Sun Hak Choir Performs at True Mother's Banquet in Seattle

by Nancy Kubo-Seattle, WA

Should the Sun Hak Choir sing at the banquet for True Mother? Are they mature enough? Skilled enough? Professional enough? Only the best is good enough for True Mother. The final word came: yes, the Sun Hak Choir should prepare several Korean songs to be performed at True Mother's banquet. For this the choir rehearsed three times a week for three weeks prior to the event. Such an intense schedule was an accomplishment in itself when you think of the challenge involved in bringing 20 families together in one place, not just one time, but nine times.

Just who is the Sun Hak Choir? Three years ago, when True Mother spoke in Idaho on her speaking tour, a small group of eight children, ages five to nine, organized themselves to drive to Idaho and sing a number of songs at her speech. After the speech True Mother herself gave the group the name "Sun Hak," derived from "Hak Ja Han" and "Sun Myung Moon." At the time of the naming, Mother challenged the choir to develop themselves both in music skills and in Korean language. Now, three years later, 26 strong and ages eight to twelve, the choir was anxious to show Mother just what they had accomplished. For the last two years under the supervision of Nancy Kubo, a specialist in early childhood music, the choir mastered a repertoire of four Korean songs in two-part harmony as well as many selections in choral sacred music, which the choir performs regularly on major church holidays in Seattle.

Having performed at True Father's speech in Sept. 1995 and at a Sisterhood Ceremony in Dec. 1995, the choir was confident it could meet the challenge of enhancing True Mother's banquet with a performance exceeding comparison. And it happened-their young tender voices blended together in two beautiful Korean melodies with enchanting harmonies which touched the heart of every person in the Korean audience, not to mention True Mother herself. Such a unique and capable choir is not to be found anywhere else-unique in its repertoire of Korean music, capable in its ability to sing in choral harmony at such a young age.

After the banquet, there was a celebration gathering with Mother and members, with True Father present by telephone from East Garden. Members caroled Father and Mother, then Father sang for us; the choir was privileged to sing two more Korean songs for Father and others at East Garden to hear. Afterwards, the choir was all gathered at True Mother's feet, listening to every word she said with close attention. When True Mother sang "Ko Hyong Eh Pom," she motioned for the choir to join in with her, and they did just that-not just the first verse, but both verses in Korean from memory and in harmony. That was the highlight of the day-to sing a Korean song with Mother herself. At the end of the evening, Mother had the choir stand up and then proceed to present a brand-new one-hundred-dollar bill to each and every choir member, who in turn bowed and beamed from ear to ear with gratitude to Mother and pride in their accomplishment. It was a night they would never forget.

The next day, at Windermere (Father's house in Seattle), a large blow- up of the logo of the choir, recently designed by David Hose, Jr., was presented to True Mother for her to sing as a gesture of official dedication. It hangs now at Windermere House for all to see and to be reminded of this special time of True Mother's visit to Seattle in July 1996, when she touched the Sun Hak Choir in many unforgettable ways.

Reflections on the Road to Victory

uViews September

I had a wonderful experience attending the Christian Coalition national convention in Washington, DC this September 13 and 14. There were well 4,150 delegates present from across America, according to an announcement made by Dr. Ralph Reed, Executive Director of the Coalition, but I estimated about 6,000 present in the auditorium of the Washington Hilton Hotel and Towers.

The speakers list was well-balanced racially, with black speakers Congressman J. C. Watts, Ambassador Alan Keyes, and author Star Parker drawing tremendous enthusiasm from the audience. There were two rabbis as plenary speakers as well, Yechiel Eckstein of the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews, and Daniel Lapin of Toward Tradition. A new Catholic wing of the Coalition, called Catholic Alliance, was well-represented by Father Richard John Neuhaus and attorney Kieth Fournier. However, the audience was 95% white and largely evangelical. One hopes that the spectrum on the rostrum may soon display its light substantially as a congregation.

The agenda included a veritable who's who of the conservative leadership of today's America: besides Coalition founder and president Pat Robertson, there were Rep. Tom DeLay, House Majority Whip, Newt Gingrich, Speaker of the House, Dr. William Bennett, Sen. Dan Coats, Rep. Dick Armey, Sen. Jesse Helms, Paul Weyrich, Don Feder, Mona Charen, Oliver North, Rep. Bob Dornan, Pat Buchanan, Phyllis Schlafly, Bob Woodson and the new governor of Arkansas, Mike Huckabee. And Ross Perot (whom I did not have the chance to hear speak.)

