UK, from culture capital of the world to capital of peace

  To realise the true teaching of religion, cease conflicts caused by religions and build a peaceful world, the UK branch of Heavenly Culture World Peace Restoration of Light (HWPL, Chairman Man Hee Lee) held the third religious scripture dialogue under the theme of ‘Angels & Demons’ on July 8th, 2015.

  Starting from March 26th, this year, it is the third dialogue that the UK branch of HWPL has hosted. This time, it was held in the historical setting of Conway Hall, London which is possibly the oldest surviving free thought organisation in the world.

  Religious Leaders who participated included Muslim leader and Officer of the Order of the British Empire, Seyed Yousif Al Khoei OBE, Buddhist monk Phramaha Bhatsakorn Piyobhaso, Dr. Tanaji Acharya representing Hinduism, a Sikh educationalist Mr. Jagmeet Singh, and Christian scholar Mr. Justin Brand. As participants of the first and second Scripture Dialogues, Seyed Yousif Al Khoei OBE and Phramaha Bhatsakorn Piyobhaso took an active part in the dialogue, showing the significance of the dialogue.

United Kingdom Religious Leaders at the 3rd Scripture Dialogue 

  Each representative proclaimed the necessity of peace which needs to be fulfilled in the shaking world, including the UK, due to religious extremism. They also testified that every scripture is exclaiming about making peace, and they demonstrated that the correct understanding of scriptures is the key solution to many terrors related to religions.

  One member of the audience, Adam Harvey, a student from Imperial College London, commented “All the war and conflict between religions that has arisen in the past and is still going on today, I know that it was because those people didn’t understand the true meaning of religion. It is amazing to see different religions together in harmony. I believe through these HWPL dialogues all religions can be united and an end to war can actually be achieved.”

  Religious leaders presented on the topic of good, and evil in order to tackle the root cause of why there is evil in today’s world and spiritually what the source of evil is. The highly debated subject of whether God created evil provided a new perspective regarding good and evil spirits. Moreover some of the discussion examined what makes a person good or evil, and subsequently the reason why some people are led to peace whereas some are led to cause disruption and war. 

The First WARP Office in Latvia, the Pearl of the Baltic Sea

Innovative Dialogue led by religious leaders from five religious bodies -Lutheran Church, Buddhism, Catholicism, Hinduism and Islam-Under the theme of ‘Definition of True Peace according to the Scripture’


  Riga, Latvia- Heavenly Culture, World Peace, Restoration of Light (“HWPL”, Chairman Man Hee Lee) held their first Dialogue of Scriptures through the World Alliance of Religions’ Peace (WARP) Office at Riga Business School in Riga, Latvia on June 11th 2015. Embarking on the very first dialogue in Latvia, a Hindu representative Yogi Matsyendranath (of Natha Sampradaya) and other religious leaders from various faiths such as Lutheran Church, Buddhism, Catholicism, and Islam presented and discussed under the theme of ‘Definition of True Peace according to the Scripture.’Also headed by Randa Medne, the president of a youth group ‘Latvian 4-H’, and Gatis Kondrāts, a founder of ‘Street warriors’, many youth participated and had Q&A time about the contents of the presentations.

The event first began by watching introduction videos of HWPL and WARP Summit, an unprecedented international peace festival held in last September in Republic of Korea. All the religious leaders who had seen the video of WARP summit for the first time were pleased to join such a great peace activity as Latvian peace delegates, being amazed by the large scale of HWPL’s peace movement.

  Through the presentations of each religious leader, the important role of religious leader to establish peace was emphasized which led to the signing of the peace agreement, promising each other that they will continuously meet together for the purpose of peace. By listening to the statements of religious leaders, the youth participants had confidence that this meeting that discovers the answer to peace within each religious scripture would be the basis of all peace works.

 The WARP office of HWPL, which is already being established globally with 62 offices in 41 countries, will also be held in many parts of the world in June including India and Switzerland. It is continuously being established all around the globe by religious leaders voluntarily and it aims to compare religious scriptures to recognize the true will of God, which is peace, not war, even within all the different teachings, and to become one. It is favorably reviewed as a practical way to advance the realization of world peace, because the Peace Dialogue does not end with just ‘recognizing’ the matter but encourage religious leaders to put ‘steady efforts’ to achieve a common goal, “World Peace.”

