Richard Urban | Daily Inspiration

Everyone Has the Right to Freedom of Thought, Conscience and Religion

Cheon Seong Gyeong 2094

What kind of people are True Parents? True Parents are the symbol of all hope, the symbol of absolute hope for fallen humankind. They are the fruit of history, the center of time, and the center of all nations of this world, in which six billion people live today. True Parents are the starting point of the future that can connect to the ideal world. (35-237, 1970.10.19)

Cheon Seong Gyeong 1261

Because of the complex entanglement of the human lineage, restoration has taken six thousand years; otherwise, almighty God would have restored everything in a day. It’s as if there is a chronic disease in the bloodline; if it were to be pulled out all at once, everyone would die. That is why it has taken six thousand years. Did the first human ancestors fall through eating the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil? How simple things would be if that were so. (155-295, 1965.11.1)

Tolerance, Religious Freedom and Interfaith Solidarity

2. Freedom of Religion

Congress shall make no law respecting the establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.
United States Constitution, Bill of Rights, Article 1

There is no compulsion in religion.
Qur’an 2.256

Will you then compel mankind, against their will, to believe? No soul can believe, except by the Will of God.
Qur’an 10.99-100

Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience, and religion; this right includes freedom to change his religion or belief, and freedom, either alone or in community with others and in public or private, to manifest his religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship, and observance.
Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Article 18

Whoever honors his own sect and disparages another man’s, whether from blind loyalty or with the intention of showing his own sect in a favorable light, does his own sect the greatest possible harm. Concord is best, with each hearing and respecting the other’s teachings. It is the wish of the Emperor that members of all sects should be learned and should teach virtue.
Ashoka, Twelfth Rock Edict (Buddhism)

A Pharisee in the council named Gamaliel, a teacher of the law, held in honor by all the people, stood up and ordered that [Peter and the apostles] be put outside for a while. And he said to the council, “Men of Israel, take care what you do with these men. For before these days Theudas arose, giving himself out to be somebody, and a number of men, about four hundred, joined him; but he was slain and all who followed him were dispersed and came to nothing. After him Judas the Galilean arose in the days of the census and drew away some of the people after him; he also perished, and all who followed him were scattered. So in the present case I tell you, keep away from these men and let them alone; for if this plan or this undertaking is of men, it will fail; but if it is of God, you will not be able to overthrow them. You might even be found opposing God!”7
Acts 5.34-39

When the Messenger of Allah arrived in Medina he made a treaty with the Jews there: “The Jews of the Bani Awf tribe are one community with the Muslim faithful. The Jews practice their religion and the Muslims practice theirs. For them shall be their own wealth, property and persons. Except for he who has committed oppression or transgression.”
Hadith (Islam)

The spirit can only acquiesce to that which seem to it to be true; the heart can only love that which seems to it to be good. Constraint will make a hypocrite of man if he is weak, a martyr if he is courageous. Weak or courageous, he will feel the injustice of persecution, and he will become indignant. Instruction, persuasion, and prayer: these are the only methods for the expansion of religion. Any method that excites hatred, indignation, or contempt is impious.
Denis Diderot (Humanism

Teachings of Rev. Sun Myung Moon

Democracy is the system that God laboriously prepared over the last two thousand years. Democracy is the system that respects human rights. Democracy is the system in which a minority group can survive in the midst of a [hostile] majority. Democracy is the system that guarantees freedom—freedom of speech, freedom of religion, freedom of association, freedom of press, and freedom of assembly. America is the representative democratic nation, and in the American Constitution the most absolute among all freedoms is freedom of religion. It states that the Congress and government shall not make any laws that restrict religions. (100:246, October 19, 1978)

God’s spiritual providence of restoration during the two thousand years since Jesus’ day has prepared a democratic social and legal environment that will protect Christ at the Second Advent. Jesus was killed after being branded a heretic by the Jews and a rebel by the Roman Empire. In contrast, even if Christ at the Second Advent is persecuted as a heretic, in the democratic society to which he will come, such accusations will not be sufficient grounds for him to be condemned to death. (Exposition of the Divine Principle, Moses and Jesus 3.3.2)

I am grateful to God that He is using me as His instrument to ignite a movement to spiritually awaken America, to call her to protect religious freedom in this most difficult time in human history.8(133:213, July 19, 1984)

God Wants to Save the World

Song of Songs 1

⁵ Take me to your home.

The Young Women Speak:

We are happy for you!
And we praise your love
even more than wine.

