What has the U.N. done for me? Presuming you live in the west, the United States specifically, I suspect your answer is, “not much.” This august and yet cumbersome, very serious and yet mock-worthy, institution exists in the minds of many as a kind of contradiction. It seems to many at once completely ineffectual and at the same time a frightening institution bent on world domination via those allusive black helicopters.
A team of a few other volunteers from around the globe and I are now six months into an effort to help the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship re-discover what it means to do advocacy work at the United Nations. I’m happy to report after multiple meetings both inside and around the U.N., I’ve seen no helicopters and I’ve heard not so much as a whisper of plans to conquer the world. While I have seen plenty of evidence that the agencies of the United Nations are all too ineffectual in their stated albeit very worthy goals, I’ve also noted it’s the only game in town. There is no other body in the world tasked with having the conversations that take place on the East River in New York City (and to a lesser degree in Geneva and Vienna).
Scott Stearman in front of “The Knotted Gun,” a sculpture by Swedish artist Carl Fredrik Reuterswärd given to the U.N. by the government of Luxembourg in 1988.
What does this mean for you? Not much, unless you care about human beings. And so giving us all the benefit of the doubt on that score, let me tell you what I think it means for you and me. It means that somewhere serious people, some with very serious power, are having conversations about things we all are concerned about. Things like the mass migration of refugees fleeing the ravages of war in Syria, the current results of climate change and how to get reluctant governments to take steps to counteract it, and the human rights abuses that seem to be showing no abeyance in this era of relative peace. These, among others, are issues we want addressed but often find ourselves clueless as how to make a meaningful positive impact.
Here are two things I’ve become convinced of over these last six months: 1) conversations and decisions are taking place at the United Nations which have (and will have) a life-altering impact on human beings and our planet (in this regard it is worth noting that much of the world holds the U.N. in higher esteem than do many in the United States). 2) those conversations, decisions, and implementation of decisions, are influenced by “civil society” — e.g., the NGOs and other interest groups which have standing at the U.N. There is an important place at the table for the global Baptist voice in the intersection of “civil society” and the U.N. structure.
In the simplest terms, we ought to care deeply about, and hope fervently for, the conversations at the U.N., because we are humans, because we’ve been taught the Golden Rule, and because we have a beautiful Baptist heritage. Let me elaborate.
Both the charter of the United Nations and the upcoming Sustainable Development Goals (which will replace the Millennial Development Goals) begin with this phrase: we the people — we being key. If we are to wage peace, fight poverty, bring prosperity, protect the environment and promote positive development, then we must do it together. We have to partner, to form alliances, to collaborate, to find the values we all share as human beings and build on those. This isn’t easy. Egos, cultural identities and political alliances often get in the way. But it is mandatory. No one else can do it, but “we.”
And people of good conscience, specifically those who follow the teachings of Jesus, have no choice in this matter. Looking at the Syrian refugee through the lens of the Golden Rule changes what you see. What if that was your knap sack on your back? What if that was your child, who knew hunger for several days running, and who hasn’t been to school for years? Looking through the Golden Rule at our descendants also means taking seriously climate change — which 97 percent of all scientists say is caused by humans and can only be reversed by humans. Looking through the Golden Rule at the less developed world leads us to avoid “helping” the wrong way (importing bad western influences and treating people as just future customers for our products) and helping the right way (providing tools for improving health-care infrastructure — knowing populations and communities stabilize as parents know their children are likely to live to adulthood, etc).
Lastly, if you are of Baptist heritage you have something for which to be very proud. We have a beautiful history of valuing religious liberty. Baptists of recent centuries understood the need for “soul autonomy” in matters of religion. We are partly responsible for the freedoms enacted in the Bill of Rights, and have been a part (the Baptist Joint Committee being the most obvious example) of ensuring those protections are in place for others as well as for ourselves. This history calls to us, and elicits our attention, our efforts, our prayers, for religious liberty is being undermined all around the world. It isn’t just ISIS controlled areas where it is threatened. Nepal and Burma (Myanmar) are places where legislative efforts to curtail liberties have made an incursion. With our worldwide body of fellow Baptists we have hope of both hearing from those on the ground and expressing to those in power the need for change.
I hope you’ll join me in praying for this new team of advocates. We are seeking to bring a globally connected Christian voice to the global international organization that can effect very meaningful and positive transformation. I’ll be writing monthly in this space with specifics about the United Nations and our team’s efforts.