The
One World Religion
The Details - Learn to Recognize
Them
by Lee
Penn
Originally published on October
13, 2007
Introduction
In 1939, Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union made a surprise alliance,
agreeing not to attack each other, to hand over political prisoners and
refugees wanted by the other side, and to divide Poland among
themselves. This agreement led directly to World War II, and lasted
until the Nazis invaded the Soviet Union in June 1941. Despite their
supposed enmity, both the totalitarian right and the totalitarian left
made common cause against their enemies, the democratic countries. In
America and in Western Europe, the Communists did their best to
undermine the resistance against the Nazis - until, with the invasion
of the Soviet Union, the Reds became overnight zealots for the war
against Hitler.
Similar strange alliances are appearing now in the churches, as
anti-Christian forces of the "right" and of the "left" unite against
Christ and His teachings.
Background - Who are
the players?
A. The United
Religions Initiative (URI) is an interfaith movement founded in 1995 by
William Swing, the bishop of the Episcopal Church's diocese in the San
Francisco Bay Area. It has expanded worldwide, with over 200 chapters -
the majority of which are outside the affluent nations of North
America, Western Europe, and the Pacific Rim.
The URI works closely with the United Nations, and it has received
funding from many sources. Among them are wealthy donors (including
foundations headed by George Soros and Bill Gates), a Federal agency
(the United States Institute of Peace), and organizations (the Rudolf
Steiner Foundation and the Lucis Trust World Service Fund) that promote
various forms of Theosophy, an anti-Christian, New Age spiritual
movement.
The URI supports the Earth Charter, a radical environmental manifesto
promoted by Mikhail Gorbachev. President Bush, a neo-conservative
Republican, and Grey Davis, the embattled liberal Democratic governor
of California, have both commended the interfaith work of the URI and
Bishop Swing.
URI leaders repeatedly equate evangelism to manipulative
"proselytizing" and violence. As Bishop Swing has said, "In order for a
United Religions to come about and for religions to pursue peace among
each other, there will have to be a godly cease-fire, a temporary truce
where the absolute exclusive claims of each will be honored, but an
agreed-upon neutrality will be exercised in terms of proselytizing,
condemning, murdering or dominating. These will not be tolerated in the
United Religions zone" (1)
- which evidently covers the whole world.
URI leaders say "proselytizing" is the work of "fundamentalists," and
Paul Chafee (who was then a URI board member) said at a URI forum in
1997, "We can't afford fundamentalists in a world this small." (2) If
the URI vision prevails, Christian evangelism based on the unique,
saving identity and acts of Christ would be ruled out.
B. The
Unification Church, founded by the Rev. Sun Myung Moon, is a worldwide
movement founded in 1954; it promotes the idea that Moon and his wife
are "the Messiah and True Parents of all humanity." (3) A follower of
Moon's explains that since "Jesus could not fulfill his entire mission,
Heavenly Father had to rebuild the foundation for True Parents, by
sending the Third Adam, Sun Myung Moon. Rev. Moon fulfilled the mission
of True Parents that Adam and Jesus had failed to fulfill. By uniting
with Rev. and Mrs. Moon humanity can fulfill their purpose of creation
and enter the Kingdom of Heaven both spiritually and physically." (4)
The Unification Church was a staunch, hawkish opponent of Communism
during the Cold War. It has endorsed Republicans in the US, and
military rulers in Latin America. The Moonies own the Washington Times,
a conservative paper in Washington DC, and Tiempos Del Mundo, a major
paper based in Buenos Aires. (5)
The Moonies create a bewildering array
of front groups, each with its own acronym; several of these
organizations promote interfaith dialogue.
C. Archbishop
George Augustus Stallings, Jr., head of Washington DC's Imani Temple,
(a breakaway African American Catholic congregation), left the Catholic
Church in 1989, accusing the Church of racism. (6) In May 2001,
Stallings participated in a Moonie mass wedding - after asking Moon for
a Japanese wife. (7)
[Archbishop Milingo, formerly from Zambia,
participated in the same wedding, but left his "wife" after he was
threatened with excommunication and received an appeal from the Pope to
return to the Church. (8)]
Details - What are the
players doing now?
One of the Moonie front groups: The World Association of
Non-Governmental Organizations (WANGO), gave an "Interreligious
Cooperation Award" to Bishop Swing and the URI at an October 2002
banquet in Washington. The Rev. Sanford Garner, a retired Episcopal
priest and a founding member of the URI in Washington D.C., accepted
the award on behalf of Swing, and gave an acceptance speech that Swing
himself had written. (9)
The award has sparked bitter controversy within the URI. One URI
activist expressed "horror and deep disappointment," describing the
Unification Church as a cult that engages in "threats, brainwashing
techniques, marriages to pre-arranged strangers," and lying to
outsiders. Nevertheless, the URI board of directors stands behind its
decision to accept the Moonies' award. Members of the Unification
Church, and organizations aligned with it, have been active in the URI
since 1997. (9)
WANGO actively supports adoption of Gorbachev's Earth Charter. (10)
Thus, the Moonies' entry into the URI appears to be part of a
Unificationist effort to broaden the conservative image that they have
had in the past, so as to appeal to the left as well as to the right.
