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F. Kaufmann: Address to Summit 2022, Session VIIIa
Written by Dr. Frank Kaufmann, president, Twelve Gates Foundation
Saturday, August 13, 2022
Address to Summit 2022 and Leadership Conference,
Seoul, Korea, August 11-15, 2022
“Interfaith as God’s Work: True Parents’ Gifts of Peace to the Religious World”
This paper introduces and lays the groundwork for a live PowerPoint presentation in which the author recounts a small sampling of stories from the interfaith work of “True Parents,” Father and Mother Moon, Rev. Sun Myung Moon and Dr. Hak Ja Han Moon. The “Gifts of Peace” are illustrated in the presentation. In total, this paper introduces the origins and raison d’etre for True Parents’ interfaith work.
The ideal of creation envisioned a single human culture bursting with infinite diversity because every human soul is unique at birth, and then matures in endless arrays of distinct environments, initially on planet Earth, and eventually elsewhere in the universe. One culture encompassing infinite diversity, every soul and each society as unique expressions harmonized in an ever expanding sphere of love.
Central to this dance is the omnipresence of God. God is perfectly and wholly in all, yet magically simultaneously “with” all. (The “with” element is the ingredient that makes this entire affair one of love.)
Every religion without exception explains a “Fall” of some sort or another, a “doctrine” needed to account for why the world is not as described above, but rather as we feel and see it throughout the course of our lives, filled with alienation, injustice and suffering.
The point of religion is to bring about the realization of divinity, in each person and society, and the discovery of God as “with” everywhere and all the time. In the end, religion is about God, but not the God of His[1] original ideal, in all and with all, but the God who still strives to realize His original, tender dream and purpose.
Religions differ in their respective affirmations as to whether God needs anything from us to complete His work. But since human beings are the ones practicing, or failing to practice, religion, at least it is sure to say that religion has something to do with us.
Father Moon, and eventually True Parents[2], like all true religious founders are properly about God, and less about religion or establishing a religion. Religion is only an unfortunate necessity because of the Fall. As True Parents carry out what God requests of them, they have two matters about religion to deal with.
- They have their own religious path they teach, a path they believe is good and helpful for people to follow.
- They carry out their work in a world filled with religions different from their own.
Every religious leader faces this same situation. Some religions, though very few, arise because an enlightened master tries to harmonize extant religions. Guru Nanak[3] is one such person who attempted to harmonize Islam and Vedic traditions so as to decrease conflict and lessen the suffering of believers.
Some other religious visionaries from the mid-19th century onwards also attempted to harmonize extant religions. Gandhi was one such person[4] and recent Popes, beginning with His Holiness John Paul II in Assisi, Italy in 1986, also have become interested in interfaith[5].
But the interfaith work of True Parents is unique, wholly different from all other interfaith leaders or practitioners, whether ancient or contemporary. A shorthand way of noting the perfect difference between True Parents’ interfaith work and that of others is to say “this is not something they also do.”[6]
I will explain this momentarily.
True Parents’ interfaith work began at least 15 years before Father Moon ever met Mother Moon. It began even prior to the completion of Father Moon’s own spiritual preparation and production of his teachings, the Divine Principle.
Religious separation and conflict became a problem that Father Moon had to challenge even before he had confirmation about his teachings. This is why I entitled this presentation, “Interfaith as God’s Work.” God would have had to solve the problem of religious discord even if Father and Mother Moon had never been born.
Read here what Father Moon says he had to deal with before he could begin his ministry which he promised Jesus to fulfill. Father Moon explains:
“What must someone do in order to become the Lord at the Second Advent? You need to go to the spirit world, reveal the principles concerning the relationships of all religions centering on Jesus, clarify everything about heaven and earth and their laws, and receive the approval of the spirit world. You have to proclaim these things on earth. This is something that has not been known even in the spirit world. Only God and Satan knew of this. (1992.11.9)
In order to unite this world, you have to enter the spirit world and make unity there first. How are you going to bring unification? You would not be welcomed. If you go to the spirit world and say, ‘The way of the heavenly principle should be revealed in this way,’ Satan and God would understand but they would not give an answer.
It was the first time for all the leaders of religion to hear these things. They asked the meaning of the transition of the lineage, the transition of the rights of ownership and the transition of the realm of love.” (1995.10.20)
From this we can see that the interfaith work of True Parents and the Unification efforts they led, are not something True Parents “also do” and think “Oh how nice and special we are. We believe everyone should get along. This is because we are such kind and lovely people. We love everyone.” These claims might be true. Maybe Unification members are nice and lovely people who love everybody. But this is not the reason why True Parents gave everything for the sake of interfaith. True Parents invest in interfaith work to make possible the realization of God’s original ideal of creation.
There is nothing wrong with doing interfaith work because you are nice. But this is not why Father Moon risked madness and personal decimation for its sake, nor why Mother Moon bound herself in perfect self-sacrifice to this.
