June 26, 1984
Translator, Col. Bo Hi Pak
Father addresses the clergy at the VIP Senate Hearing banquet following the hearing on Religious Liberty
I have many thoughts to share, but because of limited time, I would like to make it very brief. Today, I was really inspired by the effort that Senator Orrin Hatch is making as the Chairman of the Senate Committee on the Constitution. I deeply respect his efforts and I really enjoyed being with him today. Furthermore, I have the great pleasure to be with Rev. Everett Sileven, who is truly a comrade in arms in our common struggle for the sake of religious freedom. At the same time it is my personal and great honor to have such wonderful and distinguished guests, among whom many have pledged to stay for one week with me in prison. We're going to have a great time there together.
It is truly remarkable, when you think of it, that a Korean man, coming from the Orient, without even knowing your language, has become a rallying point of religious freedom in the greatest nation on the face of the earth. I do not believe that any one individual, such as myself, could cause this to happen. It is indeed the providence of God that is moving and making things happen. This occasion has given me incredible, inspiring reaffirmation that God exists, is living, and is active in our world today. For each one of us in this room, no matter what background we come from, we are not here by accident. We're here by the providence of God.
The Survival of America
Today, as surely as I am standing here, I am not worrying about my own well-being or destiny, nor am I worrying about my upcoming prison term. In a way, I am an expert on prisons. I endured for almost three years in what may have been the worst prison in the world. That is not the central issue. The central issue is the survival of America and the role that God bestowed upon me to awaken this nation. I am minding only that one thing, the mission that God gave me. So what should I do? How should I behave? How should I map out my future? I am thinking about these things with only one thing on my mind and that is my God-given mission and the destiny of America.
Encroachment by Secular Humanism
I am also an expert on communism. I learned about communism not through books, but through the bullet -- through experiences. Those lessons penetrated to my bones. I know communists well -- what they are, who they are, what their aims are, and so forth. You Americans may not realize how precious is your heritage and history. For example, your Pilgrim Fathers came to this land, risking their lives to seek the land of freedom where they could worship freely according to the dictates of their consciences. You may not realize how precious those Pilgrims are, as we who come from outside of the United States do.
Today, however, the precious religious freedom in this country is in danger. The red flag is being waved about today's encroachment by secular humanism. Today, we discussed in our hearing that this encroachment is so severe it might even shake the very foundation of this nation. We are coming close to this, the very danger point. I know communist strategies. They have two major points of attack, particularly towards the United States of America. First, the destruction of the family, the most precious system or institution God provided for our human civilization; they are after the death of the family system. Secondly, they want to destroy religious freedom. Without doing that they know they cannot subjugate this country. So these two tactics are their focus today.
I am very grieved, particularly since I came to America, to see how things have been deteriorating every day in the families of America. The problems of broken families, young people running away from home, drugs, and the incredible juvenile crimes, indeed, fit right into the blueprint of a communist takeover of the greatest country in the world. We must realize the ultimate cause, the power, behind all these problems. Our young people, in many cases, are innocent. Our families are innocent, and in many cases we have been manipulated. Were exploited by the foreign power behind this which is absolutely determined to destabilize America, that is, the international conspiracy of communism.
I have lived a full life beyond the age of sixty; I have already lived my life. Most of us here have lived long and enjoyed our lives. But what about our children? What kind of world are we going to give to them? What kind of heritage are we going to pass on to our children? Are they going to have a strong family system, strong moral fiber, a strong God-centered nation and freedom to enjoy as much as we did? This is the central question today. My God-given mission, my number one goal, is to teach the American people, the good American public, about the dangers of communism. God sent me to America to awaken America to the dangers of the encroaching power of communism. That is my primary mission.
My second mission is to revive the fervor of Christianity, to engender the kind of atmosphere where our young people can grow healthy in spirit and body to become strong successors to our generation. This is what I was told by God to do in America. Today, the degradation of the morality of young people is very, very disheartening. And in its small humble way, the Unification Church has given a new vision, a new hope and new value to life so that we have wonderful young people who are centered upon God, centered upon family, centered upon the church. You know we have our own tradition of mass weddings. This one tradition is to uphold and strengthen the family system under God. That is its main purpose.
I Am Proud Of Moonies
The Moonies have been spoken of quite a bit in public in this country and throughout the world. The name has a kind of scornful connotation. But I tell you today that I am proud of Moonies, my people. Those young people are dedicated to God and to America. And no other force of young people would match our young people who are really awakened to this new sense of values and to the dangers of communism. And I'm proud of them. They are trying to be responsible, to rekindle the spirit of family in this country, the spirit of giving in this country, the spirit of patriotism and the love of the world, one world under God.
So I am teaching my people to persevere. I know we have been mistreated, I know we have been misunderstood, I know we have been treated scornfully, but let us persevere, let us be' patient. As the great saints before us were patient when persecuted, let us follow their tradition, to look boldly towards the future with our heads held high. Young people are listening to that message. We gave young people an appreciation of dedication and a spirit of dedication. Working for eight hours a day is nonexistent in the Unification Church. We work 24 hours a day. It is my slogan that unless we work harder than the Communists work for their own cause we will never prevail; we shall never be victorious.
