Companion blog for the essay: "UNIFICATIONISM a critique & counterproposal"


"A religion does not need to be interpreted literally
in order to be valuable and taken seriously."
—Anonymous

Wednesday, April 15, 2015

Personal Comments on Mother Moon's Latest Hoon Dok Hwe Message "This Country is God’s Homeland" April 13, 2015

Links to the Church Articles:

IPeace TV Shares True Mother’s Latest Hoon Dok Hwe Message

This Country is God’s Homeland


My Comments:*

Dear Brothers and Sisters

I have sincere and heartfelt concerns about the church's involvement in the political and military goals voiced in this report. Isn't every country "God's homeland"? The separation of church and state and the rule of law are very important for the religious freedom of us all.

It seems to me that the church is seeking governmental authority and not just religious converts. That is very troubling.

The only reason that the clergy would seek such political authority is to possess the powers of a civil government (e.g. police, army, law making, law enforcement). And the only purpose for that would be to force the public to accept their religious views and commands through physical means rather than through love, service and persuasion.


Sincerely and respectfully and with love.




"What, then, is fascism? Fascism denies the fundamental values of modern democracy, including respect for the individual and his basic rights, freedoms of speech, the press and association, and the parliamentary system. Race or nationality is the ultimate value, to be upheld by a strong nation-state..."
—Unification Church Divine Principle Chapter 5 Section 4.3.2




The Constitution of the Republic of Korea
Article 20: [Religion, Church] (1) All citizens enjoy the freedom of religion.
(2) No state religion may be recognized, and church and state are to be separated. 



"The purpose will not be to legislate, either politically or doctrinally, but to promote mutual respect..." —Sun Myung Moon




*These comments were submitted on the Church website article on April 7, 2015

Monday, February 23, 2015

Missing One Thousand Years? | "Byzantium: The Lost Empire"

The Divine Principle "Parallels in History" seems to largely ignore the reality of the one thousand year reign of the Christian Byzantine Roman Empire. It's important that we all be aware of this very critical and influential part of our history. As the old saying goes; "those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it."—George Santayana
Divine Principle Chapter 3 The Periods in Providential History and the Determination of Their Lengths http://www.unification.org/ucbooks/expodp/edp-history.html
Divine Principle Chapter 4 The Parallels between the Two Ages in the Providence of Restoration http://www.unification.org/ucbooks/expodp/edp-parallels.html
From Encyclopedia Britannica:
"Theirs was, in their view, none other than the Roman Empire, founded shortly before the beginning of the Christian Era by God’s grace to unify his people in preparation for the coming of his Son. Proud of that Christian and Roman heritage, convinced that their earthly empire so nearly resembled the heavenly pattern that it could never change..."
http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/87186/Byzantine-Empire

From Wikipedia:
"It survived the fragmentation and fall of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century AD and continued to exist for an additional thousand years until it fell to the Ottoman Turks in 1453. During most of its existence, the empire was the most powerful economic, cultural, and military force in Europe."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Byzantine_Empire





"Pulcheria... one of the most important figures in Byzantine and even in World History." 





VIDEO CLIP: Byzantium: The Lost Empire, TLC — "... Pulcheria... the three roles of women laid out in the early Christian Church; sinners, virgins and mothers... "—John Romer, Egyptologist






VIDEO CLIP: Byzantium: The Lost Empire, TLC — "After Pulcheria, emperors ruled by divine right, and the right of birth, and all western kings imitated them... changed the way men saw women and women saw themselves... sexuality... "—John Romer






Religious Freedom?
"Theodosius I established, with the Edict of Thessalonica, the Christianity of the First Council of Nicaea as the official state religion, reserving for its followers the title of Catholic Christians and declaring that those who did not follow the religion taught by Pope Damasus I of Rome and Pope Peter of Alexandria were to be called heretics...
In 391, Theodosius closed all the 'pagan' (non-Christian and non-Jewish) temples and formally forbade pagan worship."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/State_church_of_the_Roman_Empire


"Justinian I... solidified his power but ended with the deaths of a reported 30,000 to 35,000 rioters on his orders."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Byzantine_Empire




~<@



Like the Bible, if we look at the Divine Principle symbolically, poetically and metaphorically it expresses a sacred history, not a literal and scientific one.


