Conflicts in the Middle East, on the Korean Peninsula, and in dozens of other flashpoints around the world take a bitter toll in human lives and in the hopes of peoples in achieving the promise of lasting peace. Divisions over land and resources, endemic poverty, political repression, and ideological tensions all contribute to instabilities that can lead to aggression, systemic injustice, and, ultimately, war.

A major international conference bringing current and former heads of state, diplomats, scholars, and leaders of nongovernmental organizations from some 150 nations worked to address the underlying factors that lead to conflict and to advance alternatives to preempt the outbreak of hostilities and bring reconciliation to warring factions.

Convened February 12 in a dramatic mountain setting at Chung Pyung in South Korea, the assembly, Universal Values and Lasting Peace: Toward a New Model of Global Governance, emphasized the need for the collaborative efforts of government, civil society and the faith community to meet the heightened security and humanitarian needs of the twenty-first century. The three-day conference, the fifth such summit on leadership and good governance, met under the auspices of the Interreligious and International Federation for World Peace (IIFWP), founded in 1999 by the Rev. Dr. Sun Myung Moon.

IIFWP Secretary General Thomas G. Walsh called the assembly to order in the opening plenary session and praised the nearly three hundred delegates for their selfless efforts to seek solutions to the problems of underdevelopment, social discord, and political insecurity. He urged participants to use the time given to work together and to find in the commitment and experience of those assembled new paths that won't replicate the failed experiences of history. He also looked forward to establishing a formal framework for an International Peace Council, comprised of regionally elected IIFWP Ambassadors for Peace. Such a council, he said, could play an important role in peacemaking by representing civil society and the world's faith traditions in collaboration with existing political representation at the United Nations and among governments.

The opening plenary address by Dr. Chung Hwan Kwak, chairman of IFWP, laid the groundwork for the days of deliberations and working sessions that followed. "Leadership," Dr. Kwak asserted, has its foundation not only in knowledge, experience, and a will to lead, but also in the character of individuals. . . . When character is lacking knowledge, experience, and skill can be misused."

The conflicts in history "are not fundamentally problems of structure, resources, technology, or knowledge alone," he said. "They derive from the problems within human beings." These root problems originate from a defilement of character that religious tradition traces to the first human ancestors, whose departure from an ideal state of union with God led to the weakening of the conscience itself. The role of religion, he said, includes a continual effort to elevate the conscience to correspond to its original role as a moral compass for human actions.

Dr. Kwak went on to outline the two core principles of leadership and good governance advocated by IIFWP--the principle of unselfishness, or living for the sake of others; and the principle of unification, or overcoming barriers through acts of love, reconciliation and cooperation. These principles of governance ultimately have their roots not in structures, rules, or laws, but rather in human relationships that have their base in individual attitudes and practices.

Dr. Kwak, who attended the recent inauguration of U.S. President George W. Bush, noted that the values of freedom and democracy that President Bush emphasized in his address are still not the most important values, for freedom misused for selfish ends leads to abuses. Only when informed by the ethic of living for others and the motivation to overcome boundaries can the promise of freedom be realized.

Dr. Kwak also reported on his recent meeting with the president of the UN General Assembly, H.E. Jean Ping, and his attendance at the UN conference on sustainable development for Small Island Developing States, held in Mauritius. Concluding, he welcomed the delegates on behalf of Dr. and Mrs. Moon, whose lifetime efforts for peace were to be recognized during the course of the conference on the occasion of Dr. Moon's eighty-fifth birthday.

Dr. Kwak was followed to the podium by the Honorable Jose C. de Venecia, speaker of the House of Representatives in the Philippines, who marveled at the magnificent setting and suggested that this could be a location for a United Nations of the East. Speaker de Venecia affirmed his support for an interreligious council within the UN, and reminded the assembly of his own his efforts to present that proposal before the international body.

"Changing the heart is the only way to end the clash of civilizations, which really means a clash of religions," he said. "In the old days [such conflict] was tolerable. Today it is not tolerable. And only by implementing Dr. Moon's idea [of an interreligious council] can we learn to avert war.