  Heavenly Culture, World Peace, Restoration of Light (“HWPL”), the host of the event, is a non-profit international peace organization that is spreading peace movement most enthusiastically and systematically in the world. HWPL has affiliated organizations, International Women’s Peace Group (“IWPG”, Chairwoman Nam Hee Kim), and International Peace Youth Group (“IPYG”, Director Du Hyun Kim) and they are working through and for the women and youth members in the world. Initiated and led by Chairman Lee of HWPL, the affiliates are proceeding to enact an international law to cease all wars besides the establishment of the WARP Offices. Chairman Lee played a key role in ending a 40-year religious conflict in Mindanao, Philippines where it used to be the hotspot of Asia. On May 25th 2015, he visited Mindanao and participated in the 2nd Annual Commemoration of the Declaration of World Peace and held International Peace Youth Group Walk Festival. By doing this, Catholic and Muslim representatives expressed their will to collect all hearts of the people for peace. With a growing support and cooperation of the international community, well-known places like city of Alexandria in Virginia state, Mindanao Philippines, and Royal Bafokeng Nation in Republic of South Africa have acknowledged HWPL’s achievements by unveiling peace monuments and designating May 25th as ‘HWPL Day’ as a day of world peace.

  Of three Baltic States, Latvia’s first WARP Office is expected to play a key role as catalyst to remind the neighboring countries of the importance of peace. In this event, it was even more noteworthy that religious leaders who promised to become one through the peace agreement positively discussed the 2nd HWPL’s WARP Office in Latvia.

HWPL vows to keep building Peace beyond Religious Boundaries

Religious Leaders of Georgia Showed Strength of Unity for World Peace Tbilisi, On the 18th of March, ‘HWPL World Alliance of Religions’ Peace Office Meeting’ was held for the cessation of wars and world peace at GIPA Frontline Georgia in Tbilisi, capital city of Georgia.

  At the event hosted by Heavenly Culture, World Peace, Restoration of Light (HWPL, chairman Man Hee Lee), an international peace organization whose headquarter is located in the Republic of Korea, prominent religious leaders of Islam, Baptist Church, Judaism, Armenian Orthodox Church and representatives from Public Defender’s Office gathered together to converse about the differences of each religion.

  HWPL, an NGO registered under the Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs, aims to bring wars to an end and to create a world of peace. Under HWPL, there are International Women’s Peace Group (IWPG, chairwoman Nam Hee Kim) and International Peace Youth Group (IPYG, director Du Hyun Kim).

  Under the theme of ‘Define true peace in your religion’, the peace dialogue was held for the religious leaders who have aspiration for peace to discuss practical solutions to achieving peace together. The participants including Aliev(Shia Islam), Zurab Tsetskhladze(Sunni Islam), Malkhaz Songulashvili(Baptist), Priest Narek Kushyan (Armenian Orthdodox) and Beka Mindiashvili (Public Defender’s Office) made a step forward to world peace.

  Deborah Oh (HWPL delegation), the modulator began the meeting saying “75-80% of the wars which has occurred in human history were due to religions. Although there have been conflicts because of misunderstandings among various religions, we can make a difference through conversation. Let’s open our hearts together and find out a true meaning of peace. I hope this will be a time for all of you to learn from one another.”

  Starting off with watching the video of peace movement of Mr. Man Hee Lee, chairman of HWPL and Ms. Nam Hee Kim to introduce the purpose of the event, they had time to define a true peace from religious perspectives. Zurab Tsetskhaldze (Sunni Islam leader, Georgia) said “we need to be a part of the World Alliance of Religions’ Peace Office’. Violence is prohibited in Islam. We should endeavor for world peace not just on the document but in reality.”

  Malkhaz Songulashvili, archbishop of the Evangelical Baptist Church of Georgia mentioned “Peace is important for Georgia, a neighboring country of Syria and Iraq. I hope this peace movement will accelerate making a practical foot step towards understanding different religions rather than just remaining as another project. That is the reason I am participating in this gathering.” After discussion, playing OX quiz on similarities and differences among religions added fun along with learning about each religion. The event was concluded with a peace agreement ceremony to pledge to bring all wars to an end and to become united regardless of religious boundaries for peace in Georgia and the whole world.

  What made the religious leaders decide to gather for this meeting was because of the success of the World Alliance of Religions’ Peace (WARP) Summit hosted by HWPL which took place in Seoul, Republic of Korea last September. Mr. Man Hee Lee, the chairman of HWPL proposed to establish the Alliance of Religions’ Peace Office to be a neutral platform for leaders all around the world to deepen their understandings through discussion and transcend different ideologies to become one as a whole.

  On the next day, a meeting was held between HWPL’s Delegation and 19 representatives of various organizations including Georgian youth ICCN, City Hall Youth Department, Innovation Center at the Georgia University. These representatives also discussed about ways they could cooperate with IPYG, a youth division of HWPL to achieve world peace through setting up a Peace Office in the times to come. The fruitful nature of these meetings for peace shows promise and great growth in the near future. HWPL vows to keep building Peace beyond Religious Boundaries.

