Rev. Sun Myung Moon:

It is always good to travel to gather knowledge and know people of different races and religion, cultures and customs. It’s a means to quench one’s thirst for learning. More than fourteen hundred years ago our beloved Prophet Mohammad, peace be on him, also advised his people in the then Arab land, if needed, to go as far as China in quest of knowledge and learning. Pursuit of knowledge enriches one’s mind and mental faculty and broadens one’s intellectual horizon.

As a journalist, I had the opportunity to visit a good number of countries around the world, sometimes on assignment by my office, sometimes on invitation from foreign countries and once on a schol­arship to study journalism in what was then West Germany. I also had a stint as a senior diplomat in the Bangladesh Embassy in Washing­ton, D.C. Working as chief of the press wing of an embassy provided me with the opportunity to interact with American journalists to champion my country to the American people. It also enabled me to get to know the United States, the only superpower of the world, and its people. I met people from all walks of life, including government officials and important private individuals, at close range.
As I was not a career diplomat, I took an interest in getting to know people as part of my personal quest for acquaintance with different classes of people in American society. Some of them became good friends. My country’s interests reigned supreme in me while cultivating friendship with the journalists of the Washington Times.
With permission from the embassy, I attended some functions in Washington, D.C., organized by various organizations established by Reverend Sun Myung Moon. My humble writing so far may have ap­peared a bit inconsistent to the readers, but I would like to assure them that this is really very consistent with what I would like to write about the fascinating person I heard a lot about while I was in the U.S. capital.
Some people appeared a bit critical about the man who wields au­thority and exercises considerable clout in the U.S. political arena and intellectual circles. I did not have a chance to meet Reverend Moon personally, but I had the opportunity to hear him speak at functions I attended.
A prolific orator, Reverend Moon has the power to keep his audi­ence spellbound. Every time I heard him, I was overwhelmed by the flair and fervor of his speech. He is a leader, a thinker, and a friend of the poor. He incarnates all the virtues and qualities of a religious leader dedicated to God’s will with sublime devotion.
For more than fifty years Reverend Moon has been teaching how God’s will and desire are implemented through true families. Like saints and sages, the main feature of his life is that he puts into prac­tice everything he teaches. His ideals have inspired millions of fami­lies across the world in their marriages and family life. I came to learn that Reverend Moon, who was born in 1920, met Jesus Christ in his prayer when he was only sixteen. And ever since, Moon lived his life “in connection with the word of God.” His wife, Dr. Hak Ja Han Moon, who has followed her husband like a shadow, is a most loyal partner who was the inspiration for the unbounded happiness of their family life.…
Before I venture to write something about Reverend Moon’s con­tributions to the realm of journalism and his keen desire for its devel­opment, as a journalist I would like to throw some light on his activi­ties in at least a couple of the dozen other areas where he has tried selflessly to do something worthwhile for humankind, bearing testi­mony to his portrayal as an incarnation of goodness.
It is well known to all of us that family is the starting point of all activities. It is the first school of learning. Children, the future citi­zens, are primarily groomed in the family. Family is the building block of a nation and the world at large. That Reverend Moon attaches due importance to this basic fact that family is fundamental to our every success gives credence to his foresight as a social leader. He vividly saw in his vision the universal truth that “the family is the foundation of society and its strength and well-being are essential to the well-being of our social, political, economic, and civil institutions.” Because when the family fails to deliver the goods, everything else around fails, mul­tiplying our miseries.
Strengthening family ties and protecting the social fabric are vital in today’s trouble-torn world. Reverend Moon’s relentless work toward this end speaks of his love for humanity. Who else is there like him in the world to spend money so lavishly for the sake of humanity? His mass marriages, one of which I attended at Washington’s RFK Sta­dium in November 1997, are a glowing example of how compassion­ately he cares for the welfare of the poor and the unfortunate.
I can’t help but say something on another area that witnessed enor­mous contributions by Reverend Moon. True, religion has its root in the human heart, but it has also been identified since time immemo­rial as the root cause of conflicts. Many believe that nothing has caused so much blood to be shed in the world as religion. As a God-fearing man and a Muslim I must say that this has happened because of some people who are very conservative in their attitude and behavior. Maybe this situation influenced Reverend Moon to form a world forum to work for lasting peace for the people of different religions, sects, castes and creeds.
