Educational Institutions

Korea

On April 3, 1972, True Parents established the base from which they eventually would establish universities, when they opened the Unification Theological Seminary at the Central Training Center at Sutaek-ri, in Gyeonggi Province.

In December 1985, the establishment of Seonghwa Theological Seminary, a four-year college, was approved by the government and the seminary opened with 40 students in March 1986.

In October 1989, the government approved the restructuring of the seminary to become Seonghwa University, and on March 1, 1994, the school was renamed Sun Moon University and was relocated to the city of Cheonan. True Parents established the university's founding philosophy as “Love Heaven, Love People, Love Your Country,” and expressed its spirit in a message in Chinese calligraphy, “The Sun Moon Educational Institution, The Dawn of Heaven and Earth.”

On October 19, 1998, the university opened its Department of Pure Love. The main focus of the department is to train young people who can become the driving force of providence and serve as international leaders.

On January 28, 2004, the Korean government approved the establishment of Cheongshim Graduate School of Theology. At the dedication ceremony, True Parents composed the message in Chinese calligraphy, “Eternal Prosperity and Overflowing Fortune through Offering Virtuous Deeds and Learning to Heaven.”

1. Korean dignitaries visited Japan and were quite impressed by the members of CARP and the Unification Church. Some time ago, those people opposed us when we wanted to establish a theological seminary.

However, after visiting Japan this time, they were impressed and promised our leaders that they would help us so that the theological seminary could be built quickly. We secured their support and returned. In the future, we will build a four-year theological college.

Thereafter, we will add philosophy, social services, and agriculture departments. Later, we will expand it into a comprehensive university by establishing a college of liberal arts and sciences and a college of engineering. We need to build a university. (060-254, 1972/08/17)

2. In the future, you must carry out activities with university students and youth organizations. Until now, our pivotal organizations have not done this. That is why we are suffering great losses when it comes to raising our second generation.

I want to establish a university and train the second generation, but the government has been blocking us until now. They have made various excuses and opposed us, but now that time has passed.

We will build the best university in Korea. In the future, it will not be easy to gain admission to this school. Great scholars respected worldwide will come there to teach. (178-163, 1988/06/01)

3. I instructed that Seonghwa Theological Seminary students should not go to sleep before midnight. I told them that lectures would be given in English starting from the second year. I emphasized this by saying, “Listen! If you do not learn English, you will fail.”

You need to know English. You must be able to speak at least three languages. I am still studying English, a foreign language. You, too, must study.
(177-292, 1988/05/20)

4. Sun Moon University is a gathering place for the academic world. So, when intellectuals from around the world look at us, we should not be considered second-rate. That is why I felt the responsibility to provide a broad curriculum. We must educate the students thoroughly.

In the future, we will invest many resources to establish universities with this kind of standard. If we invested those same resources into the church, how much would we expand?

I understand this trade-off very well. In any case, churches develop over a long period. In my opinion, in terms of internal qualities, it is more stable to develop over a long period rather than to grow rapidly.

But society is rapidly changing, and the challenge for educators is how to establish a standard of knowledge that unites the whole. Successfully establishing a standard that does not fall behind in a rapidly changing society will be the driving force for a university to develop in the future. (282-119, 1997/03/11)

5. When I told people in the 1950s, “At the end of this century, daily life will move into a one-day world,” no one believed me. I told them that the age is coming when the world will become integrated; when we can travel anywhere within one day, when computer systems will be built, phones will allow us to communicate from anywhere, and meetings can be held even if you are far away from each other.

The Unification Church has risen to that standard, and heaven is connecting the rapidly developing world to us as our partner. For that reason, Sun Moon University cannot stand still.

From now on, we must march through the 21st century and establish a foundation where we can consolidate 2,000 years, 3,000 years, and 5,000 years of history. If you want to make these kinds of preparations, your thoughts, and direction need to become one. (282-125, 1997/03/11)

6. If you go to a shipyard, you will see that even tiny bits of iron have a use. All these things are divided into parts, delivered, and then assembled. It is as if you were making a human body, and you would create the hands, feet, eyes, and nose separately and then bring them together to be assembled.

That is the difficult part. If you make even a single millimeter mistake while welding, you have to discard the entire thing. From now on, the world will become like this.