A different
Moonie-founded organization: The American Clergy Leadership
Conference (ACLC), is leading an effort to have Christian churches take
down their crosses. ACLC's national chairman, Archbishop George
Augustus Stallings, Jr., head of Washington DC's Imani Temple, said at
a recent ACLC symposium, "The cross has served as a barrier in bringing
about a true spirit of reconciliation between Jews and also between
Muslims and Christians, and thus, we have sought to remove the cross
from our Christian churches across America as a sign of our willingness
to remove any barrier that stands in the way of us coming together as
people of faith." Stallings added that "a history of religious
intolerance, forced conversions, inquisitions and even racism as used
by white supremacists" follows the cross through Christian history."
(11)
Another Moonie executive, the Rev. Phillip Schanker, agreed with
Stallings. He said that "Jewish tradition does not recognize Christ as
the savior, and Islamic teachings deny that it was Jesus who was
crucified. Christians, Schanker said, need to consider those disparate
beliefs and ask themselves if the symbolism of the cross is worth
maintaining the divisions it allegedly creates. 'It's a matter of
overcoming the religious arrogance, the religious chauvinism, the
narrow-mindedness, the judgmentalism that often comes from insecurity,'
Schanker said." (11)
According to the report from Crosswalk, "Schanker accused those who
disagree with the anti-cross movement of overreacting. 'I'm sure, for
some narrow-minded Christians, it seems like we're undermining or
denying the very foundations of Christian belief. Not at all; nobody is
questioning the salvific role or Jesus' sacrificial position,' Schanker
said. 'But we're recognizing from within New Testament understanding
that Jesus transcended the cross. Let's not continue crucifying him.
That's not where he is.'" (11)
In this respect, Schanker is following the line set forth by Moon
himself: "Actually we should bury the cross, it is a source of great
pain to God. Jesus turned it into a victory but originally he was to be
coronated [sic] King of Israel. Israel was to receive him and this must
be restored. If you bury the cross a massive Resurrection centering on
Jesus will occur." (12)
The URI and the
Moonies agree: Just deal with those "intolerant" Christians, and
humanity will be on the way to peace. Better yet, convince the
Christians to silence themselves, out of guilt for past abuses.
Conclusion
Strange religion is making strange bedfellows. (No novelist could make
up this story!) What could unite the liberal, pro-feminist, egalitarian
supporters of the United Religions with the right-wing, patriarchal,
authoritarian Moonies? Only a common
enemy: Christ.
NOTES
(1) Bishop
William E. Swing, The Coming United Religions, United
Religions
Initiative and CoNexus Press, 1998; p. 31.
(2) Transcribed by Lee
Penn from URI-provided tape of URI forum at
Grace Cathedral, held on 2/2/97.
(3) Unification Church, "Who is
Reverend Moon," http://www.unification.org/rev_mrs_moon.html
(4) True Parents Organization,
"Who are True Parents Page," http://www.tparents.org/Tp-WhoAre.htm
(5) David V. Barrett, The New
Believers: A Survey of Sects, 'Cults'
and Alternative Religions, Cassell & Co., 2001, pp. 202-211
(6) Ind-Movement.org,
"Denominations: African American Catholic
Congregation,"
http://www.ind-movement.org/denoms/aacc_imani.html
(7) "Archbishops Wed in Moonie
Wedding," Christianity Today weblog,
week of May 28, 2001, http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2001/122/32.0.html
(8) CBS News, "Breakin' Up Is
Hard To Do," August 29, 2001, http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2001/08/07/world/main305331.shtml
(9) Lee
Penn,
"'Moonie' Group's Award to Episcopal Bishop Troubles
URI Interfaith Activists," The Christian Challenge, January/February
2003,
p. 31 The sources used for that story are available on request.
(10) WANGO, "History of WANGO:
2002, Beyond Boundaries," http://www.wango.org/about_WANGO/history_wango_2002.htm
(11) Jeff Johnson, "Christian
Churches Should Stop Using the Cross,
Group Says," Crosswalk.com, August 2003, http://www.crosswalk.com/news/1216019.html
(12) translation of speech by
Moon, as given in early 2003, "The '2400'
Cheon Il Guk Activity and Extension was victoriously completed," http://www.unification.net/news/2003/news20030301_1.html
(13) The background information
on the URI is from Lee
Penn, "Don't
Look Now But ...," The Christian Challenge, July 30,
2003, reprinted in Free Republic, http://freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/956549/posts,
and from a book-length analysis by Lee Penn
of the United
Religions Initiative
and the New Age movement, to be published later this year by the
Catholic
Family and Human Rights Institute, a research organization that
monitors
international organizations' activities from a pro-life, Catholic
perspective.
Document Published on
leepenn.info on October 13, 2007
Copyright 2007 - All rights reserved.
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