I have no official right to rule on anyone's compliance with the ASA
Statement of Faith but was a member of the committee which put the present statement
together, so can say a few things from that standpoint.
1) We do not know at present whether the person who is listed in the directory
is in fact a member of the Unification Church, so the immediate issue may be a
non-problem.
2) The intention of the ASA Statement was not to be the basis for church
fellowship, inter-communion &c but to be a broad but recognizably Christian basis for
those concerned with faith-science issues.
3) I think that Unification theology is fundamentally flawed, especially in its
view of the cross. Moreover, it is difficult to see its idea of the Trinity as that of
the Nicene & Apostles' creeds, as in part 2 of the ASA Statement. However - Unification
members will, of course, try to provide their own interpretations of the Bible & even of
the creeds to make their ideas appear to be consistent with the ASA Statement. This is
what the classical heretics - e.g., Arius - have generally done, & it is why the Church
is sometimes called upon to make explicit positive statements in response to new claims,
and to make explicit condemnations of false teaching.
4) I personally would have no problem with my own church body adopting a
statement affirming that the death of Jesus on the cross was "according to the definite
plan and foreknowledge of God" (Acts 2:23) and declaring, "If anyone says that the
crucifixion of Jesus represented a total or partial failure of God's plan, let him be
anathema." (That is strong but traditional language.) For the ASA to start making such
statements, however, would raise lots of problems. The organization is not, after all,
a church.
5) There is a question of personal integrity involved here as well. Given the
nature of the organization, a member of the Unification Church - or for that matter a
Mormon - can probably sneak in under the radar if he or she wants to. But there clearly
would be some misrepresentation involved.
6) Finally, a related point: I don't see what good purpose the membership
category of "Friend" serves. As Gless has noted, some Christians don't like statements
of faith, but I find myself massively unsympathetic to that view. Anyone - e.g.,
Jehovah's Witnesses - can claim they believe what the Bible teaches, but unless there's
some clear & concise statement about what it is that they understand the Bible to teach,
that says nothing. And there are creedal statements and pieces of creeds in the Bible -
e.g., Dt.26:10 & I Cor.15:3-7. J.N.D. Kelley's _Early Christian Creeds_ gives more
detail.
Shalom,
George
George L. Murphy
gmurphy@raex.com
http://web.raex.com/~gmurphy/