This is also true for Sun Moon University. We must plan based on traditions. The school administration needs to prepare a plan and implement it. This is the way to develop. You need to be outstanding in the area for which you are currently responsible.

You need to become a role model both in your teaching and in your lifestyle. You should also secure a foundation where you can receive the recognition of the other professors. You should not be reckless. From the ideological standard, you need a basis of values.

There must be roots for a tree to grow. If you are not armed with ideology, nothing can be accomplished. Our central root needs to go straight down.
(290-199, 1998/02/24)

7. The founding philosophy of Sun Moon University is “Love Heaven, Love People, Love Your Country.” This is precisely the same motivation that I had when I established this university – loving God, which is the attitude of loving heaven. The meaning of God contained in “loving heaven” is not a God limited to the doctrines of any particular religion or denomination.

It refers to God, the living Origin, the wellspring of true love, the incorporeal True Parent of humankind, the way of heaven, and the root source of all teachings. I came to know the living God early in my life, and since then, I have never forgotten even for a moment the desire of God.

I have devoted my entire life for the sake of realizing a peaceful world, which is God's ideal of true love.

Nurturing talented people who have the vision to lead the future is a crucial element in realizing this long-cherished desire. The talented people who will lead the approaching age of globalization and the great human family must first love heaven, and then love people, their nation, the world, and all creation.

This is because a person cannot aspire to become the three subject partners – true parent, true teacher,r and true owner – unless that person succeeds in loving as God loves. Universities are educational institutions that raise experts by helping them develop creativity.

However, our priority is to raise wholesome leaders with the attributes and character of the three subjects. This is done through character education, which is connected to God, who is the source of universal truth. (375-139, 2002/04/14)

8. At Sun Moon University, the professors, and leaders who are models of practicing and experiencing the love that obeys the heavenly law must educate and train all the students to develop the character required of true parents, true teachers, and true owners.

Knowledge, power, and material abundance alone will not realize the freedom, peace, unity, and happiness for which people have prayed without ceasing. Human morality and spiritual development are the prerequisites.

As the newly arrived 21st century will be the very century that completes the providence, humanity will have to live in close contact with the spirit world. World scholars will come to Sun Moon University in droves, where they will research the spirit world, my life, and my achievements.

Sun Moon University will become a center for research on the spirit world. Moreover, this university is intended to go beyond developing human intellect and expertise, to perfecting human character by developing the spirit.

That is to say, it is the world's first university established to cultivate leaders who are truly mature, both morally and spiritually. (375-141, 2002/04/14)

9. You must have the conviction that Sun Moon University will be a forum for debate and joint research that international scholars and world leaders will find stimulating. The university will realize this ideal. In the future, the world's most gifted and accomplished young people will be drawn like a magnet to Sun Moon University.

This university is not for Koreans alone. It is a providential university that embraces the hopes of not only all people on earth but in the spirit world as well. It is a global cradle for international education in which the world's young people come to understand that Korea is the providential fatherland and share in the vision of giving true love to actualize world peace.

The students studying here are equipped with the knowledge to become world citizens and, beyond that, citizens of Cheon Il Guk. They will then become the chosen people and should cultivate outstanding character to become leaders of the future world.

Your professors and staff should make this university into one that cultivates a character of true love in the students through expert knowledge and skills as well as wisdom, morality, and spirituality. (375-143, 2002/04/14)

10. Sun Moon University is a place of study that was prepared for the pure and noble younger generation that the school's founder, who is following God and the will of heaven, longed to see.

Sun Moon University must become the world's cradle of pure love education. It must be entrusted by the nation and the world to provide discipline, practice, and moral education, making a connection to a bright future.

We need to raise young people to become people who serve their communities and share whatever they have with their neighbors through a heart of true love. It must become a school of harmony that teaches the ideal that people of five colors are all brothers and sisters of the human family by initiating international, interracial, and interreligious education.

I hope that this school can be established as a professional training center of diverse knowledge and skills that can cultivate a healthy and beautiful world. I pray that Sun Moon University will enlighten the world's young people about true love and practical knowledge of peace, thereby developing day by day into an educational institution where students will carry out research and serve humanity. (375-144, 2002/04/14)

11. In the contemporary world, parents do not trust their children and children do not trust their parents.

Wives do not trust their husbands, and neither do husbands trust their wives. Brothers and sisters do not trust each other, nor do they trust their grandparents. We are trapped in this web of mutual distrust. You must know that this is the Devil expanding hell on earth.