She Speaks:

Young women of Jerusalem,
it is only right
    that you should adore him.
My skin is dark and beautiful,
like a tent in the desert
    or like Solomon’s curtains.
⁶Don’t stare at me
just because the sun
    has darkened my skin.
My brothers were angry with me;
they made me work in the vineyard,
    and so I neglected
    my complexion.

Don’t let the other shepherds
    think badly of me.
⁷I’m not one of those women
who shamelessly follow
    after shepherds.
My darling, I love you!
Where do you feed your sheep
    and let them rest at noon?

2 Chronicles 36

36 After the death of Josiah, the people of Judah crowned his son Jehoahaz their new king. ²He was twenty-three years old at the time, and he ruled only three months from Jerusalem. ³King Neco of Egypt captured Jehoahaz and forced Judah to pay almost four tons of silver and seventy-five pounds of gold as taxes. ⁴Then Neco appointed Jehoahaz’s brother Eliakim king of Judah and changed his name to Jehoiakim. He led Jehoahaz away to Egypt as his prisoner.

Tolerance, Religious Freedom and Interfaith Solidarity

1. Tolerance towards Believers of Other Religions

Teachings of Rev. Sun Myung Moon

The ideal of True Parents and the ideal of world peace are directly connected. We guide all nations, peoples, cultures, and religions to harmonize with one another by becoming 100 percent tolerant to one another for the sake of the ideal; this is the way to establish world peace. (205:159, August 16, 1990)

By demonstrating the goodness of their teachings, religions should set the example for all humankind. Instead, religions are fighting one another. Even different denominations within the same religion fight amongst themselves over differences in doctrine. On seeing this, God feels great anguish in His heart. (167:99, June 30, 1987)

We who are in a movement for unity must make efforts to unite with all religions. If possible, we can resolve doctrinal differences through persuasion. Otherwise, with much patience and much tolerance we have to compromise in order to cooperate with them. There are no other ways than these two. (103:125, February 18, 1979)

A religion that can bring peace to the world should not regard itself as important. It should not have self-centered views about its authority or its possessions. If it does, it will not go beyond the level of its own nation and the people who accept its doctrines.

There will be no escape from the history of conflicts and wars as long as our religion follows the conventional path of pursuing self-interest. God knows this; therefore He instructs us to deny and sacrifice ourselves. Even though we believe we have the central role, we should not pursue our own self-interest but rather seek for the welfare of other religious groups. Religions should walk the path of self-denial, self-sacrifice, and service to others. (172:143, January 10, 1988)

God wants to save the world, not just the Presbyterian Church or the Methodist Church or the Holiness Church. God does not live for the sake of any particular church or denomination; He lives for the world. A true church sacrifices itself for the sake of the world. If need be, for the sake of saving the world, a church should be willing even to let itself go out of existence. This is the way of the Principle; we must travel this road to accomplish God’s Will.

On the other hand, churches that place themselves above every other church, that regard themselves as absolute while denying the validity of all other churches, will perish. (69:87, October 20, 1973)

In this age, God wants to lead the world through ‘parent-level religions’—religions with a parental heart… Religions that put down or are hostile to other religions or denominations are not useful for the realization of world peace or the fulfillment of God’s providence. (260:128, May 1, 1994)❖World Scripture II V8 013107.ind393 3932/1/2007 3:14:49 PM

Cooperation and Solidarity Among Religions

Cheon Seong Gyeong 1909

The leisure industry can help people feel God’s happiness towards creation, so I am developing this by gathering all that is necessary in preparation of a sup-port system, such as a big research lab and a big testing area for farming, for the ocean industry, and for hunting and fishing. This system should bring together farmers, who live close to nature, with those who live far from nature in order to develop and educate them. The people in urban areas can support them both through the best scientific technology. That is why I am developing the hobby business while enjoying many hobbies. (279-58, 1996.6.9)

Cheon Seong Gyeong 763

The spirit world is our original home-town. During your life on earth you have to maintain a standard in order to return to your original hometown and live there for eternity. You cannot live as you wish on this earth. You cannot live like the worldly people who have been ignorant of these things. You have to know the spirit world and live accordingly. Then, when you leave this world you can go before God and form a connection with heaven. Without knowing the spirit world, it is impossible to make that connection. You need to be clearly aware, therefore, of the reality of the spirit world. (295-120, 1998.8.19)

Tolerance, Religious Freedom and Interfaith Solidarity

Tolerance begins with how we treat people of other faiths. We have gathered passages from the scriptures which urge treating non-believers and believers with equal respect. Religious disputes and doctrinal conflicts are condemnable; they are often motivated by egoism disguised as piety, and by displaying enmity they do not give fitting witness to one’s faith.
By extension, governments are to respect religious freedom and avoid any manner of compulsion in matters of faith. Most people think of religious freedom as a feature of modern democracy, emerging as it did after a long period of religious intolerance marked by wars and cruelty—the crusades, the inquisition and the 30-years’ War. Still, each of the great civilizations has enjoyed periods of religious tolerance: in India under the tolerant Buddhist King Asoka (3rd century B.C.) and the enlightened Mughal emperor Akbar (16th century), in 10th century Al-Andalus (Spain under Muslim rule), and in song dynasty china (10th-13th century). Never the-less, it was with democracy that the ideal of religious freedom became firmly established as a global value. Father Moon regards the establishment of religious freedom one of the hard-won victories of divine providence.