On Saturday morning, Republican candidates Bob Dole and Jack Kemp each delivered speeches. Mr. Clinton, while invited, declined the invitation. Mr. Dole's best line, as I recall, was that his wife Elizabeth is doing so well that Eleanor Roosevelt is trying to get in touch with her.

Major Themes

The abundance of speakers made for a packed program with no breaks during long morning sessions (8:30 am until 12:30 pm on Friday; Saturday started at 9:00 am). The audience compensated by continually rising to their feet to cheer the speakers. Among the topics guaranteed to elicit a standing cheer:

1. The pro-life message.

2. Against same-sex marriage.

3. For overcoming racism.

4. To bring America back to God.

5. Small government (as Rep. DeLay put it, "It takes a family, not a village; village is code word for government.")

Many speakers told us that God above government; that rights are from God, not from the government; that our income belongs to us before it belongs to the government, and that regardless of victory or defeat in November, the victory belongs to God.

Dr. Reed decried the "poverty of our souls, not our pocketbooks." Dr. Keyes spoke with the fire of an Old Testament prophet as he blasted any and all politicians who try to buy votes with money (whether entitlements or tax-cuts). Many speakers reminded the audience that "It's the family, stupid, not the economy." Ambassador Keyes hit the nail on the head when he proclaimed simply that fornication is wrong, adultery is wrong, and called the audience to consider that a high official committing blatant, unapologetic adultery is equivalent morally to a crack mother killing her babies.

Ms. Star Parker was tremendous. A former welfare mom who was approached by three mean-spirited, narrow-minded, oppressive bigots from the Christian Right. She responded to their witnessed and attended their church, where she heard the preacher cry out that God is the answer, not government. She was reborn and took her name off the county welfare list. She even said that the fear of God, of eternal punishment, is necessary to get people moral. She said the left is not liberal, it's lewd. She said to keep your witness personal. She is a young and dynamic black woman who combines a high, almost haughty spirit with a Christian warmth breaking through, but filled with the righteousness of a prophet.

There was a mild apocalypticism to the event, noticeably only if one was listening for it, as I suppose I was. Dr. Reed ended his main speech by reminding us that Jesus is "coming back very, very soon," and that we want Jesus to notice us not because we were great politicians, but rather "faithful servants." I was wondering at whether a politician could not be a faithful servant of Christ. Later the same morning, J. C. Watts recalled the saying of another Oklahoman, Will Rogers, to wit: "Son, if you don't study hard, do well and school and get a good education, you might end up a congressman."

A number of speakers, in fact nearly each one, called the audience to the saving knowledge that God's kingdom is not of this world, that, as Dr. Bennett put it, our hope is in the city of God, not the city of man.

Now, there's a good side to this and a bad one. The good side is that it calls the hearer to rise above partisan politics and temporary goals such as elections. In this instance, the counsel, "not of this world," can be an instrument of charity, as we realize that our political position are partial and that we all are fallen people, and should love one another, even those who are our opponents in the arena of public policy.

The bad side is that it can sap our efforts to find the truth. That is, we do our best to articulate what we are given from God as His highest will, and it falls short, but we knew that it would anyway, because everything falls short this side of El Dorado. This is eschatology as excuse.

Attorney Kieth Fournier told us that the family is the civilization which will save the culture. He also intoned a wonderful Roman Catholic social teaching called "subsidiarity," which counsels that the affairs of life should be taken care of on as local a level as possible. In other words, responsibilities for illness (physical or mental), poverty, education and so forth are best dealt with in the family, clan or local community. This is to reject the tendency, really, axiom, of welfare liberalism that the state should take care of everything. A vibrant society is composed of many structures organically interrelated and freely serving each others' needs. The more local, the more flexible, the more personal, the less expensive and the most effective.

Fornier's colleague at the American Center for Law and Justice, Jay Sekulow, in my observation, engendered the greatest crowd enthusiasm through his breathless renditions of a number of good guys/bad guys legal cases having to do with evangelism and Christian groups in schools. For instance, can you believe that a school board refused permission for Christians high schoolers to form a group because their by-laws stated that the leadership of the group must be Christian?

This kind of case goes to the Supreme Court! Sekulow talked about nude dance clubs and pornography and doctor-assisted suicide, and said what we need in this culture is a sense of shame.

Father Neuhaus, a subdued speaker in comparison, noted the importance of the Catholic-Evangelical cooperation in the Christian Coalition, and reminded us that the road to victory is the way of the cross.

