Chambumo Gyeong - 500. God-centered religious coalition
True Parents made clear that the central being in whom each religion believes is actually one divinity, God. In accordance with this, True Parents founded a movement for religious dialogue and alliance based on God. To accomplish its purpose of achieving world peace, they said we must stop focusing on doctrines by which denominations separate, and correctly understand God, who has been working behind all religions.
1 Christianity, Islam, Buddhism and Confucianism are todays great worldwide religions. The characteristics of peoples in different geographical regions are determined by their unique cultures, so these religious traditions had to emerge to form paths that are able to connect these cultures as one world. After developing within their own cultural realms, these faiths must advance to create one, world of peace. Accordingly, centering on the providence of the absolute God, as the Last Days draw near, believers will venture out and connect by means of a movement for religious coalition. (149-083, 1986/11/17)
2 Today, idealists are emerging who are pursuing a unified, peaceful world. Nevertheless, religious believers still have not cast off their divisive denominational doctrines. When observed from the perspective of Gods Will, their position is backward and senseless. God, after all, does not need a variety of religions. After religions unite based on His Will, God is expecting them to go forward in harmony to liberate the world, abolish evil on earth, and create a world of goodness. He does not want denominations to argue with each other over doctrine. When seen from this perspective, more inclusive cultures incorporate narrower ones—this does not happen by force, but takes place naturally. Because we want to better ourselves and the world, this is inevitable. (093-200, 1977/06/01)
3 As God is absolute, there cannot be two worlds that God wants to see exist. There can be only one. Therefore, all historical directions that have proceeded according to His plan from the creation until now should have aligned as one, but that has not been the case. Why is this? It is because of the Fall, which has caused us to move in scattered directions with contradictory purposes. When one asks what can unify humanity in a cooperative direction toward a single goal, one finds that it is the providence of God, who is trying to save us from our tragic confusion and suffering.
God is called by different names in different religious traditions. But the central being in whom everyone believes is the same one God. The direction and purpose that religions always teach is one. Religions set that one direction and purpose as the standard. Eventually, therefore, all religions will welcome a great age of reformation after putting their own houses in order. (140-010, 1986/02/01)
4 There are many religions in the world. Humanity is divided, so it is natural for religions to differ by ethnic group. Because different peoples' history, environment, cultural background, customs and practices are all so divergent, there must be many denominations. They exist in order to draw people together and focus them on a single purpose.
We can compare this to a river. Religions are like tributaries of a river. As the river flows downstream, the number of tributaries decreases and all eventually combine into one river. Likewise, the world's numerous religions are combining into one mainstream that, in the end, comes to remain in the place where all attend God in their heart and occupy the love of God. (023-127, 1969/05/18)
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. (093-199, 1977/06/01)
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 its ideal fruit. The kingdom o^ heaven on earth will be realized when the world moves in one direction toward God. (205-277, 1990/10/01)
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. (164-026, 1987/05/03)
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. (161-238, 1987/02/22) |