The Words of the Hart Family

European Introduction To Sun Myung Moon

David A. Hart with Robin Marsh and Margaret Ali
October 28, 2005
Budapest, Hungary

Rev. Dr. David A. Hart is an Anglican priest who has been working in inter-faith relations for over a decade. He helped to build the first purpose-built Multi-Faith Center on a university campus in Derbyshire in England, which was opened earlier this month by His Royal Highness the Duke of Gloucester. It was designed and built by members of the Bahai, Buddhist, Jewish, Christian, Hindu, Muslim, Sikh and Unificationist communities, and is running introductory workshops on the world faiths as well as celebrating the major festivals such as Diwali and Eid. David was born in London, is author of four books including 'One Faith?' (1993) And 'Multi-Faith Britain' (2001). He is currently living and teaching in Trivandrum in South India. He is India Secretary for the World Congress of Faiths, the oldest interfaith organization in the world, founded in 1936 by Sir Francis Younghusband in London UK.

Introduction To Sun Myung Moon

I am honored to be asked to introduce to you a man of global vision and peacemaking intentions. Jesus said: 'Blessed are the Peacemakers, for they shall inherit the Earth' (Gospel of St. Matthew chapter 5) and surely we are witnessing with the advent of Chong Il Gok in our day the inauguration of the long-expected era of global harmony and religious unity.

From 1954, when he founded the Holy Spirit Association for the Unification of World Christianity in Korea, until 2005 when the gates of the United Nations will be opened to him in Geneva which constitutes part of the current world tour, Reverend Moon and his wife Dr. Hak Ja Han have worked tirelessly both individually and as a couple to lead the Unificationist Movement well beyond the confines of a single religion into the great Ocean of the mainstream universal religions which he believes and teaches are all inspired by the same universal source.

Since he comes from Korea, Sun Myung Moon brings to his universal mission elements of the Confucian, Buddhist, Shinto and Christian faiths, which are all integrated and respected within the forms of worship and doctrine he has developed, above all in his book 'The Divine Principle'. In this he shows how God has continued to send prophets and witnesses in every age, from the great world religions as much polytheistic, such as Hinduism and Buddhism, as monotheistic, in which the three primary monotheistic religions are seen as being the cradle of the message of the coming messiah and the establishment of the reign of God on the earth and in the secular age.

In the early 1990s, when the Western world began increasingly once again to find reasons to regard Islam as a hostile religion, Sun Myung Moon made staunch efforts to engage with Muslim scholars and religious leaders, taking their hands as brothers and sisters in his quest for a universal message for our Godforsaken times. Thus, his message of inter-religious harmony has been preached until now on every continent and his organization is one of the youngest and most vibrant religious movements of all time making maximal use of the advantages of technological and the global social network to bring his message to the world. Not for nothing does Reverend Moon publish newspapers and own radio and television stations, not for nothing does he sponsor Olympic-style games for young people who come to Seoul from all countries and faiths. And not for nothing has he recently founded a World Peace Council that he is here today among us to inaugurate.

I believe that Sun Myung Moon has a message for 2005 and for the new generations who do not live any longer in the world of traditional national and religious boundaries. He has an exciting message for young people of all ages who not only take over the details of their moral lives but also take the risks of living and learning together for God. I am happy to commend Sun Myung Moon and Hak Ja Han to you all this evening, and am very happy that we are gathered here tonight to honor their lifelong commitment to the vision of all the great religious leaders that there may be peace and justice in a single world community.

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