Captain Michael Dick and the team

After 3 years of entry our team finally won the Interfaith Diversity Cup here in Scotland which is played amongst a diverse group of religious and charity groups. Today 16 teams took part in this annual 5 aside football indoor tournament played in Edinburgh.

Stephan Williamson (currently in Germany on work experience)organized a team of his university friends who came together in a good display of team unity.

We won the final against a Glasgow side,who were the winners last year,on a penalty shoot out after the final match drew at 2 -2

We not only won the cup, but Murray Scott, our goal keeper won also the man of the match trophy!

Once again I would like to thank the players: Michael Dick Captain, James Steel, Ross Baird, Scott Fusco, Murray Scott, Calum Wright, Murray Scott and also our photographer and kit manager Eric Williamson.

Today I wrote a response to a quote of Father that had been posted on an anti-Moonie website which tried to give the impression that Father is anti-Semitic. I thought some of you (such as Doris) might find it interesting. It also means I can get more mileage out of my writing!

The posted quote of Father was from a leaders conference a few years ago:

“Who are the Jewish members here, raise your hands! Jewish people, you have to repent. Jesus was the King of Israel. Through the principle of indemnity Hitler killed 6 million Jews. That is why. God could not prevent Satan from doing that because Israel killed the True Parents.”

Let’s have a look at this statement bearing in mind it is from notes of a speech given in Korean and simultaneously translated into English and so there may be bits missing because they weren’t translated or noted down never mind the inherent unreliability of such a mode of translation and transcription.

The call to repentance is eternal. Why shouldn’t Jewish people and indeed all the people of the world be called to repentance? This is normal and is what John the Baptist and Jesus called their contemporaries to. It is not unusual
 for Christians during Holy Week to repent for the way that Jesus was treated. So who was responsible for the crucifixion of Jesus? One traditional Christian response has been everyone, and so everyone, Jew, Gentile, black and white should repent which means to feel sorry that it happened and determine to make sure that such a tragedy never happens again.

Jesus is the King of Israel. Well, calling him ‘King’ shows the respect Moon has for Jesus. It is also what Christians believe and that is approximately the title under which Jesus was crucified. From a Jewish point of view he obviously wasn’t the messiah because he didn’t fulfill the messianic roles – such as sitting on the throne of David. At best then Jesus was a ‘potential messiah’ who, had he lived out his natural life, might have fulfilled them.

Hitler killed 6 million Jews. So no Holocaust denial here. What the principle of indemnity is here is not clear (translation/transcription problem?). It doesn’t mean they were punished because they killed Jesus because this is not what the word indemnity means. Indemnity means what has to be done to restore something to its original state. So there is no connection here with the crucifixion as the Holocaust didn’t restore it. One explanation given by some Jewish theologians is that the Holocaust was the ‘price’ to be paid for the restoration or establishment of the state of Israel. That was certainly a consequence of the Holocaust but it shouldn’t have been necessary.

From this statement and others it is clear that Moon thinks Satan was the one behind the Holocaust. In other words it didn’t happen as a punishment by God for the crucifixion of Jesus. It was an act of Satan, not an act of God. So people, such as the institutional churches, were doing the will of Satan, not the will of God, when they marginalised, persecuted, abused and killed Jews. They might have thought they were doing God’s will, punishing Jews on God’s behalf, but from Moon’s point of view they were doing the work of the devil. This of course is very different to traditional Christian theology and folkolgy.

God could not prevent the Holocaust. This of course is a problem that has caused much anguish and led to a whole school of Holocaust Theology in an attempt to make sense of what is, and will always be, a problem of theodicy.

Clearly from Moon’s statement God wanted to prevent the holocaust but God as we know is invisible. As Saint Teresa of Avila said, “Christ has no body on earth now but ours: No hands but ours, no feet but ours . . .” It was the Christian church that should have stepped in and prevented the Holocaust carried out by the mostly non- or anti-Christian Nazis. That was the body, the body of Christ, through which God wanted to prevent the Holocaust. But because of the latent and not so latent anti-Semitism within the churches this didn’t happen. And this anti-Semitism had part of its roots in the historical anti-Judaism of the church. Why was the church anti-Jewish? In part because the early church found it more convenient to blame the Jews for the death of Jesus than the Romans who executed him as a political subversive and potential revolutionary. The title messiah was very political and threatened Roman sovereignty. Jesus was not the only ‘messiah’ they executed. So because the Christian church has traditionally blamed the Jews for the crucifixion of Jesus, they didn’t have much compassion when Jews were being persecuted, rounded up and murdered by the Nazis and so God was not able to work through the Christian conscience to prevent the holocaust.