"I personally advocated this view before President Bush, who was enthusiastic and referred the matter to Secretary Powell and National Security Advisor Rice. I brought this proposal before the UN General Assembly, which passed the resolution unanimously. Now I would like to ask this forum gathered here to begin to organize such an interfaith body to address the problems in the world's conflict zonesÑin Sri Lanka, Kashmir, Chechnya, Sudan, Nepal, Nigeria, and Palestine. I appeal earnestly to the men and women of moral courage to use your learning and experience to reconcile the great religions and to relieve poverty, injustice, and oppression."

Following Speaker de Venecia at the opening plenary, Dr. Konstantin Dolgiv, department chief of Russia's Diplomatic Academy of the Foreign Ministry spoke of the futility of politics uninformed by the great insights and gifts of the great faiths; His Excellency Dr. Ejup Ganic, former president of Bosnia-Herzegovina, reminded the delegates of the failure of international leadership before and during the outbreak of war in the Balkans in the 1990s; Dr. V. Mohini Giri, chairperson of the Guild of Service in India, spoke of the price of conflict on the civilian population, particularly women and children. "No longer are women willing to be mute," she said. "Sustainable peace can only be achieved with genuine collaboration between men and women, government and civil society."

Dr. Soo Sung Lee, former prime minister of South Korea; the Honorable Ashaji Ibrahim Mantu, deputy president of the senate in Nigeria; His Royal Highness Prince Sirivudh Norodom, Cambodia's deputy prime minister; and His Excellency Dr. Punsalmaagin Ochirbat, former president of Mongolia spoke in turn of the urgent need for effective governance; for leadership informed by moral seriousness, and of the practical introduction of principles advocated by IIFWP through educational initiatives and interreligious dialogue to lessen tensions and provide for basic human needs.

As the homeland of the Rev. Dr. Moon, and with nearly two million armed troops facing each other along a border only 151 miles (248 km) in length, the politically divided Korean peninsula is a natural and urgent arena for applying the IIFWP approach to peacemaking. Presentations in this session, therefore, included a major statement of the IIFWP peacemaking principles as well as perspectives offered by academic experts from Korea, Japan, and Russia.

"The goal," explained Dr. Antonio Betancourt, Secretary General of IIFWP North America, "is to change the ethics and logic of power to the ethics and logic of love, which means to live for the sake of others, from the neighborhood and community, to nations around the world, ultimately to the United Nations body." Dr. Betancourt has been deeply involved in facilitating dialogue between the two Koreas, and between North Korea and the United States, since 1990.

IIFWP proposes a restructuring of institutions not only in North Korea, but the world over, based on the ethics of "I am even my enemy's keeper," he said. In this perspective, spreading democracy under the imperative of the human value of freedom is only a partial peacemaking initiative. That effort requires for its fulfillment the complementary virtues and language of true love, which stimulate and nurture a voluntary inner calling to be selfless, humble, loyal, faithful, honest, and sacrificial. Championing all religions as rightful owners of the true love message, IIFWP offers North Korea essential support for opening up its society "without fear of unleashing the forces of uncontrollable greed and destructive selfish individualism" that plague many of the former republics and client states of the former Soviet Union.

Dr. Moon's philosophy, or headwing ideology, according to Betancourt, can be the point of convergence "not only for North and South Korea, but for the left and right forces all over the world." Headwing ideology aims to harmonize not only the purposes of the whole and of the individual, but also the ideals of the forces of production and capital represented by the right, and the forces of distribution and labor represented by the left. Through such harmonization, all forces and resources "can be harnessed for the good of the individual, family, nation, the region, and the world, realizing a new state of interdependence, mutual prosperity, and common cause." A sovereign state embodying this ideology, then, could rightfully be called the Peace Kingdom, the long sought ideal of God and of Dr. and Mrs. Moon.