There was a constant sense of the impending election and speaker after speaker spoke of the traditional American virtues, and of how men and women of good and great character must lead the nation. References were made toward the present occupant of the White House, and his impressive flexibility with regard to matters of truth. Dr. Reed pledged the Coalition to a campaign to register 1 million new voters by the early October deadline.

Mr. Gingrich had the best "exposure of wasteful government" speech, during which he brought forth a white plastic bucket, marked "ice bucket" with some serial number. He stated that, until recently, a bucket of ice was delivered to each and every congressional office twice a day. You see, he said, we didn't always have refrigerators in Washington. We have them now, but nonetheless the delivery of ice continued, with a staff of fourteen, at a budget of $400,000 a year. So, he said, we didn't do a study. We didn't set up a five-year transitional plan. We didn't have a retraining program for the staff. We didn't offer programs to educate the congressional offices on how to use their refrigerators to make their own ice. (What they did do, I didn't quite catch, but the impression was that they put the program on ice.)

I must say that the singer on Friday night (I missed the Saturday banquet) was excellent, Kathy Troccoli, if a bit over-zealous when she appeared to be kissing Jesus hovering, apparently, in the air above her. An interesting combination of Counter-Reformation passionate piety and Las Vegas pious passion.

I learned a lot. Dr. Reed is very impressive as an organizer and speaker. He was the one to come out and introduce the most important speakers. He gave way his spot on the agenda to Mr. Gingrich when the program was running behind schedule (and yes, their program, just like ours, started late and was usually behind schedule).

In terms of social policy and perspective, I found myself in agreement with most of what was being said. But it was during Jack Kemp's speech that I had a sobering thought. Mr. Kemp was gamely taking on what everyone else was willing to defer to God and heaven: the interplay of the city of God and city of man. Mr. Kemp, after all, is a political leader. Most of the speakers were subtly anti-politics, calling for moral values to be the primary agenda, to win or lose based on absolute moral issues, not economic ones. Mr. Buchanan complained of himself and Dr. Reed being offered but a few moments to speak at the Republican Convention.

Mr. Kemp and Mr. Dole, on the other hand, must work things out in the political world, which in almost all instances is a world in which compromises are necessary over moral stances. Moral stances tend to be absolute, and life is full of exceptions. So Mr. Kemp was working on explaining how these can be combined. He gave a wonderful vignette describing how he and his wife met with Bob and Elizabeth Dole at the Doles' small home in Russell, Kansas, just before the announcement of his vice-presidential bid. The four of them, he said, were in the living room, and they formed a circle on their knees, holding hands, in prayer. And they prayed that God would guide their campaign.

What I was sobered by was my memory of something I had studied in my student days, of political controversies in the 1820s in the United States. The controversy was between evangelicals and secularists (at that time represented by a small but highly articulate faction, the Unitarian-Universalists).

The details of their controversy, recorded in various magazines of the times, and the lines of their arguments, are the same as what we are hearing in 1996. In other words, these are not new issues in America. In fact, we can go further back, to the battle between Unitarians and revivalists in the 18th century, or between the Puritans and Anglicans in the 17th century, and on back, although the lines of the debate lose focus as we remove ourselves from the democratic context.

But the America of the 1820s was, ideologically, very similar to the America of today, although back then the evangelicals constituted the vast majority, and the "liberals" were a small minority. This minority has now become the majority. The arguments on both sides are much the same. History, in other words, has, over the decades, favored the arguments and policies and sentiments of the liberals. The evangelicals have no new arguments; in fact, the arguments proffered 180 years ago were more lucid, honest and compelling than anything I've read in the recent literature.

If this is true, it does not forebode well for the Christian right. The movement may be rising now based more upon renewed sentiment, a last display of outrage at the death-dealing culture of atheism and materialism, than upon new substance. Without new substance, I'm afraid the Christian right may have to settle for its home in the sky, not on the earth. That is not a job well done, faithful servant.

Mind Games

by Paul Carlson

Humans are the only creatures who wonder about themselves. We are the only earthly beings with conscious minds. Animals don't have one, and neither do computers.

Please note that each field described in this article has both advocates and critics, and that, in trampling merrily through them, your author is expressing his personal opinions only.

Humans have always tried to understand their own nature, and the functioning of their minds. Entire disciplines have sprung up in this quest. In this article we shall deal with the scientific attempts, leaving aside, for the moment, the religious paths.

In recent decades this study has become systematic. Biologists run rats through their mazes, teaching and testing them in countless situations. Psychologists work with living, yearning people, while neurophysicists study the brain's complex anatomy.

Recently, wondrous scanning machines have enabled scientists to study living brains, actually watching as stimulations beget thoughts, which become intentions, then physical actions. New and wildly differing theories are pressing the outer boundaries of science.

