Global Peace Festival Coming to Nigeria

After communal violence in Nigeria, help is at hand; the Daily Trust reports:

An international organisation, Universal Peace Federation (UPF) has inaugurated a peace council in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), to help foster peace within the capital city.

…Inaugurating the body in Abuja, the Chairman, Board of Trustees of UPF in Nigeria, Ambassador Segun Olushola, charged the council to work hard in ensuring that lasting peace continues to prevail in the capital city.

Speaking on behalf of the council members, the leader, Dr. Abdulaziz Mohammed, stressed that peace comes through cooperation beyond the boundaries of ethnicity, religion and nationality.

Nigeria will host a Global Peace Festival in 2009.

Olushola is also chair of the Nigerian Commission on Refugees.

Moon in Manila

Of course, it helps to know the right people (emphasis added):

GLOBAL PEACE FESTIVAL IN MANILA. International leaders gather at the Quirino Grandstand of Rizal Park, Manila, to pray for world peace and development for nations under One God. The event was led by Global Peace Festival Founder and Universal Peace Federation (UPF) Co-Chairman Dr. Hyun Jin Moon. From left: Dr. Thomas Walsh; Cong. Armulfo Go, 2nd District, Sultan Kudarat; Gov. Leonida “Baby” Bayani-Ortiz; Most Rev. Bishop Deogracias M.E. Flores, O.P. SCMF; Rev. C.H. Kwak; Mr. Patriarch John Teruel; Prince Norodom Sirivudh of Cambodia; Madame Gina De Venecia; Former Speaker Jose De Venecia Jr.; Dr. Huyn Jin Moon; Mrs. Jun Sook Moon; Dr. Emillio T. Yap, Chairman of the Manila Bulletin and Manila Hotel; Most Rev. Juan Baladad D.D.; Atty. Jin Sung Park; Mrs. Sook Moon; Mr. Hirota Otsuka; and Mr. Pyung Hwa Kin. Thousands joined the peace activities at the Rizal Park, Manila, last night, December 13, 2008.

 Full-size image here.

Global Peace Festival Faces PR Problem in Solomon Islands

Oh dear – from the Solomon Times:

Church leaders in Honiara are calling on all Christians in Honiara, and throughout the country, not to attend Reverend Moon’s Global Peace Festival planned for this Saturday at the Lawson Tama Stadium.

…Church leaders have told their congregations that Rev. Sun Myung Moon had undermined “the finished work of Christ on the Cross and what Moon is doing is the work of the Devil and the Anti-Christ.”…Christian ministries and organizations are unanimous in their call for a boycott of the Global Peace Festival and their description of Reverend Moon as the “Devil and the Anti-Christ, the end time figure spoken off in the Book of Revelation.”

The Catholic Church in the Philippines has expressed a similarly negative view of Moon’s “anti-Christ” activities.

(Hat tip: Moon Tribune)

Peace Festivals Round-Up

I’ve blogged some of the UPF Global Peace Festivals (UK here and here; USA here; Mongolia here); here are some reports from other locations.

The Philippines, from The News Today:

The Global Peace Festival held here Nov. 17-19 became controversial after the Roman Catholic church withdrawn their support and manifested their strong opposition to it.

The Catholic church even announced on Sunday mass calling people not to support the said festival since it is anti-Christ.

However, organizers denied they are anti-Christ saying that they are bringing people to “One Family under God” regardless of whatever religion they have.

 Japan, from the UPI:

The Japan festival, hosted by the Universal Peace Federation and other nonprofit organizations, was held Saturday in Ajinomoto Stadium, Tokyo, with roughly 50,000 participants and delegates from 43 countries.

…The motto Moon emphasized at the Tokyo gathering was “One Family under God,” defining it as a spiritual vision, rooted in time-enduring values, principles and aspirations. The idea is one he has inherited from his father, Rev. Sun Myung Moon, who is the founder of the Unification Church and News World Communications, Inc.

…Jose De Venecia Jr., former speaker of the House of Representatives in the Philippines, underscored the importance of interfaith cooperation beyond the national, racial or religious boundaries that humankind has created.

…One urgent issue for Moon, who was born in South Korea and grew up in the United States, is the unification of North and South Korea. He urged Japan, where more than 600,000 North and South Koreans live, to support reconciliation. The two communities within Japan have been seen as a symbol of the Korean peninsula’s conflict.

Among those present in Japan was Ogtai Rustamov, of the World Congress of Azerbaijanis. De Venecia, meanwhile, is a long-standing Moon ally.