The realization, direct experience, and life and death confrontation of the catastrophic reality of religious separation and discord that is calcified in the spiritual world is why True Father translates this work into a laser-clear summation of True Parents’ mission. It relates to what he describes as “the three headaches of God.”
True Parents’ interfaith work is related wholly and entirely to “the three headaches of God,” which, more specifically, is headache number two.
The Unification path is unique in religious history in that it is directed toward the liberation of God. No other religion has ever had this as its purpose.
With this foundational orientation, True Parents and their followers live to alleviate God’s suffering. Practically and strategically removing “God’s three headaches” is the first step.
If these can be solved, the path can open for God, and us, to dance in eternal, never-ending joy sharing our love together. Remove the obstacles and we can start on our way. Still, there is much hard work to do, but at least the obstacles are removed.
What then are the “three great headaches of God?” Father Moon explained this in response to a Newsweek reporter in 1976[7]:
(Newsweek) Q: “Why did God speak to you?”
(Father Moon) A: “In accordance with God's timetable, God has ordained or handpicked me. But why? We must ask God that question. I know just one thing: that mission came to me. God has three major headaches. First, moral corruption is rampant. Second, the Christian churches are divided and declining and their spiritual power must be restored. And third, Communism, an evil force in the sight of God, is rising—this is the foremost obstacle to the creation of the Kingdom of God on earth. When those revelations were completed and organized into the Divine Principle, I began to organize a movement and that is the Unification Church.”
The headaches?
- Moral corruption – the breakdown of good families in which members are conscientious and respectful of one another, especially in areas of fidelity and moral purity.
- Disunity in Christianity resulting in declining spiritual power. Religious discord renders religions impotent.
- Militant atheism (Communism) – philosophical, social and political hatred of God and religion. Intellectually advanced, and politically and culturally enforced prevention of communal, even private, religious life.
As long as any of these three headaches remain, humans cannot be free and released to challenge the thrilling path to realizing our divinity and living with God. While these persist, there is no Heaven for anyone, including none for God.
True Parents’ interfaith work deals with headache number two, at first disunity in Christianity, and then naturally healing and removing all religious discord.
Until this is solved, there is no peace for God, no peace or hope for God’s children, no Heaven after death, no peace for the tender environment of our beloved Mother Earth, and no sure walk of joyful building happy societies together.
True Parents’ interfaith work began when raging conflict in the spiritual world was stilled by the decision of God. Father Moon said:
“Since great chaos would come to the spirit world after this, God had to make a decision as the Judge. But even He stood against me. God said, ‘Rev. Moon is a heretic, as you all say.’
Why? Since Adam had betrayed God, in accordance with the laws of restoration through indemnity, the person representing perfected Adam had to face a situation of betrayal, even by God Himself. Only then could the walls that were raised in God's heart be brought down. In this way, everyone was against me, and even God was standing on the other side, leaving me totally alone.
Still, the spirit world could not be left as it was, in a whirlpool of chaos. God had to make the final decision. He proclaimed, ‘The transition of the lineage, transition of the rights of ownership, and transition of the realm of heart that Rev. Moon speaks of are true.’ I then had to return here, to this world, after receiving God's seal as a victorious champion.” (264-50, 1994.10.9)
While I happen to believe this, I am not saying anyone else has to. That is just Father Moon’s account of what happened. Everyone needs to make up their own mind if they think this happened or not. I am simply explaining why True Parents created the most massive interfaith movement in human history. That part is verifiable fact; the data on this is easily and readily available.
True Parents’ degree of sacrifice and investment in trying to create enduring, loving oneness among the world’s religions is simply light years in excess of any next competitor, despite how wonderful and truly sacrificial the world’s great interfaith champions might be.
But the point of this presentation is not to “compete,” or to say “how great” True Parents are. Anyone can research the data and see in simple, shocking numbers that validate the reality of True Parents immense investment in interfaith.
Rather, the point of this paper is to explain why True Parents invest in interfaith, and to set the stage for and accompany a brief presentation showing how True Parents’ interfaith designs and outcomes are unique.
[1] I call God Him. Please substitute Him and His as you read with whatever you like best. Options range from non-person to Her, to They. I pray that we can suspend being distracted briefly, and if needed, join in a loving quest and conversation on this matter some other time.
[2] A religious term coined to describe Father and Mother Moon as a married couple with the capacity to offer “rebirth” that also redeems conception and lineage.
[3] https://www.thequint.com/lifestyle/books/guru-nanak-the-sikhs-book-excerpt-khushwant-singh-sikhism hindu-muslim-unity#read-more.
[4] https://theshillongtimes.com/2021/01/30/mahatma-gandhi-and-christianity,
https://www.mkgandhi.org/articles/gandhi_christ.html.
[5] https://www.catholicregister.org/home/international/item/23124-legacy-of-1986-peace-gathering-lingers in-assisi.
[6] I fear this might come as news to huge numbers of Unification leaders and believers, even many who are involved in Unification interfaith.
[7] http://www.tparents.org/Moon-Talks/sunmyungmoon76/SunMyungMoon-760614.htm
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