Individuals are also inextricably bound to the collectives to which they belong: nation, race, tribe and religion. Whether guilty or blameless in their personal lives, individuals prosper or suffer with the fortunes of these collectives.
The evils descend on the community—war, famine, epidemic diseases and rampant drug use—bring hardships to everyone in the community. Father Moon terms this collective sin. People are responsible to recognize collective sin and atone for it.
They can atone by first making efforts to understand the grievances of those populations that have been oppressed and mistreated by their nation. They can then work to resolve them through sacrifice and love.
Even those who are pious and innocent suffer for the misdeeds of others through their contact, as fish in a snake-infested lake. Ramayana, Aranya Kanda 38 (Hinduism)
When God causes punishment to descend on a people, those righteous ones among them will be smitten by the punishment, but afterwards they will be resurrected according to their deeds. Hadith of Bukhari and Muslim (Islam)
All of you are pledges for the other: all of you, aye, the world, exist through the merit of a single righteous man among you, and if but one man sins, the whole generation suffers. Tanhuma (Judaism)
Justice is turned back, and righteousness stands afar off; for truth has fallen in the public squares, and uprightness cannot enter. Truth is lacking, and he who departs from evil makes himself a prey. Isaiah 59.14-15
I am full of the wrath of the Lord; I am weary of holding it in. “Pour it out upon the children in the street, and upon the gatherings of young men, also; both husband and wife shall be taken, the old folk and the very aged. Their houses shall be turned over to others, their fields and wives together; for I will stretch out my hand against the inhabitants of the land,” says the Lord.
“For from the least to the greatest of them, every one is greedy for unjust gain; and from prophet to priest, every one deals falsely. They have healed the wound of my people lightly, saying, ‘Peace, peace,’ when there is no peace. Were they ashamed when they committed abomination? No, they were not at all ashamed; they did not know how to blush. Therefore, they shall fall among those who fall; at the time that I punish them, they shall be overthrown,” says the Lord. Jeremiah 6.11-15
Fondly do we hope—fervently do we pray—that this mighty scourge of war may speedily pass away. Yet, if God wills that it continue until all the wealth piled by the bondsman’s two hundred and fifty years of unrequited toil shall be sunk, and until every drop of blood drawn with the lash shall be paid with another drawn by the sword, as was said three thousand years ago, so still it must be said, “The judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether.” Abraham Lincoln, Second Inaugural Address
Teachings of Sun Myung Moon
Sin,—it is intertwined like a gigantic steel net, woven through this person and that person, this organization and that organization, this society and that society, this nation and that nation. (1:167, July 11, 1956)
What should America do to indemnify all her historical sin? Americans massacred the Indians and enslaved Black people. Since the Indians are of the Oriental race, one way for America to indemnify her sin is to live for the sake of Oriental people. (101:336, November 12, 1978)
In sports these days, more and more blacks are the prominent world champions.
Every year more blacks are emerging at the top, replacing whites. If blacks are equipped with God’s teaching, then, coupled with their sense of physical power, I think they have a glorious future surpassing that of white people.
Hence, the more that the whites oppose black people, the more they will lose God’s blessings and the more blacks shall receive them. God does not lose in the end.
When Jesus stumbled while carrying his cross to Calvary, a black person, Simon of Cyrene, took up Jesus’ burden. That act was very significant; when the Last Days come, God will raise up black people for a great mission.
Yet, they should be equipped with Heaven’s teaching. (91:219, February 20, 1977)
Sun Myung Moon