"A religion does not need to be interpreted literally in order to be valuable and taken seriously."—Anonymous



~<@


"Byzantium: The Lost Empire" (full documentary by John Romer)



~<@


VIDEO: Fall of The Roman Empire...in the 15th Century: Crash Course World History


Monday, December 1, 2014

Daughters of Shim Jung—personal poems from @utblog, November 2014


2014-11-16

cultured and immersed

long ebbing tide now emerged

irised, denuded



Morpheus and Iris, by Pierre-Narcisse Guérin, 1811



2014-11-12

swans of Thanksgiving

light in disguise on dark days

unto death singing





2014-11-09

she comes in the Fall

after first frost stripped naked

binding limbs til thaw



2014-11-05

beginning again

as if time didn't exist

imagined in Him



2014-11-03

losing paradise

glint dance kissing blue water

white winged dreams take flight






                

Friday, October 31, 2014

Daughters of Shim Jung — personal poems — October 2014

From http://twitter.com/utblog



2014-10-25

eternity blue ~~ ocean mother crying pearls ~~ long listens for you


2014-10-25

lone flyer calling ~~ echoes from autumn's new moon ~~ like the first evening






2014-10-24

"hast Thou forsaken?" ~~ "though slay me, yet will I trust" ~~ much I have taken






2014-10-22

no elder son john ~~ just another one who loved ~~ singing of the strong


2014-10-20

being as I am ~~ conceived out of many, one ~~ an American


2014-10-16

preparing for war ~~ ekklesia nods solemnly ~~ reckless love, horror


2014-10-13

"I and my Father" ~~ exists forgetting to be ~~ one or the other


2014-10-11

afterlife today! ~~ did I kiss you and hold you? ~~ give up time in play


2014-10-08

ol' archangel wise ~~ beholding evening's warm light ~~ she's Apollo's bride


2014-10-08

tokens red and green ~~ pedagogic abstractions ~~ kindness intervenes


2014-10-07

Columbia come ~~ wash away time's golden dreams ~~ carry home your son


2014-10-03

where's the flaming sword? ~~ talk to me from paradise ~~ save me with your words




Tuesday, September 30, 2014

Daughters of Shim Jung — personal poems — September 2014

From http://twitter.com/utblog


2014-09-30

universal dance ~~ in separate orbits breathe ~~ air impermanence







2014-09-25

poetic license? ~~ spring too stands on cold shoulders ~~ reaching radiance


2014-09-21

I love you for you ~~ universe conceived unique ~~ sovereign of two


2014-09-20

where's eternal love? ~~ knot in some other place-time? ~~ an alighting dove


2014-09-20

preparing for war ~~ ekklesia nods solemnly ~~ reckless love, horror


Tarawa November 1943, the U.S. Marine Corps

2014-09-18

when they close my eyes ~~ lord I dissolve in the sea ~~ fond thoughts kiss goodbye






2014-09-15

just in being me ~~ seems to cut against the grain ~~ my own calvary






2014-09-13

wars and war rumours ~~ endless story love by force ~~ no sense of humour


2014-09-13

Friday without Fri ~~ love, beauty, prosperity ~~ nameless day, no sky


2014-09-10

Pinocchio's dream ~~ to be real as Geppetto ~~ by cutting the strings


2014-09-06

imperfect motives ~~ desiring to possess ~~ imperfect knowledge


2014-09-04

why stand in the cold ~~ shy peering through the window ~~ heart within is warm

Monday, September 1, 2014

Daughters of Shim Jung - personal poems from http://twitter.com/utblog - August 2014

2014-08-29

crossing south to north ~~ tropic warmth to clear clean cold ~~ except for the torch


2014-08-27

green grows the grass both ~~ tear down the fence that divides ~~ one wheat, other oats


2014-08-27

our fates somehow bound ~~ it's a mystery to me ~~ sacred treasure found


2014-08-26

my darling sister ~~ only an American ~~ true to each other


2014-08-22

little Friday ode ~~ Venus away spinning clouds ~~ Apollo wont show


2014-08-22

blue court musical ~~ audience breathes sacred air ~~ affection primal


2014-08-20

why stand in the cold ~~ shy peering through the window ~~ heart within is warm


2014-08-19

there's no going back ~~ innocence a shining dream ~~ ever windward tack


Breezing Up (A Fair Wind), Winslow Homer, 1873–76, National Gallery of Art, Wash DC


2014-08-14

Adam looks once more ~~ ""creative or commanded?"" ~~ Eve waits at the door


2014-08-12

though time take us west ~~ and the moon dance through phases ~~ will always be blessed


2014-08-12

creative power ~~ channeled within young or old ~~ a sacred honor


2014-08-10

sticks and stones in mud ~~ purity is clarity ~~ understanding flood


2014-08-08

why stand in the cold ~~ shy peering through the window ~~ heart within is warm


2014-08-05

our eternal dance ~~ intertwined in bliss and pain ~~ pray return again


2014-08-04

why stand in the cold ~~ shy peering through the window ~~ heart within is warm