Who is going to save the family? No one but the True Parents. True Parents' philosophy to establish and organize families is the textbook in the secret storehouse of the heavenly nation. We need to find a way to put a stop to AIDS in Korea. We must not follow America. (273-268, 1995/10/29)

12. We need to establish a college that specializes in pure love education. We will build such a college. It should be a college that teaches the pure love of men and women. While we launch an academic major in true love, we will also set up all courses of study, and encourage even men to enroll.

It will become a school of international renown. Ministers, scholars, and other notable people will want to have the female graduates of our Pure Love College as their daughters-in-law and the male graduates as their sons-in-law.
(292-075, 1998/03/28)

13. When people do not keep absolute sexual purity, they fail. The failure to practice absolute sex caused the Fall and condemned God to suffer throughout human history. What is the great spike that was driven into God's heart? It was Adam and Eve's reproductive organs.

Because both were compromised, the world was broken into pieces. The world was created, and yet because of the Fall, everything collapsed. You have the responsibility to restore the world.

Therefore, you have to be even more serious about the issue of sex than God was at the time of the Fall of Adam and Eve. This is the reason we are creating a Pure Love Department at Sun Moon University. (545-231, 2006/11/22)

14. It is 11:05 in the morning on January 28, 2004, and we are offering the Cheongshim Graduate School of Theology to Heaven. Heavenly Father, I sincerely pray that as of today, You will be the Owner of this place, its environment, and the whole school, and enable it to become a sanctuary of education that is the pride of all ages.

Similar to Sun Moon University, which is also in Korea, through this graduate school of theology we would like to educate talented young people to understand heaven, heart, and humanity and to realize that there is an Owner of heaven.

Thereby they can attend You eternally as the Owner, the ideal Creator, True Parent, and True Teacher, helping to establish Your new ideal world that transcends religions and nations. We offer this entire institution to You. Please receive it.

I also pray that all the faculty and students, as well as every one of these people here, will unite and not shy away from the words “pure heart.”

Just as we would greet the bright morning sun before heaven, please let us all unite as one in heart and unite in happiness with the horizontal substantial world and its Owner, who exists as a unified being with mind and body aligned with the original vertical center of heaven. (433-266, 2004/01/28)

15. The Cheongshim Graduate School of Theology is interreligious. We will have distinguished scholars introduce the doctrines of their denominations and then let them compare their doctrines with those of the Unification Church.

When their critiques are the same as those of the Unification Church scholars, we can teach from a unified, interreligious perspective. That is a task that heaven and earth have destined us to accomplish. (547-235, 2006/12/03)

16. The Unification Theological Seminary (UTS) in the United States is an interreligious graduate school. This seminary can embrace all religious people, Buddhists, Confucianists, Muslims, and Christians.

Those who graduate from this school are qualified to work anywhere as interreligious pastors and leaders.

It is that kind of theological seminary. In Cheongpyeong we established the Cheongshim Graduate School of Theology.

Cheongshim Graduate School of Theology is in the Abel position and UTS is in the Cain position; therefore, they need to work in unity. (563-248, 2007/05/21)

The United States and other nations

On April 30, 1974, True Parents acquired the campus of a Catholic high school at Barry Town, New York, comprising buildings and 256 acres of land on the Hudson River. On October 20, 1975, the Unification Theological Seminary in the United States was opened.

On November 21, 1986, the seminary gained New York State approval for a master's degree program in religious education. An interfaith faculty consisting of Catholic, Orthodox, Protestant, and Jewish as well as Unificationist professors have taught at the seminary.

Subsequently, on April 15, 1992, True Parents assumed the operation of the University of Bridgeport. The university, which was originally established in 1927 on the Long Island Sound in Connecticut, has an extensive history.

In January 1996, True Parents proclaimed the establishment of the World University Federation in Montevideo, Uruguay, with the belief that universities need to lead the way to realize the common values of humankind, which transcend nations, ideologies, and religions.

