Authors
The forty-day workshop for Muslims
At the Second Assembly of the World's Religions that opened in San Francisco on August 16, 1990, True Parents proposed the establishment of the Interreligious Leadership Seminars as an education project that would internally bind together the world's faiths.
Connected to that, the following year a 40-day workshop was held for 40 Muslim leaders from Syria at the New Yorker Hotel in New York City from December 2, 1991, until January 10, 1992.
True Parents implored the attending leaders to strive to resolve the long-standing impediments between Judaism, Christianity, and Islam and take the lead in realizing peace in the Middle East.
The Middle East Peace Initiative (MEPI) brought thousands of Christian ministers and faith leaders from the United States to the Middle East. They began as efforts for interfaith reconciliation between Christians and Jesus and developed into efforts to reconcile Jews and Palestinians, including peace marches in Jerusalem proclaiming peace among the Abrahamic faiths.
On December 22, 2003, by True Parents' guidance, thousands of people, including religious leaders from around the world, gathered and held historic events for peace in Israel and Palestine.
This laid the foundation for True Parents to later conduct the Ceremony for Total Unity, which created a victorious realm in which the First, Second, Third, and Fourth Israels could be united.
1. Before creating the Unification Church in 1954, I thought that communism could not last more than 73 years. Communist expansionism is no longer an issue. Now we have to shift our focus to the issue of religious conflicts.
For 50 years I have talked about who is going to stop the fighting between Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. My preparations for resolving this conflict began five decades ago. In the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus says, “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.”
Since the beginning of history, there has been only one person who tried to reconcile religions and who devoted himself to this work despite persecution from individuals, families, religions, and nations. That person is me. But I was not alone. Together with God, (225-019, 1992/01/01)
Have been laying the foundation to unite the religious world. This is not just a theory or classroom exercise. It is happening in the real world, in history. (225-019, 1992/01/01)
2. In an announcement at the second Assembly of the World's Religions in San Francisco, the participants agreed to cooperate in uniting their educational efforts. This was to be for the purpose of developing internal unity, and I stepped up to take the lead. All present, by raising their hands, pledged to participate.
As we have pledged, so, must we carry it out?
The first phase was the education of Muslims from Syria. They are now receiving training in New York City at a 40-day workshop that began December 2. In the 1,500-year history of Islam, this is unprecedented.
Middle East leaders representing Muslim countries are connecting for educational purposes with the Unification Church, which the world has opposed. The participants call me “Father Moon.” I did not suggest this; they came up with it on their own.
These Muslim leaders are better than the members of the Unification Church. I told those who were attending the workshop, “Now that you have received this education, you know that doctrine is not an issue. The Will is the issue, so if you have found illumination in the Unification teachings and want to become my student, you are welcome.” (210-206, 1990/12/23)
3. I am a person who knows history very well. Islam and Christianity have been enemies since the Crusades. Now, however, it is time to resolve this. Why did Syrian Muslim leaders receive education in the Unification Principle? If they had not received it, the world as we know it would have come to an end.
Now Iraq has invaded Kuwait, and if Muslims centering on Iraq join together to fight Christians, it will lead to a world war, a religious war. My life mission has been dedicated to preventing this. Goaded by the Iraq issue, if Muslims say, “Christianity is our enemy.
Let us avenge what we have suffered from the 12th-century Crusades until today,” the Muslim world will unite and fight. The Syrian Muslim leaders are receiving Principle education at this time just when explosive world circumstances are intersecting dangerously. This education will inspire great work encouraging peace to take root. (210-129, 1990/12/17)
4. The center of Christianity is not Israel but the United States. Thus, for 33 years I have been carrying out activities focusing on America. We are now entering the 34th year. We should prepare for a moment of massive transformation, the same as the moment when the 33-year-old Jesus should have come to rule the world as a royal personage from his 34th to 40th years.
We understand the significance of this time in the providence, so we are working based on the Peace UN.
Islam, Christianity, and Judaism descended from one man, Abraham, and tragedy emerged from the death of one man, Jesus. The original plan was that Jesus become the king of Israel, but he could not achieve this because he was killed. As a result, the worlds of spirit and flesh separated.
God's Will to build a global, peaceful royal power in the flesh on earth still awaits fulfillment when Jesus returns. Nothing can be accomplished on earth if the Lord returns on the clouds.
We have to know all about this, and we need to pay indemnity and resolve all the failures surrounding the time of Jesus. We resolve bitter pain by restoration through indemnity. To advance this task, 3,000 people from the Unification Church came to Israel from the north, south, east and west.
