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Nieuws vervolg:

European Leadership Conference, Bergen aan Zee.

In het sfeervolle conferentiecentrum in “Huize Glory” werd van 14 t/m 16 december de laatste ELC weekend conferentie van het jaar 2007 gehouden. Tim Miller, vicevoorzitter van de Europese tak van de UPF, verzorgde enkele PowerPoint presentaties over de grondbeginselen van de UPF. Op vrijdagavond was het thema: “Het vredesproces in het Midden Oosten”, waarbij Dr. Willem van Eekelen, voormalig minister van defensie en staatssecretaris en warm voorstander van een verenigd Europa, een boeiend verslag gaf van zijn persoonlijke ervaringen tijdens twee recente MEPI conferenties in Israel en Palestina.

Vervolg:

Op vrijdagavond was het thema: “Het vredesproces in het Midden Oosten”, waarbij Dr. Willem van Eekelen, voormalig minister van defensie en staatssecretaris en warm voorstander van een verenigd Europa, een boeiend verslag gaf van zijn persoonlijke ervaringen tijdens twee recente MEPI conferenties in Israel en Palestina. Ook deze conferentie trok deelnemers uit vele delen van Europa. Tim Miller gaf in een aantal sessies een heldere introductie van de belangrijkste grondbeginselen van de UPF met thema’s als: "De mensheid als één familie onder God", "Leven voor het welzijn van anderen", "De spirituele en morele dimensie" en "Het gezin als de school van liefde".

Saturday: Conflict Roots & Resolution, Guest Speakers, Cultural Evening.

Saturday continued with the following themes: "The Roots of Conflict" and "Conflict Resolution – the Path to Peace and Cooperation". After lunch and a walk in the beautiful natural environment in which "Huize Glory" is located, there were guest speakers addressing "The European Union and a new Treaty" (Dr. W.F. Eekelen) and "Good Governance" by Dr. J. W. Bertens. Dr. Bertens is a former member of the European Parliament, ambassador and diplomat, representing the Netherlands in Latin America, and a senior member of the Dutch political party "Democrats 66" (D66).

Dr. van Eekelen’s speech was very informative and one might have imagined that the Dutch electorate might have voted differently had the government asked him to explain the "constitution" against which they voted. His wife also attended and she later recounted that her husband had said it was a wonder of God that some 200 parliamentarians from 27 countries came to an agreement. Apparently, the final text is still pretty complicated, since this new treaty, and therefore its wording, refers back to the Nice treaty, but he showed how it sought to simplify and strengthen the running of the EU, and make it more accountable and democratic. Mrs. Van Eekelen, who is quite a force in her own right, is an enthusiastic supporter of the campaign for the establishment of an annual "Day of the Family" in the Netherlands, supported by UPF.

Dr. Bertens ( D ’66 ) gave an address that was both entertaining and deep. He asked us to seriously consider how much any country really followed president Roosevelt’s "Four Freedoms", which were fundamental to the founding of the United Nations: freedom of speech and expression, to worship God in his own way, from want, and from fear, all of them everywhere and anywhere in the world, which Roosevelt asserted was not a vision of a distant millennium", but  "a definite basis for a kind of world attainable in our own time and generation."

The "cultural evening", basically a "family evening", coordinated and supported musically by Hans Campman, was extremely varied and uplifting, with "neo- British folk songs" (Christopher Davies), a poem about peace and self penned traditional "fado" song (dedicated to mothers) from Portugal. The evening continued with Patricia Earle’s interreligious and interracial volunteer organization from Birmingham, UK, with songs and Indian taxi driver jokes, a deep song written by the Bosnian "Legend of Sarajevo", hilariously and seriously introduced by a lawyer who had never sung in public before, vocalist contributions from France and the Ukraine and piano music by Sergei Prokofiev; Buddhist chanting by a Thai monk from Stockholm, Latin American songs, then in brilliant contrast, the Beatles’ "Penny Lane" from Carlos Figueroa, Austrian songs by Michiel Pater (Dutch) and a gospel sequence from Surinam Dutch Ambassador for Peace Marlene Waal.

Sunday: Life of Rev. Moon, Reflections & Close.

Sunday continued in a similarly high tone, with "A Life for World Peace: The life and work of UPF’s Founder, Rev. Dr. Sun Myung Moon". This presentation gave an overview of the life of Dr. Moon from early childhood in backward North Korea and the beginning of his spiritual mission at age 15, revealing his deep spiritual search for universal truth as well as the suffering he endured in a communist death camp during World War II, up to the present day where he has become an internationally renowned religious leader and unifier. After reflections and lunch the conference was concluded with optional sightseeing: – Dutch traditions and crafts.

National and religious background.

This conference’ participants came from Bosnia, United Kingdom, France, Germany, Austria, Luxembourg, Portugal, Sweden and the Netherlands. Some participants now residing in one of the above mentioned countries originally came from Africa, India, Thailand and the Ukraine. The conference’ participants had religious backgrounds varying from Baha’i, Buddhist, Protestant, Roman Catholic, Moslem to Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter Day Saints (Mormons).

Some testimonies of participants:

Rufus Folaranmi, a Nigerian living in France, wrote: "How happy and grateful I am to you for enjoying your lectures, your company during, before, and after our stay in Bergen aan Zee. Thank you very much for this. I really enjoyed this weekend conference that we all shared together. It was very interesting and enriching, especially meeting people from other parts of Europe and the world, and also the various talks, discussions and lectures delivered by eminent people. For example on: ‘'Peace & How to live for the sake of others" and on love and peace within oneself and with others, starting first of all with one’s own immediate self and family". In fact, the overall atmosphere was very good. I do hope to come back again!"

Ermin Gacanovic, from Bosnia, wrote after the conference: "I am now back in my office, it’s really a world opposite to the one we experienced during our conference. It was my pleasure to spend time  talking and thinking about a better world and I am impressed by the deep spirituality and peace I felt from some of the staff".

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