GPF America 2008

REPORT FOR TODAY’S WORLD

By Rev. Michael Jenkins
Chairman – UPF USA

The Global Peace Festival (GPF) on August 9, 2008, was a wonderful success. The three key elements of the leadership conference, the service component and the festival itself, which demonstrated compassion through service, strengthening the family, and peace through the interfaith dialogue, were truly successful. As you can imagine, always when there are great landmarks in history there are also great challenges behind the scenes. First was the fact that we were seeking to build a genuine coalition of many organizations to become partners in the process. One of the most significant steps we took to realize this, centering on the Universal Peace Federation (UPF) as the founding partner, was to secure the partnerships of the Points of Light Foundation and the Hands-On Network as well as Service for Peace, the Youth Federation for World Peace, and the American Clergy Leadership Conference (ACLC). These organizations are headed by leaders of various fields who are from different faiths and backgrounds.

We began in December, meeting to understand the vision of One Family Under God and how it becomes a core value that allows all faiths to come together to strengthen the family and initiate compassion. What we have learned, without question, is that we live in an age in which morality cannot be mandated by government, nor can it be upheld by one faith tradition because the narrowness and exclusivity of only one faith tradition will not be able to embrace the vast majority of the people of America or the world.

Therefore, we live in an age in which there is a consciousness among all people that we must come to a new level of acceptance of all faiths and all religions, as well as all races and cultures. Acceptance means truly understanding that God is bigger than just my own faith tradition, that God Himself created all, and that there’s an element of God in all faiths. When we lift up one family under God, it touches that fundamental reality in all traditions, that we come from a common origin and heritage.

It should be understood that the GPF is an ongoing movement of partners, organizations, nd faith communities that are coming together on common ground. The family is a universal value, and the security and protection of all families is a high priority for all. The situation of September 11 heightened this sense of awareness and allowed us to come to a new sensitivity of all faiths.

The development of the “core partners” relationships were the next step that truly put this GPF movement on track. Rev. Paul Murray, who has tremendous experience in nonprofit service organizations and was the assistant to the provost of Boston University, as well as the head of Vision Ministries, a service-oriented NGO, is also pastor of a thriving Christian church. He came to UPF through the Middle East Peace Initiative (MEPI) just one year ago.

Rev. Murray’s leadership opened the door for core partners to sign up with confidence that a new and genuine ongoing movement was building. Some of the first partners he signed up were the pastor and copastor of a megachurch in Atlanta. Because of the “core partners” document that he helped create through our consensus, we were able to establish partners that really understood what the GPF movement was seeking to build in terms of peace, family, and compassion. Therefore, people were not coming on board just to lend their name but to get behind this movement, which has a sense of urgency because of the challenges facing our families in terms of moral breakdown, violence in our neighborhoods and communities, as well as terrorism in the world.

Ms. Gail Paine, Secretary General of UPF-Washington, opened the way with Rev. Randy Francis for the Ambassadors For Peace movement to engage and learn about GPF over the past seven months. Various meetings that occurred on a monthly basis allowed us to bond our hearts together, do joint seminars, and do service together in such a way that trust was built over time.

Imam Dawud Assad and Mr. Mahomed Khan, joined by Mr. Suleiman Nyang of Howard University, a premier scholar of Islamic thought, led a most significant and truly thorough outreach to heads of Muslim organizations in America, most of which have headquarters in Washington.

The Muslim community has a tremendous sense of apprehension toward anything trying to bring people together beyond the Muslim community. This was in great part due to tremendous discrimination and mistreatment of Muslims since September 11. That fear has become part of the experience of Muslims in America. It wasn’t until just one month before the August 9 festival that a change occurred; through diligent dialogue and follow-up as well as our MEPI trips and continued commitment to acceptance of all religions, not just tolerance. Some key Muslim leaders courageously stepped forward, feeling that Allah was guiding this movement.

The interfaith ceremony on August 9 had much preparation and prayer behind it, as Dr. Frank Kaufmann led an interfaith dialogue for two days. A key rabbi from Israel and a key Muslim sheikh from Palestine were joined by faith leaders of other traditions. Because of that two days of intensive dialogue, many things came out; most importantly, the rabbis, imams, and the Christian leaders without question said that if the religious community is able to really engage freely and consistently, the pathway to peace could be established so that diplomacy will work. They clearly affirmed that the proposal for the interreligious council at the United Nations is very significant and most needed.