Their outreach work brought many people to the peace march for Gaza and Israel on December 22, 2003. It was a remarkable event to attend. It was difficult to secure 3,000 plane tickets for our members at the end of the year. Furthermore, it was miraculous. It is difficult to move even three people at that time of year, but 3,000 came. (431-039, 2004/01/11)
5. The establishment of the foundation of the Third Israel, where God and Adam's nation become one and settle horizontally and vertically, has failed. Therefore, we must unite North and South Korea to establish the combined positions of the First Israel, the Second Israel, America, and the Third Israel, Korea. If we succeed, the arena of conflict will naturally transform into a foundation for peace.
Since I knew that this would be the result, I called for a peace conference in Gaza and gathered people from Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. What relationship do Judaism, Christianity, and Islam have with me?
From the perspective of God's Wil,l I am an ancestor who is joined with them in one bloodline, and I have a responsibility to them. I am doing this reconciliation work to indemnify failures related to Adam, Eve, and Jesus, and to establish the condition for people to enter the sovereignty of the kingdom of heaven.
After the Second World War, if we cast the United States, Great Britain, and France as one family, Great Britain was Eve, the US was Abel, and France was the restored archangel, all of whom defeated the side of Satan, represented by Japan, Germany, and Italy.
Based on this, they should have established the kingdom of peace centering on Korea. They failed in this, but we have restored their failure by paying indemnity and have redeemed God's lack of success in fighting with Satan in that historical age, setting up a new era of victorious dominion.
Jesus should have become the King of Peace in Gaza, yet could not accomplish that. Since that time, no one could build the foundation of the First, Second, and Third Israels. By building and connecting these foundations for the first time, the Lord at the Second Advent comes to stand in the position of True Parents. (429-016, 2003/12/23)
The Interfaith Marriage Blessing
True Parents said that if the walls between religions disappear, a world of peace will arrive.
They emphasized that the interreligious marriage Blessing ceremony is the most effective way to break down those walls with a single blow and enable the safe arrival of peace.
Accordingly, they oversaw a number of interreligious Blessing Ceremonies including the 144,000 Couples Interreligious Marriage Blessing for Clergy, held on April 27, 2002, in Washington, DC.
6. At the Inter-Religious Federation for World Peace (IRFWP) conference held in New Delhi on February 1, 1993, I announced that we must create a movement to combine all religions through intermarriage.
As the chief representative of religion, I am saying that religion must take the lead in establishing family morals worldwide. We need to put this into practice through joint efforts by all religions.
I proposed that IRFWP representatives organize joint wedding ceremonies within and between their religious groups. I offered to bless all the couples myself, regardless of the number. By declaring that globally, I fulfilled my responsibility as the person who created the IRFWP. (246-025, 1993/03/23)
7. The new age, which is called the age of Cheon Il Guk, has opened. It is the age in which all people in the spiritual world and the physical world, left and right, Muslim and Christian, live together as one family.
This is the meaning of Cheon Il Guk. The world of peace can arise when walls between religions disappear. Our children can build a world of peace through interreligious and international marriages.
The children of Jews and Muslims have to marry each other; the children of communists and the free world have to marry each other, and ultimately all people must become one family.
Think about the moment Cain killed Abel. As a result of that event, to this day, the heart of God has been stained by tears and torn with anguish. Originally, the elder son should have loved his younger brother, but instead, he murdered him. At that time, God's heart was unbelievably miserable.
Since then, He has longed for the end of religion. Judaism should have become the final religion for humanity. However, because Jesus was killed on the cross, Christianity emerged and has continued until the present.
The ages of Adam and Jesus, who were the First and Second Adams, have passed. Now it is the age of completion, the time of the Returning Lord, the Third Adam. The mission of the Returning Lord is to perfect three generations in true love, true, life, and true lineage.
Accordingly, through the Blessing, he engrafts people with cuttings from the true olive tree for the sake of making the lineage of all people chaste and pure. (2003/03/02)
8. We must accomplish the world of one family under God. The simplest way to do this is intermarriage between Jews and Muslims and between people of the communist and free worlds.
For example, if the children of North Korea's leader marry those of South Korea's president, not only will their enmity be removed, but a peaceful world with the Korean Peninsula as the center will be realized. If the UN invites True Parents, who are the champions of interreligious, interracial, and international marriages, to bless all humanity, it would not even take a week. The resolution of all human problems is not far away but lies close at hand.
