Genuine Monotheism

Genuine Monotheism and Inter-X Movements:

H.R. Niebuhrian Analysis of the Unification Movement

by Yoshihiko Masuda

I am the Lord thy God,... Thou shalt have no other gods before me. - (Exodus 20:2-3)

Introduction

In this paper I would like to assert that genuine monotheism is an important classical spiritual heritage which has rarely been practiced in its true sense and that the Reverend Sun Myung Moon's Unification Movement (hereafter UM), which consists of numerous inter-x movements, is inspired by such genuine or absolute monotheism. In other words, I believe that genuine monotheism is one of the most important characteristics of the UM members' worldview, which is sometimes called "Godism" or "Unificationism." Therefore, in this paper we will examine the significance and implications of genuine monotheism by taking up the case of the UM. I hope this paper will be of help in illuminating the main characteristics of the UM and the major implications of genuine monotheism, as well as its significance especially in our interreligious dialogue.

For many years Reverend Moon has emphasized the necessity of "Godism" as our ultimate value system or Weltanschauung to build a global societal community of love, peace and justice. What does he mean by "Godism"? I believe that what he means by it can be best described as genuine or absolute monotheism in theological terms. What I mean by genuine monotheism is not different from what H. Richard Niebuhr called radical monotheism. In other words, Reverend Moon's Godism is almost completely agreeable to H. Richard Niebuhr's radical monotheism. According to Niebuhr, radical monotheism as value dependence and as loyalty to One beyond all the many is in constant conflict with the two dominant forms of faith, namely, henotheism (loyalty to one god among many) and polytheism (faith in many gods). I agree with his argument that although people generally assume themselves to be monotheists in the West, they are, in reality, polytheists and henotheists in most of their daily practices. In other words, they trust not so much in God the Creator as in many "gods" such as money, status, power, fame, virility, diploma, and so forth. Furthermore, he is very critical of henotheism in Christianity, which "tends to take one of two forms, the church-centered or Christ-centered form." 2 In the former, the church becomes the absolute; in the latter, Jesus Christ, the mediator between God and sinners, almost monopolizes the status of God. In the former, theology (i.e., study about God) changes into ecclesiology (i.e., study about the church); in the latter, into "Jesusology" (i.e., study about Jesus Christ). Consequently, his concluding remarks on radical monotheism are as follows:

Radical monotheism dethrones all absolutes short of the principle of being itself. At the same time it reverences every relative existent. Its two great mottoes are: "I am the Lord thy God; thou shalt have no other gods before me" and "Whatever is, is good."3 Moreover, largely as a result of his radically monotheistic faith, Niebuhr came to his keen awareness that "the great source of evil in life is the absolutizing of the relative." 4 Therefore, he insisted on worshipping nothing but the genuine God the eternal, and strongly warned us against making false gods. These characteristics of radical monotheism are none other than those of Godism. Consequently, the UM as a movement of Godism/genuine monotheism also reflects these characteristics of radical monotheism and its implications.

There are various terms that characterize the UM. I believe agape or self-sacrificial love is one of the most fitting words that characterize the UM. I have seen numerous practices of self-sacrificial love by its members in the UM, and undoubtedly their practice of agape has been inspired by their understanding of God as a parental being of self-sacrificial love through the teaching and practice of Reverend and Mrs. Moon. I will not, however, go into detail about the relationship between "Godism" and agape, because my focus in this paper is another term that characterizes the UM.

Inter-x movement is the term I would like to discuss as one of the most illuminating terms that stand for the UM. In other words, one of the most important implications of genuine monotheism is that it creates and facilitates various inter-x movements. Consequently, we can present the characteristics of the UM as being manifested in the following eleven inter-x movements:

1) international movement,

2) interracial movement,

3) intercultural movement,

4) intersexual movement,

5) inter-realm movement,

6) inter-dimensional movement,

7) intergenerational movement,

8) interdisciplinary movement,

9) interclass movement,

10) interdenominational movement, and

11) interreligious (interfaith) movement.5

Readers may not recognize some of these eleven words that begin with "inter" because I coined some of them to describe the UM. The "inter-x” generally means between or among Xs or concerned with the relations between or among Xs. This is not an exhaustive list of the inter-x movements that characterize the UM, and I admit there is some convergence of meaning among them.

If someone asks why it is that the UM has so many inter-x movements as its characteristics, I will answer that it is because its genuine monotheism keeps its members from absolutizing the relative. If we absolutized one nation, there would be no international movement; if we absolutized one race, there would be no interracial movement; if we absolutized one culture, there would be no intercultural movement; if we absolutized one gender, there would be no intersexual movement; if we absolutized one realm, there would be no inter-realm movement;... and if we absolutized one religious tradition, there would be no interreligious movement. Now let me briefly elaborate these eleven inter-x movements.

1. The UM is an international movement. It is not simple to measure the level of "internationalization" of the movements, but many of those who had an opportunity to closely observe the UM were struck by its internationalization. In my view, partly due to its theology and partly due to the rapid globalization of the world, the UM has probably become the most international movement among the social movements that ever existed on earth. Its participants are offered numerous opportunities to encounter and to work with persons of different nationalities. Reverend Moon encourages its members to work in at least three different countries during their life on earth. He mobilized the International One World Crusade teams, which consisted of members of various nationalities who travelled to multiple nations. When foreign missionaries were sent to over 70 nations in 1975, a Japanese, an American and a German were dispatched as an international foreign missionary team to each country. Many of the organizations and projects inspired by Reverend Moon are distinctively international in scope and naturally carry the word "international" (or "World") in their names; some of them are International Cultural Foundation, International Religious Foundation, International Relief and Friendship Foundation, International Federation for Victory Over Communism, International Conference on the Unity of the Sciences, and so on.

Narrow nationalism ends in absolutizing a nation, which hinders the emergence of international movements. Genuine monotheism, however, keeps its believers from worshipping their own nation as the absolute, recognizes the relevant value of all nations, and facilitates the emergence of fair international intercourse.

2. The UM is an interracial movement. The "interracialness" of the UM is closely related to its "internationalization." Because the UM is very international, it provides its members with various opportunities to contact and to work with persons of different races. Moreover, Reverend Moon always emphasizes that God is color blind; God loves his children irrespective of their color. Consequently, the UM has been engaged in activities to eliminate racial prejudice in order to bring about racial harmony (e.g., Minority Alliance International). Probably the ultimate barometer of "interracialness" is the rate of the interracial marriages among its members. In the UM, interracial marriages are encouraged and the international scope of the UM offers its members real possibilities of such interracial marriages, which are in fact rapidly increasing. As a result of these interracial marriages, the UM is creating many increasingly interracial congregations and local communities all over the world. Racism is one of the phenomena of the "absolutizing of the relative." When the absolute value is attached to the color of the white race or black race, white racism or black racism comes into existence. For absolute monotheists, whatever color the skin may be, it is always good because it is created by God. Thus, genuine monotheism reminds its believers of the relativity of their color and facilitates interracial activities and good will that transcends the racial barriers.

3. The U M is an intercultural movement. The intercultural aspect of the UM is closely connected with its international or interracial aspects. As a result of its international and interracial aspects, the members of the UM have many opportunities to encounter and to live in various different cultures. The most conspicuous intercultural aspect of the UM is its effort to harmonize Oriental and Occidental cultures since it originated in Korea from the Judeo-Christian tradition. In addition to harmonizing Eastern and Western cultures, in the UM there is an aspect of harmonizing the cultures of the First World and the Third World, because Reverend and Mrs. Moon come from the Third World and have been working in the United States and Europe during the greater part of the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s in order to transform the First World culture.

Thus, Godism or absolute monotheism leads its believers to the awareness of the relative value of their own traditional culture, facilitates intercultural exchanges, and contributes to the emergence of a new harmonious global culture in the long run.

4. The UM is an intersexual movement. The UM is neither a men's nor a women's movement; it is a movement of, for, and by, both men and women. In recent years, there emerged radical feminists, who have attacked traditional Christianity on its patriarchism and misogyny; their contention is that "if God is male, then the male is God."6 In contrast, because Unification Theology clearly teaches that God has both masculine and feminine characteristics, it helps its believers to avoid the absolutizing of one sex and to appreciate the value of the other sex as complementary.

Besides, the absolutely monotheistic element of Godism makes clear the relativeness of gender. Unification Theology emphasizes that a man or a woman manifests only the partial nature of God and only unity of the man and woman can represent the complete image of God. Reverend Moon also repeatedly speaks that a man is created for the sake of a woman and that a woman, for the sake of a man. Therefore, we can say that the UM is a movement in an attempt to bring about genuine unity between men and women. Moreover, because Unification Theology teaches that Jesus could have manifested God's love more fully, if he had established a family by getting married with a woman prepared by God the imitation of Christ means for its believers not living a life of celibacy but preparing for and living a life of God-centered monogamous marriage. Consequently, premarital and extra-marital sex are strictly prohibited in the UM, but in their daily life male members and female members are not isolated or segregated but integrated as brothers and sisters and spiritual parents and children as a part of preparation for a married life.

5. The UM is an inter-realm movement. It is important to make a distinction between the UM and the Holy Spirit Association for the Unification of World Christianity (popularly called the Unification Church). The Unification Church remains within the realm of religion, but its members' activities are not confined (and legally are not limited) to the realm of religion. Its absolute monotheism leads its believers to the clear awareness that God is the sovereign not only in the realm of religion but also in the realms of politics, economy, education, arts, entertainment, and all others. Godism or absolute monotheism does not allow its believers to absolutize the realm of religion as the only sacred realm that deserves their exclusive attention; therefore, it discourages them from withdrawing and trying to stay only within the boundary of the religious realm. According to Godism, men and women of God should be vigorously involved in the activities in the realms of politics, economy, education, journalism, art, entertainment, and all others as well as in the realm of religion. Absolute monotheism makes it clear that God is not confined inside the chapels, and that dividing the world into the sacred realm of religion and the secular realm of all other non-religions will become false and harmful dichotomizing if the pious are discouraged from working in the so-called secular realms.

Therefore, the UM as a movement of absolute monotheism is not confined to the realm of religion; its members are engaged in various activities in the numerous realms of the world: manufacturing and marketing various products (e.g., Ginseng products, machines), publishing newspapers, magazines, and journals (e.g., The Washington Times, The World and I, Dialogue and Alliance), organizing academic associations and conferences (e.g., Professors World Peace Academy, International Conference on the Unity of the Sciences, etc.), producing movies ("Inchon"), fishing in the ocean, working for political campaigns, and sponsoring various arts and entertainment projects (e.g., Little Angels, N e w York City Symphony Orchestra, etc.). Consequently, it would not be wrong to say that the members of the U M are working, or intend to work, in all the realms to sanctify or to sacralize them. Because of these reasons, we can call the U M an inter-realm movement.

6. The UM is an inter-dimensional (inter-tense) movement. According to Unification Theology, God is a God of past, present, and future and transcends the tense or time; there exists only one God throughout history and throughout the physical and spiritual worlds. Therefore, God can never be satisfied unless he saves or restores not only the people in the present (i.e., those living in the physical world) but also those in the past (i.e., those living in the spirit world) and those in the future. As a result of this absolutely monotheistic viewpoint, Unification Theology emphasizes the interconnectedness between the past, present, and future, or between the spirit world and the physical world. In other words, it advocates the salvation of the dead and those yet to be born as well as those living on earth. Therefore, the U M members are deeply aware that the saints and sages in the past have sacrificed themselves for this present age and that w e must liberate both those who have passed away and those w h o are yet to be born (i.e., our descendants) by fulfilling God's will at this present age.

According to Unification Theology, those who have passed away exist as spiritual beings in the spirit world, which can exercise a certain influence on the physical world and vice versa. Consequently, the UM members always pray fervently, sometimes with fasting, in order to mobilize the spirit world, that is, to ask God to order the spirit persons to help those on earth. The UM members believe that by completing God's will on earth at this present time under the help of the spirit world we can restore not only those on earth but also those in the spirit world.

