Just a little over 40 years ago, young Unificationists, including 27-year-old Glenn Strait, were abuzz with excitement about being at the leading edge of the convergence of science and religion through Rev. Sun Myung Moon’s vision, which was realized through the first International Conference on Unified Sciences (later renamed the International Conference on the Unity of the Sciences, or ICUS).

A pioneering and innovative endeavor, ICUS was the first of many later Unificationist conferences that were to build bridges out into the mainstreams of society. ICUS engaged top-level scientists and scholars in an interdisciplinary forum discussing global problems, advancing multidisciplinary and integrated scientific knowledge, and probing the critical edge between science and values, according to Strait.

Rev. Moon, known by Unificationists as “True Father,” founded ICUS in 1972 with the conviction that a unified understanding of science, religion, and philsophy has the potential to bring about a unified world based on universal values. Each year from 1972 to 1988 and intermittently from 1991 to 2000, he brought scientists and scholars of diverse fields together under the themes of "Science and Values" and "Unity of Knowledge" to engage in an international, interdisciplinary dialogue that he hoped would contribute to the establishment of a unified, global ideology. At each conference, Rev. Moon presented the Founder's Address, offering his deep insights about God, science, values, and society. Then the participants joined freely in the many planned academic sessions.

Rev. Moon explained that the reason he, a religious figure, created and funded a conference on science is that “God is the greatest scientist of all.” He said further: “The complicated problems of the world cannot be fully understood within the narrow perspectives of individual fields of knowledge. I recognize that in the Middle Ages, religious dogmatism blocked scientific exploration and limited man's material development. However, it is also a big mistake for humanistic thinkers since the Age of the Enlightenment to believe that religious belief is inferior to reason and that man's spiritual needs are in conflict with human reason."

Under Rev. Moon’s vision, and with the selfless service of Unificationists and the generosity of the Unification Church, the first ICUS conference was held on November 23-26, 1972, at the luxurious Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in New York City. The conference brought together 20 scientists from seven nations to discuss "Moral Orientation of the Sciences."

In January of 1972, Rev. Moon had commissioned Edward Haskell, a specialist in what he called “Unified Science,” and the author of Full Circle – the Moral Force of Unified Science (1972) to organize the first ICUS. Less than three months before the event, the Unification members assisting Haskell had to return to school. Haskell then chose Strait to help him with finalizing the organization and preparing the inaugural conference on Thanksgiving weekend,1972. At the time, Strait had been a Unificationist for less than a year.

“Mr. Haskell loved the energy and support he received from these bright, young Unificationists, who anticipated the unification of science and religion being achieved as Unified Science representing science, and Divine Principle representing religion,” wrote Strait to Unificationnews.com.

The first conference was successful both in the quality of presentations and as a building block for future conferences. Expanded guest lists and formats swelled the annual ICUS events until in 1981, the number of participants reached a record number of 808 for the 10th ICUS, which met in Korea, according to 40 Years in America, by Dr. Michael L. Mickler, a Unification Church historian

Richard L. Rubenstein, president emeritus of the University of Bridgeport and a Harvard-trained historian of religion, has written in an article about his reflections of the passing of Rev. Moon in the New English Review that the ICUS conference was different from other academic conferences because it was not “restricted to a single scholarly or scientific discipline…it was multi-disciplinary.” Rubenstein also wrote: “Sponsored by the International Cultural Foundation (ICF) founded in 1968 by Rev. Moon, participants included scholars of high reputation from every continent in every scholarly and scientific discipline, and there was absolutely no political or religious slant, save that Rev. Moon was our host and at his banquet, he quite legitimately spoke of his religious beliefs and hopes.” (Link to article)

“At ICUS, I came to know two Nobel Laureates, Sir John Eccles, (Neurophysiology) and Eugene Wigner of Princeton (Nuclear physics). I also recall the participation of two other Nobel Laureates at one ICUS meeting, Friedrich Hayek (Economics) and Brian Josephson, who was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics at age 33. That conference and those that followed were by far among the best scholarly conferences I have ever attended,” Rubenstein added.

Regarding the long-term impact of ICUS, Unificationist Greg Breland, Executive Director of ICUS and Director of Special Projects at the University of Bridgeport, wrote to Unificationnews.com, “ICUS was one of the first organizations Father started in the United States that reached out to the higher echelon of society, that is, renowned scholars, scientists, even Nobel Laureates. So, to some extent, it gave the movement some credibility in that we were addressing issues that Father and academics felt were important, namely, 'Science and Values.’”

The impression ICUS made on the intellectual community is evident in remarks made by distinguished attendees.

Sir John Eccles, an Australian neurophysiologist and Nobel Laureate in Physiology, said of Rev. Moon and ICUS: “I greatly appreciate Rev. Moon's deep concern for the present predicament of mankind. He believes that intellectuals have a particular responsibility to use their knowledge and creative imagination in the urgent task of rebuilding society with values as the supreme guide.”

Another Nobel Laureate (Economics), Dr. Friedrich Hayek, Austrian-born British free market Nobel Prize-winning economist and social philosopher, has written, “Whatever may be said or believed about the religious foundation of ICUS, the scientific character of the meetings and their presentation and organization are thoroughly and admirably respectable. ICUS is attempting an almost unique job in devoting itself to clarifying the basic intellectual differences between the communist and capitalist worlds, and thus performs a very important task indeed. For these reasons I am grateful to have been able to contribute to its efforts.”

“Excitement, hope, assurance, satisfaction and confidence — all these and more is what we felt,” wrote Strait about his disposition at the time of the first ICUS conference. “Here we were at the leading edge of the convergence of science and religion as spoken about in the Divine Principle, and the Messiah was here to speak to these eminent scientists.”

Further information about the history of ICUS is availble on its website: