REVEREND SUN MYUNG MOON
SPEAKS ON
Freedom, Family and Faith
The Role of the Media in the 21st Century
20th Anniversary of the Washington Times Banquet
Hilton Washington Hotel, International Ballroom
Washington, DC
May 21, 2002
Distinguished guests from the United States and around the world,
parliamentarians and other leaders on the invitation committee, dear
staff of The Washington Times, ladies and gentlemen. I deeply appreciate
your taking time from your busy schedules to attend this gathering.
We are gathered for the meaningful purposes to celebrate the 20th
anniversary of The Washington Times and to look back on the historical
role the Times played during the rapid changes of the previous
century. During these two decades The Times has grown in dedication
and distinction to become one of the most influential and significant
newspapers in the world today. Its reputation for integrity and truthful
reporting is unmatched. When I first announced the founding of The
Washington Times in 1982, many people in America ridiculed me. Some
critics predicted that The Times would only become a mouthpiece for the
Unification Church, or end up as a weekly newspaper read by almost no
one. Others said that even if the newspaper maintained acceptable quality,
it would run out of funds in only six months.
Yet year after year, for these past 20 years, The Times has steadily
grown stronger and improved in its quality. The Washington Times has
become one of the world's most-quoted newspapers. It regularly scoops
other major news media. The newspaper's vast collection of award-winning
news stories, editorial and opinion columns, illustrations, and
photographs is testimony to the highest standards of journalism. First,
I wish to thank God for bringing us successfully through these twenty
years of accomplishment. I also wish to offer my praise to all the
employees of The Washington Times for their hard work and dedication. It
is through their efforts that the newspaper has achieved its well-deserved
reputation for distinction in reporting and excellence. Let's give them
all a big round of applause.
I would like to take a moment to explain my reasons for establishing
the The Washington Times two decades ago. It was not for my own personal
interest or to promote the interests of any other organization. In fact,
my decision to launch The Washington Times came while I was facing trial
in New York City on federal tax charges. I could have felt resentment and
anger toward the United States for bringing malicious charges against
me. But instead, I endeavored to serve and love this nation. Instead
of seeking revenge, I turned around and tried to help save the destiny
of this nation. I founded The Washington Times as an expression of my
love for America and to fulfill the Will of God, who seeks to establish
America in His Providence.
During the Cold War, God placed America in a position to protect
worldwide freedom by blocking the attempt by communism to gain world
domination. When the Washington Star closed down in 1981, this nation's
capital was left with only one newspaper, the Washington Post. This
meant that the capital of the Free World had a limited perspective
on news, issues, and policy, which ignored the danger of communism
and its threat to the entire world at that time. In the context of
God's Will, there needed to be a newspaper that had the philosophical
and ideological foundation to encourage and enlighten the people and
leaders of America. For months, I waited with the hope that some patriotic
Americans would start a newspaper in Washington to provide an alternative
voice to the Post. But when it became clear that no one would do so,
I decided we had to do it. Ronald Reagan had been elected president in
a landslide vote. Yet while he tried to maintain a strong stand against
communist expansion, there was much confusion in Washington over what
America's proper response to the Soviet threat should be. The Washington
Times provided leadership through thoughtful commentary and objective
news and information to make clear the harsh reality of communist tyranny.
The Washington Times editorials and columns supported the Strategic
Defense Initiative (SDI) at a time when many were trying to block this
critical development. Years later, former Soviet officials admitted that
it was America's determination to develop SDI that fatally weakened
the resolve of the Soviet leaders. Finally, in 1989 the Berlin Wall
was torn down and on Christmas Eve 1991 the Soviet empire collapsed
after having held the world in fear for 74 years. I thank God that the
Free World prevailed in this historical struggle, which truly was an
ideological battle over acknowledging God or not. It is the principle
that God works His will on Earth through human beings. I do not have
the slightest doubt that God used The Washington Times to help bring an
end to the most pernicious worldwide dictatorship in history and gave
freedom to tens of millions of people!
In the 1980s, the Contras in Nicaragua, El Salvador, and other
countries were fighting for their lives against the communist Sandinistas
who were seeking to seize control of their countries, slaughtering
thousands of people. While other media failed to recognize the seriousness
of the situation, The Washington Times emphasized through its stories
and columns the dangers of communist expansion in the hemisphere and
why the freedom fighters should be supported. Once again, The Times'
news and information helped the leaders in Washington stay strong in
their support for the Contras. Today, many people thank God and The
Washington Times for the fact that freedom and democracy are alive and
well in Central America!
The mission of The Washington Times, however, was not finished with
the end of the Cold War. The fall of communism did not automatically
lead to world peace. Nor did it mean that the ideal society that
God desires would establish itself without any further effort on our
part. Accordingly, during The Washington Times' second decade it had
to rise to a new challenge - that of the "Cultural War," or the fight
against the degradation of values.
God desired that America maintain its traditional family and moral
values, which had fallen into confusion. Secular humanism and extreme
individualism and selfishness were on the rise. As a result of these,
money and material goods have become "gods" to people in terms of their
values. This has led to the decline of religion and the rise of secular
humanism, which have led to the breakdown of families and juvenile
delinquency.
