Mannam- The Statement and the Apology

1) In Which Scroozle Almost Gets Suckered Into Attending a ‘Cult’ Activity
2) Mannam- A Follow-Up Investigation
3) Mannam Part 3- The Unintended Trilogy
4) 2012 Shinchonji Olympiad
5) Is Shinchonji Actually Using Mannam to Promote Itself?
6) Mannam- The Statement and the Apology
7) Mannam, Shinchonji, and the World Peace Initiative (WPI)- Thoughts Around the Web
8) The Curious Case of the Disappearing Article
9) Shinchonji Sincheonji Shinchunji 신천지
10) The Book of Shinchonji
11) 24 Questions asked by Samsung’s Lee Byung-chul, Answered by Shinchonji’s Lee Man Hee, and rebutted by Crimson North’s Scroozle
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On Wednesday, August 29th, Mannam had the following to say:

Dear MANNAM members,

We are well aware of the rumors and speculations currently circulating around the connection between MANNAM and a certain Christian church in South Korea. MANNAM headquarters will release an official statement explaining everything to anyone who wants to know. In the meantime please consider your actions carefully.

We as MANNAM members are bound by a code of conduct that does not tolerate discrimination against any group of people who have not been legally tried and found guilty. This is not only the basis of MANNAM but also of all democratic societies.

This page is not open for personal, racial, religious, or cultural discrimination, or slander of any kind. We apologize for allowing this kind of behavior to continue for this long.

Please be advised any further links or posts that are intended to further spread incorrect information will be deleted along with the poster. If such a poster is a MANNAM member, we expect that he or she would ask Headquarters (people who are able to answer your questions) about such things rather than simply posting them in the group.

Thank you for reading this. Please direct any further inquiries to me via our MANNAM website (www.mannamintl.org).

Three days later, they issued their prepared statement, which I will post in its entirety:

Dear MANNAM volunteers,

This is an official statement and apology issued for the purpose of bringing MANNAM
Volunteer Association members and all other interested parties to a full understanding
of the relationship between MANNAM Volunteer Association (MVA), Shinchonji (SCJ)
and the World Peace Initiative (WPI).

What follows is a simple and correct explanation of the most frequently asked questions.
If you still have further questions after reading this official statement, please contact us
at the details provided in the letterhead of this document.

We hope this allows everyone to move past this difficult time and continue towards the
two main goals of bringing all people together and pursuing world peace.

Thank you.

• How are MANNAM Volunteer Association (MANNAM), and
Shinchonji (SCJ) and the World Peace Initiative (WPI), different and
what is their current relationship?

In order to understand these relationships fully, we must first explain their history
and provide some background information on each party.

MANNAM Volunteer Association

MANNAM was created through the idea of volunteerism. It was founded in 2008
by its current chairwoman, Kim Namhee. It is a registered non-profit organization. Its
constitution and accounts are documents of public record and it is accountable for its
conduct to the Korean authorities. The international section of MANNAM was set up in
2011 and is for expatriates living in Korea. It comprises various cultural and sports
groups as well as volunteer activities such as serving the community in orphanages,
senior homes, and providing help for the underprivileged. There are currently over 50
regional branches of MANNAM within Korea and a small number internationally.
MANNAM Constitution and Code of Conduct

The broad objective of this organization is to provide and promote peace through
volunteering by bringing people of different nationalities and cultures together.
MANNAM is, by its constitution and code of conduct, strictly a secular organization.

Shinchonji

Shinchonji is a Christian church. For more information please refer your
inquiries to: idshinchonji@gmail.com

The World Peace Initiative

This movement is not new. It was created through the hearts of individuals
longing for peace, and is an idea which has been around throughout the ages. Those
currently working on the WPI have simply picked up where others failed or lost interest.
The name WPI was created before the movement began here in Korea, but was sidelined
for one reason or another. They chose this name because it incorporates the basic
principles of the people involved, which is to actively work towards achieving world
peace through the understanding and acceptance of diversity: to promote peace as an
active initiative to the world.

The current relationship between these three parties

The diagram on the following page illustrates how people from MANNAM began
and supported the World Peace Initiative. People from the World Peace Initiative began
to support and join MANNAM. People from Shinchonji began to support first
MANNAM, and by association, became involved with WPI. The current relationship is
that of many members of WPI, MANNAM and SCJ are working together towards the
common goal of attaining world peace. These efforts are being made through many
activities including, but not limited to, the World Peace Festival.

