Unlike recent IIFWP international convocations, this assembly brought together leaders from seven key nations—Korea, Japan, China, the United States, Russia, India, and Mongolia—and held sessions that looked more specifically at the principles of leadership advanced by the IIFWP and taught by its founder, the Reverend Dr. Sun Myung Moon. An eighth group consisted of representatives from Europe.

IIFWP Chairman Dr. Chung Hwan Kwak greeted the three hundred government, business, academic, and religious leaders in his opening address on Sunday evening and emphasized two core principles of peace that would be elaborated upon in the coming days: a principle of living for the sake of others in one’s daily life and, secondly, a willingness to seek harmony and unification, even at the sacrifice of oneself when conflict arises.

Dr. Kwak emphasized that human life is governed by principles that derive from the loving heart of God, and that our maturity in love, culminating in marriage and family life, leads us into a harmonious state in which human beings come to reflect God’s essential nature.

Session I on the following morning, presented by Jack Corley, the Secretary General of IIFWP, Eurasia, began what would become a methodical analysis of the root causes of conflict. Underscoring the importance of correctly understanding the significance of our limited physical life, Mr. Corley clarified that the development of character and the maturing of love are the essential tasks of life, that temporal existence is merely a transitional stage, like the period in the womb, requiring healthy, responsible practices to enable a successful transition to a higher sphere of life in the eternal spiritual world.

The newly appointed Ambassadors for Peace

Phillip Schanker, vice president of the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification,USA, explained in Session II how ancient traditions around the world locate a failure of human responsibility, a corruption of personality, as the cause of the tragic dilemma confronting humanity. The Reverend Moon has identified this failure as the corruption of love itself, crippling humanity, implanting selfishness, and alienating the human heart from the pure love of God.

William Lay, a New York attorney and lecturer, followed this analysis in Session III with an insightful examination of principles of reconciliation that apply both historically and on a personal level. It is the pattern of history, he noted, that leaders, or central figures, emerged who played key roles, sometimes without a full consciousness of their historical or providential assignments. Such leaders ordinarily had personal endowments, but also were seekers who sacrificed to gain insights and thus acquire spiritual capital. They were then called to give selflessly to others, to share their wisdom and gifts for the benefit of others. This pattern enabled the rise of the great religions, as well as the emergence of civilizations. The essential condition of leadership, accordingly, is the character and integrity of individuals, and their earnestness to seek the truth.

Rev.Dr. Sun Myung Moon

Dr. Kwak returned for the final afternoon session with a systematic presentation on the significance of marriage and family life, not simply as traditional rites conducive to social cohesion but as divinely mandated institutions in which human beings fulfill the respective roles of child, spouse, and parent and come to reflect the multidimensional character of God’s love.

Two sessions, V and VIII, under the theme A New Vision of Peace: The Thought and Achievement of Rev. Dr. Sun Myung Moon, covered respectively Eurasia and the USA. For Eurasia, a primary event that opened the door to a flood of developments in the 1990s was a meeting of Reverend Moon in Moscow with former Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev in 1990. From that moment began an initiative to write and publish curricula for teaching character, morality, and ethics in the secondary schools and at advanced levels. These were based on Reverend Moon’s core ideas and adapted especially to the needs and context of Russia, Mongolia, and China. Through these programs tens of thousands of educators have been instructed in using the materials and now several thousand schools are using this materials. A complementary initiative developed and promulgated a new philosophy of unified martial arts.

Rev. Dr. Chung Hwan Kwak
Chairman, IIFWP

Covering the sweep of time since 1972 when Reverend Moon began to give priority attention to the United States, the Focus on the USA session used the events in Reverend Moon’s life to convey the understanding that he is a man of deep prayer and spirituality whose total investment in all that he does draws the support of universal power. Examples included advances made through his unjust imprisonment in the United States that established unbreakable bonds with leaders of the civil rights movement.

The establishment of organizations such as the American Clergy Leadership Conference, the Women’s Federation for World Peace, and the American Family Coalition have greatly advanced the cause of peace in America.

Two sessions, VI and VII, demonstrated Principles in Action, one with a focus on Peace Initiatives and a second with an emphasis on Human Development.