Beyond tolerance and beyond religious freedom is the higher vision of cooperation and solidarity among religions. This largely modern ideal was born out of people’s growing familiarity with the world’s religions and the efforts of religious leaders to dialogue with each other in order to resolve disputes and eliminate ancient prejudices. Religious unity has long been advocated by the Baha’i Faith. Relations between Christians and Jews were transformed after the horrors of the holocaust led to a widespread re-evaluation of Christian doctrines that had overtones of anti-Semitism. Still, until the late 1990s the predominant opinion was that the trend towards secularism would one day make religion—and hence religious intolerance—a relic of the past. Today that view is obsolete. Flare-ups of religious extremism and terrorism have made people realize that interfaith cooperation is a necessary condition for world peace. Yet for more than fifty years, without fanfare, Father Moon has worked for the goal of the unity of religions, regarding it as one of the chief goals of God’s contemporary providence.

1. Tolerance towards Believers of Other Religions

Those who praise their own doctrines and disparage the doctrines of others do not solve any problem.
Sutrakritanga 1.1.50 (Jainism)

Do not dispute with the People of the Book but in the fairest manner.

Qur’an 29.46

Maintain good conduct among the Gentiles, so that in case they speak against you as wrongdoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation.

1 Peter 2.12

Our rabbis have taught, “We support the poor of the heathen along with the poor of Israel, visit the sick of the heathen along with the sick of Israel, and bury the dead poor of the heathen along with the dead of Israel, in the interests of peace.”

Talmud, Gittin 61a (Judaism)

Kapathika: “How should a wise man maintain truth?”

Buddha: “A man has a faith. If he says ‘This is my faith,’ so far he maintains truth. But by that he cannot proceed to the absolute conclusion: ‘This alone is Truth, and everything else is false.’ ”

Majjhima Nikaya 2.176 (Buddhism)

Like the bee, gathering honey from different flowers, the wise man accepts the essence of different scriptures and sees only the good in all religions.

Srimad Bhagavatam 11.3 (Hinduism)

The Jews should not be presented as rejected or accursed by God, as if this followed from the Holy Scriptures. All should see to it, then, that in catechetical work or in the preaching of the word of God they do not teach anything that does not conform to the truth of the Gospel and the spirit of Christ. Furthermore, in her rejection of every persecution against any man, the Church, mindful of the patrimony she shares with the Jews and moved not by political reasons but by the Gospel’s spiritual love, decries hatred, persecutions, displays of anti-Semitism, directed against Jews at any time and by anyone.

Vatican II, Nostra Aetate (Christianity)

Love God and Serve Him as the Absolute Lord

Movie Review-Gosnell: The Trial of America’s Biggest Serial Killer – VisionRoot

Numbers 35

^20-21Or suppose you get angry and kill someone by pushing or hitting or by throwing something. You are a murderer and must be put to death by one of the victim’s relatives.

^22-24But if you are not angry and accidentally kill someone in any of these ways, the townspeople must hold a trial and decide if you are guilty. ²⁵If they decide that you are innocent, you will be protected from the victim’s relative and sent to stay in one of the Safe Towns until the high priest dies. ²⁶But if you ever leave the Safe Town ²⁷and are killed by the victim’s relative, he cannot be punished for killing you. ²⁸You must stay inside the town until the high priest dies; only then can you go back home.

Daniel 2

³⁶That was the dream, and now I’ll tell you what it means. ³⁷Your Majesty, you are the greatest of kings, and God has highly honored you with power ³⁸over all humans, animals, and birds. You are the head of gold. ³⁹After you are gone, another kingdom will rule, but it won’t be as strong. Then it will be followed by a kingdom of bronze that will rule the whole world. ⁴⁰Next, a kingdom of iron will come to power, crushing and shattering everything.^[d]

^41-42This fourth kingdom will be divided—it will be both strong and brittle, just as you saw that the feet and toes were a mixture of iron and clay. ⁴³This kingdom will be the result of a marriage between kingdoms, but it will crumble, just as iron and clay don’t stick together.

