When Reverend and Mrs. Moon entered RFK Stadium on November 29, 1997, what handiwork did they survey? They surveyed the fruit of the Unificationist project of almost five decades. Let us first consider simply this period of time, the length of Reverend Moon’s career.

To have a sustained effort of one life spanning fifty years, in the heat of public scrutiny, is remarkable in and of itself. Some scholars achieve it, but in a sphere removed from any other war than that of words. Some politicians achieve it, but usually as great power partisans. Religious leaders achieve it, but, again, usually as representatives of an established belief system.

For a religious leader to achieve it amid the hue and cry of the greatest of men’s passions, bearing the near universal distrust and, dare I say, the fear and loathing of much of the educated portion of mankind, this is remarkable in and of itself. For such a man to stand serenely and happily, as Reverend Moon did on that day, is a monument to the power of the human spirit.

And what did Reverend and Mrs. Moon survey? Most essentially: men and woman who are mates to each other; married couples. Again, let us pause to consider the significance of a gathering of married couples. Such things are not the usual fare these days. As the Pure Love Alliance flyer stated, referring to the Promise Keepers and the Million Woman March, "The men rallied. The women marched. But they were a hundred miles apart from each other." Reverend Moon stood with his wife, and they surveyed married couples who are there as couples, not as individuals. They were there to celebrate the blessing of marriage.

By celebrating marriage, man and woman are celebrating each other in the most dignified way. Man and woman are the two poles of humanity, the human incarnations of the yang and yin of the whole cosmos. They are conscious of being so and enjoying the privilege of loving each other. This is the blessing given us by our Creator in marriage.

Parents and the Future

These couples stood up for that of which everyone knows our society is in desperate need: husbands who are faithful to their wives, wives who are faithful to their husbands, and parents and children who are faithful to each other and to their mutual, natural covenant. They stood as families seeing beyond race, nation and religion to affirm that what unites us is not skin color, not perspectives on the divine, not flags or systems of government, but the love we share in the family. This is the love which creates us, and the love which makes, as the song goes, the world go round.

More than that, these couples stood up for the future. Parents create the future through their love, because their love begets and rears children. Conjugal love always has that "future implication" attached to it; hence it has "responsibility" and "commitment" attached to it. Conjugal love is, in a sense, an entity unto itself, because it represents the baby which it can bring into being. In a sense, conjugal love itself is a person, a third party to the husband and wife. There is always that "future baby" which is an integral part of their love.

This is why Catholics and Unificationists are against artificial birth control. To separate commitment and responsibility from conjugal love is to diminish it, to make it resemble the love of irresponsible Adam and Eve, free sex. Free sex is sex without the future. It is sex with no commitment or responsibility. Hence, free sex does not lead to marriage or family. Hence, free sex destroys society.

True Parents are the first creators of the "public square." They create that little public square inhabited by children who can say their piece, receive their just desserts, their hugs, their bandages and the nourishment of body and spirit. Rev. Moon teaches that the children’s spiritual life feeds off of the spiritual life ("vitality") of their parents. The family takes a man and woman and makes them the arbiters of that little public world, that small civilization, thus, true rulers.

We may shirk from the idea that parents should use a president, king or dictator as their model, and shrink we should. It is not the traditional behavior of the ruler which should be taken into the home. Rather, it is the traditional behavior of the parent which should be taken into the civil society. The president and king should be true parents to their people, should rule society with the heart of a parent caring for the household. From this perspective, we understand Rev. Moon’s viewpoint that half of elected officials should be women.

This, Reverend Moon surveyed, and in his mind’s eye, he saw and prayed for, the millions upon millions of couples around the world joining the couples in the stadium. These couples affirmed true love, by their very becoming what he has called us to be, husbands and wives of true love. No cotton-candy counsel from this man, but the naked truth: your sexual organ: it belongs not to you: it belongs to your spouse. It is the most holy place, never to be defiled or abused. It belongs to only One; your king, your queen. And in one flesh created by the love of the king and queen, God the Creator comes to dwell. It is something for 30,000 couples, 39.6 million couples, all of humankind, all the people who ever lived, to smile about and celebrate with joy.

And Reverend Moon surveyed a people of peace. I’m not talking about a Woodstock Nation or a political convention trying to be a Woodstock nation, Queer Nation, Rhythm Nation or Nation of Anything less than The Nation of the World. I am talking about the nation of serious homegrown Catholics, Muslims, Jews, Hindus, Buddhists, Sikhs, and everything in-between, which is what Rev. and Mrs. Moon are calling into being. This is no mean feat, for Reverend Moon has brought this about not through the liberal secular state strategy of leaving religious faith at the door. He has brought it about within the context of one of life’s events most sanctified and identified with the particularity of one’s faith.

Most people marry in their church, mosque, shrine, chapel, temple, gurudwara or synagogue. Each dedicates to God as He appears to each. The New York Times Magazine (Dec. 7, 1997) published an excellent series of testimonies of faith, entitled "The Decentralization of God." God is at work everywhere, among every race, political position, theological persuasion and nationality. No one can institutionalize God. We can only recognize, glorify, protect and uplift God’s institution, and that’s the family. There in RFK Stadium were 30,000 couples, surely of every face, political position, theological persuasion and nationality, recognizing God in marriage and dedicating their marriages to God.