Therefore, the UM is an inter-dimensional (inter-tense) movement and believes in complete universal salvation-salvation of both the dead (i.e., those in the spirit world) and the living (i.e., those in the physical world).

7. The U M is an intergenerational movement. Since God is a God of both the young and the old, a movement of God should attract and take care of both the young and the old. Although this is not fully realized in the United States yet, in Korea and in Japan a large number of the people of the old generation have been involved in the UM, especially since the Home Church movement began.7 In the Home Church movement, each member selects 360 homes as his or her own parish and serves them in order to create a God-centered community of love and peace.

Containing various kinds of people from all generations, Home Church community symbolizes a microcosm of the world. Through Home Church activities, members have many opportunities to meet and to inter- act with people of all generations from young children, teenagers, young adults, middle-aged persons, to those who live in retirement.

More recently, Reverend Moon declared the Tribal Messiahship of all the blessed members in 1989 and they are now expected to restore at least 160 families, ideally those within their own clan (tribe) including their own parents in their own hometown. A tribe of 160 families to be restored naturally includes all generations. Thus, the ideal of the UM is to establish many God-centered homes where three or more generations live together peacefully and harmoniously, as Reverend and Mrs. Moon have presented us an ideal model at their home in Irvington, New York, by living together with Mrs. Moon's mother (till her death) as well as with their children and grandchildren under one roof. For these reasons we can call the UM an intergenerational movement.

8. The UM is an interdisciplinary movement. It’s being an interdisciplinary movement is closely connected with its being an inter-realm movement. It has sponsored various conferences that are related with numerous academic disciplines. Among these academic conferences, the oldest and the largest one is the International Conference on the Unity of the Sciences (ICUS). The ICUS invites not only scholars from various natural sciences but also those from various social sciences.

Reverend Moon, the founder of the ICUS, is keenly aware that we must solve both spiritual and physical (material) problems to build a better world. Apparently any single discipline cannot give a complete answer to the complicated human problems. In recent years, more and more scholars have come to realize the absolute necessity of exchanging ideas with scholars of other disciplines. According to the evaluation of many of the participants in the ICUS, it is the most truly interdisciplinary conference they have ever attended. In addition to the ICUS, the UM contributed to the founding of the Professors World Peace Academy, an interdisciplinary association of professors, and the Washington Institute for Values in Public Policy, an interdisciplinary research institution. As a harvest of these interdisciplinary researches and conferences, the UM is sponsoring a project of publishing a God-centered interdisciplinary encyclopedia that will enlighten and harmonize our knowledge in all disciplines. For these reasons we can call the UM an interdisciplinary movement.

9. The U M is an interclass movement. The Unificationists' awareness of God as a loving parent of all human beings leads them to a conclusion that "God intends to give everyone an equal environment and equal conditions of life, just as human parents would to their children."8 Therefore, they have deep concern for unifying dichotomized economic classes into one. At the Tenth ICUS, Reverend Moon spoke of the human society as follows:

“There are many confrontations and struggles in human society today. Confrontations exist between what might be called the upper and lower classes of races, nations, and societies, but the most serious problem of all is the confrontation between the upper and lower classes formed by the difference between wealth and poverty....”

A central medium which enables the upper and the lower classes to unite in the middle is necessary. This is none other than religion.

Originally, religion is supposed to accomplish this function. Religion's purpose is the salvation of the world rather than just the salvation of individuals or families. In order to unite the upper, the middle and the lower classes, new religion, which serves as a nucleus for unity, is necessary. Then what is the Unification Church? It is the new religion destined to carry out this historic mission.”9

Thus, unlike many of the believers in Latin American liberation theology or in Marxist movements, the UM members do not idealize or romanticize the lower class or any of the economic classes. Without absolutizing the wealth and without demonizing it, but relativizing it, the UM members are striving for harmony and unity among all the classes and for the ultimate emergence of one class.

10. The UM is an interdenominational movement. Generally speaking, religious groups of Christian origin are referred to as denominations. Although there are still many people who would not accept the Unification Church as a Christian church, there is no doubt that it originated from the Christian tradition. The official name of the Unification Church is the Holy Spirit Association for the Unification of World Christianity. As this name indicates, the UM members have been working to bring about interdenominational understanding and cooperation and believe that all Christians should be one in love since God is one. Consequently, the UM has sponsored numerous interdenominational conferences such as the New Ecumenical Research Association (New ERA) Conferences and the Interdenominational Conferences for Clergy (ICC) to facilitate mutual understanding across the denominational lines. Furthermore, it has also contributed to the interdenominational social service programs through the National Council for the Church and Social Action (NCCSA) and others. Because of these reasons, we can call the UM an interdenominational movement.

11. Finally, the UM is an interreligious (interfaith) movement. The UM has sponsored many interreligious/interfaith conferences and projects. Some of these are the Conference on God: The Contemporary Discussion, The Youth Seminar on World Religions, The Assembly of the World's Religions, The Council for the World's Religions, and The Religious Youth Service. In the Conference on God, many renowned religious scholars from various religious traditions gathered together to understand God. In the Youth Seminar on World Religions, young leaders of various religious traditions and from different nations formed a travelling team and visited the holy places of the major world religions. The Council for the World's Religions promotes dialogues and cooperation within and among major religious traditions. The Religious Youth Service organizes a number of service projects and serves local communities in need throughout the world by mobilizing hundreds of faithful young men and women from various religious backgrounds. These interreligious conferences and projects have contributed to the promotion of interreligious understanding and cooperation. Because of these interreligious conferences and projects promoted by the UM, we can call the UM an interreligious movement.

Monotheism and Interrelational Unificationism

I believe that these eleven examples of inter-x movements are some of the most important implications of the Unificationist view of God. Unificationists regard God as a common parent who yearns to see us united and loving one another. Moreover, for them, God is a subjective entity that encourages giving and receiving action between or among God's created beings (objects) for the purpose of bringing about unity. Thus, in Divine Principle, God is viewed as the originator and facilitator of these God-centered interactions.

Unificationism that inspires and facilitates each of these eleven inter-x movements may be described as

1) international unificationism,

2) interracial unificationism,

3) intercultural unificationism,

4) intersexual unificationism,

5) inter-realm unificationism,

6) inter-dimensional unificationism

7) intergenerational unificationism,

8) interdisciplinary unificationism,

9) interclass unificationism,

10) interdenominational unificationism, and

11) interreligious (inter-faith) unificationism, respectively.

It is important to note that there are two types of interrelational unificationism that guide these inter-x movements. The first type is identity-maintaining (static) unificationism and the second type is developmental (dynamic) unificationism.10 The first type creates, not new identity, but harmony among existing beings. On the other hand, the second type creates new identity. Consequently, in my view, among these eleven cases of interrelational unificationism, those of

4) intersexual,

5) inter-realm,

6) inter-dimensional,

7) intergenerational, and

8) interdisciplinary

exclusively refer to the first type: identity-maintaining unificationism. In other words, the UM members are striving for harmony between or among different sexes, realms, dimensions, generations, and disciplines. On the other hand, the rest of the eleven cases, namely,

1) international,

2) interracial,

3) intercultural,

9) interclass,

10) interdenominational, and

11) interreligious

refer to both types of unification-ism: identity-maintaining (static) and developmental (dynamic). Put differently, they are seeking not only for harmony among different nations, races, cultures, classes, denominations, and religions, but also ultimately for a dynamic emergence of a new identity: a new nation, a new race, a new culture, a new class, and a new religion. As mentioned above, I believe that the absolutely monotheistic aspect of the Unificationist view of God is the central facilitator of these cases of interrelational unificationism. Genuine monotheism can be greatly instrumental in the emergence of harmony and unity in the created world, partly because it keeps its believers from idolatry -the absolutizing of the relative- and partly because it enables them to find relevant value in every existence. For the genuine or absolute monotheists, idolatry -attachment of the absolute value to a relative being- is the major cause of conflict and disunity in this world, and absolute monotheism prevents us from this idolatry.

Monotheism and Religious Exclusivism

I placed the explanation of the interreligious movement at the end of the eleven inter-x movements because I wanted to make it clear that the UM has a consistent pattern of the inter-x movements and that its commitment to the interreligious dialogue and cooperation is not mere lip service, but a manifestation of its absolute monotheism. In other words, when we absolutize a relative being, there is no emerging of the inter-x movements.

Consequently, I disagree with British sociologist Bryan Wilson's assertion that Christianity inherited monotheism from Judaism and with it the associated attitudes of exclusivism.1' H e appears to be firmly convinced of the connection between monotheism and exclusivism of religions; he flatly states, for example, that "monotheism justified exclusivity"12 Nonetheless, my contention, as well as H. Richard Niebuhr's, is that the majority of Christians have never practiced genuine monotheism. Therefore, I contend that the exclusivism of Christianity is not the result of its monotheism, but on the contrary, the result of its non-practice of genuine monotheism. Certainly, there is no question that exclusivism has been one of the characteristics of the traditional Christianity throughout history. But it is largely a result of henotheism in Christianity, which tends to take, as pointed out by Niebuhr, either the church-centered form or the Christ-centered form. The former created a "high church" tradition, which has absolutized an institutional church, and the latter created a "high Christology" tradition, which has absolutized Jesus of Nazareth. These two "high" traditions in Christianity are not compatible with genuine (radical) monotheism and I believe they are in great part responsible for the rise of exclusivism in Christianity.

The Case History of the Unitarian Church

We can see in the history of the Unitarian Church in the United States a negative relation between monotheism and exclusivism as well as a positive relation between high Christology and exclusivism. The Unitarian Church came into existence in New England in the early nineteenth century by separating from the Congregational Church largely as a result of its rejection of the divinity of Jesus. The rejection of "high Christology" and thus of trinitarianism also led to its rejection of "high church" doctrines. As a consequence of these rejections, it became a more monotheistic group than the traditional trinitarian churches at the time of the separation; but it has also gradually become one of the most interreligious or the least exclusivist groups in the long run. In 1961, the Unitarian Association merged with the Universalists to form the Unitarian Universalist Association. Accordingly, the history of the Unitarian Church disproves the theory that monotheism is the primary cause of exclusivism.13

The history of the Unitarian Church also suggests that absolute monotheism and immanence of God are not far apart after all. As H. Richard Niebuhr noted, radical monotheism "reverences every relative existence," and "Whatever is, is good."14 This is because it regards God as responsible for all existence as the Creator of all beings. In other words, radical monotheism enables its believers to see the hand, power, or image of God behind every relative existence, that is, every created being. This is a clear contrast to the church-centered henotheism which is likely to confine God inside chapels and the Jesus-centered henotheism which tends to limit God's presence within the Christians who believe in Jesus of Nazareth. In contrast to these henotheists, it is easy for the absolute monotheists to see the guidance of God behind every religion and to reach out for interreligious dialogues.

Monotheism and a Cult of the Human Person

Along this line, I am intrigued by the thought that absolute monotheism and "a cult of the human person" predicted by Emile Durkheim might be synthesized.15 According to Durkheim, primitive societies are permeated by the conscience collective, which has a function of constraining and uniting its people into one coherent group. As societies developed into the modern age, the conscience collective was, however, destined to shrink and to wither away. Consequently, he foresaw that in such a future society a just social order would be maintained primarily by its citizens' mutual respect for the innate worth and sacredness of each human person. He referred to this semi-worshipping of individual human values as "a cult of the human person" and reached a conclusion that, far from being detrimental to social solidarity, this cult of the human person "is the only system of beliefs which can ensure the moral unity of the country."16

Because absolute monotheism rejects "high Christology" and "high church" doctrines, it tends to support "relatively high anthropology." In other words, absolute monotheism enables us to see the image of God within every human being irrespective of his or her religious affiliation. Therefore, it seems possible to say that absolute monotheism shares with Durkheim the view that in the future each individual will be treated as a sacred being. It will not be reconcilable, however, with the cult of the human person, if the latter insists on locating the sacred only inside human beings and denies its presence outside them, in other words, if the latter absolutizes the individual human being.