We can see that diplomatic efforts in the hotspots of the world are very limited in terms of bringing peace. Governments do not have the ability to dissolve the enmity and hate between enemies. This is truly the role of the faith community and faith leaders. GPF-USA has brought forward the fact that there must be a complementary relationship between the faith communities and governments of the world to dissolve the hate and resentment at the root of violence.

Channel 9, WABC-TV, reported the evening of August 9th that thousands gathered that day for the GPF. National and international faith leaders were in support of this great interfaith event. For the first time in the United States, major Palestinian Muslim and Israeli Jewish clerics reconciled.

The service component of the GPF started with the Points of Light Foundation and its partnership with Service for Peace. We commend the Points of Light Foundation for its consistent effort to lead as a founding partner of this coalition. Rev. Mark Farr, an Episcopal priest, became deeply inspired to call upon everyone to engage in a million acts of service and kindness. At first it was slow going, and just a few people were doing some service projects, but by the end there was a snowball effect and the acts of service multiplied.

Every Thursday night we had reports from partners. I can never forget the look on Reverend Abernathy’s face as he reported that his church had done over 1,200 acts of service and registered them on the website, such as repair work on the building of a seniors’ home. This is not a small thing.

In addition, Rev. Phillip Schanker of the Family Federation took on the organizing role for local service programs. Interns and volunteers from the youth community came out in support of our partners, and several major days of service were initiated. Seeing them going into different communities, planting trees, painting and cleaning, it didn’t take long for community leaders to be touched and engage in partnership with the GPF movement. This opened the door for the Boys and Girls Clubs of Washington to sincerely engage in the public good. Washington parks and the National Park Service and other government entities also supported this effort. Then the City Council, the mayor’s office, the Office on Latino Affairs, and other community organizations got involved. Truly this had a beautiful impact.

Fox News covered the Baltimore service day as well as the program at Watkins Hill Church, in which hundreds of young people from Capitol Heights came together with young people from around the country, enjoying hip-hop entertainment and then serving the community. How important it is that different races and different peoples go together through our various neighborhoods in America and help one another! Seeing young people who want to give something for others touches everyone deeply.

The Youth Council, led by Justin Fong and Mr. Kenshu Aoki, also paid its dues, starting out just six or seven weeks before the GPF. They worked with ACLC pastors and other Ambassadors for Peace to engage organizations for service. They had a vibrant energy, very different from other segments of the UPF effort. Working with new media through text messaging and viral marketing, tweaking the websites, as well as engaging in music and the spirit of love for all humanity, the Youth Council opened many doors. It caused a great percentage of the partnerships to come forth.

One breakthrough came when there was an interfaith meeting between black Baptist youth ministers and youth leaders from different races, Jews, and Muslims. There was always some nervousness about coming together. This kind of youth interchange doesn’t happen so much, especially on the local level. When they came together, they discussed their experience, and suddenly the discussion turned to the challenges to their own personal morality from the popular modern culture that promotes the idea of living for yourself and engaging in anything that feels good. It was like a mountaintop moment when they could realize that Jews, Christians, and Muslims actually have the same spiritual battles to fight in terms of keeping their morality. The personal assault on youth coming from a modern secular culture that is not rooted in God or moral values actually caused them to arrive at a moment when they could feel we shouldn’t look at each other as Muslims, Christians, and Jews, but as all different tribes under one God, and we should combine together to help protect the youth of our communities, but also this nation and the world.

The next night at the Partners meeting, one of the Muslims from a major mosque in Virginia came. He was absolutely inspired and has become a partner of the GPF, as well as opening the door for the Muslim community. These breakthroughs do not happen from just talk. They happen from engaging people with heart and experience. Nothing was more inspiring than the 5 a.m. gathering of 400 youth in the last seven days. Truly inspired dedication comes from sacrifice and doing something for others.

A book could be written about clergy outreach, but in a nutshell, GPF has taken ACLC to a new level. The power of pastors coming together and going out to faith communities had tremendous impact and brought many new clergy to the table. Also clergy of all races responded more than ever. Interesting background stories are also to be told. Reverend and Mrs. Edwards were very criticized by their families for years. Mrs. Edwards had the courage to invite her brother to come see what GPF is all about. She asked him sincerely not to judge but really take a look. When he came, he was transformed in one day, after years of opposing their involvement in this global peace movement. He truly saw in GPF something all Christians should be doing for the sake of the world, realizing that their faith has a responsibility to improve the nation and the world. There are many tearful stories behind the scenes of the division of brothers and sisters actually dissolving through love.