The Middle East Peace Initiative presentation highlighted the transformative power brought into that conflict zone by the thousands of Ambassadors for Peace coming to the Holy Land in waves from around the world in 2004. Peace concerns in North-East Asia, have long occupied Reverend Moon’s attention and his views of how to proceed are comprehensive for the region.

Immediate action initiatives include Pyeong Hwa Motors in North Korea, construction of a peace center in Pyongyang, and programs promoting reconciliation in Japan of Koreans from groups connected respectively with South and North Korea. Session VII continued an examination of principles in action, with perspectives by presenters on character education and HIV prevention, the significance of the family as an institution that can engender peace, the role of sports in fostering peace, and an analysis of economic policy as an instrument for the betterment of human life.

Considering the IIFWP, the United Nations, and Trends in Global Governance, Session IX on Wednesday, April 13, looked at the great hopes upon which the UN was founded and unfortunately the way the institution instead became a tool of the Cold War. This overriding geopolitical reality influenced the institution in ways that continue to this day, resulting in a crippled instrument of global governance. While reform has been called for and outlined, reforms have amounted to merely procedural change, not the kind of fundamental correction required to create an enlightened structure of global governance. Hence the need for implementing the Interreligious and International Peace Council (IIPC) proposed by the IIFWP, which will include diverse religious representation, as well as nongovernmental organizations in deliberations with authorized political representation.

World Peace and the NGO Revolution, Session X, painted a striking picture of the proliferation in the past 20-30 years of a multitude of non-governmental organizations in both developed and the developing countries. NGOs are addressing a host of issues not touched by national governments. In response to this emergent new sector of civil society, Reverend Moon has launched the World Association of Non-Governmental Organizations (WANGO). This association gives NGOs an international voice. It also provides a code of ethics and an infrastructure for NGOs to network and thus work together more effectively. The Women’s Federation for World Peace, an NGO founded by Reverend and Mrs. Moon, is pioneering a way for women to be a force for peace through instructional programs on creating peaceful families, service programs, support for schools in impoverished areas, and peace and reconciliation ceremonies centered on the Bridge of Peace ceremonies.

The Session XI lunch program provided an opportunity for delegates to learn about some of the many media initiatives founded by Reverend Moon: United Press International; Tiempos del Mundo; the World Peace Herald, and World & I Online.

After a tour of Washington DC, delegates arrived by bus at the Washington Times, the influential daily newspaper founded by Reverend Moon in 1982, for a brief tour and closing banquet. Much anticipated by the gathered delegates, Reverend Moon came to the podium to deliver an address, “The Providential Path to True Liberation and Complete Freedom.” Reverend Moon, at 85, looked extraordinarily vigorous, and departed from his prepared remarks extensively to reveal both a depth of vision and personal regard for his guests that deeply moved each delegate.

Rev. Dr. Kwak presents the
Ambassador for Peace Certificates

Speaking without interruption for more than two hours, Reverend Moon reiterated and expanded upon many of the themes taken up in the conference sessions. He said, “This means that true love has incredible power. It is a power of unimaginable proportions. With this power God created the universe. Only the power of God’s true love can establish the world of God’s ideal, the Kingdom of God in heaven and on earth. The ideal world does not have autocrats demanding authority and issuing commands. Rather, it is a world where our hearts move of their own accord responsive to and in communion with God’s love. It is a brotherhood and sisterhood that encompasses all of humankind. Wouldn’t we all like to live in such a world?”

“Toward a Global Agenda for Peace: 2005,” Session XII: Closing Session, On Thursday, April 14, featured reflections by one representative from each of the major groups. All had been seriously engaged and challenged by the conference to apply IIFWP principles in working together toward building a peaceful world. In a particularly noteworthy comment, the Chinese representative stated that he had never before experienced God, but that in receiving the talk by Reverend Moon he had sensed God and had the clear realization that we are all God’s children beyond religion and nationality.

The delegates then adjourned for follow-up briefings from their respective regions that showed the scope of the IIFWP work around the world. The enthusiasm for the vision advanced at the convocation took root ultimately as delegates continued into the afternoon, planning concrete action through regional convocations and educational gatherings that confirm to a suffering and divided world that the grounds of peace are to be found in the God-ordained methodology of living for the sake of others and overcoming boundaries to realize a unified world of peace.

Photo credits: www.iifwp.org

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