References In Moon Speech

The Unification Church is circulating a speech to newspapers across the country, and several Idaho papers are unified in their decisions not to publish it.

Newspapers that have refused to run the controversial speech include Boise’s Idaho Statesman, the Lewiston Morning Tribune, the Idaho Falls Post Register, Pocatello’s Idaho State Journal and The Times-News in Twin Falls.

The papers have cited problems of language and taste.

But Tim Comey, a Boise resident and 24-year member of the Unification Church, said “bigotry, prejudice, media abuse” are behind the decision not to run the ad.

The speech was written by the Rev. Sun Myung Moon, founder of the church, for an appearance at the Buenos Aires Sheraton Hotel on Nov. 23, 1996. It since has been presented in 40 nations and all 50 states, Comey said.

But when Comey approached the Idaho Statesman with the speech, which makes reference to male and female genitalia and various bodily functions, he was told he could not purchase space to print it.

“I wish that you would center on the absolute sexual organ, unique sexual organ, unchanging sexual organ and eternal sexual organ, and use this as your foundation to pursue God,” reads the speech, which is several thousand words long.

Statesman President and Publisher Pamela F. Meals said the decision not to run the speech was made by the paper’s advertising director, along with several of the managers. She said she agrees with the decision.

Times-News Publisher Stephen Hartgen said he considers the speech to be in poor taste, noting its references to sexual organs and bodily functions, specifically defecation.

“I would apply what I would call the 10-year-old child or grandmother test,” he said. “Would you read this aloud to your 10-year-old or grandmother?”