Western and Eastern Traditions

Finally, applying the perspective of genuine monotheism, I would like to discuss the relations between the Western and Eastern religious traditions. It is possible to see that the Western religious traditions- Judaism, Christianity, and Islam-have tried to teach us the importance of absolute monotheism, that is, "our attachment to the absolute," where- as the Eastern or Asian religious traditions have tried to teach us the importance of "our detachment from the relative." In this way, we can see that Oriental and Occidental traditions are not contradictory or not just compatible but perfectly complementary. We must admit that the Western religious traditions have sometimes inadvertently encouraged our attachment to the relative beings because of their strong emphasis on the attachment to the absolute. On the other hand, as Robert Bellah notes, the Eastern religious traditions are generally free from illusions because of their emphasis that all things are in a state of flux.17 In other words, the Eastern traditions emphasized the importance of our detachment from the relative. We can see any emphasis on our detachment from the relative as a practical way toward our spiritual search for, and ultimate attachment to, the absolute.

Conclusion

In this paper, I have discussed the significance and implications of genuine monotheism largely by applying H.R. Niebuhr's insights to the analysis of the UM. This paper asserted that genuine monotheism can be greatly instrumental in promoting various interrelational unificationisms and inter-x movements. Criticizing Wilson's view that monotheism is the major cause of religious exclusivism in the West, this paper presented the case of the Unitarian Church as evidence to the contrary. We also wondered about the relations between genuine monotheism and "a cult of the human person" predicted by Durkheim. Finally, we discussed the Western and Eastern religious approaches from the perspective of genuine monotheism and discerned that they are complementary. I hope our recovering or understanding of genuine monotheism will be helpful in invigorating various inter-x movements and facilitating the emergence of harmony and unity in this world because the inter-x movements are prerequisite to such harmony and unity.

--------------------------

Endnotes

1. For the meaning of radical monotheism, see H. Richard Niebuhr, Radical Monotheism and Western Culture (New York: Harper & Row, 1960; Harper Torchbooks, 1970).

2. Ibid., 58.

3. Ibid., 37.

4 . J R Rjchard_Niebuhr, The Meaning of Revelation (New York: Macmillan, 1941), viii.

5. For an understanding of the U M , see David G. Bromley and Anson Shupe, Jr., "Moonies" in America (Beverly Hills: Sage, 1979); M. Darrol Bryant and Herbert W. Richardson, eds. A Time for Consideration: A Scholarly Appraisal of the Unification Church (New York: Edwin Mellen Press, 1978); Mose Durst, To Bigotry, No Sanction: Reverend Sun Myung Moon and the Unification Church (Chicago: Regnery Gateway, 1984); [Hyo Won Eu], Divine Principle, 5th Ed. (New York: Holy Spirit Association for the Unification of World Christianity, 1977); Joseph Fichter, The Holy Family of Father Moon (Kansas City: Leaven Press, 1985); Young Oon Kim, Unification Theology (New York: Holy Spirit Association for the Unification of World Christianity, 1980); Sebastian A. Matczak, Unificationism: A New Philosophy and Worldview (New York: Learned, 1982); Sun Myung Moon, God's Will and the World (New York: Holy Spirit Association for the Unification of World Christianity, 1985) Richard Quebedeaux, ed. Lifestyle: Conversations with Members of the Unification Church (New York: Rose of Sharon, 1982); Herbert Richardson, ed., Ten Theologians Respond to the Unification Church (New York: Rose of Sharon, 1981); Frederick Sontag, Sun Myung Moon and the Unification Church (Nashville: Abingdon, 1977); and Yoshihiko Masuda, "Moral Vision and Practice in the Unification Movement," Ph.D. dissertation, University of Southern California, 1987.

6. Mary Daly, Feminist Postchristian Introduction to The Church and the Second Sex (New York: Harper & Row; Harper Colophon Books, 1975), 38.

7. For the assessment of the H o m e Church movement, see Joseph Fichter, "Home Church: Alternative Parish," in his Alternative to American Mainline Churches (New York: Rose of Sharon, 1983), 179-99; and Fichter, Holy Family, 111- 30.

8. [Eu], Divine Principle, 443.

9. Sun Myung Moon, Science and Absolute Values (New York: ICF Press, 1982), 97-99.

10. For further discussion of identity-maintaining unificationism and develop- mental unificationism, see [Sang Hun Lee], Explaining Unification Thought (New York: Unification Thought Institute, 1981) 31-34, 92; and [Sang Hun Lee], Essentials of Unification Thought (Tokyo: Unification Thought Institute, 1992), 29-34.

11. Bryan Wilson, Religion in Sociological Perspective (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1982), 61.

12. Ibid.

13. For the history of the Unitarian Church, see William E. Channing, Unitarian Christianity and Other Essays (Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill, 1957); David B. Parke, The Epic of Unitarianism (Boston: Beacon Press, 1957); Stow Persons, Free Religion (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1947; Beacon Paperback, 1963); Prescott B. Wintersteen, Christology in American Unitarianism (Boston: Unitarian Universalist Christian Fellowship, 1977); Conrad Wright, The Beginnings of Unitarianism in America (Boston: Beacon Press, 1966).

14. See Niebuhr, Radical Monotheism, 37.

15. For Durkheim's views on the cult of the individual/human person, see Emile Durkheim, The Division of Labor in Society, trans. George Simpson (New York: Macmillan, 1933; Free Press, 1964), 172, 407-8; Emile Durkheim, Suicide: A Study in Sociology, trans. John A. Spaulding and George Simpson (New York: Free Press, 1951), 336; and Emile Durkheim, "Individuals and the Intellectuals," in Emile Durkheim: On Morality and Society, ed. Robert Bellah; trans, M. Traugott (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1973), 43-57. It is important to note the difference between his negative evaluation of the cult of the individual in his Division of Labor and positive evaluation of the cult of the human person in his later work. M y view on the relations between monotheistic religions and the cult of the human person is contrary to Frances Westley's. She totally denies any compatibility between the two. See Frances Westley, '"The Cult of Man': Durkheim's Predictions and N e w Religious Movements." Sociological Analysis 39 (Summer 1978): 135-45; and Frances Westley, 77ze Complex Forms of the Religious Life: A Durkheimian View of New Religious Movements (Chico, CA: Scholar's Press, 1983).

16. Durkheim, "Individuals and the Intellectuals," 50.

17. Robert Bellah says "Eastern religions are strong ... in sensitivity to the illusions and transitoriness of the world." See Sam Keen and Robert Bellah, "The Sacred and the Political in American Life," Psychology Today (January 1976): 64.

MOVEMENT, COMMUNITY and/or CHURCH?

MOVEMENT, COMMUNITY and/or CHURCH?

Quotes from True Father, Rev. Hyung-jin Moon and Dr. Hyun-Jin Moon

In his inaugural speech on April 18, 2009, Rev. Hyung Jin Moon emphasize the value of been a “religious minister”. It points out that in essence we are a religious movement and that we cannot eliminate these religious and spiritual dimensions because “Without the religious context, we could not explain the Divine Principle, True Parents or the Messiah”.

Personally I agree with these affirmations and I welcome this necessary emphasis on the spiritual and religious dimension, although I was surprise that such emphasis is done by bringing the paradigm that WE ARE CHURCH, when True Father never founded any “church”, neither was his intention that we will became another Christian denomination or separate “religion”. True Father like Jesus Christ is above and transcends religious paths revealing a universal message share by all historical religions.

Let’s examine this issue with several quotes from True Father over the years and quotes from Rev. Hyung Jin Moon and Dr. Hyun Jin Moon:

---------------

Sontag: I want to know if you see any danger of the church drifting toward becoming just another church among many. What can happen is that people who are establishment-oriented gain control and then empire-ambition begins to dominate.

Moon: This is the fundamental difference between the existing churches and the Unification Church. Ours is not a denomination but a movement of unification. Therefore, this movement will not cease in its revolutionary zeal or its pioneering task until the ultimate goal of establishing the kingdom of God here on earth is physically accomplished and God is able to take great comfort and joy after his six thousand biblical years of suffering.

We really could not become just an institutionalized established church. This is really a movement, and it will not settle down until the movement is no longer necessary.
(From the book: Sun Myung Moon and the Unification Church by Frederick Sontag – Chapter VI - Interview with SMM on Thursday, February 3, 1977)

----------------- 

The era for the unity of Christianity has already passed. Since the restoration of the right of the first son and right of the parent has been completed, we have entered the era, not just for the unity of Christianity but for the unity of the world. Therefore, as of April 10, we should put aside the name "Unification Church" and instead work under the name of the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification. (283-11, 1997.4.8)

With the completion of the mission of the Holy Spirit Association for the Unification of World Christianity, the mission of religion has been brought to a conclusion. For the first time in human history, we have entered a new era that does not require salvation through religion.

The objective of the Family Federation lies in transforming families into ideal families, thereby restoring and perfecting God's ideal of creation and establishing the ideal heavenly world. (283-9, 1997.4.8)

---------------- 

“I, who knew God's truth from an early age, did not want to create another sect or denomination. Christianity, which was the central religion of God's Providence, did not accept my teaching of Heaven's way and that is why I had to make the organization, "The Holy Spirit Association for the Unification of World Christianity."

It was an association, not another sect or denomination. But even though the Christian world continued to deny, to persecute, to label it as heretical, to turn its face away from us, when our movement started to become bigger, the world began to call us the Unification Church, instead of the long official title. That is how we became the Unification Church. However, from many, many years ago, I have lived in hope of seeing the day when we could take down the church sign, and I even prophesied about that day. Finally, in 1996, we took down the signs and started as "The Family Federation for World Peace."

This was a very important event in the history of humankind. This event was the beginning of a new world which changed the old world, where people lived with the burden of sin inherited from false parents, in suffering and conflict, living a life of faith, in which the only way to find God was through a life of prayer and repentance. It became a world where people could be reborn by receiving the Blessing from the True Parents and by living their lives by just reporting their actions to God.”

(God's True Love and the Liberation of the Relationship of Heaven and Earth and Humankind - Sun Myung Moon - February 6, 2003 - Jamsil Gymnasium - Seoul Korea)

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

From: "A BALD HEAD AND A STRABBERRY" by Hyung Jin Moon:

"I also reminded everyone that Abonim (Dad in Korean)

Changed the name of the movement from the Holy Spirit Association for the Unification of World Christianity to the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification. The emphasis expanding from mere unity of Christianity to the more encompassing mission for world peace.

Gives the marriage Blessing (Unificationism's only major sacrament) to married Buddhist monks, Hindu gurus, Muslim imams, Jewish rabbis, Christian priest, Jain priests, Native American chieftains, etc.

Continually emphasizes that we are a movement that must be, "transcending religion, nation, race and even the world (Cho-jong-gyo, Cjho-gook-ga, Cho-in-jong)".

Affirms the view of heaven as one where Jesus calls Buddha "honored Buddha" and says, "let us worship in both the Christian way and the Buddhist way." Where Jesus addresses Christians saying, "what would you think of me if you saw me now, being together here with the Buddha whom many Christians call an idol worshipper? What would you think of me?" Where Confucius and Mohammed report on the unity of the religious leaders. Where religious peoples keep their respective religious identities (Christian, Muslim, Buddhist, etc.) and are united under the unity of Hananim (God in Korean).

Mobilized thousands to advocate the establishment of an inter-religious council at the United Nations, consisting of all religions, not just the Abrahamic religions (many believe that Abonim views only the Abrahamic religions as real religions and the others as pagan religions):

I said, "Whether or not one believes these very recent affirmations is up to the individual. However, as religious scholar, these new teachings and affirmations of ecumenism and true inter-religious harmony seem to suggest interesting progression in the development of the Unification tradition and its founder's perceived mission."

(...) At the end of it all someone said, "Wow, Abonim learned a lot today! You're not going to applaud what your son said, "No, no, I'm sorry, Abonim didn't learn anything today. This is all what he teaches." Abonim applauded.