Other speakers each offered an array of suggestions for surmounting barriers to unification. To bring about a "Paradigm Shift on Non-Proliferation," Professor Kyoung Soo Kim of Myongji University proposed three approaches: supply-side (deny materials); coercive (sanctions, military); and demand-side (look at reasons for acquiring weapons).

Mr. Tamotsu Nakano, visiting scholar at American University, USA, favored the development of a grand design for peace in northeast Asia with the effort for bringing peace on the Korean peninsula as part of that larger design. He encapsulated alternate paths centered on the two Koreas into four scenarios: soft landing in which S. Korea's sunshine policy of constructive engagement would continue to develop successfully; hard landing involving the use of sanctions or military action against North Korea; status quo in which the current stalemate continues with little real change; and nuclear escalation triggering Japanese development of nuclear weapons and destabilization of relations between U.S. and China.

In contrast, Dr. Vladimir Petrovsky of the Institute for Far Eastern Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences noted that the successful European model for developing collective arrangements in security and cooperation looked promising for the Korean case. In particular, a European Union pact for bringing stability to South-Eastern Europe could be a model for a similar type of agreement linking the security concerns and economic interests of North and South Korea, U.S., Japan, China, and Russia.

Professor Ho Yeol Yoo of the Center for National Unification Studies in Korea views Korean unification from the perspective of having visited North Korea four times and having interviewed many defectors from North Korea. From such a perspective, he argued, the Sunshine Policy requires urgent reevaluation because it hasn't taken into account the real nature of the North Korean government, which has taken advantage of the policy in ways that strengthen the North Korean position.

Session III-A: Toward Peace in the Middle East, convened in the cautiously optimistic context of the recent election of Palestinian Authority President Abbas, significant signs of rapprochement of the new president with Israeli Prime Minister Sharon, and other recent steps to lessen tensions and foster peace. The wide-ranging session sought to build upon IIFWP's Middle East Peace Initiative and to underscore the importance of an integrative approach that moderated demands for justice in favor of forgiveness, reconciliation, and peace.

Moderator Michael Jenkins introduced a distinguished panel of Middle East experts and participants in Middle East peace efforts, including Dr. Frank Kaufmann, director of the IIFWP Office of Interreligious Relations; Yaakub Salamee, head of the Non-Jewish Sector of the Israeli Ministry of Religion; the Honorable Taleb El-Sana, deputy chairman of the Democratic Arab Party in Israel; the Honorable Abu Ali Shahenn, member of the Legislative Council of Palestine; and the Rev. Hod Ben Zvi, secretary general if IIFWP in Israel. The conference was particularly honored by the participation of the Honorable Sheik Taysir Al Tamimi; the supreme judge of the Sharia Courts in Palestine and among the most influential voices among Palestinians to secure a just and enduring peace.

Dr. Kaufmann began the session with a generous testimonial to the movement toward reconciliation between the Palestinian and Israeli presidents. But such moments of hope, he noted, are too often overtaken by conflict with roots far deeper than politics. "The shattering [of] the dreams and lives of undeserving innocents do not stem merely from political differences," Kaufmann said. And politicians "can only solve the political aspects of the problem." No one bears greater responsibility than religious leaders, Kaufmann concluded, to take on the task of pursuing a peace that reaches beyond politics and draws upon our spiritual resources of humility, trust, and forgiveness.

The Honorable El-Sana expressed hope and optimism among so many world representatives in such a beautiful and nurturing setting. "As an Arab Palestinian and a member of the Israeli Parliament," he said, "I feel torn inside when my state fights my own people.

"From past mistakes we can learn that peace is not the agreements signed by leaders in front of TV cameras," El-Sana observed. "What is important is the peace between the people, which has its implication on their day-to-day life. The Palestinian side must show sensitivity to the historic sufferings of the Jewish people and ease their fears and feeling of being threatened. The Israeli side must admit its responsibility for the Palestinian sufferings, and get rid of the paternalistic attitude towards the Palestinians, treating them as equals."

