False Dawn: The United Religions Initiative

[Denise]

False Dawn: The United Religions Initiative, Globalism, and the Quest for a One-World Religion.
By Lee Penn.
Sophia Perennis (P.O. Box 611, Hillsdale NY 12529;
sophiaperennis.com). 490 pages. $27.95.

Subtle is the serpent who whispered into the first woman's ear, selling her on the benefits of eating from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. There was no need for a hard sell. After all, who wouldn't want to be like God? Eve couldn't resist, and her husband bought in. We know the rest of the story. This is the attraction of the New Age movement at its core.

The United Religions Initiative (URI) is what some call "the most ambitious organization in today's interfaith movement." It was founded by William Swing, the Episcopal Bishop of California. Lee Penn, a Catholic investigative reporter, chronicles the beliefs, history, supporters, and potential future aspirations of the organization and the encompassing movement.

The movement and the URI are being promoted by New Age/ New World Order liberals and fellow travelers, many of whom have position, money, and influence. The URI Charter states that the organization's purpose is "to promote enduring, daily interfaith cooperation" and to "end religiously motivated violence."

The URI denies that it wants to synthesize the world's religions or start a new world religion, yet founder Swing's book, The Coming United Religions, says, "The time comes, though, when common language and a common purpose for all religions and spiritual movements must be discerned and agreed upon. Merely respecting and understanding other religions is not enough."

Some of the world's biggest names are behind this movement, including Mikhail Gorbachev, Ted Turner, and George Soros. Funding for the URI and URI-related initiatives has come from wealthy individuals and foundations. For example, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation gave $1 million in 2003 to the Global AIDS Interfaith Alliance, a URI-affiliated organization.

One of the more objectionable aspects of the URI is its desire to reduce great religions such as Judaism to the same standing as, say, Wicca. In fact, it can be argued that pseudo-religions are given higher standing than Christianity, the clearest expression of truth on earth. Thus, the URI's goal is to emasculate Christianity.

Penn astutely points out that Bishop Swing and others allied with the URI hypocritically "condemn Christian proselytization, yet evangelize with zeal on behalf of the URI."

As Archbishop of San Francisco, William Levada co-operated closely (de facto) with the URI. The Vatican is presently noncommittal regarding the URI. But Penn points out that "Before Vatican II, Catholic teaching on the interfaith movement was clear and strict: stay away."

Penn uncovers unpalatable aspects of the one-world movement that aren't typically shown to the public. For instance, some leaders of the movement have historically demonstrated their love of tyrants and mass murderers such as Hitler. Some worshiped atomic bombs. Alice Bailey, a now-deceased New Age leader, even proposed dropping one on the pope!

Gordon Davidson and Corrine McLaughlin, both members of the Council of Advisors of Pathways to Peace, a URI affiliate, wrote a book titled Spiritual Politics, which featured a glowing Foreword by the Dalai Lama. In the book, the authors write that "there is a role for the right use of destruction when it is used against rigid and crystallized forms of thought…." (Such as Christianity? Just wondering.)

One recurring theme present in nearly all the one-world proponents is a lack of belief in cultural freedom. Robert Muller, former UN Assistant Secretary-General and public supporter of the URI, would ban alcohol, smoking, and even sodas worldwide. He believes that liberty as we understand it is obsolete, and recommends "armed prophets" to enforce the rules. Muller also says that "all those who hold contrary beliefs" to those favored in the "next phase of evolution" will "disappear." Nice.

Penn believes, as do I, that much of the rise in popularity of the New Age movement is due to the void left by Christianity.

The family is also under attack by New Age change agents, as many of them are fully aware that the family is the primary building block of society.

Neale Donald Walsh, author of the Conversations with God series, says as his alter-ego (God): "Thou Art God" and "There is no such thing as right and wrong."

Penn offers a warning not to dismiss the activities and beliefs of the URI and their globalist, New Age allies as "too bizarre to take seriously." They are indeed bizarre, but they are legion, many with money, power, and influence in abundance. We dismiss them at our peril.

Penn presents the great threat to our way of life from these dark forces of the Left. Later, he postulates that as dangerous as they are, a storm is also possible from the Right. He offers the following admonition: "Evil does not necessarily come from our identified enemies; it can arise amongst our friends and allies -- and most perilously, from ourselves. Examination of conscience is essential to spiritual survival." Penn's willingness to look honestly into the current state of his own religion, Catholicism, is admirable. He compares a statement from Archbishop Charles Chaput of the Archdiocese of Denver ("What seems to me white, I will believe black if the hierarchical Church so defines") to one made by the Inner Party inquisitor in George Orwell's 1984 ("Whatever the Party holds to be truth is truth").

The "action" section of the book is where I had trouble with some of the author's points. Of course I wouldn't argue with his exhortation: "Prayer and repentance are the only way that we will see beyond the confines of the ‘box,' to perceive what is really occurring." But Penn is skeptical whether social and political action can work any longer.

On the whole, Lee Penn did a fantastic job of illuminating a critical subject. The one-world movement is a spiritual and physical threat of the first order. I urge everyone to read False Dawn.

- Patrick Rooney

NOR

[KarlB]

You'd have to think the URI has an active chapter in the RCC hierarchy, mostly resident in the national bishop's conferences.