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Speech
C.S. Yong: A Vision of Peace, Leadership, and Good Governance
December 8, 2012
Here in Indonesia, I sincerely hope you will work together in establishing a new paradigm of peace, leadership, and good governance. As the country with the largest Muslim population, people throughout the world and the Islamic world in particular are looking up to your nation to lead the way towards peace, happiness, and prosperity.
T. Walsh: Remarks on 7th Anniversary of the Founding of UPF in Korea
November 24, 2012
Today we honor UPF-Korea. Its mission has only begun. May it flourish, growing in strength, wisdom, and capacity each and every day. For the world needs you.
J. Marion: Address to Conference on Europe and Russia: Partners in a Globalized World
October 12, 2012
Not long ago, before Rev. Sun Myung Moon passed away, he encouraged our two UPF chapters of Europe and Eurasia to hold joint meetings, emphasising the fact that Europe and Russia have a common destiny and a joint responsibility for global peace in the 21st century. As it occurs, Russia’s recent access to the World Trade Organization will certainly open up a whole new potential in bilateral relations.
R. Ram: Rev. Dr. Sun Myung Moon - Living for the Sake of Others
September 3, 2012
Rev. Dr. Sun Myung Moon will be remembered passionately by the coming generations for his concerted efforts towards building a viable peace and harmony in the world. He was, in fact, an angel of peace, family unity, and interfaith dialogue who invented new traditions and ways to organize universal gatherings of diverse religions/faiths in the contemporary world both within the forums of the UN and without for the sole purpose of learning the basic lessons of living together harmoniously and with compassion for one and all. Father Moon was not an armchair philosopher who philosophized idyllically in the realm of mere dreams and thoughts, but a karmayogi (a man of action) who firmly believed in practical actions now and here in the real world of our day-to-day existence.
T. Walsh: Interfaith, Multi-Track Diplomacy, and Peace
August 29, 2012
Interfaith should be viewed as a relevant and important instrument of soft power. Interfaith dialogue and cooperation may also be an effective instrument of “track II” or “multi-track diplomacy.” If religion is your enemy, it still may be wise to keep your enemy near. If religion is your friend, then cultivate that friendship.
N. Hirschfeld: Interfaith Education and the Thought of Sun Myung Moon
August 29, 2012
So far, interfaith dialogues have been usually focusing on getting to know better one another’s faith; such interfaith dialogues have reached their limitations. They are important as a stage of growth, but after reaching this level, we can and should go beyond it. We should reach unity in heart, we should learn to embrace one another, and more than that we should learn to live for the sake of the other religions.
T. Hamad: World Interfaith Harmony Week
August 29, 2012
We need to adapt a new belief, that the center of life is heart, not our heart, but God’s heart, who loves and cares for everyone as parents care for their children. Of course, not everyone has a religious or spiritual view of life, so we must also recognize the rights of these people and work in harmony with them to the extent it does not violate basic principles of God. That is why we must also motivate and encourage people to develop the spiritual side of their essence, in order to be truly human.
E. Glaubach-Gal: Interfaith Climate Change
August 29, 2012
This paper attempted to touch on research about interfaith activities and peacebuilding in the present reality. It focused on offering valuable conceptualizations on peacemaking through interfaith dialogue organizations as peace building actors. The goal is to reveal methods and explore new dynamics that have the potential to enhance interfaith dialogue and promote peaceful coexistence among people and nations.
M. Jenkins: The Role of the Religious Leader in Peacemaking
August 29, 2012
Faith leaders who are guided by the love of God are crucial in leading the path to peace. The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. stated that he grew to understand non-violence through Gandhi, who was influenced by Tolstoy. He also says he was greatly influenced by Jesus and his teaching that we must love our enemy. But the end is reconciliation; the end is redemption; the end is the creation of the beloved community. It is this type of spirit and this type of love that can transform opposers into friends.
