Would you like a mass wedding ceremony with your sushi?

The Moonies strange influence in DC is well-documented, but did you know that when you sit down for sushi in this country, there's a good chance that you're likely doing the equivalent of buying a copy of the Washington Times? Today's story in the Chicago Tribune was very illuminating about the alarming trend of religous sects openly aligning themselves with capitalist gains. Or, as one competing fishmonger so drolly put it:

"It's kind of tough to compete in this industry with a company that is so global, has a major presence in almost every market and that is driven by religious fervor," said Bill Dugan, who has been in the fish business for almost 30 years and owns the Fish Guy Market on Elston Avenue, near the original Rainbow shop. "We should all be so blessed."

The Moonies' seafood operations have taken over whole fishing communities in Massachusetts and Alabama. Scientologists basically own downtown Clearwater, FL. And of course there's the state of Utah. Is America slowly turning into a loose collective of theocratic city-states where service to God and the almighty dollar are one in the same?

Historical examples such as the Shakers and the Oneida colony have shown that religion and capitalism are not such strange bedfellows in America (in the case of the Oneida they were actually quite good in bed ), but what happens when that religous fervor is coupled with a messianic zeal and a lust for political power?

And what do you do when your craving for spicy tuna rolls conflicts with your political beliefs? I don't think I'm going to stop eating sushi any time soon, is this the price we must all pay for being so disconnected from our sources of food?

Cross posted at Unbossed.