This experience was critical as it showed all in the car that the trajectory of the movement, as perceived by the teacher, was not that we become another Christian denomination, but that we must become a movement that embraces all traditions, as the savior should be the "servant-leader" of all the traditions, people and races. This was another experience that gave me immense hope for the future of Unificationism.

We also see this parallel in early Christianity. There were two major theological position_ The "Petrine" which held that one effectively had to become Jewish to find Jesus, and the "Pauline," which held that all, even the Gentile, could go straight to Jesus without circumcision, dietary restrictions, etc. Scholars believe that because Christianity adopted the Pauline view, early Christians were able to influence the world more readily.

What becomes a critical question for the future of Unificationism is whether people from a certain faith can go straight to True Parents, or must they first affirm Jesus? Well, if one is paying attention to what Father affirms such as:

Sharing one's most central sacrament (the Blessing) without requiring participants to change their religion.

Spiritual messages depicting a view of heaven that attests to various religious communities showing respect for other traditions while keeping their own religious faith.

Canonizing Jesus, Buddha, Confucious, Mohammed, and other historical figures, as saints of the Unification tradition.

This is a vision that I believe can change the world, can make true and lasting peace, and unite all people of all races, of all nations, of all religions. These were the true gems that were found in Hawaii.

(From: "A BALD HEAD AND A STRABBERRY" by Hyung Jin Moon)

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

Hyun Jin Moon - September 2007 - A report to True Parents and our global membership:

“For the past seven years, I have prepared for this time by educating our blessed central families in how to fulfill God's dream and True Parents' legacy by creating true families based on the Family Pledge and Father's Peace Messages, and to align with God and become owners of a new culture of heart.

True Father has explained that Jesus was the one who came to realize God's dream for all people of the world. He did not live long enough to accomplish his full mission, and he said he would have to come again. Today True Father has come to fulfill God's original ideal and the same dream Jesus had. Thus, Jesus "returns" in the work of the True Parents. They have come to finish the uncompleted mission of Jesus.

Like Jesus, True Father's original mission was not to create another religion or a separate theology but to realize the ultimate dream of God in creating a true inter-religious, international movement.

True Parents' interfaith movement is different from other existing interfaith efforts. Instead of merely respecting and tolerating the differences of each religion, True Parents' interfaith efforts focus on the universal principles found within all religions and unify the different religions centered on these principles in order to realize God's dream.

Through the first twelve-city speaking tour, directed by True Parents, I was able to begin spreading this message about the need for all humanity to go beyond religions and fulfill their true mission of realizing one family under God. To this, I add the word, "aju," a Korean word (coined by Father) that implies the concept, "I will take responsibility for doing it." Therefore, "One Family under God, Aju!" There is no more profound or simpler way to express it.

True Father received the Divine Principle directly as a revelation from God, but this is not Unificationist "theology." This is a set of principles behind the Creation, fundamental truths that the world's faith traditions already embody -- and that can serve as a basis for bringing us all into oneness under God. I have been explaining this through the International Leadership Conferences (ILC), MEPI (Middle East Peace Initiative), at the Korean National Assembly, the United Nations Headquarters in New York, and in meetings with the pastors of some of the largest Christian churches in the U.S.

To accomplish concrete providential goals, centering on the vision of "One Family under God" and the Peace Messages, there is a need to newly integrate and align our Unification Movement worldwide, inter-religiously and internationally. Therefore, I have presented three key strategic initiatives as focal points for our Unification Movement.

- The first strategy is to encourage the Pan-Pacific Rim peace movement to move toward the peaceful reunification of the Korean Peninsula. This is the desire of every Korean and will bring stability to the region.

- The second strategy is to work with inter-religious peace movements worldwide to finally resolve conflict of the Abrahamic faiths and end the hatred and bloodshed in the Middle East.

- The third strategy is to help bring renewal to the UN by taking the lead in achieving the UN Millennium Development Goals (MDG), centered on the principle of living for the sake of others.

Along with these three strategic initiatives, I have been preparing to hold Global Peace Festivals throughout the world from 2008 until 2012. These Global Peace Festivals will expand the global peace movement, uniting many kindred spirit organizations and people who embrace the ideal of one family under god. The Global Peace Festivals will also bring the international, intercultural Blessing Movement into the mainstream as the path to build a culture of world peace among all nations, races and religions.”

(Hyun Jin Moon - September 2007 - A report to True Parents and our global membership.)

-------------------

My comments:

Observing Rev. Hyung-Jin Moon sermons’ and particularly the latest official memo No-FFWPUI 2009-37, I have been observing a gradual change from the universal positions he uphold in the book "A BALD HEAD AND A STRABBERRY", as quote above, that “the trajectory of the movement, as perceived by the teacher, was not that we become another Christian denomination”, and the emphasis that he gives now to the particular term “CHURCH”, insisting in the used of the old name “Unification Church”, instead of the new official name Family Federation for World Peace and Unification used from the last ten years, which represents more universally our main spiritual activities, ideals and goals, focusing in the marriage blessings and the realization of ideal families.

Church = ecclesia in Latin, "ekklesía" in Greek, means assembly or community, so “Unification Church” can correctly be translated as “Unification Community” or even as “Unification Family”. Because if we use the name "church", "synagogue" or "mosque", which are terms that have strong historical and cultural connotations, these expressions will have implications in many parts of the world that will confuse more than clarify the necessary work in our goal for Unification.

For instance, if we want to work in Moslem countries, we will block ourselves unnecessarily if we used the word CHURCH instead of Unification Community or Family Federation. The same for Buddhist or Catholic countries, if we identify ourselves as "church" in most of the countries in Latin America, automatically we position ourselves as another Protestant or minority Evangelical church or denomination.

Personally, I prefer the word “Movement” that conveys much better who we are (unificationists with diverse multi-culture and multi-religious backgrounds) and what we do in order to explain the multiplicity of organizations founded by True Father to reach our goals: a movement to accomplish God’s Ideal of the Three Blessings, the Principle of Creation, and the materialization of Chung Il Guk.

Religion = re-ligare in Latin, means to reunited with God or a Path to God.

The emphasis now that “we are a religion”, it should be in my opinion interpreted as the “path to God”, as the development of our spiritual life, instead of other connotations such as RELIGION = dogma = rituals. Because, religion is not a goal in itself, but it is basically the MEANS to an END, the “vehicle”, the “instrument”, the necessary “training” to achieve the GOAL. In essence Unification Principles are UNIVERSAL PRINCIPLES share by all historical religions. Searching similar goals, although with differences in the spiritual ways or paths in training their people to attain such share common goals:

- Develop a good character - overcame selfishness (First Blessing)

- Build an establish a good marriage and family (Second Blessing)

- Create a good environment and government of all things around us. (Third Blessing)

Let’s see the example below with the recent official memo which insists in the term CHURCH with these translations: “Unification Community” instead of “Unification Church” and a Path to God instead of Religion, which I personally consider more adequate and universal to maintain the spirit of UNIFICATIONISM:

------------------------------

Ref. No. FFWPUI 2009-37

To: Regional presidents, National messiahs, National leaders

From: FFWPU International Headquarters

Date: July 17, 2009

Re.: Use of the Name “Unification Community” and the Emblem of Unification Community

May God and True Parents’ blessings and love be with brothers and sisters in all regions and mission nations.

1. The emblem of the Unification Community is the symbol of our activities. This is to announce the general use of the emblem (or symbol) of the Unification Community for the activities of the Community and its members, for which True Parents gave their permission during hoondokhwae at Cheonhwagung on June 23, 2009.

1) The emblem of the Unification Community, the symbol of our path to God, was designated in accordance with True Father’s design in January 1965 at the former headquarters Community in Cheongpa-dong, Korea. (Refer to: True Father’s explanation of the emblem of the Unification Community below)

2) True Parents were victorious in the course of restoration through indemnity. They are the eternal True Parents of Humankind and the King and Queen of Peace. Their coronation was held on June 13, 2006 on the occasion of their entrance into Cheon Jeong Gung, and they proclaimed Cheon Il Guk throughout heaven and earth. During that historic ceremony, the emblem of the Unification Community was designated as the national flag of Cheon Il Guk, and the national anthem (the holy song “Blessing of Glory”), national flowers (rose and lily), and national bird (crane) were designated and proclaimed.

3) Our members should establish their identity as proud Unificationists. True Father explained (on June 23, 2009) that “The roots of the name ‘Unification Community’ should be found in its emblem.” Therefore, the Unification Community emblem will be used broadly in all our witnessing, public relations, service activities, Community activities, and on our web sites.

4) The Unification Community is a path to God in the same way that Buddhism, Confucianism and Islam are paths to God. As the parent path to God, the Unification Community must establish the Abel-realm on a new, global level by harmonizing and uniting not just Christianity but all the world’s paths to God through the true love of God. (See Pyeonghwa Shingyeong, Peace Message number 1, given on September 12, 2005) The foundation for the “unification of paths to God through returning resurrection” which is explained in the chapter on Resurrection in Exposition of the Divine Principle, is being laid through True Parents’ realm of victory, the works of the True Family in the spirit world, and the Blessing of religious people beginning with the four great saints in the spirit world.

5) In this era of Cheon Il Guk after the revolutionary coming of heaven, all members should inherit the true love of God and practice true love under the emblem of Unification Community, which is the Cheon Il Guk flag and the symbol of our path to God. They should build Cheon Il Guk, which is the ideal of God and the True Parents of Heaven, Earth and Humankind and the goal of the Unification Community.

2 True Parents’ explanation of the emblem of Unification Community:

All things in the universe were created to engage in give and take. This emblem is a symbol of heaven and earth that is formed centering on God, just as the universe is formed centering on the sun in this solar system that is inhabited by human beings. The center of the emblem indicates that all our ideals are connected together here. Twelve lines radiate from the center. The four thicker lines represent the four directions: four directions must be fixed in order for a being to be centered and remain standing. In other words, this refers to the four-position foundation. All twelve lines express the months of the year centering on the four directions of north, south, east and west. This all revolves through relationships of give and take.

If you take a holistic view of the emblem of the Unification Community you will see that it resembles the steering wheel of a ship, indicating that we ourselves must steer heaven and earth (the cosmos). The emblem of Unification Community contains all the contents of the Principle of Creation, which is our ideal.

Usually a flag symbolizes a nation. The emblem of the Unification Community today represents our Community but it symbolizes a unified world and the bright day on which God’s purpose of creation is fulfilled—a world that is in accord with God’s heart, a unique world that is the hope of not only our Community but of all history, of the present and of the future. Consequently, those who live with God’s heart, cherishing this emblem in their bosom, will gain the strength to overcome Satan and his treacherous forces. If you believe this, therefore, and go forward with courage, God will work through you with this emblem wherever you go. (Hyung Jin Moon - International President)

-------------------------------- 

Universal constitutional principles based on SMM words

Father has talked in several occasions about the need for a “Heavenly Constitution” - See the quotes from the Cheon Seong Gyeong below (5) and he has mentioned it again in the HDK last September 18: "It is 3 years and 3 months until January, 2013. Through the Peace UN there will be one government and one constitution for the world..."

The principles of a Heavenly Constitution should guide our internal governance within the movement and serve as a future basis for a Chun Il Guk Constitution. In the following recompilation of Father’s words about this topic, we already have the essential guiding principles that Father has point out as fundamental for such Constitution:

The FAMILY pledge, (1)

The “Three Immutable Laws” expressed in May 8, 2001, (2)

The “seven points in the Peace Message No 5”, (3)

The “FIVE basic points” on the Speech of January 15, 2009 (4)

All of these principles and inspirations need to be express in a more detail, legalistic, universal and secular format, condensed into a clear and succinct charter to form a Constitution. These will be the fundamental Universal Values in the Unification Tradition that can be presented to the larger world, written in the format of constitutional principles for “a world governed by our conscience and natural reason” (as Father promises on January 15, 2009) because the future world would be based on constitutional principles, not on personalities.

Father told us in Uruguay that what will remain forever are his words, which are his legacy, and he has restated that in his public speeches in 2010 giving detail list of books that capture the essence of his teachings.

