Yes, absolutely. We believe that the cross-cultural marriage Blessing helps transcend the barriers of race, culture, nationality, ethnicity and religion to create one world-wide family.

When the children of enemy families join together through the cross-cultural Holy Marriage Blessing, love each other and build a happy home, the grandparents grow closer to each other. In time, lineages that were once enemies become friends. The family is the pattern for people to live together in harmony. With the grace of God’s Blessing, we will see this become a pattern for nations to live together in harmony.

The marriage Blessing is the marriage ceremony bestowed by the True Parents. Similar to other traditions, it features vows and the exchange of rings, and is legally recognized when administered by a registered officiant. However, the Blessing is unique in that its main purpose is not simply to bring a man and a woman together who love each other, but to restore marriage and family life to the way God intended it to be.

We understand that God had a beautiful ideal for marriage and family, something that we yearn for but often do not experience. We believe that since the beginning of human history, God wanted for each of us to experience living in love, but we have been trapped by the sins of our first ancestors and have lived in a world that does not reflect God’s ideal for us. Through the Blessing, couples come into God’s lineage as direct sons and daughters, and this liberates us to create ideal families that stay together on earth and in heaven.

Once you understand the meaning of the marriage Blessing, you embark upon an enriching five steps. The first is for you and your spouse to receive God’s grace through the Holy Wine Ceremony. Then comes the Wedding Ceremony itself, which includes the exchange of rings, prayer and a sprinkling with Holy Water.

Third, you and your spouse share the Chastening Ceremony, to separate from sin and hurtful actions in the area of marital love. This leads to your forty-day period of spiritual renewal and Three-Day Ceremony of purification, prayer and love together with God.

If your parents were blessed, then you will participate in the second part, the Wedding Ceremony, only. The other steps are to separate from the inheritance of the past, which your parents’ marriage Blessing covers.

True parents are a husband and wife who, based on their personal maturity and God’s Blessing, unite God’s love with their love. Their love is God’s dwelling place on earth. In Father Moon’s words, True parents “determine the standard of value of all that is in motion in heaven and on earth. They are the measure of value that is the hope of all beings. This is true because God is such a being.” The first true parents are the perfected ancestors of all humankind, so we capitalize the term in their case.

This is important because Adam and Eve were meant to be those True Parents, but they fell. Because we have not had True Parents, we have suffered apart from God, and we could not become true husbands and wives and true parents ourselves. Jesus and the Holy Spirit are our spiritual True Parents. On their foundation, God called Sun Myung Moon and Hak Ja Han Moon to be substantial True Parents, to lead us into blessed marriage and completely vanquish sin and suffering.

Every married couple can, must and someday will become true parents. Father Moon said, “I ask you to follow my example. I began this work for a reason. Jesus walked the tragic path of death to resolve this issue, and God suffered through six thousand providential years to resolve it. The path I am walking differs from yours only in scale and scope. My path is at the national and world levels, but in essence it is the same as yours. There is no difference in terms of what you and I should do in our lives.”

In the Blessing vow, couples commit to establish a family in which God dwells, and to bring their children and all people, beyond nation, race and religion, to receive the marriage Blessing. By God’s grace, fulfilling this makes us true parents.

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Blessed children are the progeny of couples who have received the Marriage Blessing. The Blessing changes the family’s lineage from Satan’s to God’s, and so to us, “blessed” means to be released from Satan’s claim due to the Fall of Adam and Eve.

Blessed children are not born mature, and they of course have a personal responsibility to grow and become people of integrity and love. We support our blessed children, as we support all people, to choose a life of goodness and purity in body and soul.

A blessed family is one in which the parents have participated in the Marriage Blessing Ceremony. They affirm that marriage comes from God through True Parents, that they will be faithful to each other forever, that they will raise their children to be pure, and that they will share the Blessing with others. We offer the Marriage Blessing to any couple who understands this and takes the responsibility to fulfill it.

We affirm that those with same-sex attraction are children of God who offer much to the world, and we strive to love and understand everyone. Nonetheless, we consider that homosexuality is not part of God’s design for us. We look at the world and see a pair system composed of complementary plus-minus, or male-female partners. We see life and beauty growing out of this partnership. This natural pattern confirms the biblical revelation in Genesis 1:27, that God’s image is male and female. Social science tells us that families led by the biological mother and father bring overwhelming benefits, both for the individual and society as a whole. Hence in order to more fully resemble God and fulfill His love in our own marriage relationships, and build a peaceful and happy world, the marriage Blessing in our tradition is between a man and a woman.

We consider the family important for many reasons. We see the family as a microcosm of the world. It is the meeting point of past, present and future, and a textbook of love. By loving and valuing our family, we learn how to love and value people all around the world.

The family is the most important foundation for health, happiness and prosperity. Strong families are the key to peaceful communities and a beautiful world. Most important of all, the family is the place where God wants to dwell with His children on earth.

To protect young people from free sex, we promote family life, faith formation, and community education. An intact home with a father and mother is the best way to protect from free sex. Thus, a pro-family culture with good parental standards is the key to the purity of youth as well as adults.

In each step of upbringing, we respect our body as God’s temple. We teach self-discipline and life for others. Our families share God’s words and prayer in home worship, and our communities promote our values through the Women’s Federation for World Peace, American Clergy Leadership Conference, Collegiate Association for the Research of Principles, and Universal Peace Federation. We also work collegially with like-minded organizations.

The marriage Blessing frees us from the sin of the first parents, which has to do with their marriage and is the cause of all sins. We have this sin removed when we are reborn as husband and wife through the marriage Blessing. Satan’s claim on marriage is removed.

The Blessing does not bring instant perfection. What it does is open a gate to the path of perfection that was never opened before. Each husband and wife now can step forward to fulfill the purpose of creation, even if we make mistakes along the way, knowing that God is always with us.