We see evidence of this epidemic everywhere, especially among our
youth: the AIDS epidemic, increased alcoholism and drug use among young
people, teen pregnancies and even murders in the schools. These are all
symptoms that our society is still very distant from God.
Thus, ten years ago, at the 10th anniversary celebration for The Times,
I defined another mission for the media. This is, that the media need to
promote ethics and moral values in our society. For its second ten years,
I envisioned for The Washington Times the task of contributing to bringing
about a moral society. Because a peaceful world is only possible based on
the existence of peaceful, ideal families, The Times became a newspaper
that helped people understand the importance of strong moral, family
values. Even before the term "family values" became a popular phrase,
every day of the week The Times was publishing articles highlighting the
breakdown in values and what must be done to return to a good, moral
society based on family values. The newspaper even began publishing
a weekly Family Times section devoted to these issues. Today, family
values have become an essential piece of the social fabric in America,
even becoming part of the political landscape. We can be proud of The
Washington Times' contribution that promoted and elevated family values
to an essential part of society in America and the world!
The first decade of The Washington Times was marked by its fight for
freedom around the world in the midst of the Cold War. The second decade
was marked by the Cultural War and the emphasis on building families
infused with strong moral values. Now, as we enter the third decade of
The Washington Times, this is the time to emphasize and support faith,
the time to emphasize and support spiritual values that are based on
the faith of each individual. We must all understand clearly about God
and the spiritual aspect of human life. Freedom at the world level,
moral and ethical values at the family level, and faith at the individual
level. These are the three great imperatives for our lives and for the
media as well.
Freedom, family values, and faith are America's most fundamental
spiritual virtues. The reason The Washington Times is called "America's
newspaper" is that it leads the way in putting America's philosophical
tradition into practice. Of course, the phrase "America's newspaper" does
not mean that The Times serves only America for its own sake. Instead,
it serves America as a country that offers itself in service to the
world and all humanity.
Our lives are not just eighty or one hundred years on this Earth. We
are born into this world through our physical parents, but we must
know that ultimately God is our Parent. And after we die in this world,
we continue to live in the world of the spirit. Is there any person on
this Earth who can avoid going into the spirit world when they die? No
matter how much money, knowledge or power he or she accumulated on Earth,
everyone is destined to go into the spirit world eventually. You may have
made great efforts on the Earth to accumulate money, knowledge or power,
but these will not guarantee your happiness in the spirit world. You would
do well to invest effort to learn about spirit world now, since God and
the spirit world are at the roots of our eternal lives. In this sense,
the spirit world is our hometown. How can anyone claim to be a true man
or a true woman if he or she does not know God and the spirit world?
This is the time when each one of us can set his or her faith
compass to God. This is not just Reverend Moon's teaching, it is the
providence of God. As the third component of freedom, family and faith,
this individual connection to God stems from the same root as America's
founding tradition. I hope that each of you will also take up this
mission of the media as your own and accept faith as the essential part
of your character.
We live in an age marked externally by an explosive increase in the
quantity of information. The world is overflowing with information.
The development of digital communications technologies has produced a
sea of information. In the past, it was difficult to get news from out of
the way sources. But now there has been a revolutionary change and people
can be overwhelmed with the amount of news from all around the world. It
the midst of this quantity, there needs to be responsibility for the
quality of people's lives. While the media can provide all the facts,
they also have the responsibility to provide values to prevent confusion
and to provide leadership and direction, especially today when the entire
world is flooded with news and information. The Washington Times and
its affiliated media properties are taking a leading role in this regard.
At the same time as the miraculous growth of The Washington Times
daily newspaper over the past twenty years, other media properties have
also shown spectacular development. These include the National Weekly
Edition, which is distributed to subscribers in all 50 states, presenting
the best from The Times daily paper. We also have Tiempos del Mundo,
the Spanish language weekly newspaper now published in 18 major cities
in 16 countries throughout the hemisphere. Of course, there are sister
newspapers in Seoul and New York, the Segye Ilbo, and in Tokyo, Sekai
Nippo. The Middle East Times presents news and information concerning
that increasingly important region of the world.
Among the magazines, there are Insight, World & I, and Washington Golf
Monthly. The Washington Times Internet site is also among the most popular
newspaper Web sites in the country, attracting hundreds of thousands
of people each week who read more than eighteen million pages of news,
opinion, and commentary every month. This is well coordinated with the
telecommunications industry, including cable television operations,
Potomac Television, Atlantic Video, and the Good Life cable TV that is
delivered to viewers in all 50 states.
The newest member of our media family is one of the oldest privately
held news services in the world. United Press International, with almost
a hundred years of continuous operation, provides news all throughout
the world. UPI will soon unveil a major technology breakthrough. It
will have the ability through an aggregated database to collect stories
from all our media properties and sort them and distribute them based
on content and topic to subscribers around the world.
This new era of media, with the massive distribution of news and
information, requires leadership and clear guidance for the betterment
of individuals based on values and on the knowledge of God and spirit
world. The Washington Times and our family of media have been providing
this direction for the past two decades and will continue to do so into
our third decade. My hope is that each one of you as well will embody the
qualities of defending freedom, promoting family values, and strengthening
your faith in God so that you may become leaders of the world.
God bless you and your families, and may God bless The Washington
Times.
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