As an interreligious dialogue project, there was a special lecture on new religions at the University of Missouri Columbia Campus on November 3rd, 2017. The event was co-hosted by the Department of Religious Studies, the Vietnam Institute, and Asian Affairs Center at MU.

Here, Daesoon Jinrihoe from South Korea, Cao Dai from Vietnam, and CESNUR(Center for Studies on New Religions) from Italy made presentations and introduced their religions and institution. The three delegation groups consist of the following people:

Daesoon Jinrihoe

LEE Tae Yeol, director of religious research and edification department, Daesoon Jinrihoe

LEE Gyeong Won, professor and dean of the department of Daesoon Theology, Daejin University

CHA Ik Je, head of international affairs team, Daesoon Jinrihoe

KIM Dong Hwan, staff at international affairs team, Daesoon Jinrihoe

CAO DAI

Reverend Thuong Canh Tranh, President of Cao Dai Overseas Missionary,

Nguyen Tan Khoa from New Orleans, Louisiana

CESNUR

Massimo Introvigne, director of Center for Studies on New Religions

Rosita Soryte, Lithuanian minister counselor

The special lecture on November 3, 2017, was attended by more than 150 students and faculty members of MU. It was a great and successful opportunity to introduce Asian New Religions such as Daesoon Jinrihoe and Cao Dai to the West. Also, the event was much more pleasant as we had best friends Mr. Massimo Introvigne and Ms. Rosita Soryte, who are always giving advises and helping Daesoon Jinrihoe on its work for globalization, and Rev. Tran Canh and  Mr. Nguyen Tan Khoa, with whom we have been in continuous contact and found out that we share a special connection in our religious and spiritual journey.

The lecture was proceeded as the following schedule:

1:00 – 2:00 pm – Prof. LEE Gyeong Won made a presentation on Daesoon Jinrihoe Religion. About 150 students from the Department of Religious Studies were in attendance.

3:00 – 4:00 pm – In a seminar titled “New Asian Religions in a Globalized World”, Director Massimo Introvigne, Rev. Canh Tran and CHA Ik Je made their presentations for twenty minutes each in front of about 50 faculty members of MU.

In addition to the lecture, for five-day visit to MU from October 30th to November 3rd, the Daesoon Jinrihoe delegation spent meaningful time with faculty members of MU and other delegation groups, such as having discussions on how to make further cooperative activities that would help us spread Asian new religions and culture to the West.

We give special thanks to all faculty members and students at Missouri University including professor Signe Cohen of Religious Studies department, Professor Joe Hobbs of Vietnam Institute, Director Kim Sang of Asian Affairs Center, who welcomed us with warm hospitality and showed interest and enthusiasm to learn new Asian religion by asking many questions about new religions and Daesoon Jinrihoe.

Daesoon Jinrihoe is planing to expand this lecture event to other major universities in USA in cooperation with Cao Dai and other religions that may join us.

Please see the news on Missouri Blues that were made by two other delegation groups, Cao Dai and CESNUR in the following website:

http://caodai.com.vn/en/news-detail/show-me-missouri-blues-university-of-missouri-columbia-hosts-event-on-asian-new-religions.html

http://caodai.com.vn/en/news-detail/cao-dai-presentation-at-missouri-university-nov-2017.html

http://www.cesnur.org/2017/missouri.htm