That being said, there are many other religious groups which are also a part of
both WPI and MANNAM - each volunteer serving this cause brings with them their own
beliefs which are respected and valued. There are also many non-religious people who
are active members of both WPI and MANNAM. There are also many individuals who do
not belong to MANNAM or SCJ, but are solely active within the WPI project. The above
example serves to illustrate the differences between the three parties addressed in this
document.

• Are MANNAM and Shinchonji co-hosting the same event of the World
Peace Festival?

Yes, and both parties will bring the different aspects of peace though their various
performances, yet many changes have been made on both sides. The World Peace
Festival is an event which reflects the shared values of all the people present on that
day.

The Shinchonji Olympiad was scheduled to take place at this time after a previous event
in 2008. SCJ had secured a venue capable of housing an event involving thousands of
people and had a full program planned. MANNAM had been in the process of creating a
large-scale event for its affiliated sports clubs. Despite the current accusations against
MANNAM, its association with Mr. Lee has never been actively hidden. At certain times
this has made the securing of venues for our events difficult. Aside from these
difficulties, and based on the reports of the organizers, the honorary chairman of
MANNAM, head pastor of SCJ, asked if the international division of MANNAM would
like to join them at their venue, where the two groups could compete against one another
for the sole purpose of entertainment and good sport. Once MANNAM came on board,
plans were generously altered to create a new event in which both groups could
participate fully and without compromising their core values.

As to why this was not disclosed earlier, please refer to Question “Why wasn't the
relationship between WPI, MANNAM, and SCJ disclosed from the
beginning?”

As with any other MANNAM event, the aim of this event is not to promote Shinchonji,
or any other religion to MANNAM members. We would like to make it very clear that
there will be other VIPs in attendance and members of both the local and international
community. Both management teams have made it very clear that the aim of the day’s
event is to foster a spirit of unity and brotherhood among people. This is a day purely to
enjoy a large-scale event with other people representing different religions, cultures and
ethnic groups from all over the world who genuinely want to do good.

Why wasn't the relationship between WPI, MANNAM, and SCJ disclosed
from the beginning?

For this, we are extremely sorry. Misleading people, directly or indirectly, was
never our intention and it is regrettable that we made the decisions which brought us to
this very sore point. As the oversight for MANNAM International, we acknowledge that
we should have handled this situation very differently, and we would like to apologize for
not handling the situation better or expediting the explanation to solve this situation
sooner. We honestly never assumed, nor did it enter our minds, that people would react
in such a destructive manner.

To those of our volunteers who may have been hurt, as I know some of you have been; to
those who have borne up under criticism and questioning about things which you were
not prepared with an answer, for this, we the planning team and leadership of MANNAM
International, are sincerely sorry.

Initially, our failure to disclose the full details of our relationship with the Shinchonji
church was to protect our quickly growing volunteer group from the baseless accusations
leveled against MANNAM because of the connection with this particular church. This
was also done to protect certain members who are a part of Shinchonji church who did
not want to expose their affiliation due to the intolerant climate of the society. Our
reasoning followed that a person's religious preference, much like their sexuality or any
other personal detail, is not relevant to the public. If a person was involved in criminal
affairs, or under current censure of law, we would view things differently, but until due
cause is given, we hoped to maintain a spirit of unity and equality without unfair
discrimination within our volunteer groups. We recognize that we should have placed
more trust in the quality of your personalities - you have shown yourselves to be very
upstanding and wonderful people, and in retrospect, it seems almost certain we could
have avoided this whole debacle.

We wish, with all of our hearts, that we could go back and change what has taken place,
but the simple fact is, we cannot. We are asking you to forgive us so that we can all move
past this terrible event the best we can and begin to heal the world by first healing each
other.

Where does the money come from to support MANNAM activities and
where does it go?

MANNAM is not supported by any one particular entity. The money comes from
our volunteers' contributions, donations from those attending our events, and the sale of
our products such as t-shirts, books, CDs, DVDs, etc. We have many members who are
not able to donate monetarily so they offer their services free of charge; services such as
parking lot attendant, booth attending, interpretation, or performing. None of these
services are paid for, but are offered out of the kindness of their hearts and through the
spirit of volunteerism. There are no membership fees for MANNAM, nor is any money
demanded from any members. MANNAM will never force anyone to participate in any
activity which the member feels uncomfortable doing, nor will they force any member to
donate any money they are unwilling to give. All accounts can and will be made available
for inspection. We also have many members who wish to remain anonymous, who are
more capable of offering monetary donations and contributions, but are simply unable to
offer their time to do any physical volunteer activities. The money is used to provide for
the classes, events, trips, and advertisements such as printing costs, for MANNAM and
all events and activities thereof.