In the complex world that we are living, our future governance can not be directed just by a lineage of kings or mediums, a channeler or “oracle”. As we said in South America, if you want to play soccer, first ("marcamos la cancha") "we establish the sides of the field" with fare play by the rules of the game... We all should play by the same rules: Heavenly rules. The enormous amount of words that Father leaves behind could be used (or even abused) to prove almost any point of view, and this is why more than an arbitrator or authority to settle issues of interpretation what we really need before Father ascends is a "Heavenly Constitution".

The unalienable rights of each one of us are most likely to be protected and preserved (now and in the future) if the principles of a heavenly law are set forth in a written Constitution. For all of us and our families a "Heavenly Constitution" should be the more effective protection against the frailties of our leaders and any abuse of power. We should be governed by law and by our consciences and not by the whims of men.

Jesus Gonzalez Losada

----------------------------------

NOTES WITH THE REFERENCES:

(1) Family Pledge 8 points: Our family, the owner of Cheon IL Guk, pledges to:

1. Seek our original homeland and build the Kingdom of God on earth and in heaven, the original ideal of creation, by centering on true love.
2. Represent and become central to heaven and earth by attending God and True Parents; we pledge to perfect the dutiful family way of filial sons and daughters in our family, patriots in our nation, saints in the world, and divine sons and daughters in heaven and earth, by centering on true love.
3. 3. Perfect the Four Great Realms of Heart, the Three Great Kingships and the Realm of the Royal Family, by centering on true love.
4. 4. Build the universal family encompassing heaven and earth, which is God's ideal of creation, and perfect the world of freedom, peace, unity and happiness, by centering on true love.
5. Strive every day to advance the unification of the spirit world and the physical world as subject and object partners, by centering on true love.
6. Become a family that moves heavenly fortune by embodying God and True Parents, and to perfect a family that conveys Heaven's blessing to our community, by centering on true love.
7. Perfect the world based on the culture of heart, which is rooted in the original lineage, through living for the sake of others, by centering on true love.
8.  Achieve the ideal of God and human beings united in love through absolute faith, absolute love and absolute obedience, having entered the Completed Testament Age, and to perfect the realm of liberation and complete freedom in the Kingdom of God on earth and in heaven, by centering on true love.

-------------------------------------------

(2) Three Immutable Laws – (2001)

- The first law is that one must not stain the blood lineage…

- The second law is not to infringe upon human rights. …

- The third law is to refrain from stealing money to fulfill selfish desires. …

What's the first? Purity! Second? Abuse of human rights! Third? Misuse of money!

================ See the full text below =================

From now, we have to recognize and abide by immutable law. The first law is that one must not stain the blood lineage, even to the point of dying. The second law is not to infringe upon human rights. Whether female or male, black or white, everyone is equal. One must not discriminate or violate human rights. For this reason, people who are in a leadership position must not change someone else's position according to their own desire or feeling.

The one who practices true love, honoring human rights in the correct way, living for the sake of others, is in the mainstream. The creation of heaven and earth began from that point. Whoever commits an act that dilutes or squanders this main current of thought is not to be tolerated. Violation of this is the second of all sins.

The third law is to refrain from stealing money to fulfill selfish desires. Seventy percent of the people in jail are there because of these crimes. If you are imprisoned, you will see this is true. Human rights infringements and lineage violations are problems that concern man and woman. Then come the money problems. Following these are the problems dealing with power and money. Money, knowledge and power have ruled the satanic world.

From today forward, the blessed blood lineage that has been bequeathed through God's love and life cannot be contaminated by actions immersed in the habitual patterns of the fallen world. Can you abide by this rule? All couples, even if your spouse is dead, must pledge today that you will not stain your lineage. We must not forget this Memorial Day. When there is a quarrel between a husband and a wife, you should be able to stop immediately by remembering January 13. In the West, thirteen is the worst of all numbers. If the center consists of 12 months, the principle of heaven and earth will circulate through the year. However since this center number 13 does not exist, everything is in chaos and it has become an irrational, confusing world. God's desire is to straighten it out; therefore, once you understand this principle, you must abide by it even if you have to die a thousand times. Think of this as a moment to make an unbreakable, impermeable determination.

What's the first? Purity! Second? Abuse of human rights! Third? Misuse of money! On this Memorial Day, in order to maintain the sovereign power, the kingship of heaven, and to stand before it as a people, parents, wife, children, and brothers and sisters, this is absolutely necessary. Therefore, you cannot neglect your older brother. You cannot neglect your younger brother merely because he is handicapped. In the secular world, people may not care, but we cannot neglect in-laws or relatives.

(God is Our King and True Parent - Sun Myung Moon - May 8, 2001 - Canaan Baptist Church - Harlem, NY)

------------------------------------

(3) Peace Message No 5 – (2006) – See full text with the seven points below:

… Citizens of the kingdom of heaven, this is a precious and blessed day of victory and glory. Now, as the King of Cosmic Peace, I will declare, on this 13th day of June in the sixth year of Cheon IL Guk, the fundamental duties and mission that every citizen of Cheon Il Guk should understand and live by as they walk the way of Heaven.

- First, as God is the vertical True Parent and you are true children of God, you will establish the realm of three generations your family, perfect the Four Great Realms of Heart, and attend God on the vertical axis for eternity.

Further, you will inscribe on your heart the need to uphold the Cosmic King of Peace, who is the horizontal True Parent, and to live with absolute obedience on the horizontal axis for eternity as a citizen of Cheon Il Guk. You will make living for the sake of others, which is the practice of true love, the standard of your life. You will establish a true family and raise true children who are sinless and pure, thus protecting God's lineage and bequeathing it intact from generation to generation.

- Second, no matter what the situation, you will live with your mind and body united as one. In my case as well, from the day I first determined to follow Heaven's path, I resolved to keep this as my motto: "Before you desire to have dominion over the universe, you must first have dominion over yourself."

God has given you a conscience as your guide in accomplishing this objective. Your conscience knows everything about you. It has complete knowledge of every action and step you take; it even knows your thoughts. Your conscience knows all these things about you before your teacher or pastor knows. It knows them before your parents know. It knows them even better than God knows. So if you place your conscience in God's position over your life, and go the way of absolute obedience, of "high-noon settlement," it is certain that you will establish a realm of resonance between your mind and body and perfect their unity.

- Citizens of Cheon Il Guk, the unification of spirit world have been completed. The issue now is the 6.5 billion people living on earth in the physical body. They struggle in agony in the midst of sin and suffering, yet they are your brothers and sisters. Your third mission is to educate them and bring them home as people of Cheon Il Guk.

You should educate everyone to understand that all human beings without exception are descended from the Fall and must change their blood lineage through receiving the Holy Marriage Blessing from the True Parents. You must continue the work of engrafting people onto the True Olive Tree, by having them participate in the grace of exchange marriage, until the day when all humankind, numbering more than 300 billion souls, is restored to God's lineage.

- Fourth, you are created to spend ten months in your mother's womb, about 100 years on earth breathing air, and then all eternity in the spirit world. You should understand that, just as proper preparation in the womb is required for a healthy life after birth, you must devote your earthly life to prepare yourself for the next stage of life in the spirit world. Never forget that in every time and place, and no matter what you are doing, your ancestors in the spirit world are with you. Be ever mindful to live in harmony with the spirit world. Communicate in prayer with the heavenly world with sincerity and dedication, so that you may become perfected in your spirit self while you are living on the earth.

- Fifth, your talents and abilities are required for the management and governance of Cheon Il Guk. Now therefore, cut away and cast off your mask of selfish individualism. It is but a remnant of the Age Before the Coming of Heaven. In order to belong to Heaven, you must change ownership by participating in the Ceremony of Returning Ownership, offering everything you own to God and then receiving it back from God.

In addition, all citizens of Cheon Il Guk will provide funds for the well being and peace of humanity, not by taxation but by voluntary contributions. They will demonstrate the model of offering the first three tenths of their income for public purposes. This cannot be an imposed tax; it has to be a gift that citizens offer willingly to Heaven with joyful hearts.

- Sixth, beloved citizens of Cheon Il Guk, in the Age After the Coming of Heaven it is possible to recover the ideal world of creation that was lost as a result of the Human Fall. God created all the earth's creatures as our natural environment; they are absolutely needed for human prosperity. Human beings and nature are meant to share a realm of mutual resonance, with humans as the subject partners of love and nature as the object partner thriving under human management and beautified by human creativity. We can no longer tolerate actions that destroy nature and pollute the environment.

As citizens of Cheon Il Guk, please have the wisdom to protect and love nature. Return to nature and enjoy a life of liberation and complete freedom. To love nature is to love God and humanity. When human life resonates with nature, human character can blossom in perfection. The flowers of a true culture of heart, a true artistic world, will bloom. It will be the Garden of Eden, the original ideal where human beings and all creation live in complete harmony and express their original nature.

If you practice such true love in your daily life, how can God do anything but bestow great blessings upon you? You will live for all eternity in blessing and happiness.

- Seventh, the Age after the Coming of Heaven that God and True Parents have opened is a time of dramatic change. As registered citizens of Cheon Il Guk, you have the mission to make this era blossom and bear fruit in blessing and glory. Therefore, please become Heaven's emissaries, fulfilling the dual missions of the "Peace Kingdom Police Force" and "Peace Kingdom Corps." Serve humanity under the banner of the Universal Peace Federation, which is working to establish the position of the Abel-type United Nations. Worthy countrymen and women, if not you, then who, will nurture and protect the blessed families and this blessed planet Earth that God has given us?

(Peace Message No 5 - CHEON IL GUK IS THE IDEAL HEAVENLY KINGDOM OF ETERNAL PEACE [Editor's note] This is the speech the Rev. Dr. Sun Myung Moon delivered on the occasion of the Entrance Ceremony of the Cheonjeong Palace and the Coronation of the King of Peace in Heaven and on Earth, which took place on June 13, 2006 in Cheongpyeong, the Republic of Korea.)

----------------- 

(4) January 15, 2009 Speech - See full text of the five points below:

Therefore, on this solemn occasion today, I will proclaim to all of heaven and earth the outline of the heavenly law by which humankind and all things of creation will regain their rightful positions and be governed.

First, this era, which is moving toward the third millennium, will be the "Era of revolutionary change after the coming of heaven." In this era, we will no longer be ensnared by the principles of restoration through indemnity; it will be the time when the king of kings rules the spirit world and physical world with His rightful authority. It will be an era of the providence that will return the earth back to its original state with the realm of the Pacific Rim serving as a central axis. People will no longer be beyond the influence of Heaven's ways and the heavenly law. Therefore, you must lead a transparent life with your every action being as clear as a crystal.

Second, we must accomplish a revolution in educating all people on the value of absolute sexual ethics, with God as their vertical, absolute axis. This is the only way to pass on the lineage of goodness to all of humankind. That is the path to achieving God's ideal of true families. From now on, sexual purity, purity of lineage and purity of love will be the educational philosophy of the human race.

Third, the Peace King Representatives (boon-bong-wangs) and the "Parent UN" will be placed at the forefront of the efforts to completely eliminate the walls and barriers that surround this earth in multiple layers and to reinstate harmony and peace between political parties, religions, races, cultures and nations. The existing UN (which stands in the position of the Cain-type UN) and the Abel-type UN should become one and elevate to a higher dimension, becoming the Parent UN, in other words, the "Peace UN." Centering on the Peace UN, war, disease, hunger and all other problems confronting the world will be addressed and resolved. All people must surely go this way. They will have no choice because God and True Parents will be with them. Individualistic self-centeredness as well as collective self-centeredness will be completely eradicated, and this will lead to the realization of a world governed by our conscience and natural reason with no need for the election of leaders.

Fourth, the cross-cultural, international blessing marriage is the optimal method of establishing true families that will purify the lineage of the fallen human race and build the peace kingdom. In the end, reconciliation and peace will come about through lineage. When blacks and whites, people from the East and West, Buddhists and Christians, and Jews and Moslems intermarry and carry on the blessed marriage tradition that True Parents have established, this world will naturally become one family. An ideal, heavenly kingdom based on the ideal of "One Family under God" will come about. As we melt our guns and cannons to make plows and hoes, a world of peace will open up before us.