Religious freedom is an issue that is not easy to deal with today. It is a very difficult goal to achieve because even though we have the right President, it doesn't make any difference. Still the media can clobber him and virtually make him nothing. And the bureaucracy is totally entrenched and so powerful that even the President of the United States cannot change certain things if he wants to. In this kind of atmosphere, trying to restore religious freedom is certainly not the easiest thing to do. So God asked me to go the drastic way. That drastic way God is telling me is to go to prison. That will awaken the American people. That might be a shot in the arm so that new hope might come.
Launch One Spectacular Christian Movement
So, today I am thinking very deeply, but I am not thinking of my own well-being. Look at the United States. Some days ago there was some publicity that there are 170 million Christians in this country. Most Americans have some faith in God. With such an enormous power in this land, why can't we mobilize these forces? This is the kind of situation we've come to. This is truly a central problem. Furthermore, a good many of the people in the government are Christian. But then the government has become more and more secular, more opposed to religion. Why is that? We need to launch one spectacular Christian movement, a new, awakening movement starting from the very repentance of me, of Rev. Moon. Why can't we achieve the religious freedom that even God wants us to have? Something must be going wrong in our religious community. Where do we begin? With repentance, repentance. We must repent, then move forward and try to find a new direction.
There is another problem in our religious world today. As you know, communism's goal is to take over the whole planet. Christians and most religious people today think in other-worldly terms. They think, "Well, I may suffer, but if I endure I'll get to my heaven upstairs someday." If we try more and more to escape from our God-given world, I know we cannot win in the confrontation. We may prolong the time before defeat, but the victory of communism would be a sure thing in the days to come. So, I carry the warning to the American public that, once again, we must make a new beginning. We must think of the future and, instead of just thinking of my heaven, my own salvation, we must think of the nation, of the world, of our neighbors, knowing that the interest of God is salvation -- not just the salvation of one person, or one man or woman -- His interest is in the salvation of the entire world.
God gave the nation of the United States of America the great opportunity to create the Kingdom of Christ throughout the world. That opportunity came right after World War II. God gave America, the Christian nation, a free hand to really deal with the world and bring the world to God. But then, without reaping the harvest, America lost the great opportunity to bring the entire world under God, right after World War II.
Another phenomenon I observe in the Christian world today is that, although Christianity has prospered for the last two thousand years, in the last couple of decades, the Christian decline has been incredibly obvious and severe, and the blow to the Judeo-Christian world has been disheartening. What has happened to the Christianity that endured for two thousand years?
I know that there are a great many ministers here and I don't want to bring in many quotes from the Bible, but I would like to cite one verse, and that is John 3:16. The most fundamental cornerstone of the Christian faith is John 3:16. "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten son." God did not love just one family, just one individual, one race, one people; God "so loved the world." The target, the goal of God was the world. So where are the Christians today who take this word seriously? The goal of God is world salvation. Why do not I, my church, my denomination, my people, dedicate ourselves to the very goal of God, the salvation of the world? Why do we not strive to serve the world, to bring this world back to God? True Christianity must be thinking that by giving myself as a sacrifice, let us go forth together and save the world; let the spirit of Christ work. Today, how many churches are out there? Even my own denomination, my own church can be a sacrifice, so that in turn the world can live, the world can survive, the world can be redeemed. Who is going to be responsible for the world?
Under One Common Destiny
God needs a champion here on earth. There is no question about it. He's got to have His own agent, His own champion here on earth to do the job. But God is looking for the champion who is saying, "I will be responsible for the sake of the world. Even if I must give my life I'm going to do Your will, which is the salvation of the world," as John 3:16 so clearly stated. We must go beyond denominational barriers. Today the most important realization we can arrive at is that we come under one common destiny, beyond denominations, beyond religious barriers; we come under a common destiny that by uniting under one common Father, who is God, we shall survive and prosper. There is hope.
So for the sake of religious freedom this movement, I am glad to say, is set up beyond the denominational level. The barriers between denominations are not there, the barriers between religions are not there, because we are moving toward unity and harmony under a common purpose. I know you represent respective religious denominations and so do I. And if any denominational leaders, pastors and ministers are thinking in those kinds of sacrificial terms, I know that that denomination, that church, that leader pleases God immensely. The Unification Church is trying to live up to that. In a way, there was no denomination of Jesus Christ, there was no denomination during his lifetime.
You know, I have been criticized as a foolish man by so many people. Many people condemn me -- Korean people, Japanese people, Oriental people, even our Korean government is saying, "Rev. Moon, are you crazy? Why? Why do you give so much to only one place, to the United States? Why do you give your last ounce of energy, your sweat, your labor, every drop of blood for the sake of the United States?, Rev. Moon has an ambition, that by the time he goes to heaven, he would like to be the most indebted person on the face of the earth. I know God will find a way to pay back with ample interest all that I have done in my life for the sake of His work.
I am very happy that I have been given this opportunity. In conclusion I tell you that as long as my life is sustained, I will not give up my fight. I shall go on. Unto my life, nobody will stop my march toward the goal that I have expressed. If you want to really become my friend, let us do it together so that we shall glorify the name of Jesus Christ and the name of God and we shall achieve our true religious freedom. Thank you. God bless you all.