^44-45During the time of those kings, the God who rules from heaven will set up an eternal kingdom that will never fall. It will be like the stone that was cut from the mountain, but not by human hands—the stone that crushed the iron, bronze, clay, silver, and gold. Your Majesty, in your dream the great God has told you what is going to happen, and you can trust this interpretation.

One Truth, Many Paths

2. Beneath the Differences Are Universal Elements

Teachings of Rev. Sun Myung Moon

In every culture, religion should be the core and standard of public righteousness. Hence each religion holds pride in keeping its own traditions and thinks itself superior to any other. However, the universal elements in each of their teachings come from the one God. (234:222, August 20, 1992)

Lamentable it is that the very religions that were supposed to serve as the leading elements of the human spirit and as the leading mediators of conflict have themselves become sources of conflict, thereby diminishing religious dignity and authority even further. Judaism fights Islam; Catholicism conflicts with Protestantism; Christianity contradicts Buddhism. Even within one religion, different denominations fight among themselves.
The basic cause of religious conflict lies in the ambiguity of their doctrines about Ultimate Reality. The Absolute Being is only one; there cannot be two absolute beings. However, when the leaders of each religion claim that only their absolute being is the true God, it leads to the contradiction that there is more than one absolute being. We would then conclude that the god of each religion is only a relative god, and that there is no basis for believing that the Absolute Being exists.
Consequently, although God has been promoting through the various religions a universal teaching about God’s love and truth, their various perspectives remain only relative. We can conclude that religions have been incapable of establishing the absolute value perspective that can bring the prevailing confusion under control. This is the inevitable result of the fact that no religion has been able to present the correct explanation about the Absolute Being. (122:300-01, November 25, 1982)

As most people live in two dimensions, all religions appear to them to be the same. However, if looking at their backgrounds, especially from the standpoint of God’s providence for the restoration of humankind, we recognize that religions are at different levels: the servant of servant-level religion, the servant-level religion, the adopted son-level religion, the half son-level religion, the son-level religion, the mother-level religion, the father-level religion, and finally the True Parent-level religion. Throughout history, religions have developed from stage to stage.
Yet all religions, regardless of their level, have something in common: Love God and serve Him as the absolute Lord. Most of their basic teachings are the same. For this reason, it is hard to distinguish the difference of their levels. If so, are all religions really the same? No, they are not. (143:75-76, December 9, 1990)

Good and evil are not determined by your beliefs and thoughts. They are determined by your daily life. Whether you are destined for heaven and hell is not determined by your doctrines and perspectives on the world, but by your daily life. (40:294-95, February 7, 1971)

Oh How They Cling and Wrangle

Movie Review-Gosnell: The Trial of America’s Biggest Serial Killer – VisionRoot

Cheon Seong Gyeong 267

Furthermore, you should know that you have inherited the responsibility that True Parents are to carry out on earth. Why do the Blessed Families have to inherit this? If the Blessed Families are going through the course to restore a people, True Parents should be going through a course to restore the world. In other words, they should be going one step ahead. Yet without establishing the victorious standard of having restored a people, True Parents cannot walk the course of worldwide restoration. That is why you must inherit the responsibility to restore a people to ensure that True Parents can walk the worldwide course. Until your death and until the sorrow of this people is removed, you must shoulder the responsibility to restore a people. (13-293, 1964.4.12)

Cheon Seong Gyeong 1123

“Portion of responsibility” is a term that is not used much in ordinary society. However, especially in the Unification Church, it is a term that is more important than any other. Within our church, if you do not know these two terms – “portion of responsibility” and “restoration through indemnity” – you will not be able to understand the content of our historical course or resolve the mistakes and unknown facts of history. That is how important these words are. (169-45, 1987.10.25)