The other interesting point here is that Moon calls Jesus ‘the True Parents’. In other words he recognises him as at least an equal. Elsewhere he has said he was saved by Jesus and it is well known that Amazing Grace is his favourite English hymn that he has often been heard to sing and hum.

Israel killed True Parents. On this Moon is either misquoted, incompletely quoted, using shorthand or plain wrong as this statement stands. Jesus was executed by the Romans on a political charge. Obviously some Jewish leaders of the Temple were involved. It was their job as collaborators with the occupying Romans to police the people and hand over any potential subversives. When Jesus was proclaimed the ‘Son of David’ by over enthusiastic supporters as he entered Jerusalem, the Temple authorities were worried. When he ‘threw out the money changers’ in the Temple they were even more alarmed and decided that he needed to be arrested and killed so as to prevent the Roman authorities destroying the place in their normal brutal way (John 11:45-49) They had to arrest Jesus at night because he was so popular amongst the people. So it wasn’t Israel or ‘the Jews’ that caused the death of Jesus but a small political clique who had their own partially self-interested and partially public-minded reasons. If Israel had not been an occupied country things might have turned out very differently.

By Rev Hyung Jin Moon (09-01-2010)

Second stage Heaven's Heart Temple (Cheon Bok Gung)

If I mention Umar Faourk Abdulmutallab, I wonder how many of you would know who I’m talking about.  It might be a clue if I mention that I have seen his name in the media a lot recently.

Remember now?

…

Just in case you still haven’t worked it out, he attempted to detonate explosives hidden in his underwear on Christmas Day on a plane flying from Amsterdam to Detroit.  Now you remember, don’t you?

Whenever I read stories in the news media, I tend not to pay much attention to the names of the people involved.  I don’t need to remember, I tell myself, because I’ll never meet these people and the news rarely relates to my situation.  Sometimes the news gets repeated enough for the name to be etched into my subconscious memory, but I rarely make the effort to connect the names of characters in a story to the reality that these are real people.

In the case of Umar, I have an interesting privilege of actually knowing the man.  I studied at UCL during the same time he did.  I was president of the UCLU Interfaith Society during the same year he was the president of the Islamic Society.  I spoke with him on several occasions; I had his mobile number stored on my handset; we discussed the possibility of campaigning together for shared interests.

When the news first broke, the reports had quoted the wrong name (Abdul Mudallad), so by the time Umar’s picture had been released and his name corrected, the penny didn’t drop that I knew him.  It was only later, after I had received a facebook message from the current UCL Students of Faith officer, that I was made aware of the personal connection.

Journalists from the Mail on Sunday and the Wall Street Journal have since contacted me, trying to find a story, but I think I disappointed them with very little juicy information.  The bottom line is that I never developed a close relationship with Umar, understandably so with hindsight.  I tried to engage him in the activities of the interfaith society, but I failed to inspire him, I failed to win his trust, I failed to understand and address his concerns and needs.

But what difference could I have made?  Could I have saved him from the tragic destiny he now faces?  Would my extra effort to reach out to him have been just as unsuccessful?  Was it too late to reach him?  Nobody can answer these teasing questions, so I shouldn’t – and I don’t – let them worry me.  It’s in the past.  What is does make me realise is how important every person I meet is.  Who knows what impact I can have on the people I meet in my life?

Thankfully, Umar was unsuccessful in his suicide bombing attempt – otherwise this blog would be taking a far more sombre tone – but Umar now faces spending the rest of his life in prison.  I think 90 years is the sentence he could expect.  That’s dreadfully sad.  This young man, with the whole of his life ahead of him, will be unable to follow any ambitions or aspirations because he will spend the rest of his life being punished for the crime he actually failed to commit.  I’d like to find a way of sending a message to Umar, letting him know that I am thinking about him and perhaps sharing more.  Part of me wishes his sentence isn’t too long, so that he can be released from prison early enough after paying indemnity for his sin to live a meaningful and fulfilling life.  This is a time when True Parents want to give God’s blessing to all, and I think Umar should be included.

