Rev. Kendyl Gibbons
First Unitarian Society of Minneapolis
October 28, 2001
Secretary-General Kofi Annan has, together with the United Nations, received the esteemed Nobel Peace Prize. Considering everything happening in the world at present, it might be well to reflect on what Mr Annan stated in an address at the UN General Assembly Hall last year:
'Religion can be a realm of extraordinary power. It can offer solace in troubled times. It can make sense of the seemingly senseless because that's the world we live in. It can give us strength to meet the physical and spiritual challenges of life. Religion helps us find our place in the cosmos; it knits families and communities together; it endows individuals with compassion and morality. Whether one believes without question or wrestles with doubt, whether one is part of a religious community or worships in the privacy of the soul, religious practices and beliefs are among the phenomena that define us as human. For many of us, the axiom could well be: "We pray, therefore, we are." Of course, the practice of religion differs widely. But at heart we are dealing in universal values.To be merciful; to be tolerant; to love thy neighbour; no religion can claim a monopoly on such teachings. There is no mystery here. Such values are deeply ingrained in the human spirit itself. It is little wonder that the same values animate the Charter of the United Nations, and lie at the root of our search for world peace.
'Let us...from this great centre of global community, reaffirm every man and woman's fundamental right to freedom of religion: to worship; to establish and maintain places for worship; to write, publish and teach; to celebrate holidays; to choose their own religious leaders; and to communicate with others at home and abroad. Member States of the United Nations have enshrined these freedoms in several landmark documents, most notably the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Where governments and authorities fail to protect these freedoms, it is at once an affront and a menace. Where religions and their adherents are persecuted, defamed, assaulted or denied due process, we are all diminished, our societies undermined. There must be no room in the twenty-first century for religious bigotry and intolerance. Religion is frequently equated with light. But we all know that the practice of religion can have its dark side, too. Religious extremism has too often oppressed or discriminated against women and minorities. Religion has often been yoked to nationalism, stoking the flames of violent conflict and setting group against group. Religious leaders have not always spoken out when their voices could have helped combat hatred and persecution, or could have roused people from indifference. Religion is not itself to blame: as I have often said, the problem is usually not with the faith, but with the faithful.
Men and women of faith are a strong influence on group and individual conduct. As teachers and guides, you can be powerful agents of change. You can inspire people to new levels of commitment and public service. You can help bridge the chasms of ignorance, fear and misunderstanding. You can set an example of interfaith dialogue and cooperation.
'Dag Hammarskjöld once said, "The United Nations stands outside -- necessarily outside -- all confessions. But it is, nevertheless, an instrument of faith. As such, it is inspired by what unites and not by what divides the great religions of the world."
That the World Should Go On
Ah, my friends; I wish I knew. I wish I could find it in my heart to stand in this pulpit and tell you the right answer, tell you how to think about our world and our nation, about suffering and loss, and risk and power, and the use of force. I wish that I could, here in this community of trust, show you who to trust and who to suspect, what to believe, and what to be skeptical of. It is not that there are no answers; indeed, there are any number of answers, multitudes of opinions about whose fault everything is, and what we must certainly do, or at all costs not do, now; how the world has irretrievably changed. They are thick around us, these answers, in the newspaper columns, on the television, shouting from the internet and the billboards, held forth at the office coffee makers and the corner bars. We like to solve things, we technology-oriented twenty-first century Americans; we like our problems immediate, tangible, inspiring. We do not like the feeling that we are held in the grasp of history, that events are unfolding around us that we may not, now, have any control over; that our best efforts and our best intentions may not be enough to bend the world to our will. We are not patient, and we are uneasy with sustained sacrifice, and with ambiguity.
We also like to think that we are the first people ever to face the problems and challenges that confront us, and to assume that no ancient experience has any wisdom to offer us. I do not propose this morning either to insult your intelligence or to assuage your conscience by telling you what to do about Anthrax, or Afghanistan, or airport security, or Osama bin Laden if you happen to run into him. Rather, what I want to do is to take a brief inventory of some of the beliefs, experiences, and values that seem to me to connect to this complex nodal moment in which we find ourselves -- like the pieces of a jigsaw puzzle, I do not yet see how they work together to form a coherent picture, but I'm pretty sure they all fit in if only I can be patient enough to assemble them. And I rather suspect -- to stretch the metaphor -- that the two concepts we celebrate this morning, our commitment to our children, and the institution of the United Nations, may be a couple of those all-important corner pieces, that help to define the whole enterprise. But I begin with a passage from the Taoist scriptures of the Tao Teh Ching, written by spiritual teachers in the 5th century before the beginning of the common era, lest we think that we are the first generation ever to recognize the moral folly of war.
The sage writes:
One who would guide a leader of human community in the uses of life
Will warn that leader against the taking up of arms for conquest.
Weapons often turn upon the wielder; an army's harvest is a waste of thorns,
And the conscription of a multitude for soldiers drains the next year dry.
Even the finest of arms are an instrument of evil, a spread of plague;
And the way for a vital person to go is not the way of a soldier.
But in time of war those civilized in peace turn from their higher to their lower nature.
Arms are an instrument of evil, no measure for thoughtful people
Until there fail all other choice but sad acceptance of it.
Triumph is not beautiful.
The one who thinks triumph is beautiful is one with a will to kill,
And one with a will to kill shall never prevail upon the world.
The death of a multitude is cause for mourning;
Conduct your triumph as a funeral.
Who today is not keenly aware of the many ways in which "weapons often turn upon the wielder"? Who can look at the starvation and devastation in Afghanistan and believe that an army's harvest is anything other than a waste of thorns? And if we have come to the place as thoughtful people, where there has failed all other choice but the sad acceptance of war, then let us at least paint on the bombs, and embroider on the flags, and lay upon our hearts the acknowledgement that the death of a multitude is cause for mourning, and conduct our triumph as the funeral that it is.
Complete cynicism is easy; perfect pacifism is tempting. It would appear past argument that in the recent half century at least, the United States government has, with only the haziest of knowledge or sanction from the majority of its citizens, pursued international policies that have supported, even militarily, brutal dictators and repressive regimes, as long as they were thought to be friendly to our perceived national interests. The very targets of our present attacks, Osama bin Laden and the Taliban, were only a decade ago, recipients of U.S. training, weapons, and support. And if the current administration in Washington