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ACWR - An Interfaith Peace Organization combining meditation practice, dialogue and a concrete peace and social justice agenda

A Spiritual Agenda for World Peace

From a new international, decentralized security concept to massive disarmament to development for all

A SPIRITUAL AGENDA FOR WORLD PEACE

PEACE AND SECURITY - VISION VERSUS FACTS

In the Preamble to the Charter of the United Nations, the member states declare,

We the Peoples of the United Nations Determined

to save succeeding generations from the scourge of war, which twice in our lifetime has brought untold sorrow to mankind...

Article 1 of the Charter defines the purposes of the United Nations

1. To maintain international peace and security, and to that end: to take effective collective measures for the prevention and removal of threats to the peace, and for the suppression of acts of aggression or other breaches of the peace, and to bring about by peaceful means, and in conformity with the principles of justice and international law, adjustment or settlement of international disputes or situations which might lead to a breach of the peace; ...

4. To be a center for harmonizing the actions of nations in the attainment of these common ends.

...

In 2000, the General Assembly renewed this pledge in the UN Millennium Declaration,

We will spare no effort to free our peoples from the scourge of war, whether within or between States, which has claimed more than 5 million lives in the past decade. We will also seek to eliminate the dangers posed by weapons of mass destruction.

_____________________

Over the past sixty years, the UN has struggled hard indeed to assert its role as guarantor for global peace, and yet it appears as if it had not been successful. With increasing frustration, its officers and representatives realize that their role is confined to that of peace wishers rather than peace makers.

The Millennium Declaration in itself was a confession by the 191 member states that so far they had utterly failed to fulfill the same pledge made 50 years earlier. Rather, since 1945 the danger resulting from weapons of mass destruction has multiplied:
28 000 nuclear warheads are currently counted worldwide, sufficient to destroy life on Earth many times over.

Apart from this biggest threat, the actual death toll of conventionally fought wars and conflicts since the end of World War II is devastating enough.

Since 1945, 80 million people are estimated to have been victims to mass killings worldwide, whether in politically, ideologically, religiously or culturally motivated so called purges, in genocides, in eliminating dissidents, in civil or in interstate wars.

Between 1945 and 1997 alone, 201 wars have been counted (AKUF, Hamburger Arbeitsgemeinschaft Kriegsursachenforschung, also source of the following data). Out of those, two thirds were inner state conflicts, while only a fourth was interstate; out of the 29 wars going on in 2002, even 27 were internal!

Wars do not only cause death but all sorts of upheaval, among them floods of refugees. In the mid nineties, 18 million refugees were counted as a consequence of war, plus another 24 million displaced in their own country.

Wars rarely pay for the attacker,
Only one fifth of the wars waged between 1945 and 1997 ended in the victory of the attacker.

In one third of these wars, the attacked party could hold its ground.

One tenth simply ended in the suspension of military action, another tenth in an armistice or an agreement of compromise.

More than two thirds of the interstate conflicts ended in the status quo ante - nothing gained but many lives lost.

Though most wars are triggered by selfish motives, yet wars seldom pay for the attacker.

The number of civilian victims is many times higher than that of military casualties - that trend is increasing and is not reversed by so called precision weapons.

REASONS FOR VIOLENT CONFLICT

In a great number of the violent conflicts and wars of the past sixty years, religion and quasi-religious ideologies have played a crucial role. It is generally known that all the major religions command non-violence, tolerance and love, and it is as well known that a third if not even more of all the wars faught in the world even today are partly or entirely inspired and supported by religions.

All Religions teach the Golden Rule according to which we should treat others as we wish to be treated by them. All religions likewise proclaim the struggle between good and evil on the soul's passage from darkness to light. Often, this has been misunderstood as the struggle between socalled believers and nonbelievers and has served to justify bloodshed in the name of religion and of God.

Though the sacred scriptures are testimonies of that eternal, unfailing Path to Enlightenment - the Eternal Divine Law - those scriptures can only convey to the reader what the reader is able to comprehend. While some derive from them overwhelming spiritual motivation others read the same texts only to misquote them to excuse their own hatred, violence and war. In fact, there is hardly any wrong, evil or crime that has not been justified by some holy verses ready at hand. As long as the approach is emotional and intellectual the interpretation will vary with each and every individual. Therefore, codes of ethics, however well meant, will in themselves be of no consequence if pronounced by people lacking actual experience of revelation.

