Cham Bumo Gyeong: Episode 311

Cham Bumo Gyeong
Book 11: Ecumenical Initiatives
Chapter 1: Ecumenical and Interfaith Initiatives
Section 4. Religious Coalition and World Peace, Paragraph 05-12

5  The purpose of religion is nothing other than the completion of God's Will. Religion must contribute to accomplishing that. Many faiths talk about goodness and talk about love, but they must not confine goodness and love to their ethnic, national or religious particularity. After transcending these, each faith must connect to the place where we are considering the goodness and love of all humankind.

There have been many people who have pursued the interior world of religion itself, but there have not been many who have thought that they must free themselves from their cultural doctrines, take responsibility to unite the faiths into one and save the world. Religions must go beyond the limitations of their national character, but despite this being God's Will and desire, they have remained stuck in their culture and nationality. Having been unable to free themselves from the constraints of their own doctrines, religions reduce their final goal to achieving their believers' individual salvation. Because of this, God cannot but gather together the world externally and the religions internally, and lead the development of history in the direction of one world.

6  When we look at Mt. Everest, we see a dominant mountain that is part of a range of smaller, connected peaks. In the same way, all religions of the world are like mountain peaks standing in their position in a mountain range, having contributed to the ages of history and looking up to a central point. If there is no main peak in the mountain range, particular peaks might try to assert themselves—but none can become the central point.

A new faith needs to lead the providential age, binding all religious realms together as one. It will not be one that espouses a vague and conceptual God, such as we have often seen throughout history. It will be a faith with the religious background to lead and govern daily life by means of setting people's internal motivation in order. It will exercise a leadership role among the teachers of all world religions. The new faith will achieve the liberation of religion. Even the term "religion" will disappear. We must raise our standard to imagine how religion can bear it's ideal fruit. The kingdom of heaven on earth will be realized when the world moves in one direction toward God.

7  God has established the global standard of conscience, and this can be the foundation for all people in the world to gather at a single destination. To do this, someone must build a movement to set up a world forum to discuss religious ideas, a movement for religious synthesis. But Protestants are saying everyone should unite with Protestantism as the center, while Roman Catholics are saying that everyone should become one with Catholicism as the center. We observe that they completely overlook the principle that we all must become one with God as the center.

A new faith needs to lead the providential age, binding all religious realms together as one. It will not be one that espouses a vague and conceptual God, such as we have often seen throughout history. It will be a faith with the religious background to lead and govern daily life by means of setting people's internal motivation in order. It will exercise a leadership role among the teachers of all world religions. The new faith will achieve the liberation of religion. Even the term "religion" will disappear. We must raise our standard to imagine how religion can bear its ideal fruit. The kingdom of heaven on earth will be realized when the world moves in one direction toward God.

8  God is inspiring a movement to gather the whole world together in unity. The biggest nightmare for Satan is a united world. If we realize one world, all people will be pulled away from Satan's grasp. To prevent this, Satan advocates atheism, which denies God's existence. Next, he plans religious wars, with the destruction of religion as his goal. Currently, he is polluting the world with the communist ideological system. Communism covertly encourages religious division and promotes religious wars. In addition, because the world is dominated by white people, who are at the core of the mainstream Christian cultural realm, Satan exacerbates the racial divide between blacks and whites. Now the danger is global in scale.

God understands the historical age and the forces driving humankind in this era, so He is raising a movement to unite all religions. He cannot help but strive for Christian unity and racial reconciliation, as a way to defend against communism and racial and religious hatemongers. God has no choice but to carry out a movement for unity that will bring this world into oneness. A movement beyond denomination, one that transcends all Christian sects and all other faiths and defends against global communism, must emerge in these Last Days. Otherwise, there will be no way for heaven to prevail.

Korea and America

On April 15, 1970, the Unification Church joined the Association of Religions in Korea, linking hands with Korea's established religious denominations. True Parents formed the International Religious Foundation (IRF) to create a united internal foundation with the interdenominational movement. By connecting this internal foundation to the united external foundation through the Victory Over Communism movement, True Parents began to prepare a united national and global foundation.

True Parents realized that if Christian denominations in America, the Second Israel, do not become one, the unification of religions worldwide will be impossible. Therefore, they devoted enormous effort to bring together American Christian clergymen, and established the American Clergy Leadership Conference (ACLC) in May, 2000. This is an ecumenical organization that creates a realm through which American Christianity can take the lead to realize world peace.

9  The Unification Church joined the Association of Religions in Korea on April 15, 1970. The seven leading religions of the world are members. At first, three Christian denominations opposed us strongly and pulled out from the council, motivated by their dogmatism. But eventually they all returned. We formed relationships with these seven great religions, and the Unification Church ended up joining the council as the eighth great faith tradition. We must participate in whatever social activities the council carries out.

10  We are conducting activities through the Association of Religions in Korea and the International Federation for Victory Over Communism because the most urgent issue in the religious world is the need for all world religious groups to unite, and the most urgent issue in the nation is the need for anticommunist work. The Unification Church does anti-communist work not only for the sake of Korea, but for the world. All people should acknowledge that the Unification Church is working both in religion and society in this way. We will encounter many difficulties, including material loss and human suffering, but we are prepared for that. Our efforts are not just for the Unification Church, but for the nation and the world.

11  We are setting three objectives for the Association of Religions in Korea in the 1970s, making national salvation the central theme. What is the essence of national salvation? It is empowering ourselves with Victory Over Communism thought. We must stand up to the Communist Party, fight against them and win. If we do this, the internal foundation, which we prepared based on the Association of Religions in Korea, will complete an external foundation with members from every religious group. Ultimately, if the internal standard of the church, centered on the Association of Religions, and the external national standard, centered on the International Federation for Victory Over Communism, become one with each other, the internal and external will be in perfect alignment.

Next, as we train more people, our numbers will increase. Over time, we will develop globally in cooperation with the Association of Religions in Korea. Our growth will be far greater than the revival of Christianity currently taking place. At this time I am engaged in the external activities of the International Federation for Victory Over Communism, while internally I am teaching national salvation from the perspective of the Association of Religions in Korea. We must achieve the reunification of North and South Korea, which is our national hope and the people's long-cherished desire. Religious leaders must stand up for the reunification of Korea.

12  The 1960s were a time to pay indemnity individually, but the 1970s are the time we will pay indemnity as families. It means that this is the time when we must establish a family-level Abel. After that, once we establish the tribal-level Abel realm centering on the family-level Abel, we must love Christianity, which exists in the family-level Cain realm.

We gathered together many religions and are leading the activities of the Association of Religions in Korea. If we are going to gather numerous religious groups into one, we must stand in the position where we love each of them—more than anyone else loves them. We must love them from a position of giving our most precious things as offerings. If we love to that degree, we will become one based on God's Will. People will be drawn to us and will join in our work.