Claim. Uniting Christianity is insufficient; the returning Lord must absorb and unify all major cultural-religious spheres — Christian, Buddhist, Islamic — because each forms part of the background of the spirit world and the global cultural sphere.
Elaboration. SMM is explicit that the Second Coming task is interreligious, not intra-Christian: “Uniting Christianity will not suffice. Christianity may be unified on earth, but this is not enough to create the all-encompassing cultural sphere. That sphere includes the Buddhist cultural sphere and the Islamic cultural sphere” (4.2. The Task of the Lord at the Second Coming). As long as cultural barriers remain on earth and the source of unity is not created in the spirit world (the root of all these diverse cultures), unification cannot be achieved.
The mechanism is described as inheritance through subjugation by true love: the returning Lord must “subjugate, one by one, myriads of spirit people, religious leaders and leaders as a whole. As he guides them with God’s character and true love, they will come to understand the true reality of religion and the universe and they will surrender.” The framing is ecumenical in outcome but hierarchical in process — religions are not equals to be dialogued with on a level field but are providential preparations whose authority must be inherited.
This claim grounds two distinctive UC patterns. First, the heavy investment in interreligious dialogue and conferences (IRFF, ACRP, the Assembly of the World’s Religions) — these are not liberal pluralism but the practical work of inheriting the spiritual foundations of other religions. Second, the comparative-religion orientation of the world-scripture anthology project, which treats Buddhist, Confucian, Islamic, and Hindu texts as fragments of the same providential truth God was unveiling through multiple channels.
The collision point with both evangelical and Islamic orthodoxy is sharp: evangelicals reject the legitimacy of non-Christian religions as preparatory; Muslims and Buddhists reject the claim that their traditions are subordinate slots awaiting messianic inheritance. The claim is theologically maximalist — it leaves no major religion as ultimate, only as preparatory — and its political-cultural ambitions follow accordingly. Worth a thread once a counter atomic engages comparative-religion epistemics.