“United Nations Sunday”

A few years ago I phoned a couple of people in the church because I was trying to locate an American flag.  I have forgotten the reason I needed it,  but  the call was unnecessary. I had completely forgotten that we fly both the flag of the United States and the flag of the United Nations right here in the sanctuary. These two flags had become so much a part of the furniture that I had ceased to see them.   

 Today I will talk about the United Nations. I confess to you up front that Mary Fuller is the moving force behind this sermon.  Mary has never forgotten the importance of the United Nations or been blind to its potential. Further, Mary has always insisted to me that we need to be educated about the UN, assuming, I think, that only the support of an educated people can strengthen its mission. Now that the times are so troubled I am finally waking up, but Mary has been asking me to preach on this topic since my arrival six years ago.

 Mary remembers something that I do not: the world before the UN existed – a world that endured World Wars I and II.  In World War II alone 25 to 30 million people died and property damage was so enormous it was impossible to estimate. These conflagrations made it clear to people of vision that the world needed an organization of nations that could try to avert wars before they were set in motion. Even before the fighting ended, preparations were underway for the creation of the United Nations.

 The UN was established on October 24, 1945.   On that day its Charter was signed by 51 member countries.  The UN Charter specifies four purposes: to maintain international peace and security; to encourage nations to be just in their actions toward one another; to help nations to cooperate in solving their problems and in promoting respect for human rights; and to serve as an agency through which nations can work toward these goals.

The other day, turning the radio dial looking for news, I found a commentator whose program was exploring the idea (which this commentator felt was plausible)  that President Bush was intentionally allowing the situation in Iraq to deteriorate so that the United Nations could ride in on its white horse and save the day – this would help establish One World Government – which they believe to be the secret goal of the United Nations.  They railed vehemently against the United Nations in their belief that it is controlled by a group of evil, wealthy men who are plotting to rule the world.

Just for the record, the United Nations is not a world government and it doesn’t make laws. The UN helps countries and regions negotiate international conflicts and advises on matters affecting all of us. It is democratic in its structure.  All member states — large, small, rich, poor, all with differing political views and social systems — have a voice and a vote in this process. Its diversity and inclusiveness is both its strength and its weakness. The UN can be said to function as a court of world opinion – but it is no world government.

When the UN was first established, it was not as diverse – it was dominated by the WWI victors, especially the US. American presidential administrations hailed the UN, and its goals were felt to be consistent with US foreign policy. Our approval was visible in our strong financial support. But, over time, as more and more countries have come on board, the US point of view has been increasingly at odds with other nations. As American control over the voting pattern has declined, so has Washington’s warmth and financial support.

Back in ’45, when the very first meeting of the UN General Assembly was coming to an end, Belgian Prime Minister Henri Spaak, closed with these words: “Our agenda is now exhausted.  The secretary general is exhausted.  All of you are exhausted.  I find it comforting that, beginning with our very first day, we find ourselves in complete unanimity.” The UN has grown through the years, becoming ever more representative of the world as a whole – today 191 of the world’s 260 countries belong to the UN. Many voices makes for long, hard work.  Exhaustion may be the only kind of unanimity the general assembly has ever experienced, but that does not diminish the importance of its mission..

Someone once asked Warren Austin, delegate to the UN from ’47 to ’53 whether he became tired during the interminable debates at the UN. “Yes, I do,” he replied, but it is better for aged diplomats to be bored than for young men to die.”

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Unitarian Universalists have been attracted to the UN since its inception. Back in ’45, the Unitarians and the Universalists, then separate denominations, both closely monitored its creation. Both adopted resolutions in support of the UN in the 50’s. Our denomination opened an office at the UN in 1962.  This happened at the urging of the US Ambassador to the United Nations, Adlai Stevenson, who was a Unitarian. He wrote to UUA President Dana McLean Greeley, saying:

 In this disastrous and shrinking world it is no longer possible - if it ever was - for local communities to be more secure than the surrounding world. Our ultimate security therefore lies in making the world more and more into a community . . . . All of you have the opportunity to share in the answer, and thus help us build a peaceful world.

In recent years the UUA has been granted special consultative status with the UN Economic and Social Council. This means we can send six delegates to attend public meetings of ECOSOC bodies, and we can submit position papers on relevant issues. In this way, we have the power to express our ethical beliefs at the world forum. Last September, when Kofi Annan inaugurated the International Criminal Court, UUA President, the Rev. William Sinkford, and UUA Director of International Affairs, the Rev. Olivia Holmes, were there – the first religious leaders to attend.