Very few people claim to be completely satisfied with their lives, and fewer still with their surroundings. Scratch the surface, and one finds that all people suffer, internally, to some extent. An ordinary psychological `group counseling session' can reduce virtually anyone to a flood of healing tears.

People have always sought to have some `extra' fun, as well as to `self medicate' their internal pain. Even animals are known to imbibe; cats with catnip, monkeys with fermented fruit, etc. Humans have vastly expanded this pharmacopoeia. Drugs might make one `high'-until they run out. They cannot fill one's heart, and in ritual use, the best they might do is provide the user with a different perspective on things. Wiser and kinder people have studied this pain, and sought to relieve it on a deeper level.

Sense of Self

The human `sense of self' has varied greatly between different cultures and eras. The ancient Egyptians believed that the physical heart was the seat of human essence. The Aztecs and several other primitive cultures took this further, offering the still-beating heart as a blood sacrifice to their gods.

In the Orient, the `belly' has long been viewed as the center of the self. The Chinese storybook hero Stone Monkey (the inspiration for today's Monchichi) could have his head lopped off without lasting harm. His belly would proclaim: "Head, grow!" and a new one would. Japan's modern cartoon hero An-Pan Man receives fresh vitality when his creator bakes him a new pastry head!

Only in recent centuries has medicine confirmed that the physical brain is the actual seat of thought and physical awareness. Ever since, both medical and psychological treatments have been applied to people's minds and brains. These two fields have not always agreed, much less cooperated.

Sincere, caring counselors have done much good for individuals, couples, and families. A few have ruthlessly exploited their patients for financial, sexual or other gain.

Psychoactive medicines have brought comfort to many depressed or otherwise endangered persons. In the best cases, people change enough to not need these drugs any more, after a course of treatment. Unfortunately, many of these drugs are over prescribed, especially for the institutionalized elderly. Currently, millions of creative, restless Public School students are being drugged into dull passivity by the massive overuse of RitalinR.

Human Sciences

The science of Psychology dates back two hundred years, to Dr. Philippe Pinel, who worked for many years in the lunatic asylums of Paris. He was deeply concerned about the misery of his patients, and he -literally- removed their chains. He was the first doctor to make a scientific attempt to heal such mental patients.

Psychology has advanced greatly since his day, branching into many schools. Some are cold and deterministic, especially B. F. Skinner's Behaviorist school. Others are warm and compassionate, such as Humanistic Psychology. (Not to be confused with the similarly-named Humanism.)

A century ago, Russian scientist Ivan Pavlov conducted experiments on animal behavior, the best known involving ringing bells and salivating dogs. Unfortunately, while his theories accurately describe the rote behavior of the physical brain/body, his work is often used to reduce human beings to animal status-in order to justify their treatment as such.

Sigmund Freud founded Psychoanalysis, while his contemporary Carl Jung established a differing school. Freud's work has undoubtedly healed much suffering. However, he has since come under heavy criticism. He may have deliberately bent his own theories, in order to justify his own (alleged) bizarre sexual habits . . . to the detriment of thousands.

Charles Darwin traced the physical lineage of Earthly life, and shocked the world by announcing that humans had evolved from apes. His modern disciples have had to update this, as the `family branches' of apes, monkeys and humans separated many millions of years ago; thus the descent cannot be direct. Darwin originated the view that humans are nothing more than `naked apes,' and that our behavior can be traced directly to simian behavior.

This field, popularized by Desmond Morris, is now known as Evolutionary Psychology. In it, the stresses of `rush hour,' and the comforts of the living room, are compared to the old days of hunting woolly mammoths, and to the fire-warmed cave.

In a further round of `reductionism,' Richard Dawkin's The Selfish Gene reduces ourselves and all life to the status of "carriers for ongoing generations of successful DNA." Here, Group Theory math is used to balance "cooperation vs. competition," "personal advantage vs. altruism," etc., amongst groups and species. Only the survival of one's self, and of one's descendants and nearest kin, count here. The survival of the species as a whole does not count, in most versions.

Extrapolating, its proponents are making some very controversial claims. For instance, that women are `programmed' to seek `strong stock' to conceive their children, and a `steady provider' to raise them-not necessarily the same person. Thus the headline-making, supposed Adulterous Gene.

Computer technology has given rise to a new round of metaphor-laden studies. Many now claim that "the soul is a software program run upon an organic computer called the brain." This gave rise to the idea of `programming' people, and the belief that a knowledgeable practitioner could easily alter someone else's thoughts and capabilities. However, this simplistic concept has engendered much ruin, and as science, it fails to explain much.

