Federatie voor Universele Vrede - Universal Peace Federation-NL = interreligieus, interraciaal, internationaal

On August 25, 2006, the first Dutch Naturalization Day, supporters of the Federatie voor Univerele Vrede (the Dutch chapter of the Universal Peace Federation) greeted new Dutch citizens outside the Grote Kerk in The Hague where the main naturalization ceremony took place in the presence of Her Majesty, Queen Beatrix. Similar ceremonies took place around the Netherlands.

The UPF supporters were led by veteran peace campaigner Jan van Winden, dressed as Willem van Oranje, the Netherlands’ "vader van der vaderland", and handed out leaflets proclaiming "New citizens of the Netherlands! In the name of the Universal Peace Federation, we wish you a warm welcome in our land. As you may already know, the founder of the Netherlands is Willem van Oranje. He dedicated his life, family and fortune to the cause of securing religious freedom (the actual phrase was "freedom of conscience"), tolerance and respect for everyone as children of God."

In addition to distributing leaflets, they asked those met to answer questions for a survey about peace, what did it mean and how it could be achieved, and invited them to the UPF-NL Peace Rally on Saturday August 26 in Wassenaar. In addition to the new Dutch nationals, other participants in the ceremony and watchers/tourists were approached and though her Majesty was precluded from accepting a leaflet, members of her party were receptive.

One 85 year old lady approached by Hans Campman, Director of Education of the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification and Musical Director of UPF-NL, who had traveled from Amsterdam to greet the new Netherlanders, did take him up on his invitation and came to the rally, saying that this was just what she liked and wanted to be part of.

Willem van Oranje’s alter ego, Jan van Winden, attended a Roman Catholic seminary in his youth and considered entering the priesthood, but chose instead to dedicate himself to the activities of the Unification Movement, then known in the Netherlands as the Verenigingskerk (Unification Church), is no stranger to representing historical figures: in addition to having championed the cause of peace as far a field as Japan and Korea, he has represented George Washington in rallies in the United States. He also participated in a student peace rally at the Berlin Wall in 1989. His companion, Peter Verbiest, spent one year working in Hungary after the fall of communism, having earlier in his life worked in the United States and Greece.

Van Winden has also supported UPF’s MEPI (Middle East Peace Initiative) in Israel/Palestine. He commented how Willem van Oranje (who was brought up first as a Lutheran Protestant, then a Roman Catholic, and later became a Calvinist, was not so concerned about denomination, but that a person should be free to choose. Willem had felt that he was involved in the providence of God, Winston Churchill was also that way, and Ronald Regan, people who felt called by God to act, without championing or being involved in any particular church or group.

Willem said, "If I die in the fight or somebody kills me, I will be remembered in history". Willem’s most obvious opponent was the Spanish king and Van Winden chuckled that he had met some Spanish tourists when in character and had extended the hand of peace and friendship!

Van Winden continued that his experience had shown him the need to be "supra denominational", and for he himself to go beyond just being a member of the Vereniginskerk. Rev Moon had always taught that, but he only really felt in himself because of his own experience. On the next day Van Winden and his wife officiated at a Marriage Blessing and Commitment Ceremony at the UPF-NL Inter-religious Peace Rally and Verbiest read a speech first delivered by Dr Sun Myung Moon, the founder of UPF.

One person met commented on the video that Mrs. Verdonk had made for the day, which he understood was shown at all the Naturalization ceremonies around the country. He said that she mentioned the importance of religious freedom but the practices of her department were in contradiction to this. He wondered why she mentioned this, suggested that she hadn’t needed to and that it was just to try and gain votes.

UPF General Secretary drs Wim Koetsier also participated in the initiative, accompanied by his wife. He said that while he and members of the Dutch Unification Movement (UM) had been disappointed and more by the "DDR" (old East Germany) tactics of the IND in trying to prevent the entry into the Netherlands of the Reverend Dr. and Mrs. Moon in response to an invitation from the UM (in the name of the Verenigengskerk) and that the prejudicial activities of the IND in general were almost creating a breeding ground for terrorists, one had to be positive, and try and work for the good of the country.

He hoped some of those contacted would come to the Peace Rally and get a deeper idea of what UPF was doing. The supporters of many peace movements became violent towards those who opposed them, but one had to have a more embracing heart. As Dr Moon had said at a rally in Korea on August 20, "only a peace movement guided by God will bring about a peaceful, ideal world".

Koetsier commented on how Father and Mother Moon were welcomed with respect and enthusiasm in many countries, but not in a number of European countries. He opined that this was an indication of Europe’s cold heartedness, "which gets you nowhere", and that if Europe could not change this attitude – and he hoped the Netherlands would take the lead – it would decline. He welcomed this Naturalization Day, but noting that only a small number of those invited had accepted (later reports said 200 out of 900, and in Amsterdam only 300 out of 3,500), he suggested that forcing them to attend a ceremony was not the answer: a greater effort was needed to make the IND’s "naturalization" program more inspiring, so people felt a greater honor and inner significance in becoming Dutch (as happened in the United States).

UPF-NL welcoming campaign was rounded off with a dinner at a Chinese restaurant, which ended in a toast to the "vader van der vaderland".

New citizens of the Netherlands! In the name of the Universal Peace Federation, we wish you a warm welcome in our land. As you may already know, the founder of the Netherlands is Willem van Oranje. He dedicated his life, family and fortune to the cause of securing religious freedom (the actual phrase was "freedom of conscience"), tolerance and respect for everyone as children of God.

This attitude to governance (which became a tradition in our land) was in marked contrast with the formalistic governance imposed by the Spanish government (as the Holy Roman Empire broke up, the "low countries" became the property of the king of Spain). Today we still need to be aware of the tendency of governments to slide into a formalized, bureaucratic attitude – "the law is the law" – where there is diminishing concern for human rights unless our governments are reminded to approach proposed legislation with a careful and righteousness eye.

We encourage you, as new citizens, to help hold high this tradition of our founder, which is so important for our country and the cause of universal peace. Let the Netherlands be a country that upholds the United Nations’ Declaration of Human Rights!

We invite you to our Inter-religious Rallies for Family Values and World Peace.

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