Chairman of HWPL, Man Hee Lee, who is he?

Date of birth 15th September 1931

Community Leader
Pioneer of the New Community Movement, which revitalized the post-war Korean economy through innovative village-centered strategies.

International Peace Advocate
HEAVENLY CULTURE, WORLD PEACE, RESTORATION OF LIGHT | Chairman
A non-governmental, non-profit organization registered under the Seoul Metropolitan Government as per Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs that transcends differences in cultures, beliefs and religions to engage leaders and youth in sustainable and comprehensive solutions for peace. He travelled on world peace tours (73 countries) to meet with diverse leaders to have discussions regarding HWPL peace initiatives.

Heavenly Culture, World Peace, Restoration of Light (HWPL): http://www.hwpl.kr/

Chairman

Heavenly Culture, World Peace, Restoration of Light (HWPL)

January 2000 – Present (15 years 7 months)

● Heavenly culture, World Peace, Restoration of Light
● Office of the Alliance of Religions
● World Alliance of religions: Peace (WARP) summit
● The Philippines Mindanao Peace Treaty & Peace Walk
● International Peace Youth Group: walk for peace restoration
● World Peace Festival in 2012
● World Peace Initiative in 2012
● Korean Declaration of Unification in 2010
● Guinness record Largest Hand-Printed Korean Flag (Taegukki) in Republic of korea, 2009

The Philippines Mindanao Peace Treaty & Peace Walk

2014

• Organized the Peace Walk at Mindanao Island in The Philippines to promote inter-religious dialogue and communication between the Islamic and Catholic community with over 1,000 participants in attendance.

• In conclusion, religious leaders representing both religions signed the HWPL Peace Treaty, a defining moment of change in the midst of the island’s 40 year conflict.

WARP summit ended last year but it' message is continue to spreading through the wrold

September 19, 2014 was the last day of WARP summit, and 2nd press conference was held in which the Chairman of HWPL briefed to media participants about the achievements of WARP summit and answered their questions. WARP summit became the cornerstone for achieving world peace, by more than 600 religious leaders signing interfaith peace agreement.

To celebrate these achievements, Peace Walk was held at the Gate of Peace in Seoul Olympic Park, the same place where the 1stIPYG Peace Walk was held in 2013 and Chairman Mr. Lee read the Declaration of World Peace. Approximately 200,000 participants including IPYG affiliated youth from more than 100 countries participated to make one voice that international law should be enacted to cease all wars.

Remembering July 7, 2005 London Bombings

July 7, 2015 marks the 10 year anniversary of the  London underground bombing.  As I watched news, I hear the victims of the bombing remembering the day that changed  their life and the life of many people in England.

The 7 July 2005 London bombings were a series of coordinated suicide bomb attacks in central London which targeted civilians using the public transport system during the morning rush hour.  On the morning of Thursday, 7 July 2005, four Islamists separately detonated three bombs in quick succession aboard London Underground trains across the city and, later, a fourth on a double-decker bus in Tavistock Square.  Fifty- two civilians were killed and over 700 more were injured in the attacks, the United Kingdom's worst terrorist incident sine the 1988 Lockerbie bombing as well as the country's first ever suicide attack.

The Explosions were caused by homemade organic peroxice-based device packed into backpacks.  The bombings were followed two weeks later by a series of attempted attacks that failed to cause injury or damage.

As noted from above, the suicide bombers were Islamists.  The Chairman of  HWPL, Mr. Man Hee Lee,  has been working to bring inter-religion conversation among the leaders  of different religions.  He had said that most of the war and conflict came from religious difference.  He held WARP ( World Alliance of the Religions for Peace) Summit September 2014.

The summit was attended by more than 50 political leaders, over 680 religious leaders from 120 countries.  

The WARP Summit was the larges event where politicians, people of religion, and representatives of various organizations from all around the world attended.  The Summit, which is the result of Mr. Lee's World Peace Tours.   Mr. Man Hee Lee presented the Peace Agreement which stated that religious leaders must united their as one under the Creator in order to bring all wars to an end an leave world peace as a legacy to future generations, and the representatives of the UN should make the utmost efforts to enact an international law for the cessation of all wars and contribute  e to world peace.   As the agreement was read aloud, it was emphasized once again that peace cannot be achieved by one individual but achieved through the unity of all people working together as one.  I think we can prevent attack like 7 July 2005 if we joining with Mr. Man Hee Lee and works together to open up the conversation among religions.