In these materialistic views, happiness could only arise from chemistry, or from constant stimulation of the nervous system. The possibilities for disappointment, and abuse, are endless.

It is doubtful that computers, no matter how large or complex, will ever achieve genuine self-awareness. There are several reasons for this; the best case is made in Roger Penrose' popular books. [See your author's upcoming article Cyberia.]

The Fall

Researchers are now making a good case for `genetic determination,' even including relatively complex human behaviors. It should be pointed out that the Fall of Man occurred tens of thousands of years ago-more than enough time for humanity's very DNA to become corrupt.

Similarly, while battling big-rigs in traffic might well be compared to fleeing from saber tooth tigers, note that it was the Fall that condemned humanity to remain on a savage level. Originally, humans could have rapidly developed their civilization and technology. If humans behave ape-ishly now, it is because they spent far too long struggling alongside their hairy cousins.

Consciousness

Currently, scientists are asking hard questions about the nature of thought, of self-awareness, and of consciousness itself.

Few agree on the definition, much less the functional nature, of these phenomena. There is a simple `dye/mirror test' which may be administered to people or animals. An animal which has unknowingly had a patch of its fur dyed some bright color, will see itself in the mirror-and not even notice the change. Even a gorilla will not seem concerned. However, a chimpanzee will react instantly-as will humans.

An older theory involves the `Cartesian Theater,' a supposed place in the brain where all outside stimulus is recreated, and a homunculus, or `little man within,' observes and considers it.

Today's leading theory of brain function is spelled out in Antonio Damasio's book Descartes' Error. A reading will certainly expand, and to some extent redefine, the Principle's description of "mind and body duality." Its students may learn that the Principle's extent is both deeper and more subtle.

Damasio posits that the mind is doubly aware. It registers the constant input of the physical senses as well as the body's reports of its condition. Concurrently, the mind refers to a special sort of memory he calls `somatic markers,' a deep-seated feeling of how we experienced similar situations in the past. This enables the mind to grasp, and to quickly act upon, even the most complex situations. He has studied brain-damaged people who lack this one capability, and their lives are a real mess . . .

Damasio has had to posit a `third function'; something to weigh and combine these two constant inputs. Though he cannot define it, he assumes it will be found somewhere in the cells of the brain.

Others are taking a different tack. One scientist is attempting to explain `near death experiences,' and even to verify Hinduism, by positing that Consciousness is imbued throughout the cosmos, just like light or gravity. Our brains, he claims, are valves which let in small, measured doses of this universal awareness.

From this, one can see that even top scientists do not agree. The field remains wide open, and the possibilities for new discovery remain endless. Those poor `deprogrammers' are saddled with shoddy, outdated theories. Darwin has long been left in the dust, though his disciples have yet to notice.

Eventually scientists will discover the `mental' input of the spiritual world, and the balanced give and take of the energies passed between the physical and spiritual bodies. In the meantime, religious people strive to make their spiritual selves the `subject partner' in their lives.

The Unificationist tradition of matching, Blessing and `separation period' directly counters every secular school of thought mentioned in this article. By following our `formula course,' we are assured that our God-centered spiritual mind will remain the most important factor in our eternal lives.

In Memoriam Panos Bardis

Dr. Panos Bardis, a professor emeritus of sociology at the University of Toledo who was known internationally as a lecturer, social philosopher, poet and author, died of complications of heart disease Aug. 8 in his Ottawa Hills home. He was 71.

Dr. Bardis was a University of Toledo professor for 30 years, retiring in 1989. He was a long-time PWPA member and attended many ICUS conferences. He was also the editor-in-chief of the International Journal on World Peace.

More than 1,000 of Dr. Bardis' writings were published, from works in his field, to poems, short stories and novels. He was even the subject of several works, including The Passionate Pagan, a South African poet's doctoral dissertation about Dr. Bardis' poetry.

Born in a Greek mountain village, Dr. Bardis and his family endured many years of war-the country's war with Turkey, World War II and, later, civil war.

Unwilling to submit to fascists or communists, he was persecuted by both. At a school in a city nearby, he studied ancient Greek and Latin. He took advantage of a scholarship to the United States by intensive self-study in English for three months.

Dr. Bardis received his bachelor's degree in 1950 from Bethany College; a master's degree in 1953 from Notre Dame University; and his doctorate in 1955 from Purdue University.