In the proclamation, True Parents proposed the founding of a United Nations University to educate talented international individuals and establish a worldwide network of international leaders through the United Nations.

They also declared that we are entering an era when people can learn through educational videos in their location anywhere in the world, rather than traveling to school to study.

17. I did not establish the theological seminary in Barry town because the Unification Church needs theology, to connect to the established religions.

Therefore, we invited a Jewish professor, a Roman Catholic professor, a Baptist professor, and so on, to join the faculty, and we gave them special treatment.

Doing so probably appeared strange. I did not teach them the principles of the Unification Church or interfere with their teaching; I allowed them to teach as they wished. (093-162, 1977/05/22)

18. The Unification Theological Seminary in America is becoming famous. Currently, it is being closely observed as an issue in American theological circles. Its facilities and academic competence are at a level equivalent to any other graduate school.

Despite that, the government is bowing to pressure and putting on the brakes. And yet, because American theologians are participating, the government has no choice but to grant us a charter. (147-010, 1986/08/20)

19. The seminary in Barry Town obtained its state charter as a graduate school of theology on November 21, 1986. It is the Unification Theological Seminary. We fought for 11 years to gain that charter. We were involved in administrative litigation against the New York State Department of Education.

The facilities, faculty, and students complied with state standards, and we asked why we had not been granted accreditation. In America, there are no legal grounds to withhold it.

We filed a lawsuit and won in the first trial. The opposing side appealed the decision, but they lost the second trial as well. It appears that the New York State Department of Education considered initiating a third trial, but decided that if we won another trial, it would embarrass the state, so they conceded.

The court ruled that The New York State Department of Education and the Unification Theological Seminary should consult each other and arrive at a positive settlement. We finally obtained the charter for the seminary four years later. (149-262, 1986/11/23)

20. I established the theological seminary to save America. It was not founded as a business venture. Contemporary theological seminaries are incapable of saving America.

In the future, our seminary graduates will exert an influence on this country and university education. Current educational institutions cannot change America's path. No one, except for us, can offer new education.

Christianity alone does not encompass the Will of God. Because we do, we need to be responsible for renewing the content of theological education. I have hurried to establish this theological seminary to educate America. Through re-creating Christianity, we can realize a new America and a new free world.
(216-045, 1991/03/09)

21. I took responsibility for the University of Bridgeport. I am the only foreigner in America who came forward to preserve and protect a university. I am the first one. I set this record, but you do not know how much opposition I experienced from every direction. Various rumors proliferated.

University towns began to say that Reverend Moon was taking over American education and would ruin America's future. The New York Times, The Washington Post, and other major newspapers slandered me, accusing me of committing all kinds of wrongdoing.

After I came to America, however, I did not engage in even one instance of wrongdoing. By day and by night, I have stood tall. I have always lived as a man of integrity. (282-122, 1997/03/11)

22. I obey heavenly laws and ironclad rules in the course of my life. Because I am trying to connect you to the pipeline of Heaven's blessings, you should know that there are blessings in the place where I have suffered. The University of Bridgeport is in the state of Connecticut.

This is the same state where I went to prison, so it is a state where I have suffered. Now it is receiving blessings. If I had not sustained the University of Bridgeport, the state would have been dishonored.

But, since I rescued a school that was struggling, Bridgeport now has become a proud city and the focus of attention. Bridgeport attracted the attention of the surrounding states.

Even now, I am praying that America will do well. I never prayed for its ruin, even though it is a place where I went through hardships. Even if I leave America now, it will not perish. (383-222, 2002/06/28)

23. Academic studies must transcend national borders and even historical backgrounds. From such a perspective, the scholars of the world must unite and strive to overcome the cultural divisions that plague education. We are not talking about an educational system only fit for the United States, England, or any other specific nation.

Transcending the national level, we need to create a global educational system that can build a unified world of peace. Without setting a goal and establishing proper facilities for this purpose, we cannot provide world-level education.

That is why I am planning to build a university suitable for such a project. Therefore, I am planning to establish a board of directors for a world university federation. (071-176, 1974/04/30)

24. In the future, not just anyone will be able to be a leader in the Unification Church. If you want to take a position of responsibility, you will have to gain approval through an examination process, just as is commonly practiced throughout the world. Then, if you are the national leader in Korea, you would be qualified for a leadership position at the same level in the United States.