One Truth, Many Paths

2. Beneath the Differences Are Universal Elements

A number of disciples went to the Buddha and said, “Sir, there are living here in Savatthi many wandering hermits and scholars who indulge in constant dispute, some saying that the world is infinite and eternal and others that it is finite and not eternal, some saying that the soul dies with the body and others that it lives on forever, and so forth. What, Sir, would you say concerning them?”
The Buddha answered, “Once upon a time there was a certain raja who called to his servant and said, ‘Come, good fellow, go and gather together in one place all the men of Savatthi who were born blind… and show them an elephant.’ ‘Very good, sire,’ replied the servant, and he did as he was told. He said to the blind men assembled there, ‘Here is an elephant,’ and to one man he presented the head of the elephant, to another its ears, to another a tusk, to another the trunk, the foot, back, tail, and tuft of the tail, saying to each one that that was the elephant.
“When the blind men had felt the elephant, the raja went to each of them and said to each, ‘Well, blind man, have you seen the elephant? Tell me, what sort of thing is an elephant?’“
Thereupon the men who were presented with the head answered, ‘Sire, an elephant is like a pot.’ And the men who had observed the ear replied, ‘An elephant is like a winnowing basket.’ Those who had been presented with a tusk said it was a ploughshare. Those who knew only the trunk said it was a plough; others said the body was a granary; the foot, a pillar; the back, a mortar; the tail, a pestle, the tuft of the tail, a brush.“
Then they began to quarrel, shouting, ‘Yes it is!’ ‘No, it is not!’ ‘An elephant is not that!’ ‘Yes, it’s like that!’ and so on, till they came to blows over the matter. The raja was delighted with the scene.“
Just so are these preachers and scholars holding various views blind and unseeing… In their ignorance they are by nature quarrelsome, wrangling, and disputatious, each maintaining reality is thus and thus.”
Then the Exalted One rendered this meaning by uttering this verse of uplift:

O how they cling and wrangle, some who
claim
For preacher and monk the honored name!
For, quarreling, each to his view they cling.
Such folk see only one side of a thing. 5
Udana 68-69: Parable of the Blind Men and the Elephant (Buddhism)

Some Hindus had brought an elephant for exhibition and placed it in a dark house. Crowds of people were going into that dark place to see the beast. Finding that ocular inspection was impossible, each visitor felt it with his palm in the darkness.

The palm of one fell on the trunk. “This creature is like a waterspout,” he said. The hand of another lighted on the elephant’s ear. To him the beast was evidently like a fan. Another rubbed against its leg. “I found the elephant’s shape is like a pillar,” he said. Another laid his hand on its back. “Certainly this elephant is like a throne,” he said.

The sensual eye is just like the palm of the hand. The palm has not the means of covering the whole of the beast.

The eye of the Sea is one thing and the foam another. Let the foam go, and gaze with the eye of the Sea. Day and night foam-flecks are flung from the sea: How amazing! You behold the foam but not the Sea. We are like boats dashing together; our eyes are darkened, yet we are in clear water.

Jalalu’l-Din Rumi, Masnavi3.1259-1272 (Islam)

A man among the Muslims and a man among the Jews reviled one another. The Muslim said, “By Him who chose Muhammad above the universe,” and the Jew said, “By Him who chose Moses above the universe.” Thereupon the Muslim raised his hand and struck the Jew on his face, and the Jew went to the Prophet and told him what had happened between him and the Muslim. The Prophet summoned the Muslim and asked him about that, and when he informed him the Prophet said, “Do not make me superior to Moses, for mankind will swoon on the day of resurrection and I shall swoon along with them. I shall be the first to recover and see Moses seizing the side of the Throne; and I shall not know whether he was among those who had swooned and had recovered before me, or whether he was among those of whom God had made an exception… Do not make distinctions between the Prophets.”

Hadith of Bukhari and Muslim (Islam)

Some call on the Lord, “Rama,” some cry, “Khuda,”
Some bow to Him as Gosain, some as Allah;
He is called the Ground of Grounds and also the Bountiful,
The Compassionate One and Gracious.
Hindus bathe in holy waters for His sake;
Muslims make the pilgrimage to Mecca.
The Hindus perform puja; others bow their heads in namaz.
There are those who read the Vedas and others—Christians, Jews, Muslims—Who read the Semitic scriptures.
Some wear blue, some white robes,
Some call themselves Muslims, others Hindus.
Some aspire to bahishat [Muslim heaven], some to swarga [Hindu heaven].
Says Nanak, Whoever realizes the will of the Lord, He will find out the Lord’s secrets!
Adi Granth, Ramkali, M.5, p. 885 (Sikhism)

Of whatsoever teachings, Gotamid, you can assure yourself thus, “These doctrines conduce to passions, not to dispassion; to bondage, not to detachment; to increase of worldly gains, not to decrease of them; to covetousness, not to frugality; to discontent, not contentment; to company, not solitude; to sluggishness, not energy; to delight in evil, not delight in good”—of such teachings you may with certainty affirm, Gotamid, “This is not the Norm. This is not the Discipline. This is not the Master’s Message.”

But of whatsoever teachings you can assure yourself thus, “These doctrines conduce to dispassion, not to passions… to delight in good, not delight in evil”—of such teachings you may with certainty affirm, “This is the Norm. This is the Discipline. This is the Master’s Message.”

Vinaya Pitaka 2.10 (Buddhism)