God Gave...

by Catherine Ladolcetta-Irvington, AL

God made everything and right in the middle of it all, He put a little cricket! God laughed when He looked at His little cricket!

"My, my, aren't you a funny little fellow? What can you do?"

So the cricket showed God what he could do: he hopped! He stopped. He hopped again! Then he rubbed his legs together and sang a nice, sweet, crickety song. God clapped His spiritual hands together in absolute delight. "Oh!" He said, chuckling, "you are good!" And off God went to make something else.

The cricket hopped and sang. He hopped and sang some more. He was so happy because God had laughed at what he could do!

A few days later, the cricket hopped and sang beside God's crystal- clear spring which bubbled and rippled over the bright-colored pebbles in its bed. Cricket hopped and sang as the spring bubbled and rippled. Together, they felt such joy because they knew they made God glad.

Before long, one of God's slender trees grew up beside the spring. The cricket hopped and sang as the spring bubbled and rippled. The tree was so thrilled that it began to sway and dance in a sudden, shy breeze which swirled all around. The four of them felt great happiness together.

The shy breeze swirled gently and sweetly through a glimmering beam of golden sunlight which softly surrounded them. The cricket hopped and sang, the spring bubbled and rippled, the tree swayed and danced, the breeze swirled shyly and the sunlight glowed and shimmered in delight.

Cricket, Spring, Tree, Breeze and Sunlight were overjoyed to find themselves within the beautiful harmony their sounds, movement and light made.

Suddenly, God, who had been standing there all along, watching and listening, as translucent as a nimbus of starlight, laughed and said, "You are good creations-all doing your own jobs with such joy together!"

Then off He went again, happily singing and swaying, rippling and swirling, shimmering softly through all that He had made. And, once in a while, he gave...a little hop!

Federation of Peninsular Nations for World Peace Statement of Purpose and Seoul Declaration

Statement of Purpose

As the dawn of the third millennium approaches, our world stands at an important crossroads. We have developed the scientific and technological capacity to create a world of abundance and material well-being, but our internal philosophies and value systems, which have given rise to our great civilizations in the past, are being more fiercely challenged than at any time in history. Our world has not yet learned to cope with the challenges of the new modernity, and the evidence of this can be seen in every nation with the rise of serious social problems. Will the new millennium be one of hope and brotherly cooperation or one of tragedy and despair? The future world will be entrusted to the new generation, based on the legacy we leave to them, and the values we instill in them. With this consciousness we must fulfill our solemn responsibility of working toward the highest values and achievements for every nation in the world.

The end of the cold war superficially transformed the international landscape and the political atmosphere from one of deadlock to one of hope. However, we are still beset by serious problems such as racial, ethnic, and religious violence. We seem to be losing ground in our battles against poverty, drug abuse, pollution, and the breakdown of the family. It is only with the spirit of brotherly cooperation, neighborly international assistance, and true love that we can pioneer genuine solutions to the seemingly insurmountable problems that plague us all. The world needs to hope and believe that the coming millennium will usher in a global society based on the principle of cooperation, embracing all nations and races of the world, transcendent of national self-concern, but reflecting an international mutuality of interest and trust.

Throughout history, the peninsular societies gave rise to many important civilizations, largely because of their proximity to the sea. Strategically located, reaching out from the continents of the world, these peninsulas had greater access to the benefits of the sea but also were required to develop greater social cohesiveness in order defend themselves from the threats to their survival which continually faced them, from invading armies both on the continent and borne on the sea from other nations. Peninsular cultures also received the positive aspects of accessibility: arts and ideas flowed through them from the continent and were carried by their sea-borne trade and explorations.

Thus, great philosophies and systems of thought have usually arisen and been nourished in peninsulas and have spread to the world from them: Greek philosophy in the Aegean and Balkans, art and mathematics in the Ottoman Empire, Roman law in the Italian peninsula, Indian philosophy and religion, the adaptation of Buddhism on the Southeast Asian peninsula, Islam on the Arabian peninsula, Nordic culture and mythology in Scandinavia, world navigation and discovery in the Iberian peninsula, to name only a few. Peninsular nations have exercised great influence in the creation of civilization.