O. Al-Mallakh: The Monotheistic Family’s Common Book
August 29, 2012
Let us gather around this book of David in the spirit of interfaith cooperation, exalting in the love of God. Here in Jerusalem, surely we will find courage to embark on the road of understanding and collaboration among the members of the family of Abraham. Let us start reading it together. Let us teach the Psalms/Tehillim/Zabur to our children, to the leaders of the next generation, so they know that we are not strangers to each other. We are kin, the children of Abraham who found favor with God the Almighty.
J. Montville: The Roots of Religious Extremism
August 29, 2012
I would like to take part in a wider conversation in which Jews and Muslims—separately and together—offer each other their versions of peace’s meaning for careful and thoughtful consideration. The outcomes of these conversations might supplement the debate about the Middle East conflict and its proposed political solutions with new alternatives. Better still, this conversation might generate organically Jewish and Muslim motivations for putting an end to hostilities.
M. Braybrooke: No Future Without Forgiveness
August 29, 2012
It is easy to talk about forgiveness, but I know how difficult it is even in ordinary life. I cannot begin to imagine how difficult it is for those whose loved ones have been killed or tortured, but the only hope for healing and lasting peace is for us to mirror the forgiveness of God.
S. Ben Ami: The Sacrifice of Isaac
August 29, 2012
As responsible parents, how can we lead our beloved sons and daughters to the rituals of slaughter? As really responsible parents, we should throw away the differences of our religions, nationalities, races, colors, and all boundaries. We must stop sacrificing our children. Our responsibility as religious leaders and as children of God is to be the conscience of our people and nations.
S. Zakhem: The UN and the Arab-Israeli Conflict
August 29, 2012
Jews and Arabs are both Semites. They have one earthly father and the same Heavenly Father. They belong to one global family under God. It is about time they sit and talk and agree to live in peace and in brotherhood. Palestinians should forgive the past and seek peace with their cousins the Jews; and the Jews should end their occupation of the Palestinian territories and treat the Palestinians with the dignity that every human being deserves.
R. Cohen: The Arab Spring: Myth or Reality?
August 29, 2012
Perhaps by future developments in Arab countries there can be a rise to power of real liberal political forces, compromise seekers, real peace seekers, and only if a political upheaval could occur in Israel bringing to power a government with the will and ability to end the policy of occupation and settlements, only then is there a real chance of advancing the peace process.
M. Balcomb: Religion as an Obstacle to Peace?
August 29, 2012
As we are here in Jerusalem, perhaps it is fitting that the final metaphor or symbol for hospitality could be the reopening of “The Tent of Abraham.” Just as according to Jewish legend Abraham and Sara pitched their tent on a crossroads and kept it open on all four sides as an indication of hospitality to all comers, may our efforts here construct a new tent of welcome!
A.J. Sajid: Common Moral Grounds for the Common Good
August 29, 2012
Unity, diversity, and hope. We have seen that history has not ended and civilizations have not clashed even after September 11, 2001 and Gulf War I or II. Institutions, nations, groups, and all decent individuals must work together and shape the modern world as peaceful place. It is our collective responsibly to give the hope and make this happen.
M. Frenschkowski: Peace in the Near East
August 29, 2012
The impact of religion on peace and conflict, on violence and the dynamics of peacemaking is highly charged with ideologies, with many uncertainties and difficulties. What can academic science, in particular what can the field of Religious Studies contribute to the ongoing processes of struggling for peace?
Day of Families Observed in Madrid
May 20, 2012
Madrid, Spain - An International Day of Families program on May 20 at the Peace Embassy in Madrid attracted young people, couples, and Ambassadors for Peace. It was an international group, with 24 participants from Peru, Bolivia, Ecuador, Italy, Japan, Korea, Poland, Germany, the US, and Spain.
L. Ladouce: Globalization and Development
April 14, 2012
Development should make our life more fully human. It should offer us new freedoms, not only more needs. Globalization most fundamentally offers a spiritual and moral opportunity for a broader love. In other words, what is at stake is not just the free circulation of commodities but the horizontal road map: the opportunity offered to all people to live for their family, for their nation, for the world, and for heaven, without restrictions.