Secular Politics and the United Nations

QUESTION: Secular Politics – Disarmament and the United Nations

ANSWER:

Most Humanists call for universal disarmament and expanded power for the United Nations as two steps necessary for the implementation of a democratic world community. “The first steps in avoiding a nuclear cataclysm and preserving democracy are to agree on universal disarmament,”¹ according to Erich Fromm. Linus Pauling believes, “The only hope for the world lies in achieving control of the methods of waging war and ultimately to reach the goal of total and universal disarmament.”² Once disarmed, nations will be more willing to cooperate, less intent on enforcing nationalistic boundaries, and ready to merge into a global community. At present, the only organization that is truly global in scope is the United Nations. Thus, Secular Humanists support expanded power for this institution. William Carleton says, “Our hopes for political internationalism may have to center around the United Nations.”³

Secular Politics – A New World Parliament
In Humanist Manifesto 2000, Kurtz argues for a World Parliament “and elections to it based on population—which will represent the people, not their governments.”⁴ He goes on to say, “The idea of a World Parliament is similar to the evolution of the European Parliament, still in its infancy. The current UN General Assembly is an assembly of nations. This new World Parliament would enact legislative policies in a democratic manner. Perhaps a bicameral legislature is the most feasible with both a Parliament of peoples and a General Assembly of nations.”⁵

Humanists have consistently worked in conjunction with the United Nations to bring the world closer to globalism. Julian Huxley served as the first Director General of the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). Lamont says, “Ever since I was an undergraduate at Harvard, I have been active in endeavors to establish enduring world peace. I backed the League of Nations, and since World War II, I have vigorously supported the United Nations.”⁶

Notes:

Rendered with permission from the book,Understanding the Times: The Collision of Today’s Competing Worldviews(Rev. 2^nd ed), David Noebel, Summit Press, 2006. Compliments of John Stonestreet, David Noebel, and the Christian Worldview Ministry at Summit Ministries. All rights reserved in the original.

¹ Erich Fromm, May Man Prevail? (Garden City, NY: Double Day, 1961), 248.

² Linus Pauling, “Humanism and Peace,” The Humanist no. 2 (1961), 75.

³ William G. Carleton, Technology and Humanism (Nashville, TN: Vanderbilt University Press, 1970), 22.

⁴ Paul Kurtz, Humanist Manifesto 2000 (Amherst, NY: Prometheus Books, 2000), 57.

⁵ Ibid.

⁶ Corliss Lamont, Voice in the Wilderness (Buffalo, NY: Prometheus Books, 1975), 318.