My name is Hana Lyn Colvin. In two weeks I will be sixteen years old, and next year I will be entering my Junior year at Glen Burnie Senior High School. I am a member of the Unification Church and of the Pure Love Alliance. I have a 4.3 G.P.A. and have consistently maintained straight "A’s" in my years in school. I have always been active in my school and community, am a member of the International Thespian Society, the Glen Players, the Law Club/Mock Trial Team, Modern Music Masters, the Glen Burnie Vocal Ensemble, the Glen Burnie Speech Team, and the National Forensic League. I have competed in speech tournaments with the Baltimore Catholic Forensic League, a federation of speech and debate teams from private and public schools from Maryland. Last week I represented my school and county at the National Speech and Debate Tournament in Chicago. Additionally, I was an ambassador for my school and Sophomore class at the Hugh O’ Brian Youth Leadership Conference two months ago.
I have grown up for all my life in a Unification Church family. I love my parents, and I have a wonderful relationship with them as does my younger sister. I have never been kept from them any more than any other child who has to attend school or has parents who work. We visit my grandparents and relatives as often as we can given the parameters of time and finances. My belonging to the Unification Church has not hindered my ability to make and develop beautiful friendships. Nor has it lowered the estimation of my character in the eyes of my acquaintances and teachers. You have spoken of ex-"cult" members whose grades have been aversely affected as a result of their having joined that group. I would like to proudly testify that my grades and G.P.A. have not suffered, but to the contrary, they have flourished. Being a member of the Unification Church has, if anything, provided an environment of encouragement and incentive to do my best in school, to give due deference to my teachers, and to imbue 110 percent of myself into everything I do. The values and ethics instilled in me by my parents and my faith, and my belief that everything I do should be an offering to God has inspired me to give my best effort, and for that I have been rewarded.
I stand before you today with two concerns; one is that the Pure Love Alliance (PLA) was attacked at your last meeting as being merely a front group for the Unification Church. The Pure Love Alliance, a non-partisan organization, has a center near this campus, and some people active with PLA attend school here. Though the Unification Church was a catalyst for PLA (it was founded by Rev. Moon’s son-in-law, Jin Hun Park) it is affiliated with such groups as True Love Waits and Free Teens and has received overwhelming support and letters of commendation from councilmen, Congressmen, and ministers of various faiths. I have friends in high school and at College Park who have signed the Pure Love Pledge, affirming the ideal of pure love, but this is not a recruiting effort for the Unification Church. The Pure Love Alliance promotes true love and what we call Absolute Sex, which is sexual purity before marriage in order to grow and mature one’s heart and character in preparation for a beautiful and successful marriage. With this foundation of love and fidelity in marriage, a true family can be built. And true families are the root of a society and world of peace. And that’s something, I believe, to which we all aspire; it’s something most parents would love for their children to espouse.
My other concern is this: Since taking the PSATs in October, I have received copious letters form colleges and universities across the nation. One prospective university which I am considering as a place of furthering my education is the University of Maryland at College Park. However, this task force has evoked a serious alarm within me. I have already experienced tension with a few of my teachers in relation to my religion. There are a few instances that I can recall in which I felt intimidated, afraid to say that I am a Unification Church member because of hostility I sensed in the teacher. When I have done certain projects in which I have either written about Rev. Moon or included my beliefs, I have actually been worried that my grade would suffer because of it. Just this past month, a psychology teacher at my school was teaching her class that Rev. Moon is a cult leader who uses mind control techniques and is comparable to such infamous reprobates as Hitler and Charles Manson. A friend of mine used to insult me every chance he got because someone from his church had told him rumors they had heard in the 1970s about Rev. Moon. He would scowl at me, telling me to get away from him because "that church" had brainwashed me and I was trying to do the same to him. Our relationship, which had been burgeoning so splendidly, was seriously impaired for over two years. It has only been over the course of this past year that we were able to fully reconcile.
In each case, I have stood up for what I believe to be true and just, firmly yet amiably, and have thus found true friends in those who had previously tormented me and strength from the experiences. Still, it is painful to endure things like that, and no one should have to discover that their friend is spreading the lie to their other friends that they are brainwashed; no student should have to worry that their grade will be affected by their religion. I can only imagined how much more intensified these concerns of mine would become if a hostile atmosphere was officially adopted by and fostered at this university. If part of my decision as to where I attend college is incumbent on that, if my church being maligned as a destructive cult would affect my chance at a fair education in Maryland so that I would then go to school out of state, it would deprive me of in-state scholarships and cost my family thousands of additional dollars. I deserve a fair education; I deserve one in my state. What I do not deserve is to be labeled as a mindless member of a dangerous cult. No one does. As you see, the decisions of this task force affect me very much. Thank you for the opportunity to present to you the personal view of someone who has had first-hand experience with the Pure Love Alliance and with a loving Unification Church family.