Why did MANNAM Volunteer Association choose to associate with
Shinchonji?

MANNAM Volunteer Association and Shinchonji are entirely separate legal
entities, with different constitutions, memberships, and objectives, with but one
common goal, that of world peace. MANNAM does not consider Shinchonji to be a cult,
as it does not display sufficient characteristics to be such. For a list of characteristics
which constitute cultic behavior, please refer to sites like http://www.icsahome.com (the
International Cultic Studies Association home page). There is lots of helpful information
to be gained from correctly understanding the terminology.

MANNAM is not a vehicle for the recruitment of members to Shinchonji, nor
does it have any future intention to be such. MANNAM is a secular organization. The
promotion of, or discrimination against any group of people, including any religious group, is strictly prohibited. If any MANNAM member breaks the Constitution or the
Code of Conduct or otherwise acts in a way that negatively reflects of the constitution of
MANNAM , actions may be taken against that individual or group. That being said,
during the beginning stages of MANNAM, when the organization needed help the most,
it reached out to many organizations and businesses within the local community.
Shinchonji was the only one which stepped forward and offered its full support. There
are no grounds, other than documented legal transgressions or transgressions of
MANNAM’s constitution, on which MANNAM will exclude individuals who want to
volunteer with us. To do so would violate our own code of conduct.

Conclusion

MANNAM believes in taking personal responsibility for its actions and conduct.
Mistakes have been made and as a direct result of the recent criticisms, steps will be
taken to make the organization much more open and transparent. There will also be a
thorough review of its documentation, its conduct, its PR and even greater care will be
taken to stress that it is a secular organization.

At the same time, it is also important to focus on what MANNAM actually does.
For example, the running club, MIRC, runs and competes in local events. The cooking
group cooks. The language classes help people learn various languages. Each group
espouses volunteerism. Recent volunteer projects include dispensing coal briquettes to
residents of a shanty town in Gangnam, preserving trees in Bukhansan National Park,
helping various farming communities, organizing a Paralympic event for children, and
the list goes on.

MANNAM is entitled to a fair trial – to be given the opportunity to respond, not
to be judged and condemned in private and at the speed of lightning in cyberspace. A
reputation is quickly tarnished and it takes a long time to re-build. To this end, we will
deal with any reasonable enquiry, or request for information in person or in writing in an
open, honest and transparent way to the utmost of our ability. In return, we ask that you
judge us on the totality of the facts, and by this, we mean all the documentation and
more particularly our conduct and actions and not just on hearsay, or internet rumor, or
fragments of information. In essence, we ask our accusers to treat us in the way that they
would expect to be treated themselves, not summarily.

Finally, if you feel that our conduct as demonstrated through our volunteering, our
sports, or any of our cultural clubs and activities, does not match what we proscribe, we
welcome criticism in order that we might evolve and improve.

Thank you for taking the time to carefully consider this letter. We hope to continue
bringing help and hope to those who need it with you in the future.

See you at the World Peace Festival!

Sincerely

 

Lisa Baik
MANNAM Volunteer Association
International div. coordinator

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My thoughts:

“MANNAM was created through the idea of volunteerism. It was founded in 2008 by its current chairwoman, Kim Namhee.”

That’s not true:

Perhaps the 2008 date is a typo. I have been known to make quite a few over the years. But 3 and 8 aren’t exactly placed close to each other on the keyboard.

“Shinchonji

Shinchonji is a Christian church. For more information please refer your
inquiries to: idshinchonji@gmail.com”

Really? An e-mail address? Not a link to one of their many, many, many sites? And not an official e-mail address, but a Gmail one?

“This [WPI] movement is not new. It was created through the hearts of individuals longing for peace, and is an idea which has been around throughout the ages. Those currently working on the WPI have simply picked up where others failed or lost interest. The name WPI was created before the movement began here in Korea, but was sidelined for one reason or another.”

Citation? Is Mannam’s WPI the same as this, this, this, or 342,000 others? It sure looks like the name was created before coming to Korea, but all those other organizations are separate and not linked with one another. Co-opting the name from other initiatives doesn’t suddenly give yours legitimacy.

