• Home
• Over de UPF / Visie
• Komende Activiteiten
• Ambassadeurs voor Vrede
• Vredesinitiatieven
• Projecten
• Conferenties
• Publicaties
• Links
• Gastenboek
• Neem contact met ons op

Nieuws vervolg:

GPF in Washington roept op tot wereldwijd familiebewustzijn

Tienduizenden vredesenthousiastelingen verzamelden zich op zaterdag 9 augustus in Washington DC op het gazon bij het Capitoolgebouw, de zetel van de Amerikaanse regering, voor het ‘Global Peace Festival USA ’. De bijeenkomst, aangekondigd als de grootste interreligieuze en multiculturele gebeurtenis, ooit in de hoofdstad van de VS gehouden, was de tweede in een serie van 15 Global Peace Festivals die dit jaar wereldwijd op het programma staan. Het volgende in de serie festivals die onveranderd “Eén familie onder God” als thema hebben, staat voor eind augustus gepland in Nairobi, Kenia.
Bekijk de video.

Vervolg:

“The great thing about the Festival is that it brings people together with neighbors from other faiths and cultures in a safe encounter,” said the Festival’s executive director Paul Murray, Pastor of the fast-growing church Apostolic Lighthouse Church in Baltimore. “When people see Muslims and Jews from Jerusalem and other trouble spots embracing each other in tears of forgiveness and reconciliation on the stage, they naturally reach out right away with those of other faiths in the crowd.”

Throughout the afternoon, the air vibrated with the sounds of prayers and songs of peace in many different keys. The Black Bear Native American singers called the crowd to order with a traditional prayer dance, and Dr. Muzammil Siddiqi and a large Muslim delegation shared traditional Islamic prayers of peace.

GPF Founder Dr. Hyun Jin Moon delivers the keynote address. “America is already the model of a peaceful world, but she must realize her blessings are for the whole world,” he said

Several speakers reminded the crowd of the parallels with another great gathering in Washington 45 years ago, when Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his immortal message, “I have a dream.” Dr. Joseph E. Lowery, one of King’s closest aides during the sixties, said the time had come to fulfill King’s dream of creating the beloved community. “We must become the ‘Joshua Generation’ Martin envisioned,” Lowery said, “leading the world into a promised land as One Family Under God.”

Gospel superstars Yolanda Adams and David Phelps – with seven Grammies between them – were among the many entertainers keeping the crowd in a festive mood, with additional performances from the 500-voice Global Peace choir and a strong contingent of rising local youth groups singing the Global Peace Festival theme song “Where Peace Begins”

The Festival also celebrated the power of service to transform people and communities. “Service is just another way of saying “I love you,” said Rev. Mark Farr of the Points of Light Institute, a lead festival partner. The Institute, along with the Universal Peace Federation, Boys and Girls Clubs of Washington DC and more than 242 partner agencies organized a recent citywide day of service. A “Food for Peace” helped fill the shelves of the Capitol Area Food Bank, which recently revealed to the Washington Post that thousands of families were at newly at risk of hunger. Festival goers brought food from as far away as Chicago.

The global theme of the Peace Festival is “One Family Under God” – a world without the barriers of race and religion – and the leadership role of America as the model of interfaith harmony.

“I want to share a new vision for America,” said Dr. Hyun Jin Moon, the Global Peace Festival founder and the third son of the Reverend Sun Myung Moon, “It is a vision rooted in our nation’s founding principles, taking the ideal of one nation under God and bringing it one step further into a greater, universal ideal, of one family under God. One world family of peace is a dream for Americans and all people of faith, and most of all, it is the dream of God.”

Bezoek ook de website http://www.globalpeacefestival.org

Terug naar de homepage