Kenya, from the Bay Area Family Church:

Prime Minister Raila Odinga and his wife Ida introduce UPF Co-Chair Dr. Hyun Jin Moon to a large crowd of Kenyan youth and families at the Global Peace Festival in Nairobi.

…”This is an important day for Kenya and for Africa,” said Odinga, “It is a new beginning in the quest for our nation to be once again known as a nation of peace and security…The Universal Peace Federation and the Global Peace Festival are doing great things in Kenya,”

…Dr. Hyun Jin Moon, co-chair of the UPF and founder of the Global Peace Festival Initiative delivered the GPF keynote address. Dr. Moon, who is the third son of the international spiritual leaders and peacemakers Rev. and Mrs. Sun Myung Moon, urged Kenyans to take pride in their nation and Africa’s role as the cradle of civilization.

 I blogged on the London events here and here.

The Solomon Islands, from Solomon Star News:

HUNDREDS of youths cleaned up Honiara at the weekend.

Rebekah Stone of the Global Peace Festival told the Solomon Star the clean was done mainly along Honiara’s main streets.

…The clean up is part of programmes held in the lead up to a peace festival next weekend at Lawson Tama.

An earlier report from the same source adds:

 The director of Global Peace Festival, Gregory Stone, said they are working in partnership with NGOs, Government ministries, churches and other stakeholders.

…Youth Programme Coordinator, Jerome Bellavance said the goal of the ‘HIV/AIDS Awareness and Character Education’ programme is to make Partnerships with all the Schools in Honiara and the Department of Education.

“This Partnership is for all on-going programmes relating to HIV/AIDS Awareness and Character Education with all Schools and the Department of Education,” Mr Bellavance said.

Son of Rev Moon Talks to International Politicians at UK Parliament

Ugandan journalist Robert Egwea reports from the UK Parliament, where a committee room recently hosted a “Plenary Session of the International Leadership Conference”. Egwea reports that the event was opened by David Anderson MP, and attendees included Amjad Al Majid (a Jordanian MP), Ahmad Tejan Kabbah (a former president of Sierra Leone), Anton Rop (a former Prime Minister of Slovenia), Ida Betty Odinga (Chair of the League of Kenya Women Voters and wife of Raila Odinga), and Marcus Braybrooke (World Congress of Faiths). The Georgian Times adds the detail that “Dalila Khorava, the Minister of Healthcare of autonomous republic of Abkhazia” was also planning to attend.

Also present, of course, was Hyun Jin Moon, the son of Rev Moon, who emphasised his “One Family Under God” message.

I noted Kabbah back in May, after he gave a surprising speech in which he appeared to endorse Unification Church theology and Rev Moon’s claims to special spiritual significance. David Anderson at an International Leadership Conference in Kenya in August.

Lib Dem Home Affairs Spokesman to Share Stage with Rev Moon’s Son

The Guardian reports on tomorrow’s big event:

The Global Peace Festival, at the Excel Centre in the London docklands, is expected to attract thousands of activists from across Europe and features addresses from Preston Moon, the third son of the church’s founder, and Tom Brake, the Liberal Democrat home affairs spokesman.

Brake, however, is hedging his bets:

“I don’t see eye to eye with their views but I don’t see any particular problem with speaking at their event, especially if it gives me an opportunity to challenge what Rev Moon advocates.”

We look forward to Brake’s theological critique of Unificationism.

Apparently some other British politicians have declined to involve themselves with the Universal Peace Federation:

Earlier this year, Shahid Malik, the minister for international development, pulled out of a Commons meeting organised by the UPF after learning of its links to the church. Julia Goldsworthy, the Lib Dem MP for Falmouth and Camborne also withdrew once she too became aware of the connection.

Global Peace Festival Reps at Downing Street “Peace Week” Meeting

22 November will see the London “Global Peace Festival“, one of several events that have been held around the world over the past few months. The Festival’s slogan is “One Family Under God”, and it is being organised by the Universal Peace Federation. The UK Global Peace Festival has an official blog, which explains why one of its representatives was at Downing Street:

They say that “opportunity knocks” and hence it came to be that we were knocking on the door of the Primeminister, Gordon Brown, one very wet and unexpected London evening. GPF Social Impact Project partner, Rev. Canon George Ausah, was invited to attend the Peace Week event at the Primeminister’s residence that same very morning and kindly agreed to meeting up with me there.

Networking events like this are vital to the ongoing process that is Global Peace Festival and it is encouraging to know that individuals, peace activists and NGOs are being invited and recognised at the highest level.