The establishment of the Interreligious and International Federa­tion for World Peace (IIFWP) by Reverend Moon and Mrs. Moon in 1999 was aimed at building an effective worldwide network of leaders from different fields to work in a united way for world peace. Rever­end Moon sees violence as an outburst of deeper internal conflicts. And hence his attention was drawn to the basic question of interreligious harmony and cooperation and interaction among political, religious, social and media leaders as well as academics and scholars to promote peace throughout the world. The aims and objectives enunciated by him to promote world peace through moral education of youth, inter­religious dialogue and the strengthening of marriages and families caught the imagination of the world leaders. IIFWP’s mission of “liv­ing for the sake of others” and its motto “the hope of all ages is a uni­fied world of peace” have rekindled hope for achieving durable peace. His assertion that world peace is the original ideal of God and that religious leaders should walk beyond the boundaries of their religion bear great significance at this moment.…
The new millennium dawned with a renewed hope for humanity. But at its start the fiends bared their fangs and unleashed a brutal at­tack on the Twin Towers in New York, causing the tragic deaths of several thousand innocent people on September 11, 2001.
The role of an effective press cannot be exaggerated. And the need is all the more felt now. The might of the press transcends all bound­aries. If needed, it can rise as one and speak with one voice. As in some other areas, the media is a major field where Reverend Moon turned his attention. Reverend Moon is primarily a religious leader, but his work has not been confined to religious aspects. Tremendous interest in the media grew in his versatile mind, and he has established many newspapers and publishing houses since 1975.
As part of his keen interest in objective journalism he founded news­papers like the Washington Times; the weekly news magazine, Insight; an academic journal, The World & I; Segye Times in Korea; Sekai Nippo in Japan; Ultimas Noticias in Uruguay; Tiempos del Mundo in 16 Span­ish-speaking countries and the United States; Noticias del Mundo in New York City; and the Middle East Times.…
In today’s world, the media are powerful. People have a natural ten­dency to depend on them. Apart from getting information, people like to be educated and enlightened by the comments made both by the print and electronic media. They want to see media as a guide.
Information is a basic human right, enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Every individual, transcending the limi­tation of sovereignty, should be able “to seek, receive and impart in­formation and idea through media regardless of frontiers.” Informa­tion has always been a basic tool of human societies from ancient times to the present. It is also knowledge, and knowledge is a prerequisite to attaining the objectives of life. Distorted, biased, or one-sided infor­mation cannot help mankind become free. Although imperialism in its direct form has made its exit from the world, its hands of exploita­tion continue to exist.
Maybe these aspects were perceived by Reverend Moon’s innate genius. In any case, he did not only publish newspapers but founded an organization named World Media Association with a view to strengthening issues related to journalistic ethics and responsibilities throughout the world. This emanated from the heart of a man dedi­cated to improving conditions.

Being a man completely from a different world—preaching reli­gious edicts or talking on moral matters—he was quick to take into consideration the power of the press and also its moral obligations to the people. And this may be one reason why the Washington Times is doing well now though competing with a much older daily in the U.S. capital. The other newspapers brought out by him are also doing well. Among them, Segye Times achieved a circulation of more than one million just two months after it began publication in early 1989. To my knowledge, the World Media Association is a unique organization that cares much about the welfare of journalists. By organizing tours and visits for media per­sonnel throughout the world, the WMA provided them with the op­portunity to get firsthand experience of hotspots.

Reverend Moon, who combines in himself Eastern values and sim­plicity, skill and artistry and American broadness and brilliance, po­tential and precision, can deliver something more for the people. Along with his spiritual pursuit Reverend Moon’s strong will augurs well for all his programs. His relentless effort to bring smiles to the faces of unfortunates, strengthen the foundation of the family, carry forward his ambitious education program and ensure world peace through in­terreligious harmony and cooperation will achieve crowning success. He has unstinting support from dedicated people around him and his family and millions of others across the world in the discharge of his noble work.