As we look toward the third millennium, we believe that it is quite possible, standing as they do at the crossroads among the nations of the world, that the common experience of peninsular nations gives them the natural possibility and responsibility to make a vital contribution to the development of a new world civilization. Modern crossroads, of course, are less dependent upon geography than in the past. Economic and intellectual trade and exchange often occurs in non-material ways. Our world is organized into blocs, coalitions, partnerships, and international regimes. It is no longer a world of vast geographical empires centered on single sites. Despite these radical changes, peninsula nations bear many unchanging qualities which make them potential world leaders. Linked to the resource-rich continents which later gave rise to superpowers, the peninsulas, naturally endowed with ports through which are conveyed all manner of material and intellectual trade, have experienced a fluid and dynamic social and cultural life. Due to the necessity for great conquerors and statesmen to control this critical geographical resource, peninsula areas often became politically powerful. Many of history's greatest empires have been culturally and politically based in peninsula areas. With his uncommon insight into cultural, economic, and political trends and the spiritual energy behind them, the Reverend Sun Myung Moon continues his tireless devotion to the cause of world peace now through the establishment of three new international peace federations: the Federation of Island Nations for World Peace, the Federation of Peninsular Nations for World Peace, and the soon-to-be-founded Federation of Continental Nations for World Peace. These federations will strengthen the natural bonds among nations which have certain essential geographically based experiences in common. In these organizations and later, in the cooperation among them, we believe vital contributions can be made toward understanding how to develop a model of international relations and a system of international values for the third millennium. It is likely that peninsulas will always be at the forefront in forging new civilizations, but in this age of internationalism, development will certainly not flow from a single geographic location but from a bloc. Peninsulas can surely do more for the cause of world peace and cooperation working together. The opportunity to attend this seminal conference for peninsula nations and to influence the early directions of what will become a powerful international organization should be developed to its fullest potential.

Seoul Declaration

We, the participants in the Inaugural World Convention of the Federation of Peninsular Nations for World Peace, held in Seoul, Korea, from August 20-22, 1996, wish to commend the conference organizers, and especially the Founders, Dr. and Mrs. Sun Myung Moon on proposing this unique vision and bold approach toward solving international problems.

We represent thirty peninsular nations from which great civilization and cultures have arisen. Science and technology offer the hope of a prosperous world for all, but as we enter the third millennium, we must recognize that many of the problems afflicting each of our nations are, in varying degrees, common to all otters. Our challenge and responsibility is to re-evaluate traditional methods and concepts, and work together to create a new world view, equal to the challenges we face.

Our nations have historically been at the crossroads of international exchanges--commerce, arts, and ideas, as well as sometimes conflict. These experiences have taught us the need for international cooperation. The building of a global family of nations underscores the importance of the family itself as a vital building block of a healthy and prosperous society. We cannot have a healthy family of nations, without nations of healthy families.

The Federation of Peninsular Nations for World Peace, brings a fresh hope, and a new energy to our common task. We look forward to the development of the activities and programs of the Federation and pledge our goodwill, counsel, cooperation and support.

Building a Heavenly School

by Liisa Burns-Oakland, CA

When I first heard the seven-day Principle Lectures I was sure that I would be perfect in about two years and the ideal world would be here in three. It was a beautiful feeling inside me and I wrote it down in my diary. It has been nine long years since I felt this, and now I'm writing this article because this last week has brought back to me that exact same hope, excitement and enthusiasm.

As the Physical Education teacher at the Sunshine School, I attended a five-day Training Week for all staff. Nineteen of us sat in a circle in a classroom from 8:30am to 3:30pm each day. We started by hearing the School Board news from Mr. Garry Barker and, to my amazement, he estimated that at least half a million dollars has been invested in running the school since the beginning.

We also received a brief history of education, and especially, the history of American education, emphasizing the opportunity our school can have in the educational field. This was presented by Dr. Mose Durst, who must have read at least a thousand books about this topic. He finished by summing up our purpose as teachers and school staff: "to develop virtuous individuals who will devote themselves to a virtuous society, and to carefully develop strategies to create `the moral person,' God-centered individuals who exhibit social justice and civic virtue in advancing God's Kingdom." (These are just part of the whole purpose, for example.)

After this we had a discussion in small groups about the topic "What are the specific characteristics of the ideal human being and how would the culture look when created by ideal human beings?" For my faith and my heart it was so rejuvenating to imagine and put into words what the Kingdom on Earth is like. Then I experienced the incredible burst of enthusiasm and joy that we are concretely making it happen.

The afternoon session was presented by Mrs. Myrna Lapres about Shim- Jeong education, which is a broad and deep topic. This time we spent time in small groups to brainstorm how our big ideals can be put to everyday schoolroom use.

One of the most moving experiences for us all was the spontaneous moment when Kristina Seher shared the beginnings of the school and we could understand that God was guiding the process to start the Sunshine School.

The whole week was filled with information and inspiration. We covered topics such as "How to make a school into a real caring community," "What is the role of Unificationism in our school and its future?" "What is the mission statement of each individual in the staff and for the Sunshine School?"

