[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 149 (2003), Part 21]
[House]
[Page 29570]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




 ACKNOWLEDGING AN OUTSTANDING INDIVIDUAL SUPPORTING PEACE IN OUR WORLD 
                  NAMED REVEREND DR. MICHAEL BECKWITH

  (Ms. Watson asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute.)
  Ms. WATSON. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to acknowledge an extraordinary 
human being. Reverend Dr. Michael Beckwith, an outstanding man, an 
emissary of peace and a humanitarian for all people, has made a 
profound and lasting impact on our world through his distinctive stand 
for peace and harmony in our community.
  Having known Reverend Michael, as his community affectionately refers 
to him, since he was a child, I can unequivocally say that his life is 
a testament to building community. In the 1970s, he began a journey 
that to this day embraces the major religions, philosophies and 
cultures of East and West. One significant manifestation of his vision 
began in 1986 when Dr. Beckwith founded Agape, a transdenominational 
community with over 9,000 members currently devoted to the study and 
practice of the New Thought-Ancient Wisdom tradition of spirituality.
  If it is so, as Emerson has stated, that every institution is but the 
lengthened shadow of one person, then the Agape International Spiritual 
Center, the Association for Global New Thought, and the Season for 
Nonviolence are all indeed extensions of Dr. Beckwith. Furthermore, 
they are distinctly an emblem of his vision of one human family united 
on a foundation of peace based on the spiritual origin of every man, 
woman and child.
  Mr. Speaker, I rise today to acknowledge an extraordinary human 
being. Rev. Dr. Michael Beckwith, an outstanding man, an emissary of 
peace, and a humanitarian for all people, who has made a profound and 
lasting impact on our world through his distinctive stand for peace and 
harmony in our community.
  Having known ``Reverend Michael,'' as his community affectionately 
refers to him, since he was a child, I can unequivocally say that his 
life is a testament to building community. In the 1970's he began a 
journey that to this day embraces the major religions, philosophies and 
cultures of East and West. One significant manifestation of this vision 
began in 1986 when Dr. Beckwith founded Agape, a trans-denominational 
community with over 9,000 members currently devoted to the study and 
practice of the New Thought--Ancient Wisdom tradition of spirituality.
  If it is so, as Emerson has stated, that, ``every institution is but 
the lengthened shadow of one person,'' then the Agape International 
Spiritual Center, the Association for Global New Thought and the Season 
for Nonviolence are all indeed extensions of Dr. Beckwith. Furthermore, 
they are distinctly emblematic of his vision of one human family united 
on a foundation of peace based on the spiritual origin of every man, 
woman and child.
  One of the largest churches of its kind, the Agape church is a 
portrait of multiculturalism. The diversity you will find attending 
service on Sunday can be compared to the diversity that would be found 
by walking into the United Nations. Further, Agape's unique outreach 
ministry reaches deep into the heart of the community to care for city, 
country and world citizens who need it most.
  But Dr. Beckwith's impact is even greater. His entire life, being 
dedicated to serving his community and creating harmony in our world, 
has attracted the movement's most influential visionaries, leaders and 
teachers including Arun Gandhi and his Holiness the Dalai Lama of 
Tibet. Coretta Scott King wrote in a personal letter to Reverend 
Michael upon his election as an assembly member of the Parliament of 
the World's Religions, ``I greatly admire what you are doing to bring 
about the Beloved Community, which is certainly what my dear husband 
worked for an ultimately gave his life.''
  Whether it's through his leadership as president of the Association 
of Global New Thought where he stands with co-creative leaders on the 
threshold of an evolutionary leap that dares to call an end to human 
suffering, as the author of Forty Day Mind Fast-Soul Feast and A 
Manifesto of Peace, or as co-founder of the Season for Nonviolence, a 
grassroots effort expanding the power and truth of non-violence, 
Reverend Michael stands before us as an exemplary guide to living in a 
world united by humankind's highest spiritual, philosophical, 
educational and scientific expression.

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