Sheik Taysir Al Tamimi, the highest-ranking jurist of the Palestinian Authority, recognized the pioneering work of Dr. Moon to foster an environment for interreligious cooperation in that divided land, and he appealed for tolerance and respect as a critical stance for people of faith.

"Religious leaders and clergy should take up their natural role to bring peace," he declared. "The honor of humanity belongs to all people. The prophet of Islam says that all are children of Adam, and that none should hold themselves superior."

Session III-B: Workshop: HIV/AIDS Prevention. Dealing with the urgent threat and reality of HIV/AIDS draws people quickly to the point of unity regardless of race, religion, or nationality. At the same time, judging from presentations in this workshop, responses to the pandemic carry the distinct mark of the local culture. In Bahrain, said Dr. Somoya Al Jowder, the A, B, C, and D of HIV/AIDS education is Abstinence, Be faithful, Change character, and Don't use drugs or alcohol.

Dr. Robert Kittel, director of the IIFWP office of peace education, introduced a narrated PowerPoint presentation of a powerful HIV/AIDS education module. He offered a copy of the CD to any who were interested, courtesy of IIFWP. Beyond the specific content being presented he also emphasized the importance of involving religious institutions in the fight against AIDS and also of educating people in the value of living sacrificially for the sake of the whole.

"We're sitting on a time bomb," warned Dr. V. Mohini Giri, chair of the guild of Service in India. She was referring to the explosive expansion of HIV/AIDS in India to the point that in 2005 India will likely displace South Africa as the country with the largest number of people carrying the HIV virus. Dr. Giri's long years of devotion to defending the rights of women and children positions her well as an advocate for meeting the needs of women and children threatened with or already carrying the disease.

Speaking as a Christian minister, Bishop Nzishura Simeon, chairman of the Union of Christian Churches in Burundi, represented a country with an HIV/AIDS infection rate of about 6.5 per cent. "At that rate of infection, HIV/AIDS education," he said, "needs to be about not only prevention but also about the importance of caring for people who are already infected."

Session moderator Alan Saunders, director of IIFWP's office of character education, kept the session moving by drawing on his own extensive experience in diverse countries of teaching the essentials of human character development which are so central for raising up the matured people who will naturally maintain the pure life style that keeps HIV/AIDS at bay.

The late morning program of February 13 divided delegates into smaller working consultations of specific concern. Consultation A addressed a range of Issues Critical to Africa, where problems of underdevelopment, regional conflict, health risks, and political instability are so significant that the United Nations included the continent as a special case when drafting its 2000 Millennium Declaration.

Moderated by Frederick Muisa Wakhisi, regional secretary general of IIFWP in Africa, the consultation assessed not just the host of challenges confronting the region, but the considerable resources, natural and human, which can and must be deployed to bring development and greater prosperity to the people.

With 10 percent of the world's population, Africa has 70 percent of the world's HIV infections, with 85 percent of these infections transmitted through sexual contact. To address such a crisis, self control is vital, and such internal discipline is taught by the world's faith traditions. Moreover, observed Burundi delegate Ramadhani Karenga, "bad government comes from the bad heart of men. History proves that. And from our heart comes all good things. Solutions for Africa must come from the heart."

The Consultation on Small Island Developing States examined the particular needs of the small and often remote nations across the world's oceans. Moderated by Enrique Augustine Ledesma, secretary general of IIFWP in Oceania, and with a presentation by the founding president of Seychelles, Rt. Hon. Sir James R. Mancham, the consultation followed upon the recent United Nations meeting on Small Island Developing States held in Mauritius in January. At the UN conference, Dr. Thomas Walsh and Dr. Chung Hwan Kwak, representing the IIFWP, advanced the basic principles of moral character, family integrity, and interreligious cooperation as critical, yet often overlooked, components to sustainable development. Delegates from several island states again examined these principles, and advanced further plans to establish regional Peace Councils to enable island nations to better collaborate in assessing and responding to the states' unique challenges.