If we become blessed families, we can bless our nephews and nieces and all our relatives' sons and daughters. This being the case, the Blessing will spread like wildfire in a dry field. Now we must strongly push to bless our relatives' sons and daughters. If you ask why we are doing this, it is truly for their sake.
Later, when they come to understand the true meaning of the Blessing, they will thank us.
If I suggested to you here that we hold cross-cultural weddings between leaders of Judaism, Islam, and Christianity, would you agree to that? If you are uncertain, please send someone in your place.
After a 40-day workshop, that person will agree 100 percent. This is what God, our ancestors, and the religious founders desire. (2003/03/02)
9. Traditions within each mainstream religion tell us that the holiest way is to live a celibate life. But an individual cannot enter heaven alone. We can enter only after accomplishing the realm of three generations based on lineage. That's why I bless marriages.
After receiving the Blessing, to enter the kingdom of heaven one has only to complete the foundation of three generations through the true love, true life, and true lineage of the true God. Only the Unification Church conducts Blessings for all to see in the earthly world that are binding in heaven and on earth.
From the earthly standpoint, what does the Arab realm have to do with me? What is the relationship between a Korean and an Arab? We can relate to each other because we have a common devotion to God.
Because the hope of God is embodied in that, we should believe the unbelievable, do the impossible, and even receive persecution with enthusiasm.
Who among the attendees of the IIFWP Middle East Peace Seminar believed in me after our first meeting? I am the person whom all have opposed. How much have religious leaders Muslim, Jewish, and Christian hated the Unification Church? How much have priests and nuns hated it?
The world of peace should go beyond borders. The world of peace will come to pass only when the sons and daughters of enemies can marry each other. The Unification Church is the only group in the religious world that can conduct cross-cultural marriages. Only the Unification Church.
If I wed Muslims and Jews in cross-cultural marriages, wars in the Middle East would disappear. (406-025, 2003/03/02)
10. Heavenly Father, I truly give thanks that I can give the benefit of the Blessing, permitted by heaven, to 144,000 chosen leaders from 189 countries, with oneness in heart, oneness in body, and oneness in thought.
Our dear Heavenly Father, through the Unification movement we will regain the true love, true life, and true lineage lost in Eden, the garden of the ideal of creation. Your ideal of creation, with Your foundation of lineage at the center, is the completion of a family in line with Your principle of creation.
You formed Adam and Eve, and You longed to embrace them, filled with ideal, cosmic love and yearning for them to become an ideal couple. Beyond that, You have longed for them to become ideal parents and to give birth to children centering on God so that the first, second, and third generations would be completed through their having grandchildren in the family of God.
This would have settled the family foundation, where You desired to find oneness through love, life, and lineage.
From the day when error befell the original human ancestors in the growing period, the trap of the Fall on this earth left us with pain and misery. Due to this, for our ancestors and also for us, the world of liberating joy was lost, and we were plunged into sorrow.
While passing through 6,000 years, You established the Old Testament, New Testament and Completed Testament Ages, which are the course of restoration to indemnify human sin.
I am well aware of how much effort it took to seek and find the standard of the liberated, restored, victorious, unified dominion of Eden. With all the religious leaders standing here, by the grace of the united Blessing of heaven and earth, completing the oneness of blood relatives who have oneness in heart, oneness in body, and oneness in thought, we must find and restore the original realm of heart from the individual to the family, tribe, people, nation, world, cosmos, and even God that had been lost in front of You. (376-225, 2002/04/27)
11. Heavenly Father, for the sake of the mind-body unity of the individual, unity between husband and wife, unity between parents and children, unity among siblings, and unity of the tribe, nation, and world, we shatter the walls and barriers erected by Satan and shake off enemy-like behavior.
Upon the family-level foundation of loving children, as the unfallen brethren of Adam and Eve, we have completed the form of a true clan centered on God, who has become our True Parent.
We also have carried out Blessing ceremonies transcending tribe, nation, world, and cosmos. By doing so, we have established the realm of unification on earth and the realm of unification in heaven.
We have removed the dividing line between the spiritual world and the physical world and abolished the borderline between Satan's world and heaven's world. By this means, centering on true lineage and the ideal family, all humanity has welcomed the age of the Blessing, in which we can accomplish familial love that goes beyond the nation and the standard of religion, as the children of Cain and Abel for whom God has hoped.
I pray that this Blessing ceremony, held with a spirit that is international, interethnic, and intertribal, with oneness in heart, oneness in body, and oneness in thought, will be an acceptable offering before our Heavenly Father.
(392-098, 2002/09/14)
Sun Myung Moon