We read of Christians and Muslims, in particular, doing battle in words and weapons. We read the most eminent and pious of Christians express fear and ignorance of the Islamic world. We meet Jews committed to "an eternal war" with the Palestinians. One searches for the common ground. Reverend Moon has found it and through his sacrifice has enlarged it to the point at which he can grab the attention of the world. A sign carried by a Unificationist protester two weeks before the event read, "Clinton and Hussein: Don’t Go To War; Come to the Wedding." Who wants to fight at a wedding? Surely Mr. Clinton and Mr. Hussein, if they would truly stand by the best moral traditions of the societies they are in the position to rule, would agree that marriage is profoundly right and important, and would be able to cooperate on projects to protect and uplift families and young people.

Dr. Sang Hun Lee, founder of the Unification Thought Institute, and author of Communism: A Critique and Counterproposal, and the seminal treatises on Unification Thought, has published, posthumously, a work entitled The Coming of the Age of Head-Wine Thought: Beyond Communism. It is, in my opinion, Dr. Lee’s most valuable exploration, because in this short volume he addresses the current ailments of society, and advances the practical tools which Rev. Moon’s thought provides. He faces head-on the question of "what is the Principled economic system," and "what is the Principled political system." He does not provide final answers, but does develop critical metaphors of the Divine Principle a few steps forward in important ways.

A good portion of the first part of the book outlines Rev. Moon’s activities for victory over communism through the 1970s into the 1990s, against the backdrop of history. In the latter part is an illuminating analysis of the sexual revolution and advent of the culture free sex. Dr. Lee presents valuable material from Freud, Reich and Marcuse to point out how sexual liberation is a "left-Freudian" movement. He also argues for the comparability of Marx, Darwin and Freud as architects of the era of free sex.

His discussions are brief but there are adequate footnotes to lead the reader back to the sources. I hope that Dr. Lee’s outline may trigger a good deal more research in this area.

Dr. Lee’s final chapter is entitled "The End of the Era of Free Sex." Of course, it is beyond anyone’s wildest dreams that the era of free sex could come to an end in the foreseeable future. Who can give Hollywood a cold shower? What about the leviathan-like homosexual lobbies? Sex on the internet? The deluge of pornography in the formerly communist world, not to mention anytown, USA?

Quite right. And yet, it was 1984 when Dr. Lee published a work with a similar title, "The End of Communism." This book, too, struck one at the time as hopelessly out of touch with "reality." And yet, it turned out that this book was right on target; reality swung around as Dr. Lee’s book said it would.

To the "end of the era of free sex," let’s believe, with Dr. Lee, that it will come to pass, in the very near future! The last, great liberation!

"It’s Never Too Late to Have a Good Divorce," is the headline of a new magazine, out of Toronto, Divorce. Its purpose, writes editor Diana Shepherd, is not to endorse divorce, but to "encourage some couples to explore the possibility of staying together," but for those times that divorce is "your reality," to answer some questions. Another milestone of creativity by the free market designed to meet people’s perceived needs.

But somehow, a magazine which includes guidance on how to have the most healthy divorce gives one a sickening feeling in the pit of the stomach. It might by compared to a magazine called Murder, whose editor explains that his purpose is not to endorse murder, but to encourage some people to explore the possibilities of refraining from it. But to those times that murder is "your reality," we’re here to answer your questions: how to do it neatly, efficiently and at with least legal trouble. Or, let’s say, a magazine called Adultery, or Prostitution. Come to think of it, such magazines do exist, but with somewhat more respectable titles.

The U.S. Department of Education has provided funds to five middle schools to conduct a two-year experiment, holding same-sex classes–classes consisting only of boys or only of girls, The Washington Times reports (Dec. 15, p. A5). "Although it is too early to assess the success of the program, teachers and students taking part seem enthusiastic. And there’s more than anecdotal evidence to show: Girls’ grades improved immediately, especially in math and sciences. The elimination of distractions caused by the presence of members of the opposite sex is one of the advantages cited by advocates of same-sex classes." This is wonderful news, marred only by the question of why the taxpayer is paying a half-million dollars to each of the five schools participating in the program.

"The number eight was, for ancient Christianity, the symbol of the Resurrection, for it was on the day after the Sabbath, and so the eighth day, that Christ rose from the tomb. Furthermore, the seven days of the week are the image of the time of this world, and the eighth day of life everlasting. Sunday is the liturgical commemoration of the eighth day, at the same time a memorial of the Resurrection and a prophecy of the world to come…" J. Danielou, The Bible and the Liturgy

"…an eighth and eternal day, consecrated by the Resurrection of Christ… There we shall rest and see, see and love, love and praise." St. Augustine, City of God, Book 22, Ch. 30.

(Courtesy Eighth Day Books, a Christian publishing house located on 3700 E. Douglas #40, Wichita, KS 67208.)

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