Over 1,000 churches signed up as partners of the GPF coalition, and it’s estimated that over 4,000 representatives of East Coast churches attended the GPF. The support of major religious leaders from the megachurch community was an additional highlight we have not seen before. Bishop Swilley’s church has thousands of members. He and his wife were caught by the vision and took ownership and leadership of this peace movement. One Family Under God rises above theological differences and questions. Martin Luther King’s “I Have a Dream” speech did not delve into Baptist or even Christian theology. It was about the principles laid down in the American foundation -- We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal and endowed by God with certain inalienable rights. That universal teaching at the Lincoln Memorial was for all America. That’s why Dr. King could say that when we gather around these principles and we really understand the true meaning of the American dream, then we can sing, “My country, ‘tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, let freedom ring.”

That’s what Bishop and Mrs. Swilley understood – let freedom ring, let peace ring throughout the world. The pastor who contributed to The Secret, Dr. Michael Bernard Beckwith, also became a cochairman of the GPF. He sent his message through his representative there. In addition, Dr. Grainger Browning and Dr. DeForest Soaries also endorsed the GPF as megachurch leaders. It’s just a matter of time before this megachurch movement, which is not shackled by denominational walls and barriers, sees the vision that God is guiding people to at this time, to create a new paradigm of family and community to guide the nation to a responsible service of the world. These megachurches are coming together now and will become a force of love that can heal the community and guide the world in the right direction.

The key to the success of the megachurches will be what we are providing through the GPF, and that is to help them be a bridge to the Muslim and Jewish communities, without which they will become isolated as “just Christians,” and not for all people. However, if the megachurches truly represent God, they have to become like God, who is for all people. Pastor Debye Swilley is an anointed woman of God and copastor with her husband. She caught the spiritual dimension of One Family Under God and saw how critical it is that we have confidence and faith that God is now lifting up a core value that allows us to all come together.

Our Communities of Peace partners worked on a project called the Children’s Cloth of Many Colors. This was a beautiful way for children to express their hopes and commitment to peace. Together with their parents they created quilt pieces with a unique expression of peace. Many ambassadors and their staffs engaged in creating this cloth of many colors. WTOP covered the press conference held at the Ethiopian embassy in which the representatives of Bangladesh and Cameroon also participated. The report was absolutely beautiful. The children can even bring nations together. Their expression is so pure that it touches the mothers, and ultimately fathers and brothers and sisters. When over 100 children stood on the stage with the cloths, it was a very moving moment. All the family has a role to play in peace.

I saw with my own eyes that even though Muslim and Jewish community leaders were skeptical, as we kept saying, “One Family Under God,” and living it together, suddenly they began to lift up that core value that we can all agree with and unite with. This is not just a slogan. This is a principle. Whether people acknowledge it or not, there is one God, and, from God’s point of view, we are all His children. Some are close, some are not so close, some don’t even know He exists. But even if a child doesn’t know his parents exist, that doesn’t mean that he or she is not God’s child.

One Family Under God is universal and key to unifying the faith communities of the world so the moral center of the nation can be moved closer to God’s heart. When we move the moral center of the nation, then the nation can also be guided to find other options through the faith community to dissolve the enmity and hatred between enemies on foreign shores.

We cannot remove hate with hate. We cannot end violence with violence. We have to rise to a higher dimension of godly character to be able to really, truly address the fundamental cause of hurt, pain, resentment, and anger, and the solution can come only through love. Only love and sacrifice for the other can dissolve hate. Only love can dissolve the root causes of violence. Only love can lift our communities into a cooperative mode where poverty can be also addressed and dissolved. Only love can bring out compassion and care for one another so that we lift up all races and people to have open access to education and the financial tools necessary to gain ownership that increases understanding of responsibility.

There are many stories to tell behind the scenes of the challenges that our partners, and especially faith leaders, endured by coming together with GPF. Why? Because Dr. Hyun Jin Moon is the visionary that helped launch this partnership movement through UPF. Therefore, all of our partners and leaders received various challenges. However, because of the substance of what we’re doing and the resonance with the core value we are lifting up, one by one these partners could overcome. One of the most beautiful moments in the GPF was when Dr. Joseph Lowery, president emeritus of the SCLC, stood up with his wife and said I brought my wife along because I want her to know what I am going to be working on.