Once again the value of working in partnership is clear!

“George Ausah” is actually Canon George Ansah, a Church of England clergyman based in South London. Apparently he is an “Ambassador for Peace”, which means that he has been given a certificate signed by Rev Moon – a man who believes that Jesus failed and that churches should remove crosses.

Here’s a video from the recent Washington D.C. Festival, including a speech by Rev. Moon’s son:

And just for fun, here’s Rev. Moon’s famous 1997 Washington Times address:

Nation of Islam at UPF Mongolia Festival

An article from Mother Tynnetta Muhammad, “wife” (1) of Elijah Muhammad, concerning a visit she made recently to Mongolia. Muhammad was in the country to research her relationship to Kublai Khan (“revealed to me in a vision in 1984″), but due to synchronicity and telepathy her visit coincided with the Universal Peace Federation’s  International Leadership Conference and Global Peace Festival:

Representatives from the Unification Church leadership and Universal Peace Federation having learned of my vision and search in finding the interpretation of this vision had first opened the doors to my investigations and my most recent discoveries in Mongolia.

…I was told several years ago before the first organized visit of the Unification Church to Mongolia, giving way to this extraordinary event of this month that I had been shown the significance of Mongolia years before the present hour and before the Reverend and Mrs. Moon began to mention the important genetic link between the Peoples of the Mongolian Nation in the geneology of the rest of the world. Recently, I was told by visiting dignitaries from the Unification Church at the office and Residence of the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan in Chicago that one of the sons of Reverend and Mrs. Moon also had a vision similar to my own concerning a peace concert and festival several months prior to its inauguration by the Chairman of the Global Peace Fest, Dr. Hyun Jin Moon in Washington, D.C. on August 9th. I had no idea until my recent travel to Mongolia that I would be participating as a guest of the Global Peace Fest planned in Mongolia and that my ticket for travel was arranged to arrive in the exact timing of its program schedule set for the evening of September 9th in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia. Nor did I know that I would meet the exact son who was carrying this vision.

Apparently she received “gifts and awards” during the festival.

For reasons unknown, the article begins with a Koranic quote about the crucifixion of Jesus being an illusion, and ends with a verse that mentions “the iniquity of the Jews”.

The links between the NoI and the Unification Church are long-standing; Frederick Clarkson wrote a piece on the subject for Salon back in 2000. I noted Unification Church attendance at one NoI event here.

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(1) The NoI teaches that Elijah Muhammad is still alive (Louis Farrakhan claims to have received confirmation aboard a UFO), so she’s not seen as his widow. Also, their marriage was apparently unofficial.

Governor of Goa Backs UPF Conference

From Merinews:

GOVERNOR OF Goa, Dr [Shivinder Singh] Sidhu has said that that today’s leaders apart from being educated and technology savvy, should also manifest a positive espousal of the principles of justice, equality, equity and empowerment of the people, especially the weaker sections…The governor, Dr Sidhu was speaking after inaugurating the conference, ’A New Paradigm of Leadership and Good Governance’, organised by the Universal Peace Foundation in association with Goa International Centre and Institute Menezes Braganza at Dona Paula today.

…Chairperson of Universal Peace Foundation, Eduardo Faleiro, chief minister Digambar Kamat, Member of Parliament, Shripad Naik, GPCC(I) president Subhash Shirodkar, former chief ministers Dr Wilfred de Souza and Shashikala Kakodkar were also present.

Faleiro is a long-serving Indian politician.

UPF Sponsors Hindu–Christian “Peace” Gestures in India

DonBoscoIndia reports from Northeast India:

The Agartala celebrations of the International Day of Peace (IDP) consisted in leaders from both Christian and Hindu communities, planting a sapling in a place offered by the other community. Catholic Priest Pascal D sdb planted a sapling in the compound of Bholagiri Ashram in Amtali on the outskirts of Agartala town in the presence of Maharaj Sureshsara Nanda Giri Swamiji and other religious leaders…The second part of the program was held at Don Bosco Peace Centre Nandannagar. Maharaj Sureshsara Nanda Giri Swamiji accompanied the group to Don Bosco and planted a sapling in front of the Peace Centre.

…The program was organized by Sampari Hukumu Bodol Tripura, under the patronage of Universal Peace Federation (UPF), Peace Dream and Religious Youth Service (RYS). UPF had some months ago conferred the Ambassador for Peace status to Fathers KJ Joseph sdb and Joseph Pulinthanath sdb, both of who are also members of Sampari Hukumu Bodol.