Fifth, God created us as His counterparts in love, and He prepared the natural world as a gift for us, His children. God would not leave His children to live in a barren desert devoid of beautiful scenery. That is why all people have the duty to preserve and love the natural world. I am saying that you should develop your human nature as it was originally meant to be, such that you experience resonance even with a cluster of wild flowers as you share a heartfelt conversation with them. That will be the shortcut to restoring humankind to God.

(Coronation for the Realm of Liberation for God, the King of Kings - Sun Myung Moon - January 15, 2009)

------------------------------------

(5) Quotes from the Cheon Seong Gyeong about “CONSTITUTION” below:

God cannot do it alone. Today’s Christian ministers may think that the all-knowing and all-powerful God can do things arbitrarily any time with the power of creation. But that is far from the truth. All existing things in heaven and earth operate by laws and principles. Even God cannot break them and act on His own. The president of this country must cherish the laws based on the constitution and those enacted through legislation. There is a major commotion here because this is not happening; isn’t that so? (166-99, 1987.5.30)

Adam was supposed to have the three archangels under his command and they were to obey and love him absolutely. As long as the heavenly law and principle that demand absolute obedience and submission remain, Satan cannot do as he pleases with that principle and law, even though he does not absolutely obey and submit to God. Satan himself knows that eventually he has to follow the same principle. God can remove him if he goes against the principle and law. It is like the president exercising his authority through the constitution. If it is not in the constitution, the president cannot do as he wishes. (172-66, 1988.1.7)

You will not be free to go anywhere in the universe. You will have no place to run to. You cannot run away as you wish. You have to know that you are unable to free yourself from the realm of universal law and order. You have to follow the right path. You should realize that you are living under the rule of the universal law based on the standard of the official constitution. This affects everything relating to the order of love and morality: family, society, nation, world, cosmos and God. The path of giv­ing love and living for the sake of others is the only way to attain an autonomy that is supported and upheld by all the laws including the laws of nature. Unification Church members do not have a clear concept of hell. You should know that hell exists. You should know that there is a severe and fearful hell if you do not follow the way of carrying the ban­ner of love. Did you know that? I hope that you can stand in court and be victorious. (117-312, 1982.4.11)

You should not be careless with material things in your daily life; you should take care in handling public money. Just because you received promotion to a higher position does not give you the right to arbitrarily change the personnel. If you misuse public money, you will be judged by the constitution of the heavenly kingdom. After your promotion, you may find the chil­dren of your enemy in the place you enter. If you send them off to a place of misery or death, you will be in trouble. (196-235, 1990.1.1)

If a head of state learned the Principle, what would happen? It would be only a short time before he saved the nation. Now we are entering the era of restoring the kingship. In the future, it will not be necessary for all of the citizens of a country to believe. If the president of a country fixes its constitution so that it is based on the Principle, the restoration of that nation becomes possible at once. (198-242, 1990.2.3)

If the world had listened to the words of True Father, a world of peace, the Kingdom of Heaven, would have been established on earth in 1952. Then, what I am teaching you about now, namely, the tribal messiahs, would have been dispatched across the world. Since there are 800 million Christians in the world, 800 million people would have stood on True Father’s side, and tribal mes­siahs would have emerged from towns of every description, with three genera­tions from each family all being tribal messiahs. If this had taken place, the satanic world would have completely come to an end. Then a constitution, which would dictate how the world of the future should be governed would have been enacted and followed. That is why I have not yet taught you in detail the direction you have to take with your family. One thing you must remember is that the era of the great exodus is com­ing. The families who have followed the words of True Father, and have become tribal messiahs and blessed 160 families, are eligible for registration. Father will then decide the ancestors; who will be the first generation, the second, third, or fourth. Once the ancestors are estab­lished, kingship will exist. Therefore, we need to establish the family belonging to the kingship. (273-46, 1995.10.21)

Once heavenly laws are enacted and made public as the constitution, if you break one of them, you will be sent to jail. Excuses like “I did not know about it” will not be accepted. Women who harbor such thoughts in their minds should repent here and now. You must never live in hiding. I am warning you; women have more responsibilities than men. Men tend to listen to women. Do you understand what I am saying? (250‑344, 1993.10.15)

This is what will happen when the heavenly kingdom is built on earth in the future. This is what the constitu­tion will be like. Everything belongs to the heavenly kingdom and must be returned. This is why unification is inevitable. Nothing can force you to do this. You have to volunteer to do it. This will bring about the day of registration. When it is the tribe’s turn to register, you will be the first ancestor if you reg­ister. All others will have to bow their heads. (219-209, 1991.8.29)

Now the final time has come. Parents must find “my country.” To do that, all Blessed Families are to stand in a circle horizontally around Father and Mother and represent them by progressively ful­filling the duties of filial children, patri­ots, saints, and divine children. You will thereupon occupy those positions and proceed to observe the laws of the pal­ace and uphold the laws of God’s nation. You should understand that the Heaven­ly Constitution actually begins through us. This is what “my country” means. (197-87, 1990.1.7)

Forty years after the establishment of the Unification Church, we founded the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification. In order for the Fam­ily Federation to succeed, we must have an absolute regulation, something like a constitutional law. This is the Family Pledge. The expression Family Pledge never existed until now. It is the Family Pledge of going forward to, and estab­lishing the Kingdom of Heaven. If you carefully study the Family Pledge, you can see that its contents explain that total liberation will be granted based on restoration through indemnity. Those who memorize it do not belong in the family realm of the fallen world but in the family realm of completion. The family can be established based on true love. Mind and body that were separated because of false love can now be united. This is why, without uniting your mind and body, you cannot learn the Family Pledge by heart. (264-244, 1994.11.3)

The Unification Church now means the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification. This means that the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification is being established in your homes. I have to put all families in order: satanic families, archangel type families on God’s side, and Adam type families. Since the separation from God grew out of a bad marriage, the marriage has to be restored and perfected, creating a unified world. We have climbed very steep mountains like the Himalayas, but now, the plains start from here. We are entering such an age.

Forty years after the start of my public ministry, I founded the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification. In order to accomplish this goal, we need to have something like a constitution as an absolute regulation – the Family Pledge. There had never been such a term as Family Pledge throughout history. It is the Family Pledge that points us in the right direction and enables us to complete the heavenly kingdom. (264‑244, 1994.11.3)

Only when what was lost is recovered and put into place in the heavenly kingdom, will the empty kingdom in heaven be restored. The heavenly kingdom in heaven is empty. All this emptiness has to be filled with restored spirits. There are no two ways about it. No matter how much you try on your own, it will not work. The communists in North Korea have tried to build their paradise that way, have they not? When they talk of land reform, the people must be prepared to have all of their land taken away. You must know that the time will come when such a thing will happen on the heavenly side too. It will happen in the not too distant future. I am trying to unite North and South America. If I unite North and South Ameri­ca, uniting North and South Korea will happen instantly. Once we recover and stand on the heavenly kingdom’s foundation, the constitutional laws in the heavenly kingdom will be set up. The constitutional laws will be set up from the Family Pledge you are reciting. Once these laws are set up based on the Four Great Realms of Heart, the Three Great Kingships, and the Realm of the Royal Family, it will be the formula everyone acknowledges. No one can deceive those that know this formula. (273-46, 1995.10.21)

If all people live according to and conforming to the constitutional laws, then everything will be fine. Furthermore, churches will not be necessary. As long as all people live by the laws and render devoted service to the nation, things will turn out well. If you show great sincerity in your service, you become loyal servants, filial children, saints, and holy people. But since you have not become these, you need to be educated. Everyone needs to be educated. Education has to take place in school. You have not understood such concepts as these yet. In addition, if your old concepts remain intact, things will not work out during your lifetime. It might even take several generations of your descendants to rectify this. (260-161, 1994.5.2)

Forty years have passed since the founding of the Unification Church, and now I have founded “The Family Federation for World Peace and Unification”. In order to achieve the goal of this federation, we must have an absolute covenant. That absolute covenant, or the constitutional law, is the Family Pledge. There are no words like Family Pledge in history. The Family Pledge is a vow and a promise to achieve the heavenly kingdom. (264-244, 1994.11.3)

Even God himself was unable to experience and own this realm of the royal family. But once I achieve the right of kingship, and restore a nation, I will go forward and establish the realm of the royal family. Things will be put in order and the correct axis established by means of the heavenly constitution. At the moment, the members of the Unification Church still don’t understand about this. You wonder, “What on earth is he talking about?” Yet, there is no such realm of the royal family in the spirit world. That is what we mean when we say that the Kingdom of Heaven is empty. It is empty because the central core has not been established yet. That is the incredible reality of the situation. (270-279, 1995.7.16)

We no longer need indemnity. Nor do we need salvation. Thus, we should follow the law of heaven and earth centering on the Principle, and teach absolute faith, absolute love and absolute obedience. Now the new law is emerging. The constitution is emerging. If we practice absolute faith, absolute love and absolute obedience on earth, the eternal Kingdom of Heaven is realized. From the earth, you should naturally be able to see, feel, and know the world of heaven. (293-274, 1998.6.2)

------------------------------------------ 

The tendency of “absolutizing the relative” and “relativizing the absolute”

How can we have “faith without dogmatism” and “courage without domination”?

Jesus Gonzalez-Losada

God is ABSOLUTE, but literally everything else, (society, institutions, believes, movements, etc.) are affected with relativity and subjected to divine laws. Theologian H. Richard Niebuhr gave a word of warning about "... great source of evil in life is the ABSOLUTIZING OF THE RELATIVE" (1).

The abuses I have seen in our movement were often justified or excused by “absolutizing the relative” in the name of restoration, indemnity, etc., rarely these justifications are done under the Principle of Creation. “Relativizing the absolute” is also another form or excuse for the lack of seriousness in assuming our responsibility. Discernment and balance will enable a better “modus operandi” base on timeless and perennial wisdom (Principles of Creation - True Love, Beauty and Goodness as supreme). Therefore, how can we develop discernment, balance and sensibility to avoid “absolutizing the relative” or “relativizing the absolute”? How can we have “faith without dogmatism” and “courage without domination”? (2)

In other words, philosophically for Unificationists, it means: "The principle of creation should take precedent over the principles of restoration", because they derive from the Principle of Creation. The principles of restoration (although essential and necessary) are the application of the Principles of Creation relative to human history and the different stages or levels of human growth and development; they are also relative to the fulfillment or not fulfillment of human responsibility. (3)

It isn't that we can't find degrees of spiritual or psychological truth, or insights into God, or justice and goodness in our lives and relationships, or in our religious conviction and heritage; but we should not claim so easily for them the status of an ABSOLUTE (As we do so frequently in our movement). To claim that, unleashes often a power struggle of contending “absolutes”, which can cause more harm than good. To accept that a whole lot ARE NOT as “absolute” as we think is to realize that are conditioned by time, by changing historical situations, new knowledge, varieties of experience, our always compromised spirituality and by our finite mental capacity.

Absolutizing our finite grasp of truths reduces human life in so many occasions into an inconsistent or conflicting relative views made as "absolutes." It distorts human relations into struggles for dominance and against submission. Both are frequently dehumanizing and generate awful consequences. It inflicts great damage by insisting, even forcing others to accept and confirm to our "absolute truths." We do that by any means at our disposal from manipulation, subversion, institutional authority and intimidating warnings, to exercising all kinds of physical, psychological, economic power, even threats or acts of violence. To absolutize our views or positions and gather exclusively with those who agree with us, gives us a tendency to self-righteousness. To some degree we all do because that's the temptation to which we tend to succumb.