Media coverage

73 media representatives attended. (A separate media report will be filed.) The Washington Times gave good coverage, as well as ABC, NBC, CBS, and various newspapers around the country. There was a small reference to GPF in the Washington Post. But every article was positive. Not one negative word was said about this event, indicating that the era after the coming of heaven is truly a new era, and the era after the helicopter victory is the newest era of all. The Informer ran a front page story on GPF and Dr. Fauntroy and a good interview with Rev. Murray. ABC TV reported “ For the first time in the U.S. top Israeli and Palestinian Clerics embraced in a spirit of reconciliation.” The Washington Times had an Op Ed with Rev. Fauntroy and coverage of the Children’s Cloth of Many Colors. The Washington Post did a small positive note on it. ABC, CBS, and NBC affiliates had evening news coverage. Fox News covered it twice on the Service Programs. The Praise Network had three radio shows, two with Bishop Stallings and one with Rev. Fautroy. The WUSA (ABC) had three TV talk shows with Rev. Mark Farr, Rev. Debbye Swilley and Dr. Fauntroy. This had huge impact with our partners as well as the heightened awareness in the community. All of Washington was talking about it.

Dr. Hyun Jin Moon’s message

The most important aspect of GPF was the historic message the Dr. Moon gave. It won the hearts and the minds of all the top leaders. It encapsulates Father’s vision and providential mission for America, as a nation that was founded by God and that established in its beginning that our rights come from God, not from man. It also became the nation of God to lead the world to peace. He testified so clearly to the founders and the historic figures of America, the founding Fathers, President Kennedy and Dr. King. He testified to True Parents and said, thirteen years after Dr. King my Father came to America and said., “ The United States of America, transcending race and nationality, is already a model of the unified world.
She must realize that the abundant blessings which God has been pouring upon this land are not just for America, but are for the children of God throughout the world.
Upon the foundation of world Christianity, America must exercise her responsibility as a world leader and the chosen nation of God.” Dr. Moon stepped into history and has now taken the lead. He revived the fundamental understanding of the spiritual root of America being in God and the Declaration of Independence saying “It must have been a moment of great pain, anxiety and exhilaration, for those who signed the Declaration of Independence knew very well what their fate would be if they had failed. The amazing thing about the Declaration is the deeply spiritual rhetoric and the clear reference to God, or the Creator, as the true source of human dignity and intrinsic rights.
I believe that same Declaration of Independence remains the most important document of our modern era. Although it was a secular document, it was leavened with spiritual undertones which evoked a prayerful yearning to establish a new land committed to principles upon which “One Nation” could be created “under God.” Thus, it carried a profound spiritual authority and became the basis, I believe, of a new covenant with God.
That covenant was rooted in the biblical promise first made to Israel in the book of Isaiah.
True to that prophecy, America invited all of God’s children to come and worship Him according to the dictates of their conscience.

Although predominantly a Christian nation, America was the first nation on earth committed to universal spiritual values. It was the first nation to champion religious freedom and human rights, regardless of denomination, faith, nationality, ethnicity, and race.” Hyun Jin Nim went on to say that as America, on this basis could establish “One Nation Under God it is also that nation that can lead the world to “One Family Under God.”

He then went on to call upon America to fulfill its mission to help the UN establish and Interrelgious Council that will lead the way to peace. He states,

“America, as a nation of interfaith ideals, must now fulfill its destiny of leading the world toward peace.
Working with the United Nations, I propose that the United States second the motion that my father made in the UN to establish an Inter-religious Council of faith leaders similar to the Security Council.

Many great minds agree that the greatest threat to global peace and future development is religious narrow-mindedness. This new UN council could be the forum for all faiths to find common ground and lead the peace process.”

What was amazing was that this truly was recognized by Sheikh Tamimi, Rabbi Weisser, Rabbi Bar Dea and all the Interfaith leaders as one of the greatest moments in which America could shine. Rabbi Weisser said, “I was deeply moved and honored to be part of the interfaith ceremony and then to feel my heritage both as a Jew and an America being lifted up and honored by Dr. Moon. I felt security and peace. I felt a new hope, I felt love for my Muslim and Christian brothers and sisters and felt how important America is to realize this and to bring this to the world. Dr. Moon is leading the way.”


Rev. Fauntroy and Dr. Lowery played a most important historic role – they anointed before all of history Dr. Hyun Jin Moon as the Leader of the “Joshua Generation”.