The Consultation on the IIFWP's Middle East Peace Initiative, moderated by IIFWP Middle East regional secretary general David Fraser Harris, examined the principles and the implementation of the initiative. This exceptional effort has resulted in global pilgrimages to the Holy Land, with representatives of all the world's faiths meeting with high-level officials as well as ordinary citizens on both sides of the Israeli-Palestinian divide.

This conflict, which has embroiled the region for fifty years, has economic, geopolitical, and cultural repercussions that are felt around the world. The Middle East Peace Initiative is based on the premise that lasting peace requires a collaborative approach, involving political leaders, the media, academia, nongovernmental organizations, and above all, representatives of the faith traditions for which peace, respect for others, and an inherent recognition of the rights and dignity of every person are truths grounded in spiritual principles.

The consultation on Latin America and Peace claimed all of the Latin American participants. With more than 500 million people speaking the sister languages of Spanish and Portuguese, with a cohesive geographical identity, and with strong representation in IIFWP, the region holds promise for pioneering the development of a Regional Peace Council. The session featured two speakers followed by ample time for discussion.

Bringing the task of the proposed Regional Peace Council into perspective, Dr. Guillermo Reyes, Colombian Electoral Supreme Court Justice, described country by country the region's major problems, including social, political and economic conflicts, poverty, terrorism, displacement, drug trafficking and corruption. In order to solve those problems, Dr. Reyes reminded participants that "the purpose of the Founder of the IIFWP, Reverend Moon since the beginning of his noble work directed to establish world peace, was based on true love, dialogue among religions and civilizations, peace among all, tolerance and values."

Building on that founding purpose, Dr. Reyes made a concrete and practical proposal for establishing the Regional Peace Council as soon as possible. The Council should present specific recommendations to solve any existing conflict. These should incorporate religion and spirituality in defining a Road Map to peace and reconciliation in Latin America.

Mr. William Cook, Tiempos del Mundo Bureau General Manager in Costa Rica and IIFWP Regional Secretary-General for Latin America and the Caribbean, emphasized the important role of the media as an instrument of peace in the region. After both presentations, the participants offered their comments of support and their determination to go back to their countries and begin the coordinated work to establish the Peace Council in Latin America.

The consultation on the Memorial Federation for the UN Peace Forces of the Korean War convened under the direct inspiration of Rev. Dr. Moon who only a few months earlier had initiated procedures for establishing the federation. South Korea today owes its existence to the sacrificial service of the soldiers from 16 countries, who fought under the banner of UN Peace Forces defending the country from invading Communist forces during the Korean War from 1950 to 1953. This new federation will memorialize the foreign soldiers killed and wounded during that war. In the session, the moderator and three speakers presented aspects of the context and history of both the Korean War of the new memorial federation.

"While historians and political scientists view the war as unique from the viewpoint that so many countries committed the lives of their soldiers to a protracted war in a remote, nearly unknown country, IIFWP and its founder see deeper dimensions," explained Dr. Jong Yeol Yoo, the session moderator and vice president of IIFWP, East Asia. These center around two facts: the war was essentially a battle between theists and atheists; and the UN forces saved Rev. Dr. Moon by liberating him from a North Korean prison shortly before he was to be executed.

The session featured Dr. Chul Seung Lee, president of the Memorial Federation for the UN Peace Forces of the Korean War and Mr. Kap Chong Chi, a correspondent during the war who subsequently has made it his life's work to express appreciation for the sacrifices of soldiers from the 16 countries. He has visited all of the donor countries and keeps in touch with their Korean War veterans' groups. He joins with the president of the new memorial federation, Dr. Lee, in planning an annual memorial event at the UN Memorial Cemetery in Pusan to honor those who died in the Korean War and to help teach future generations about the value of sacrifice for the sake of freedom and peace.