God or the Supreme Being is perfect, almighty and beyond time and space, hence everything emerging from Him must reflect the same qualities (Psalm 19, 7: The law of the Lord is perfect). What is perfect is in no need of change, but everlasting and valid for all mankind. No religion can claim sole representation of that law because the true, unchanging God has been conveying the same message from the beginning to the end. It can be ascertained in meditation alone because "God is spirit and those who worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth." (check quote)

It may be helpful to concede that every faith tradition comprises a human element as well: The social and cultural expressions of any given faith are outside the mystical realm; they involve material elements because cult and rite, collective prayer and hymns depend on physical acts on the part of the worshipper; on material houses of worship, on cities or lands deemed holy; on material objects or means of worship, on special times for prayer and worship, on books. Likewise, the organization of any human society belongs to the earthly realm which is confined by time and space. Since all matter is subject to change, those things are, too. Hence, eternal claims for anything involving matter are against the divine law of nature. Such claims to this day have been causing untold suffering to human beings who find themselves oppressed by rigid rules and regulations devoid of divine love and mercy.

In all times, God has worked on Earth through his enlightened messengers. Since they all have been deriving their enlightenment from the same Supreme Lord it is only natural that their message should be one and the same in essence. Direct inner revelation is the only means to attain understanding of the Law of God. From this safe perspective, diverse religious culture and tradition does not lend itself to be exploited for political power, segregation and discrimination. Rather, it is a cause for shared joy and mutual enrichment, comparable to the diversity of flowers enhancing the beauty of a garden. Those aspects of religious cults which are in descrepancy with the ethical norms of another will not be disputed: Amicable dialogue is the way to common understanding.

Religious leaders have certain advantages over political institutions in generating initiatives for peace. The world religions define themselves as universal, implying that their ministers ideally should be above all partiality and group interest. No politician, except perhaps a handful of those working in global institutions can afford to show this type of disinterest since their obligations are toward the political institutions they are answerable to. Any politician acting against national interests will be suspected of failing their country. They cannot publicly advocate what they personally find just in the wider interest of mankind if those interests seem to conflict with the national ones they represent.

Ministers or people of religion ideally feel answerable only to the Supreme Being according to the ancient codes laid down in their respective scriptures. It follows that they should render their services to the whole Creation.

THE REASONS FOR LACK OF PEACE: A SPIRITUAL ANALYSIS

1. Perversion of Religion. All religions teach the Golden Rule, according to which we should treat others as we wish to be treated by them. All religions likewise proclaim the eternal struggle between good and evil on the soul"s passage from darkness to Light. Often, the latter has been misunderstood to denote a struggle between so called believers and non-believers and has served to justify bloodshed in the name of God.

2. The United Nations: A Unique Instrument for Peace Diminished to a Toothless Tiger. According to the Charter and the Millennium Declaration, the United Nations has been invested with the clear global mandate to end war. In reality, however, the nation states have proved very reluctant to resign some of their power in the interest of a genuinely collective, empowered and effective global defense system. Its notorious underfunding, with only 1, 5 % of the world's military spending, is a telltale sign. Further, the very structure of the Security Council reflects the unwillingness of the powerful founding nations to renounce their privileged position in the interest of global balance. Thus, the lack of representation, the two class system of permanent seats as against rotation as well as the veto power and other privileges of the five have from the outset carried the ancient system of national predominance and spheres of influence into the new system, eroding the original vision.
3. Lust for Power. Much of the 20th century has been dominated by the strife for superpowerdom. While for 35 years the balance between the USA and the Soviet Union held the world in the grip of the Cold War, new powers will rise to contend with the one remaining superpower. In the future, the USA may face challenges from the fast developing China and India or from a religiously united phalanx of Middle Eastern states.

4. Fear of Insecurity. It is easy to convince a nation that it is under attack. That done, it is even easier to convince the same nation that a preemptive strike is an effective and necessary step to be taken. Most wars of aggression have been justified as unavoidable measure of defense.

5. Economic Selfishness. There is no denying the fact that war is a highly lucrative business for the arms industry and trade which have a vital interest to fuel wars to create markets. Similarly, the demand of energy in industrialized countries has led to a merciless struggle for oil. Some countries will not hesitate to wage wars to safeguard its supply.

6. Social Injustice / The Suffering of The Poor. As predictably as a law of nature, the poor will not resign to being at the losing end of the social scale. 800 million going hungry every day, 1, 1 billion suffering from extreme poverty, another 1, 4 billion living in moderate poverty will not beg but demand their most fundamental human right for survival and decent living conditions.
It Is Five Minutes to Twelve

"Never was the danger as great as today. An atomic war draws nearer if we do not start thinking about a new international control system ... I worry that the memory of Hiroshima and Nagasaki is beginning to fade. I worry that atomic weapons will fall into the hands of dictators or terrorists. I worry also about the nuclear arsenal of democratic states, because as long as these weapons exist there is no absolute guarantee against the catastrophic consequences of theft, sabotage or an accident.", says Mohamed El Baradei, nobel/prize winning head of IAEA.

One thing is sure: We cannot wait for another fifty years and another UN anniversary declaration. The coming years may be crucial for survival. We have to change things now.

Or, as Albert Einstein said,

"I know not with what weapons World War III will be fought, but World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones."

Solutions

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