Cham Bumo Gyeong: Episode 257

Cham Bumo Gyeong
Book 9: Activities in the Media, Education and the Arts for the Culture of Heart
Chapter 3: World Media Conferences and Media Outlets
Section 2: Educational Institutions, Paragraph 11-24

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.

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 man and woman. 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.

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, due to 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.

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, earth 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 pray also that all of the faculty and students, as well as each and 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.

15  The Cheongshim Graduate School of Theology is an interreligious graduate school. We will have distinguished scholars introduce the doctrines of their own 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.

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.

The United States and other nations

On April 30, 1974, True Parents acquired the campus of a Catholic high school at Barrytown, 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 in order to educate talented international individuals and establish a worldwide network of international leaders through the United Nations. They also declared that we are entering the era when people can learn through educational videos in their own location anywhere in the world, rather than traveling to school to study.

17  I did not establish the theological seminary in Barrytown because the Unification Church needs theology, but in order 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.

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.

19  The seminary in Barrytown 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 were in compliance 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 with each other and arrive at a positive settlement. We finally obtained the charter for the seminary four years later.

20  I established the theological seminary for the purpose of saving America. It was not founded as a business venture. Contemporary theological seminaries are not capable of saving America. In the future, our seminary graduates will exert influence on this country and on 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 to renew the content of theological education. I have hurried to establish this theological seminary for the purpose of educating America. Through re-creating Christianity, we can realize a new America and a new free world.

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.

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.

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.

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 in charge of 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 Barrytown, we were in a rush to do that. Such a system is now being realized as we enter the phase of full-scale education.