Session V-A: Strained Relations Between Islam and the West: Toward Healing and Reconciliation, chaired by Tajeldin I. Hamad, secretary general of the World Association of NonGovernmental Organizations, took up perhaps the most pressing global issue of today. Chairman Hamad introduced a distinguished panel of commentators, including the Rev. Dr. Clinton Bennett, a visiting fellow at the Birmingham University Graduate Institute for Religion and Theology in the United Kingdom; Dr. M. Habib Chirzin, president of the Islamic Millennium Forum for Peace and Dialogue in Indonesia; Chief Imam Cheikh Assane Cisse, president of the African American institute in Senegal; Dr. Eva Latham, president of Human Rights Teaching International in the Netherlands; and James Flynn, president of the American Family Coalition.

"There is a view held by some politicians and scholars that Islam does not belong in the West and is incompatible with Western values," remarked Dr. Bennett. Conversely, "some Muslims belief that the West is not only a threat, but actively engaged in a campaign, a crusade, to suppress Islam." To counter such trends, Bennett suggested, NGOs can play a leading role, involving Muslims and non-Muslims in both organizational management and in service and other mission work.

Dr. Chirzin observed poignantly that the recent tsunami had no nationality. "It didn't pay any attention to religion, color, or ethnicity," he said. Imam Cisse emphasized that Islam means "peace." "You will never find terrorism in the Qur'an," he said. War is mentioned six times in the Qur'an; peace 32 times. Much of the pejorative use of Muslim is without justification, as in the Balkan conflict where the media reported on conflicts between Serbs, Croats, and 'Muslims.' This presents a false view of Islam."

James Flynn concluded by noting that the rise of secularism is a major threat to a faith-based viewpoint. Faith is a core conviction, he said; "but what are one's values, and have people of faith remained true to those values?"

Islam and the Christian West have a long history of cooperation and mutual interchange in the areas of the arts, science, and commerce. In these challenging times all sectors of society need to look beyond crude stereotypes to a shared tradition of spiritual values. Despite periods and episodes of conflict, what unites these civilizations is a more profound and enduring legacy that can again lead to peaceful and prosperous coexistence.

Session V-B: Workshop: Organizing Peace Programs for Youth, started with a question to the assembled participants: "Why did you come to this session?" Rev. John W. Gehring, director of youth and sports for IIFWP, followed with a series of questions to be answered in developing peace programs for youth. "Who are you trying to reach?" "Why are you motivated to do this?" "Why would the target audience be interested?" "What do you want to accomplish during the project?" "How is the staff structured?" "Who is the staff?"

The list of penetrating and on-target questions was long and also available on CD as part of a planning module from IIFWP. With the questions before them, the participants began to respond with their own questions or comments.

Rev. Dr. Janick Castor of Hollywood, Florida recounted her experience of pairing youth from Florida with youth from Haiti. The youth from Florida raise funds for trees that will be planted by the youth in Haiti. The trees are selected to be income producing so they are less likely to be cut down for firewood.

"Since youth have been trained as trainers for youth, could youth also serve as trainers for the elderly," asked one participant. Another participant responded with the experience that the elderly are unlikely to accept instruction from the youth, if the youth have not first made a foundation with the elderly through some other kind of service.

The session produced linkages across oceans and cultures as participants pooled their collective wisdom of how to engage the youth in peace-oriented activities, including the Young Ambassadors for Peace program, which was introduced by Rev. Gehring.

Session VI, Peace and the Significance of Marriage, Family, and the Blessing, brought all delegates into a plenary that presented an exposition of the central IIFWP message of a marriage as the "first instrument of peace" and a "personal peace treaty." Chaired by IIFWP Secretary General Thomas Walsh, the presentation underscored that marriage and family life transcend racial, ethnic, national, and religious boundaries and are held in reverence by the entire human family.

The family is so honored because within this unique matrix we learn the fundamental essence of our humanity and our sense of place in the world. Even more important, the family is the school of love and the training ground where we elevate our character to become responsible citizens and qualified men and women who can transition into the eternal world based on the elevation of our heart through a life of true love.