“That being said, there are many other religious groups which are also a part of both WPI and MANNAM”

Which ones? Some volunteer members may happen to be Muslim, Buddhist, or whatever, but that doesn’t mean religious groups are a part of Mannam. “There are many other religious groups” is not the same as “individuals of different religious backgrounds volunteer through Mannam”. I did find evidence of a Crystal Cathedral in America being tied to Mannam, but they sure weren’t happy when Mannam’s honorary chairmen held a lecture there.

Lee Manhee isn’t just the pastor of Shinchonji. He’s the man in charge. He’s the founder. He’s the anointed one. You don’t say: “Scientology {the church of which L. Ron Hubbard was the pastor}”. You say: “Scientology {the faith of which L. Ron Hubbard was the creator}”.

“We would like to make it very clear that there will be other VIPs in attendance and members of both the local and international community.”

Like who? And do they know the Shinchonji Olympiad is happening at the same time?

“The money comes from our volunteers' contributions, donations from those attending our events, and the sale of our products such as t-shirts, books, CDs, DVDs, etc.”

Those must be some pretty crazy sales. You’re looking to bus in 2000 foreigners to this event from all over the country, and provide them with free swag. Plus you have enough funds to host these things on the side.

“We also have many members who wish to remain anonymous, who are
more capable of offering monetary donations and contributions, but are simply unable to offer their time to do any physical volunteer activities. The money is used to provide for the classes, events, trips, and advertisements such as printing costs, for MANNAM and all events and activities thereof.”

How terribly convenient.

“The promotion of… including any religious group, is strictly prohibited.”

You’re flying people in, through Qatar Airways, to an event being put on by the SCJ church. Your flag-signing initiative was used to plug the SCJ church on TV. Your people have the same hand gesture as the church, and you’re both quick to use it in photo-ops.

“MANNAM is entitled to a fair trial – to be given the opportunity to respond, not
to be judged and condemned in private and at the speed of lightning in cyberspace.”

I posted my first entry on the 23rd, and it took you until the 29th to post an announcement of an upcoming statement. It took you until the 1st to actually post the statement. You had plenty of time to respond, or to contact me directly. Instead, efforts were focused on deleting incriminating bits of evidence. Facebook groups were closed. Facebook comments were deleted. URL’s were removed. Entire websites were lost. Articles were retracted. Things linked in this blog were removed at the “speed of lightning”, but apparently your PR department had trouble keeping up?

“we ask that you judge us on the totality of the facts, and by this, we mean all the documentation and more particularly our conduct and actions and not just on hearsay, or internet rumor, or fragments of information.”

I posted photos, videos and proof of website ownership. You failed to offer convincing counterarguments. Why does Mannam and Shinchonji use the same hand gesture? Why do they both make frequent references to light? Why does Mannam’s slogan contain coincidental coded references to Lee Manhee and Kim Namhee? Why did Shinchonji use Mannam’s flag-signing effort to promote itself on air? If the UN’s International Day of Peace falls on Sept 21st, why hold yours on the exact same day as the Shinchonji Olympiad? Why are your sporting events the exact same as the 2008’s Olympiad’s? Why is the World Peace Initiative so bent on getting 140,000-150,000 people to attend, when the majority of those are people in the SCJ church and the number 144,000 has particular significance to them? Why do you go around the streets of cities recruiting foreigners, but you ignore Koreans?

I’ve never said Mannam wasn’t a volunteer organization, or that it didn’t do charity work. The whole point of this exercise was to point out the connection existing between the Shinchonji church and Mannam.

This:

“Initially, our failure to disclose the full details of our relationship with the Shinchonji church was to protect our quickly growing volunteer group from the baseless accusations leveled against MANNAM because of the connection with this particular church. ”

and this:

“Despite the current accusations against MANNAM, its association with Mr. Lee has never been actively hidden.”

do not compute.

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1) In Which Scroozle Almost Gets Suckered Into Attending a ‘Cult’ Activity
2) Mannam- A Follow-Up Investigation
3) Mannam Part 3- The Unintended Trilogy
4) 2012 Shinchonji Olympiad
5) Is Shinchonji Actually Using Mannam to Promote Itself?
6) Mannam- The Statement and the Apology
7) Mannam, Shinchonji, and the World Peace Initiative (WPI)- Thoughts Around the Web
8) The Curious Case of the Disappearing Article
9) Shinchonji Sincheonji Shinchunji 신천지
10) The Book of Shinchonji
11) 24 Questions asked by Samsung’s Lee Byung-chul, Answered by Shinchonji’s Lee Man Hee, and rebutted by Crimson North’s Scroozle