By Silvia Shaw

On Sunday 15th November, several North Londoners and myself went together and joined in on the Interfaith Litter-Picking Social Action Project. We met up at a park in Borehamwood where we also met Rabbi Hillel. The Hertsmere council provided us with equipment and along with a group of other people, including Jews and Hindus, we went around the park picking up litter to help the environment. Despite the slightly muddy ground, it was still a fun and worth while experience coming together with different faiths and doing our part for Mitzvah day. The Rabbi seemed to be very appreciative of our contribution and we both hope to do some more work together in the future.

I am a huge admirer of Eboo Patel (see his Wikipedia entry), ever since seeing him speak last year on Martin Luther King, Jr. Day at the British Library. It was refreshing to see someone else who is actively pioneering the way in interfaith for young people and actually being successful at it. I was so inspired that I bought and devoured his book – Acts of Faith: The Story of an American Muslim, the Struggle for the Soul of a Generation. (Let me know if you’d like to borrow it, but I strongly recommend that you buy a copy for yourself. It’s that good.)

What amazed me most about his work was that initially, he struggled to get faith leaders to get their youth involved . See, the religious leadership feared that if their youth who are still discovering their own faith encountered other faiths, they might be converted and “lost”. But in the end, the reverse became true. The youth that got involved became curious to see how they could contribute stories of the traditions of their own faith and the result was that interfaith dialogue strengthened their convictions. I think maybe this is something that our community lacks and something that we should give a try: a way to strengthen the convictions of our youth in their beliefs.

Well, he’s back in town and this is a wonderful opportunity for anyone actively involved in interfaith work to come and hear him. (Click here to RSVP on the Facebook event.)

Eboo Patel, Executive Director, Interfaith Youth Core

“Interfaith Leadership in a Religiously Diverse World”

Monday, December 14, 2009
6:00 p.m. – 7:30 p.m.

Friends House, Large Hall
173 Euston Road
London, NW1 2BJ

All the teams at the finals

Michael Dick - Player of the Tournament

The FFWPU Youth Team

FFWPU Youth Team were runners up in the Edinburgh Diversity Cup. They lost in the finals on penalties, after drawing 3-3 but gained silver medals.

Congratulations to Michael Dick was awarded Player of the Tournament Award and received an individual trophy.

Edinburgh Diversity Cup

A quiet moment

St. Laurence

7 June.   8,30am we start with blue sky, puffs of clouds and country lanes. Clear stream on the left,railway on the right. Salisbury is only 10 miles away. We try to meet Marion there in 3 hours. We cross twice the clar waters of the river Wylye. The spire of Salisbury Cathedral appears in the distance. Can we be there in 30 min?   (Yes).  We  entered the Cathedral.  Paul had read in a book that the pillars had buckled under the weight.   As we sit with Marion on a bench of the Cathedral grounds a family of ducks comes to share our lunch. They sit next to us to listen to our conversation. We try the local Youth Hostel. Time for tea but no beds. Walk south and we hear the news that Paul’s dad in Scotland has run 10k in 52 min. That puts a spring on our steps. We get to Downton St Laurence Church. The church hall is a welcome refuge for the night. The Kings Arms give us a glorious dinner. Today thanks to Marion, Salisbury Youth Hostel, Rev. Frank Gibson of St Laurence Church, Tasha of the Kings Arms.

The hard life of an pioneer

Outside Cleeve House with the 7 day workshop gang

Out side the Church of St. Peter. Thank you Paul

6 June.   Hi this is Carlo. I met Paul on Friday (yesterday). We were so excited to hear his story. Next morning over breakfast he asked me “Do you want to come with me on the last four days?”. I did want to go. I said yes I am coming. “When are you leaving?”. “In ten minutes”. Perfect wether for walking, not too hot. We met Terry on the way and he gave us nice treats. Tilsead here we come, next Shrewton. Andy found us there, he gave us lunch and tea. On the way to Salisbury we took country roads. Winterbourne Stoke, we saw the sign “cream teas at the church”. Paul showed the man his card. “Would you like some tea”. Cream teas on the pew. Our new friend, also called Paul, took us to his summer house. Brought us tea, soup and toasts. More tea and toast in the morning. What a first day with Paul. At the end of today thanks to Terry, Andy, the Rose and Crown in Tilsead, Paul and Diane Blanchett from St Peter Church in Winterbone Stoke.