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A 1999 study reveal that US citizens have almost no understanding of the work of the UN. Their peace-keeping operations have helped uphold ceasefires, conduct free and fair elections, monitor troops withdrawals, and aid political stability around the world. They have advanced arms control through international agreements such as the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and the Chemical Weapons Convention. The World Health Organization, a UN body,  eradicated smallpox and helped wipe out polio from the Western Hemisphere. UNICEF sponsored  immunizations against polio, tetanus, measles, whooping cough, diphtheria and tuberculosis that have saved the lives of 3 million children each year. The U.N. leads efforts to protect the ozone layer and our forests and to curb global warming. They have provided safe drinking water for 1.3 billion people in rural areas, and have on-going efforts to help prevent over-fishing and clean up pollution. Millions of refugees, mostly women and children, receive food, shelter, medical aid, education and repatriation assistance from the UN.

As my colleague James Ishmael Ford says, “The list of United Nations activities for the advancement of the human condition among nations is a litany of justice and love in human affairs….  We can do little better than to look at the workings of this profound and complex organization that our nations have attempted to weave into our international conscience.  This is really a spiritual enterprise.”    [envoy?]

The United Nations has been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize five times.  An additional six Nobel Peace Prizes have been awarded to UN mediators, plus Secretary General – Dag Hammarskjold and most recently the current Secretary-General, Kofi Annan.  If you would like to know a bit more about Kofi Annan – come see clips from the documentary about him “The Center of the Storm” after church in the Fireplace Room – he is an great man, and inspiring.

Until this past year the UN flag and the American flag have flown relatively comfortably side by side. But the Iraq situation has created tension.  Some Americans who equate being pro United Nations as being anti-American. Kofi Annan was addressing some sensitive issues that divide us when he addressed the UN General Assembly in September. He said,

“Until now, it has been understood that when states… decide to use force to deal with broader threats…, they need the unique legitimacy provided by the United Nations. Now, some say this understanding is no longer tenable, since an armed attack with weapons of mass destruction could be launched at any time without warning…. Rather than wait for that to happen, they argue states have the right and obligation to use force preemptively even on the territory of other states and even while the weapon systems that might be used to attack them are still being developed. According to this argument, states are not obliged to wait until there is agreement in the Security Council. Instead they reserve the right to act unilaterally or in ad hoc coalitions.

This logic represents a fundamental challenge to the principles on which, however imperfectly, world peace and stability have rested for the last 58 years. My concern is that if it were to be adopted, it would set precedents that resulted in the proliferation of the unilateral and lawless use of force with or without justification.  But it is not enough to denounce unilateralism unless we also face up squarely to the concerns that make some states feel uniquely vulnerable, since it is those concerns that drive them to take unilateral action. We must show that those concerns can and will be addressed effectively through collective action.

Excellencies, we have come to a fork in the road. This may be a moment no less decisive than in 1945 itself, when the United Nations was founded. At that time, a group of far-sighted leaders, led and inspired by President Franklin D. Roosevelt, were determined to make the second half of the 20th century different from the first half. They saw that the human race had only one world to live in and that, unless it managed its affairs prudently, all human beings may perish.  So they drew up rules to govern international behavior and founded a network of institutions with the United Nations at its center, in which the peoples of the world could work together for the common good….”

Annan’s job is persuasion. He has to persuade member UN countries to put their faith and trust and commit their resources in the UN -  without membership support the UN can’t function. He is, of course, addressing George Bush’s United States, whose justification of pre-emptive strikes threatens international stability and undermines the rule of law everywhere.

We see in the United Nations a great mix of nobility and failure. There are those who criticize it out of hand: it is too weak; it is ineffective, indecisive, misguided, too underfunded to be effective… All of these  charges have some truth to them.  The UN secretary-general has no power but to persuade. But Kofi Annan had it right when he spoke to the general assembly saying, “I respectfully suggest to you, Excellencies, that in the eyes of your peoples, the difficulty of reaching an agreement does not excuse your failure to do so.”

There is a garden outside the United Nations which contains several sculptures that have been donated by countries from around the world. There is a Japanese Peace Bell which has been cast from coins collected by children from 60 different countries, a gift from the UN Association of Japan. Traditionally, this bell is rung twice a year: on the first day of Spring and on the opening day of the General Assembly.

In 1994, there was a special ceremony marking the fortieth anniversary of the Bell. On that occasion, Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali said: "whenever it has sounded, this Japanese Peace Bell has sent a clear message. The message is addressed to all humanity. Peace is precious. It is not enough to yearn for peace. Peace requires work -- long, hard, difficult work."

It is not enough to yearn for peace. The peace bell rings for us all – the peoples of the world and all of us here in this sanctuary. It calls for us to stay in dialogue. We cannot afford the luxury of being blind to the fact that there are enormous issues in the world which can only be solved peacefully through world cooperation.

Yes, the UN is imperfect. Former U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Henry Cabot Lodge said: “This organization is created to prevent you from going to hell. It isn’t created to take you to heaven.”

I hope we will believe in and support the United Nations and its good work – its constant reaching out to the needs of suffering humanity and our beautiful planet.  As we sit together in this small sanctuary, let us recognize that its ideals are the same to which we have been called throughout our history.  The goals of love and justice that imbue our UU insight into the preciousness of the individual and the wonder of community have a real and visible manifestation in this extraordinary gathering of nations.