We learn love within the family, through receiving unconditional love as children from our parents, through learning to share as siblings, through the merger of our individual self with another in marriage, and finally through giving unconditional love as parents. This education in love brings us into harmonious union with God as our parent. And through heaven's blessing upon our marriage and family life, the corrupt legacy of false love can be liquidated and a new culture of selfless, God-centered love can bring the transformation of our society into a culture of peace, which is the hope of all ages. After Dr. Walsh's presentation, delegates were invited to join in a special toast to honor the sanctity of marriage as a divinely ordained blessing from which prosperous families can flourish.

In a change of pace that evening, Mrs. Karen Judd Smith, director of IIFWP's Office of UN Relations, chaired an informal panel of five presenters seated on stage in armchairs to discuss the life, vision, and legacy of the IIFWP founder, Rev. Dr. Sun Myung Moon, or Father Moon.

Listening to their words, one could realize that Father Moon's ideas carry great persuasive power, not necessarily because they are original (although many of them are), but because of the way he has synthesized, elaborated, and personally exemplified them. Their words also demonstrated that through his continuous emphasis on becoming a better person and on embracing both the enemy and one who is different, Father Moon naturally brings one to realize that it is better not to focus on what I receive but on what I can give. As a family, Father and Mother Moon also model the course of living for others. One of the panelists explained, Father Moon's lifelong motto is "Your life is not yours. It is for the sake of God and for others."

Dr. Eva Latham, president of Human Rights Teaching, International, has found in Father Moon's movement a high-minded manifestation of the motto she learned from her mother, "Success comes to the person who gives more than he receives." Further, she finds in IIFWP people who reflect her own ideal of preferring to be real and even socially alone rather than to be plastic and socially embraced.

Clearly the most provocative panelist was Dr. Hildreth Glennel McGhee, Jr., pastor and evangelist of the Peaceful Zion and Praise Learning Worship Center. Explaining that for 21 years he was a persecutor and detractor of Rev. Moon, he went on to offer a powerful endorsement of Father and Mother Moon as the universal king and queen of peace, transcending the realms of traditional kings and queens whose kingdoms have been segregated and exclusive. Dr. McGhee is convinced that God's heart has longed for just such a couple to emerge as the King and Queen of Peace for all people.

In conclusion Mrs. Smith reminded all that in Father Moon's radical views, sovereignty is grounded in the depths of true love, and that his hope would be for people not to seek comfort for themselves but rather to become people who draw energy from the realm of heart so that we might be ones who give to others.

Closing Plenary Session The closing plenary session on February 15, chaired by Dr. Thomas Walsh, summarized the broad themes that had been presented and debated during the previous three days. Dr. Walsh sketched the development of the IIFWP as a worldwide peacemaking body since its founding in 1999 and called on delegates to begin the work of establishing and convening an Interreligious and International Peace Council (IIPC). Tentatively planning an inaugural convention of the IIPC in July or August of 2005, Dr. Walsh referred to the delegates the task of empanelling regional Peace Councils. These regional assemblies should draft IIPC charters applicable to the region, develop a plan of action, and select regional delegates who would then sit on the world-level Peace Council. Regional Councils were urged to build cooperation and involvement with local faith-based organizations, NGOs, and governments, and develop plans to fund regional participation.

The IIPC "is to become a mechanism capable of steering humanity, guiding leaders and advising global institutions toward peace," as stated in the February 12 Secretary General's Report on the Development of Regional Interreligious and International Peace. "As such, the Peace Council cannot be grounded in traditional concepts of land ownership, military might, economic dominance and access to knowledge and information. Rather, the Peace Council will be grounded in a sovereignty that naturally comes from the substantiation of 'true love'--that is from the natural authority that comes from the outcome of lives, decisions, policies, mandates, rules, and processes that have as their hallmark 'living for the sake of others,' for the larger good."

The delegates departed from Chung Pyung on Tuesday, February 15 for Seoul, where most enjoyed an additional day in South Korea's bustling capital city before returning to their native lands.

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