The challenge and the dilemma is to have “faith without dogmatism” and “courage without domination”

-----------------------------------

(1) "... great source of evil in life is the ABSOLUTIZING OF THE RELATIVE, which in Christianity takes the form of substituting religion, revelation, church or Christian morality for God" (Theologian H. Richard Niebuhr - The Meaning of Revelation)

---------------------------------- 

(2) Discernment over these issues will help us to avoid unnecessary failures or conflicts for not considering basic guiding principles such as:

"Heavenly ends do not (and should not) justify unethical means"

"Persons are ends in themselves and not means to an end"

"Every sacrifice, donation or offering should be made from the heart, free and voluntarily"

(Every time that a person is manipulated by someone – It does not matter if it is done in the name of God or the Providence, or other reasons altruistic or selfish- it is always contra productive because damages the confidence and the inherit dignity that we all have as children of God)

"Although we need to hate evil and sin, we always need to love unconditionally the sinner"

(Only with this attitude we will be able “to love our enemies”)

"To distinguish God's message from the limitations of the messengers"

"Loyalty to principles should have priority over hierarchies or personalities"

"Goodness and virtues are earn by individual responsibility and merit, they are not automatically inherit by ancestral merits (or de-merits)"

“Truth and honesty are the basis for developing love, faith and obedience.”

---------------------------------

(3) AUTHORITY of Father’s words and their context - We can classify True Parents' words into "words concerned with the purpose" (Principle of Creation) and "words concerned with the method" (Restoration). His "words concerned with the purpose" have eternal, unchanging, and absolute validity, whereas his "words concerned with the method" change according to the progress of the providence of restoration and thus are relative. Therefore, not all words of True Parents have eternal, unchanging, and absolute validity.

In the past there was a tendency to believe each and every word of Father as the "eternal law of Heaven" and to ignore the date, audience, or background of the speeches. Some members tended to believe every word of Father as having equal and eternal value for all regardless of whom True Father has talked to or when. Of course, Father's words are a reference and have authority in deciding the ethical issues of our life, but if there are various conflicting words on the same topic by Father, their most recent ones are to have the highest authority as a basic rule. If we encounter Father's words that differ substantially from past ones, we need to pay attention to "for whom" the words were spoken as well as "when" they were spoken. We should consider the context in terms of intended audience as well as in terms of providential time in history. They were not necessarily spoken for all human beings or for all the time.

We should regard our conscience and original mind as the highest and final authority in our moral decisions, and we can walk a right path if we faithfully follow the voice of our God-given original mind and conscience in our daily lives.

-----------------------------------------

A critic to an old-school Confucian notion of obedience in the Korean mentality

In general the Confucian culture characterized five types of relationships for a harmonious society:

1. ruler and subject (similarly, employer and employee)
2. parent and child
3. husband and wife (or more accurately, male and female)
4. elder and younger
5. friend and friend

But some foreigners in Korea mention of a sixth unwritten but equally held relationship that also exists:

6. Koreans and foreigners

A well known quote from Confucius said that, "There was Tao (a way or road of righteousness) only when fathers were fathers, when sons were sons, when Rulers were Rulers and when ministers were ministers." At first this seems to encourage respect for one's social superiors. But whether they are misinterpreted or misused, in reality such "principle" can be used by the first group to dominate and subjugate the second. In reality, is it not "husband and wife", but "husband over wife", "elder over younger", "Korean over foreigner", etc.

In his historical tradition Korean has kept (until today… although with positive improvements) remnants of an old caste system or a class system of privilege and power based on position. The learned moral obligations tend to “emphasize much more the obligations of inferiors than the responsibilities of the superiors.” Those who are higher in the social structure are not accountable to those beneath them. Koreans will speak of theirs being a "collective culture", of concern for those around them, but unfortunately the "socially superior" are often only concerned with collectivism when it suits them.

There is a sense of "entitlement" by those higher in the structure, an expectation that those below them are meant to serve or even gratify them. In different situations, the "entitlement" changes but is still based on one principle: the lower castes submit themselves to their "superiors".

It was very refreshing to me to listen in a leaders meeting in 2007 in Korea, how Hyung Jin Nim gave a history lesson and recognized these negative aspects of their culture in front of all the Korean leaders of the movement (it is long but interesting):

------------------------------------

"Let's go into a Confucian one. We will deal with Confucianism in Korea during the Joseon (or Yi) Dynasty. This dynasty ran from 1392 to 1910. Since there are many leaders here from outside of Korea, I will give a brief overview of the Joseon Dynasty. It was founded by General Yi Seong-gye, who was enthroned with the name King Taejo. lt was one of the world's longest ruling monarchies and was the world's longest ruling Confucian dynasty. It was founded in Kaesong, but the capital was later moved to Seoul, which is why Seoul is a major city now. The Joseon Dynasty encouraged the entrenchment of Confucian learning and ideals and heavily imported Chinese culture into Korea.

When we look at the Joseon early years, we see they enforced a strict caste system. There was a king at the top of the pyramid. The yangban formed the government-official class or upper class. There was a small middle class of merchants and government employees, the chungin; the majority of the population were sangmin -peasants, laborers and fishermen. The sangmin were forced to pay heavy taxes, up to 50 percent of their produce. They where coerced into military conscription whenever it was mandated and experienced forced labor and brutal punishment.

Scholars estimate that 30 percent of the Korean population was made up of cheonmin. They were slaves, an even a lower class than sangmin. Slave prices were set by the government, which owned 45,000 slaves. We can confirm this according to a 1467 slave count, which is available in the historical record. The government also set the age when the slave's children should begin working. Slave children were sold as well.

In the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries, Hideyoshi Toyotomi of Japan and Qing China invaded Korea. Because of this, the Joseon Dynasty was severely weakened and developed an isolationist policy leading Korea to be known by surrounding nations as the "Hermit Kingdom."

(...) What we can learn

We can see that this particular monarchy was an ineffective system of government. It had to employ a rigid caste system and to be constantly wary of revolt or revolution by competing factions or powerful individuals. What impact did this have on the nation? We see this inherent stability stifled prosperity, creativity, freedom and innovation. In this historical case, we see that government became a facilitator of slavery and of class distinction. It became a facilitator of oppression. The majority of the population-estimated by scholars at over 50 percent-experienced extreme poverty and forced labor. Caste systems are employed in an attempt to create stability but result in an oppressive governmental structure.

We see that successors to King Taejong created an extremely bad history; there were murders, competition, and jealousy between common successors. This monarchy entrusted all power to one individual, which created a volatile and unstable form of government, because it could violently shift. It could change so quickly. lt prevented checks and balances, and it increased the risk of violent and oppressive rule and tyranny. You can see from the conflicts and internal struggles that the king's legacy was stained. As with the biblical legacy of Adam and Eve and with their children, it was stained. "

(Hyung-jin Moon - Speech - Assembly 2007)

-------------------------

Also the president of Korea, KIM Dae-jung in a meeting with Confucian leaders pointed that the ideology from old days should be checked to fit the present changes:

“In the past, the idea of royalty and filial piety was a one-way relationship that demanded that subjects be loyal to the king even when he was not worthy of loyalty, and that children be dutiful to their parents even when they were not worthy of respect. Such one-sided standards, however, cannot be the basis for morality in a democratic society based on the dignity of the individual and on a social contract. The old idea of loyalty and filial piety should be replaced today with the idea that the government, the people, parents and children must all fill their proper roles. Only when the principle of mutuality is accepted can the idea of loyalty and filial piety be viable and be regarded today as a virtue.” ( The Korea Herald - April 14, 1999 ).

----------------------------

A western professor after years of experiences in Korea expressed:

“This is the one thing in Korean society which I will criticize and not tolerate. I refuse to be treated with less respect than I show to others, and I advise you not to stand for it either. This is not an issue of culture (even if Korean society is founded on Confucianist rules) but one of decency. On almost every other topic I will not criticize how Koreans do things and behave, but on this I will, and rightly so.

Every society throughout history has the "golden rule" in some form or another. Whether the christian "Do unto others", the Wiccan "An' it harm no other, do what thou will", or as far back as the Code of Hammurabi, every societies' rules say that if you want some respect, you earn it, you don't demand it.

Sadly, Koreans do not have a rule of this sort. Theirs is a society of status and privilege, and it needs to change, starting with your students. Don't just teach them English, teach them courtesy, manners, and patience.”

-------------------------------- 

IMO, the Eastern mind is much more into hierarchy and authority, among other reasons, because they have not lived through the last 400 years of God's providence when: "God worked to establish the Abel-type democracies... and the separation of powers which was to be characteristic of the political structure of the ideal society which God has been working to realize." (DP - Page 360 and 361).

But the Eastern mind is into hierarchy not only because of the political or social disadvantages of living in their recent past with little or not experiences in freedom and democracy, but more so, because of the lack of general and common understanding (which was ingrained throughout centuries in the west, learn through so much suffering and shedding of blood) in a personal and invisible God (Our merciful and loving Father in Heaven that even counts the number of hairs in our head - Luc. 12-7) that speaks and relates to our individual lives and consciences; which empowers us and gives meaning as God's children.

This understanding is common in the judeo-christiam-islamic cultures, even in people who do not externally practice their faith. In the judeo-christiam-islamic cultures the final point of reference, authority and loyalty is therefore this personal and invisible God and his TRUTH and not a human being (or ancestors dead or alive) regardless of their power, position, wisdom or altruistic character.

Here, I think, lies the root of East-West culture differences and emphasis in stressing, among others, the virtues of loyalty, filial piety and obedience in the East above the virtues of honesty, integrity and creativity in the West; also group harmony, social well being and stability in the East above the individual rights, freedom and conscience in the West.

Confucianism puts filial piety (but in this case to a visible earthly father or emperor father figure) as the first and highest virtue, and from this virtue all the others will appear. But Jesus taught that we should love this invisible God and his truth with all our souls, even more than we love our own parents.

Koreans in general had many excellent qualities that I really appreciate (straight and clear, deep heart, loyal once they trust you, risk takers, emotional and visceral -all good in the right direction- etc.) and this is why I was making this point on the negative effects that they have on other cultures if they continue with this misused hierarchical Confucian tradition. It is not my intention at all to make a mockery of the Korean society, on the contrary, just make an explanation that can help non-Koreans to deal with these aspects. Particularly in our unificationist community, because to make matters worse, these hierarchical traditions are many times justify theologically and push on others as "heavenly tradition".

To know such cultural traditions, I think is necessary for our protection and advantage and as a help to avoid many misunderstandings.

When I lived in Asia I when through a difficult course with some Korean leaders, but once I understood their hierarchical approach to social relations I made myself a "Yangban" instead of a “cheonmin” and expect them to treat me as such, and things when quite well after that.

Jesus Gonzalez

------------------------------------------ 

MY DESIRE FOR RECONCILIATION

In regard to the situation of Hyun JN with his family and considering that this is an internal issue within the true Family, what I can or can't do about this issue?

1. PRAY, PRAY and PRAY for a resolution

2. Avoid spreading rumors or engage in conjectures.

3. Try to find the REAL facts… hear both sides of the story,

4. Prevent divisions between us over these matters, and

5 Follow the simplest thing that Father has asked us to do at the beginning of this crisis: "Don't judge any of my children at this time--only I can and will deal with this situation. Just pray for my family!"

Let’s give the “true family” some space to work out their differences… the more we talk, speculate or take sides, the more we add to the confusion and create obstacles for their reconciliation. Families have better ways of dealing with situations, rather than name-calling and public pronouncements, maybe we can encourage reconciliation and healing.

We are adults capable to think for ourselves, discuss all these matters in a rational way and reach our own conclusions, refusing to be manipulated by either side to become pawns in a power struggle, which we have not created.

MY PRAYER FOR RECONCILIATION

I pray with all my heart and I humbly make a petition to all the members of the True Family, to please get together to resolve all these internal issues. I will be very happy to see a picture of such reunion, and please give hope to our movement with a “reconciliation” report of your meeting together. In my understanding, this present crisis and problems were created at the very top; therefore, please resolve it at such level, to delay this resolution will only bring suffering, pain and the waist of precious resources for all our movement... We will all loose, please do not divided us in two sides; please do not blame us for these problems (the ones that we did not have created). Do not even ask for loyalty to your individual personalities... you have not right to do that, the ONLY thing that you can ask from us is to be loyal to God and the PRINCIPLES, and I hope and pray also for a HEAVENLY CONSTITUON that will guide the governance of our movement and our future. Ayu.