We were 19 different people, so there were many viewpoints for every topic, and the greatest thing was that every opinion was respected and each individual could share. I just felt strongly in my heart that we are doing this together, we are a team, we have a goal, and everyone is committed to giving their best.

We had three guest speakers: Mr. Eric Bobrycki guided us to make our mission statements, Prof. Sharon Kerns showed us how to improve curricula and make them more continuous from grade to grade, and we had a special session with Dr. Sue Dinwiddie about positive discipline and problem-solving.

During the last reflections on Friday, I was in tears because I have really believed for nine years that the Kingdom of Heaven can be built, but sometimes I've just been wondering how? Now I saw that if we sincerely try to live the Principles Father has given us and invest our effort and ideas, it is possible. I want to thank everyone investing to make the Sunshine School possible to exist, especially the parents who are able to send their children to study there.

There is only one difference from my experience nine years ago. This time I know that to make the ideal into reality requires a great amount of hard work.

Reprinted from "American Neighborhood"

Book Report on The Jesus I Never Knew

Reviewed by Charles Kannal

The Jesus I Never Knew by Philip Yancey. Zondervan Publishing House, Grand Rapids, MI. 1995. ISBN: 0-310-38570-9. Hardcover $18.99

How well does the typical Christian understand Jesus? How well does the average Unificationist understand Jesus?

Writing sincerely, sensitively, and with the eyes of faith, Philip Yancey, editor-at-large for Christianity Today magazine, sheds two millennia of presupposition about the nature and person of Jesus, and takes a fresh, insightful, startling look at the Jesus of the Bible.

Classical Christian doctrine stemming from early creeds affirms Jesus as the second person of the Holy Trinity. Striving to balance all parts of the Bible, it describes Jesus as fully God and fully man. The doctrine does not explain how this is so-human wisdom cannot be expected to comprehend the mystery of God.

But a nearly inevitable consequence of this doctrine has been to emphasize Jesus' divinity. "Jesus is God" overshadows the equally true statement "Jesus is man." Within its first few centuries Christianity lost touch with the human side of Jesus.

One reaction to this imbalance has been a modern liberal academic quest for the "historical" Jesus. But the critical method of analyzing Jesus as "merely" human is unsatisfactory to the believer whose life has been transformed by faith in Jesus.

In refreshing contrast to such approaches, Philip Yancey writes as a devout Christian who has done some serious soul-searching. He tackles the burning issue of Jesus' humanity in an intensely personal way.

Yancey points out that culturally and theologically, Christians have been inundated with glamorizations of Jesus. Thus today, we honor the infant Jesus who never cried, and a figure hanging on the cross who is Almighty God beyond suffering.

Yancey makes clear that such portrayals do not fit the gospel records. The Jesus we find in the Bible is in many ways a puzzle. He writes:

The more I studied Jesus, the more difficult it became to pigeonhole him. He said little about the Roman occupation, the main topic of conversation among his countrymen, and yet he took up a whip to drive petty profiteers from the Jewish temple. He urged obedience to the Mosaic law while acquiring the reputation as a lawbreaker. He could be stabbed by sympathy for a stranger, yet turn on his best friend with the flinty rebuke, "Get behind me, Satan!" He had uncompromising views on rich men and loose women, yet both types enjoyed his company.

One day miracles seemed to flow out of Jesus; the next day his power was blocked by people's lack of faith. One day he talked in detail of the Second Coming; another, he knew neither the day nor hour. He fled from arrest at one point and marched inexorably toward it at another. He spoke eloquently about peacemaking, then told his disciples to procure swords. His extravagant claims about himself kept him at the center of controversy, but when he did something truly miraculous he tended to hush it up. As Walter Wink has said, if Jesus had never lived, we would not have been able to invent him.

In the end, Yancey upholds the consensus of the Christian creeds. Yet the modern stereotyped image of Christ is far different from the God- Man he found on his revealing trek through the New Testament. The very real Jesus who emerges from the pages of the Bible is in some ways more comforting, in other ways more challenging and even terrifying than ever imagined. Yancey says, "I found the process of writing this book to be a great act of faith-strengthening. Jesus has rocked my own preconceptions and has made me ask hard questions about why those of us who bear his name don't do a better job of following him."

This book will assist contemporary Christians to faithfully and honestly encounter Jesus' humanity. In so doing, it will prepare them to better appreciate Rev. Moon's insights into Jesus' life and mission.

Charles Kannal is a 1996 graduate of the Unification Theological Seminary.