That Ol’ Global Religion

Last week the UN attempted to convince hundreds of religious leaders to form a permanent advisory committee to rubberstamp its policy pronouncements. The move was designed to give moral heft to the UN’s sagging prestige and dwindling credibility around the world.

This is the sort of international hoe-down the UN is famous for: an idealistic, overblown, expensive get together that results in endless agenda items, odd costumes, and force-fed speeches from people no one can understand.

At least let’s hope they couldn’t understand. On the opening day, Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, Christians and others were treated to the flailing, incoherent, bluster of that great mystic, Ted Turner (the honorary chairman who footed the bill), whose impromptu talk urged the gathered to “love each other” and be more “tolerant.” This from the man who once said Christianity was for losers and branded the Pope a “pollack” who needed to catch up with the times. With that kind of track record, one can imagine the response of the men and women in the assembly who have devoted their lives to their beliefs.

Hypocrisy aside, Mr. Turner is now lobbying for something like a one-world religion. During his off-the-cuff rant he said he believes there may be one God who manifests Himself to different cultures at different times. (There was, conspicuously, no mention of tolerance and love for those who believe God revealed Himself only once, and that all present who believe otherwise could be in error.)

Dispensing with the morality central to the established religions of the world, Mr. Turner seemed to be suggesting that all these faiths occupy the same plane and are therefore equal. Since Turner and others at the UN give no preference to any one faith and refuse to profess a belief in any one creed, one can only conclude that they do indeed believe that all religions are equal: equally irrelevant. Or at least that’s what they would like them to be.

Austin Ruse, president of the Catholic Family and Human Rights Institute, a registered UN monitor, told the Religious News Service he saw the gathering as “an effort to establish a religious body that will replace the voice of orthodox believers of all faiths.” That goes double for the Vatican.

Of all the global religions, none wields more power at the UN or speaks with more moral authority than the Holy See. Unfortunately, the UN bureaucrats don’t often like the Church’s message. What better way to drown it out than by throwing hundreds of other voices into the mix and insisting that all are equal.

At least everyone was treated equally: come in and leave your morality at the door was the implied message. The last thing the UN wants is a group of moral leaders commenting on its population control programs or its timidity in addressing the human rights abuses in places like China. For the UN, it is far easier to wrap itself in a cloak of spirituality while steering clear of any messy moral demands.

As an example of the lunacy on display at the event, the Chinese communists even sent their own religious delegation. A man billed as a “Christian bishop” assured the gathering that “facts speak louder than anything else — there is no religious persecution in China.” Tell that to the Catholic Bishop who was arrested this past week and the hundreds of pastors wasting away in the Logi for their beliefs. Tell that to the child drowned in a rice paddy last month because he was born to a family who already had one child.

But none of these “facts” saw the light of day at the conference. Instead, the hosts implied that religion was responsible for much of the world’s war and violence. By shaming the leaders into believing that they were somehow guilty for the conflicts breaking out all over the globe, the planners imagined they would be all too willing to form a little advisory committee or at least sign a peace declaration.

After four days of multicultural dancing, singing, and preaching, the religious leaders were buying none of it. They ate together, prayed together (as best they could) and listened politely to the translated babble that emanated from the podium, but in the end there was little unity.

Half the place was hot over the exclusion of the Tibetan Dalai Lama (a concession to the Chinese government). According to the Washington Post, an African woman accused western lending institutions of “collaboratized stealing.” At one of the conferences, Hindu delegates from India accused Roman Catholics and Evangelicals of proselytization.

When the summit concluded, the leaders could not even unanimously agree on a mushy “commitment to peace” plan. Which is just as well, since the document gives “respect for all life” equal weight with a certain global reforestation plan. Neither the religious nor even UN Secretary General Kofi Annan supported the idea of a permanent UN religious advisory council. Needless to say, the idea went down in flames.

So much for Ted Turner’s dream of a one-world religion.

Rather than seeking religious cover for its goofy policies or blaming religion for the sins of it’s own member states, the UN should be pressuring world leaders to protect human rights and religious practice. This would carry far more weight than any pseudo-spiritual conference, and might allow authentic faith to flourish.

For now, the global village is still without a church.