Our descendents are watching this unfold. We are in need of mediators and peacemakers. Often we teach about RECONCILIATION and “Conflict Resolution” is something we preach but really don't practise as we lack the institutions for it”.

Therefore, I should be the one doing the following:

--------------------

-        Concern for both sides

-        Affirms the value of both sides

-        Gains trust from both sides that each is being treated fairly

-        Aims for a win-win outcome

-        Guides both sides beyond blame and accusation

(IEF - Conflict Resolution Lecture)

------------------

Instead I painfully observe many Unificationists promoting a false dichotomy (division in two parts mutually exclusive, or one or the other one without possible alternative) by means of questioning (or doubting) the LOYALTY (already proven in years of dedication and sacrifice) of old faithful brothers and sisters.

This unnecessary division is promote with a Manichaean argument (good and evil, God and Satan, black and white) with follow a inappropriate and unbefitting question: Which side are you? Are you with Father or Hyun JN? Or who do you follow? Father or Preston?

Sorry but my common sense and my conscious will not allow me to have this black-and-white thinking or fall for the argument "you're either with us, or against us" or other variations of this simplistic analysis. Unfortunately it will bring, in this particular case, a polarized situation to force our dear brothers and sister to become allies to one side or lose favor, or worse will implied that if you are not joining my camp you will be deemed as an enemy. I prefer the other approach "...whoever is not against us is for us".

If we analyzed it further, those who ask this question or put forward this internal crisis along these lines, established themselves in a suspicion or supposition (non-proven and which promotes prejudice and conjecture) presenting as an irreversible fact an real opposition, antagonism or irreconcilable difference between Hyun Jin Nin and his own Father. In my opinion it is a fallacy, a dangerous rhetoric that provokes unnecessary division instead of reconciliation.

IT IS NOT REALISTIC to think that now a “GROUP A” of followers exists which is TOTALLY obedient and loyal to True Parents, honest in all their reports, without manipulations, that presents every thing (good and bad) to Father with total integrity. So now this “good group A” justified with July 5 declaration can accuse and judge the other “evil GROUP B” who supposedly choose Hyun Jin instead of True Parents and label the GROUP as “schismatic, rebel, usurper, disobedient, deceptive, heretical and destructive".

This false and non-existent dichotomy, generate a presumption and spiritual arrogance into the ones that consider themselves in the side of Father (assuming falsely than the others are not…) which tacitly or openly are going to persecute the ones which they consider on the other side as guilty, lost, heretical, rebellious, traitors, etc. The stage is ready for them to assume the role of judges or inquisitors demanding repentance, public humiliation, and exclusion or even with the right to apply sanctions or punishments.

I will resist and prevent any attempt to divide any us over these matters. Because of my experiences in life and in the movement, I am very much on the defensive to the used of Father’s words to promote partial agendas or other manipulations. Therefore, in this particular crisis I do not want to be used by eider side as a pawn by these competing forces to hurt one or the other side, sorry to say, often with partial views or even disinformation. I will recommend circumspection, prudence, carefulness…

My primary interest is a genuine RECONCILIATION (based true love) to solve this unnecessary division (ironically, not created by the ones which now found themselves in the middle of it, and not to be blamed). Therefore, we should REFUSE to be manipulated by this Manichaean trap or false dichotomy.

Let's avoid division, remembering Jesus Christ's words: “…Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation; and every city or house divided against itself shall not stand” (Matthew 12:25)

A call to forgiveness and reconciliation - IMO this is a time for circumspection, prudence, carefulness… a time to break down the walls of anger that separate us from other brothers and sisters. Our Christian heritage advised us on the importance of forgiveness and reconciliation before we can approach God: "First go and be reconciled to your brother; then come and offer your gift."

Let´s follow the RECONCILIATION message: “Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to your brother; then come and offer your gift.” (Matthew 5:23-24 - New International Version 1984)

-----------------------------------------

HYUNG JN and HYUN JN, different approaches and methodology but same goal:

One Family under God

Let’s compare these two different approaches and methodology for the future of our movement base on selections from the words of Rev. Hyung JN from the November 18, 2009 inauguration address as UPF chairman and the words of Hyun JN in his March 23, 2008 report to his parents.

Rev. Hyung Jin Moon: 1. … we began from faith.… recently True Father has instructed that we carry out our activities under the name Unificationism. We have passed through the era of HSA-UWC (formation period) and the era of the Family Federation (growth period), and have entered the era of Unificationism (completion period) during which we can establish Cheon Il Guk.(*see the speech in 2004 and the change of direction) Father has given us the mission of uniting all religions into one family serving God and True Parents… …, we need to let the world know that True Parents are more than patriots, champions of world peace and religious leaders; we need to let the world know their true identity as the Messiah, Savior and True Parents. … If we can see True Parents with our spiritual eyes, we can understand who they really are and why Father acts in ways some people do not understand or feel comfortable with. We would realize why Father speaks for eight, ten or even twelve hours at events, with sweat running down his face. …. True Parents have taught us how to create one Family under God. It is recorded in the Peace Messages. … Father has said, “Make the name Unificationism grow in prominence in the new era. Everyone needs to attend the Original Divine Principle lectures.” The Divine Principle is our sacred teaching. It is not a school textbook, but scripture. Divine Principle is our scripture that declares True Parents are the Messiah. Why is Father having us listen to Divine Principle lectures again and testify to him as the Messiah? Why do we need to repent and begin anew? Father is saying, “Do not forget who I am. I am not just a patriot, or a peace advocate, but the Son of God, the Parent of all humankind, who has come to accomplish Jesus’ unfulfilled mission.” This is what he is saying… … our members in Japan have shed blood, sweat and tears to provide a financial foundation for all the work being carried out. This includes the work of UPF. The Unification Church and all providential organizations share the same purpose. Our purpose is to glorify our True Parents. … … I have heard it said that we don’t need religion and that Rev. Moon did not come to create a religion… … Please remember that all of these organizations are rooted in faith. People who are serving True Parents as the Christ, the Lord at his Second Coming, are working in these organizations worldwide. It would be shameful for us to say, in front of such faith, that we don’t need faith or religion. Rather we should be grateful to them, follow their way, make sacrifices ourselves through a greater faith. … We need to work for the Abel UN and the crucial missions of unifying all people and bringing religions together. … Though we may have our own individual dreams and interests, our mission is very clear. We need to live our lives for the glory of True Parents. … If our purpose is to return glory to True Parents, we should do our best for them. UPF needs to build the Abel UN and build a substantiation foundation. In the process of fulfilling those missions, everything must be done based on what Father decides. This is the right way and the filial way.

Dr. Hyun Jin Moon: … you have been slowly moving our movement out of the Unification Church skin and into a broader movement… I know many leaders questioned … Not seeing the broader vision and goal… Thus, jeong sung, as a son or daughter, meant (for them) worshipping the institutions and traditions rather than the dream which inspired its creation, namely the dream of building one Family under God. … the legacy issue concerning the mission and purpose of Father's Life… is the fulfillment of God's original dream of creating a True Family, where True Love, True Life and True Lineage are substantiated. This has been the purpose of Creation and the goal of the Providence of Restoration and Recreation. … The formation of those organizations and institutions were a means to which God's dream is to be fulfilled and not an ends to themselves. … our movement has misrepresented Fathers work by validating the false perception that Parents are the founder of a new religion and are narrowly focused on furthering the aims of the Unification Church… Instead of focusing upon theology and religious tradition, you focused upon the absolute, universal truths which God adhered to from the beginning of human creation to the present day. That revelation, allowed you to see that God moved throughout all the Great Faiths and thus his fingerprints like DNA were embedded in the values of all the great religious traditions. This focus on “shared principles” deriving from a common divine heritage has been the primary approach to your inter-faith vision and has been carried out to great success in the ILCs over the last year. … Father has continually taught to 'breakdown' till the walls dividing the human family, especially the religious walls. That is why it has been a mystery to me that there are those who continually cling onto the institution of the Unification Church, thinking they are realizing Heaven's and Father's original purpose… … the Divine Principle would be perceived not as the theology of one religion but as the universal principles which came as a revelation from God and are the fundamental truths embedded in the teaching of all religions. …. The current mindset of our leaders in Korea of competing against Korean Christianity by creating a mega-church foundation of our own is childish and myopic. In the end we need to absorb and digest those Korean Christians like I am doing with the American mega-churches. The reason I am approaching them is not to create a mega-church for myself but to lead them to a greater vision that is aligned to the mission of Jesus and all greater religious founders' efforts to realize God's dream of creating OFUG. This dream is bigger and more powerful than any Church for it is rooted in God and not a human institution. … Father, as a son, I have never wanted anything from you but to aid you on your life's mission. I know that that attitude must have led to many misunderstandings and even a feeling that I was arrogant and unappreciative of your work. This could not be further from the truth. Living in an environment where people will say what they do not mean as well as embellish and distort the truth to curry favor from you had, in my youthful sense of principled idealism, led me to do the exact opposite of what I had despised. … in the mountains of Alaska, where God told me to return and aid you: for, He said you needed my help more than anytime before.

(*) Selection from the speech, “Fifty Years on the Providential Path to the Realization of God's Fatherland and the Peace Kingdom” - Sun Myung Moon - April 30, 2004 - Founders' Address - 50th Anniversary Congratulatory Banquet - Washington, DC::

“Fifty years have passed since the launch of the Unification Movement as an official organization!

The first stage of the Unification Movement was a period in which it was active mainly in the religious sphere dealing with individual salvation.

The next stage was the movement to find and establish true families, the basic unit of heaven. The movement will continue on to work for the restoration of clans, and to have an impact in local communities, until all people on earth and in heaven receive the blessing.

Furthermore, the third stage, the movement to build the ideal world of peace, has already begun in earnest. During the past year alone, I devoted my efforts to lead sixteen initiatives, large and small, for peace in the Middle East. These initiatives aside, the entire world is scrutinizing my activities including the peace and unification movement for North and South Korea, the UN revival movement or new Peace UN movement, and the peace movement of the 50,000 Ambassadors for Peace worldwide.

Distinguished leaders from all walks of life! The current era is a period of great transition in history. We will experience remarkable changes during this century. In particular, there will be a great awakening in the following three fields:

First, although the modern trend is exceedingly materialistic, humanistic and atheistic, there will be a sudden increase of interest in and awareness of spiritual phenomena. This will enable us to experience remarkable works from the spiritual world that will change the course of history.

Second, along with this deepening spiritual experience, humanity will gradually come to realize the divine value and social significance of the family as the basic school of true love. This realization will come from the painful experiences of family breakdown and the abnormal transformation of the family throughout the world during recent decades.

Third, on the foundation of the development of our spirituality, the hope and corresponding efforts for peace will increase markedly. Human relationships will not be bound by national, racial or religious boundaries. A remarkable change will come through which all people will live for the sake of each other and feel that they all are brothers, sisters and neighbors living together.

These are all the providential works of the living God. God is developing the spirituality of man and on this foundation he is establishing a family of true love. On the basis of that family he is working to create a genuine and everlasting ideal world of peace.

The time has truly come for us to build the ideal world longed for by the original nature of humankind; the time has come for us to build God's fatherland and the peace kingdom where we can attend the God of true love as the king of absolute values. Since we are in this time of tremendous heavenly fortune, I sincerely ask that you all become those who build the peace kingdom in accordance with the ways of heaven.

I pray that God's blessing will be upon you, your family and your nation.

Thank you”

(Fifty Years on the Providential Path to the Realization of God's Fatherland and the Peace Kingdom - Sun Myung Moon - April 30, 2004 - Founders' Address - 50th Anniversary Congratulatory Banquet - Washington, DC)

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

-------------------------------------------

Jesus Gonzalez-Losada

------------------------

jegonzal@netgate.com.uy

Skype: jesus_gonzalez_montevideo

http://jesus-gonzalez-losada.blogspot.com/

http://educacion.co.nr - http://www.fei.edu.uy/