Once you have achieved that position when you are asked, “What kind of responsibility do you hold?” you would reply, “I am responsible for a county,” and that would clarify your rank wherever you are. As an elementary school teacher is accorded the same status wherever he or she goes, we need to institutionalize similarly.

Therefore, when I went to America, I hastened to systematize our education. Such a process does not require large numbers of people, but it needs to be done based on an educational foundation. In Barry town, we were in a rush to do that. Such a system is now being realized as we enter the phase of full-scale education.
(075-091, 1975/01/02)

25. We need to compile a new encyclopedia, mobilizing world-renowned scholars and experts from every field. It will be compiled according to the value standards of each field. To revolutionize all fields, we need to first compile the original encyclopedia.

We have to publish a daily newspaper, discussing key issues related to all fields of life, and educate the young people of the world. For that purpose, we need to create an integrated educational institution and that is why we need a federation. Universities in one nation alone cannot accomplish this.

We need to tie universities together and make preparations to propose a direction that can influence the world. (110-196, 1980/11/17)

26. In January 1996, I proclaimed the establishment of the World University Federation at the Victoria Hotel in Uruguay. The universities of the world need to acknowledge common values under the leadership of the World University Federation.

National interests and academic freedom are not the matters of greatest concern.

In the world of academics, all capable students at any college should be able to carry out activities and demonstrate their abilities freely without any restrictions on their cultural background, thereby transcending race, traditions, and nationalities.

That is why now I am opening the path where you can go to any university to teach and be influential. (276-289, 1996/03/03)

27. North America, South America, Asia, Europe, and Africa can all connect through the work of the World University Federation in North and South America. With this in place, we can determine the global champion in each field of expertise once a year. In this way, universities will become a basis for moving society forward.

It is education that can set the standard in spirituality, ethics, and morality. Based on that foundation of education, one can teach about God. The media organizations can also make a connection with this foundation. Once all educational and media organizations align with one another internally and externally, the world will not be able to deviate even if it'd like to.

When people who finish school go out into society, teachers become influential and families unite, then the world will move in one harmonious direction.
(276-291, 1996/03/03)

28. In the future, I am planning to hold many international seminars, inviting communist and democratic theorists and experts in Unification Thought. To reach this goal, we need the participation of the American government and the United Nations.

This will enable the American government to figure out its direction in this confused era. That is to say, if America and the United Nations pursue the direction of the World University Federation, I envision an age of globalization that can be governed by the sphere of philosophy. (352-124, 2001/08/29)

2I plan is to form a world university federation as well as to establish a United Nations university. To achieve this, we need the support of the presidents of Ivy League universities.

We are currently engaged in these university projects. Before we can establish a United Nations university, we need to find a way to gather 50 percent of the students, and the Ivy League universities need to recruit the other 50 percent.

Although I must start educating international people of talent in America, I would also like to provide such education in Korea. This project will require us to devise an enormous plan. (263-293, 1994/10/27)

30. There is an international vision at the heart of the United Nations, but there is no substantial network to put it into practice. The representatives who appear at the United Nations render service to profit only their nations. A network to benefit the whole world does not yet exist.

To organize such a network, I intend to tie the University of Bridgeport together with ten Ivy League universities. In this way, I plan to raise international people's talent and implement a global network through the United Nations.
(252-285, 1994/01/01)

31. In the future, there will be no need for schools. We are entering the age of electronic education through video. I am initiating such a project. Since I know many world scholars, we are making preparations to invite experts in each field to tape their classes.

We are doing so at our television studios in Washington. Our society has hitherto communicated through writing, but it will now be transformed into one that communicates through images. (209-316, 1990/11/30)

32. There is no longer any need to build high-density urban housing. Until now, we were compelled to live crowded together because of convenience, means of transportation, education, and other such issues.

In the future, however, by having a television or a radio, human beings can live in the hills and valleys wherever they desire. In the future, we will not have school buildings. Education will be done entirely through videos.

We are already living in that age. We can build an international system by which elementary school classes can be taught through video.

There would be no need to attend school for six years; smart children could even graduate within two years. A person could study at the university level through videos. Credits could be recognized universally simply based on passing a nationally authorized examination. (268-231, 1995/04/02)