As the founders of the Council of Elders who were with Dr. King, they anointed Dr. Hyun Jin Preston Moon as the leader of the “Joshua Generation”. They believe he has the character and global peace foundation that is far reaching into every continent. They were absolutely confident that a new spiritual movement has arisen and they are supporting it and committed to join Dr. Moon and the partners of GPF to lead the world to peace.

Dr. Lowery said,
“Thank you to Dr. Hyun Jin Moon, the moving force behind this Global Peace Festival being held on every continent on this planet that God has given us.

I want to ask you to extend my warmest regards to your father, the Reverend Dr. Sun Myung Moon, who a few years ago gained the support of my leadership as president of Southern Christian Leadership Conference and the National Council of Churches and others as we defended him from persecution by the government, violating the constitutional principle of religious liberty.

I want to bring you greetings today from several of those who were associates of Martin Luther King, Jr., whose movement began some 53 years ago in Montgomery, another chapter in Birmingham, Selma, and across the United States. That movement, that nonviolent direct action movement, leads us here today to join with those who would wage peace in a world torn asunder by hostility and hatred and war. Some of them are Wyatt T. Walker, Fred Shuttlesworth, Walter Fauntroy, and Milton Reid. We call ourselves the Martin Luther King Council of Elders. And we come today to declare to the world that we support a movement for global peace. We support a movement for global peace.

We held a press conference July 2nd to remind the world it’s been 45 years since that historic march on Washington, where Martin gave the world his immortal “I Have a Dream” speech. It’s also been 40 years since Martin told us, the day before he was assassinated, that he’d been to the mountaintop; that he might not get there with us, but we as the people would get to the mountaintop and to the promised land.

When he said, “We as a people,” he was not just talking about black people, or white people, or brown people, or yellow people, or red people, but all God’s children. Not just Jews or gentiles, but people of every faith, every race, every creed, every ethnicity, and every color on this planet.

We believe now that 40 years is long enough for humanity to wander in the wilderness of hate and terror, and estrangement from one another. We appeal to people of courage and conscience that we become the Joshua generation that Martin envisioned, leading the world into a promised land where we are one family under God, to work together to end the barbarism of war, the insanity of racism, and the scourge of poverty.

I come today to hail the Global Peace Festival to thank Dr. Moon for developing this unprecedented interfaith coalition launching a movement for global peace, right here and right now in our nation’s capital. Together let us go forth from this place and this time as a Joshua generation, as one family under God, to do for the entire world in the 21st century what the nonviolent movement convened by Dr. King did for America in the 20th century.


We must take this message to every corner of the earth in the months and years ahead. It is not enough to just come here today and engage in ceremony. Ceremonies end with the benediction. We must engage in sacrament, for sacrament begins when ceremony ends. So I call upon you today to pledge yourself to leave this place in sacramental mood, in a sacramental mode, to change the world from hatred to love, from darkness to light, from enmity to friendship, from war to peace. I wish somebody would say, “Amen.”

God bless you today. Let me close by saying that even as we assemble here today, there are tens of thousands in Beijing engaging in friendly athletic competition under the theme One World, One Dream. Well, that dream is beginning in a dream that took place near this spot 45 years ago, and so we must, with one world, one dream, one color, one family under one God, we must go united in purpose, different in ethnicity but the same in aspiration. They are performing under that theme. Let us go from here to live under that theme, or dream, that proclaims the oneness of the human family under God, a dream that calls for men and women to judge each other not by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.

Let us see clearly a vision when there will be peace in the valley and the lion will lie down with the lamb, crooked places will be made straight, valleys will be exalted; the day when the dry bones of war and hatred and poverty and alienation shall take on a new spirit and lead this world into peace in the valley, peace with justice in Darfur and Des Moines, in Selma and Soweto, in Georgia and Russia, in the Gaza Strip and Tel Aviv, in Zimbabwe and Tanzania. Let’s spread the word everywhere that there shall be peace with justice in the valley. Every man shall sit under his own vine and fig tree, and none shall be afraid. Justice will roll down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream. Swords will be beaten into plowshares and spears into pruning hooks. Tanks will be beat into tractors, and missiles into morsels of bread. Nations shall not lift up sword against nation; neither shall they study war anymore.

We’ve come to that day when black will not asked to get back, when brown can stick around, when yellow will be mellow, when the red man can get ahead, man, and when white will be all right.

God bless you; God keep you. Peace, Shalom, A Salaam Aleikum.”