UN-related Thought for the Day 9 September 2005

Thought for the Day, Friday 9 September 2005: Rev Roy Jenkins hoped any  knives being sharpened would be used for surgery to promote the health and growth of the United Nations rather than stab wounds to hasten its demise.

He has no illusions about the UN: it can be weak and vacillating, subject to the vested interests of every state represented and to shameless manipulation by the most powerful.  It can often be long on rhetoric and short on action; wasteful and inefficient, failing to defend the vulnerable or prevent conflicts.  To that extent it reflects the weaknesses of its member countries as well as their highest ideals; reflects too the self-concern of citizens of those countries and inevitably some get their interests rather better represented than others.  But it happens to be what we've got, and if it hadn't emerged from the ashes of WWII we'd have to invent it.

For him as for many others, that's more than a pragmatic recognition that in a shrinking world some issues can only be properly dealt with at a global level.  It also chimes with an understanding of what God intends for the whole human race.   Yes, we need a body where nations can talk to one another rather than drop bombs on one another.  And where others can warn of all the reasons why dropping those bombs would be a very bad idea.  We need a safe place where those already in conflict can inch towards agreement without being humiliated.  We need trusted agencies to tell us exactly how far we have to go to provide at least basic levels of food, education and health care; and to alert to impending crises.  Yes, we need some forum for agreeing standards on how human beings are to be treated; what people have a  right to expect if they become prisoners, refugees, asylum-seekers. Idealistic?  Of course.

The prophet Isaiah pictures a universe so peaceful that a lion and a lamb can lie down together.  St Paul argues that, where Christ is truly acknowledged, divisions of Gender, Race and Class simply cease to matter. In his glimpse into heaven, the writer of the book of Revelation sees people from every race and language in perfect harmony as they worship.  That's the vision which is meant to draw us on.  And if pursuing it, even through a body as faltering as the UN, makes us unrealistic, then I reckon we're in pretty good company.

Transcript by Alison Williams