UN-characteristic

For all the ink spilled today on those notorious speeches on the floor of the United Nations General Assembly, I haven’t seen anything focus on what President Barack Obama referred to as the UN founding charter, its mission, and that of the United States….the universal human rights of all people everywhere.

The closest I saw was this brief WSJ piece.

President Barack Obama sought in his first United Nations General Assembly address to distance the country from the unilateral era of his White House predecessor.

“America will live by its values” on human rights, Mr. Obama pledged, noting that he would take to task the abuses and failures of allies and foes alike.

Well, first thing to point out here is that his predecessor, President George Bush, claimed that America’s values covered the human rights of the most vulnerable human beings. One particular time of note was his address on the South Lawn when Pope Benedict XVI came to America in 2008.

Each day, across the world, the United States is working to eradicate disease, alleviate poverty, promote peace and bring the light of hope to places still mired in the darkness of tyranny and despair.

Here in America, you’ll find a nation that welcomes the role of faith in the public square. When our founders declared our nation’s independence, they rested their case on an appeal to the laws of nature and of nature’s god.

We believe in religious liberty. We also believe that a love for freedom and a common moral law are written into every human heart, and that these constitute the firm foundation on which any successful free society must be built.

That would be the natural law….which has become contentious – if not antiquated - in our education system.

Here in America, you’ll find a nation that is fully modern, yet guided by ancient and eternal truths.

The United States is the most innovative, creative and dynamic country on Earth. It is also among the most religious.

In our nation, faith and reason coexist in harmony. This is one of our country’s greatest strengths and one of the reasons that our land remains a beacon of hope and opportunity for millions across the world.

Most of all, Holy Father, you will find in America people whose hearts are open to your message of hope. And America and the world need this message.

In a world where some invoke the name of God to justify acts of terror and murder and hate, we need your message that God is love. And embracing this love is the surest way to save men from falling prey to the teaching of fanaticism and terrorism.

In a world where some treat life as something to be debased and discarded, we need your message that all human life is sacred and that each of us is willed.

And Benedict’s message on the South Lawn of the White House:

From the dawn of the republic, America’s quest for freedom has been guided by the conviction that the principles governing political and social life are intimately linked to a moral order based on the dominion of God the Creator.

The framers of this nation’s founding documents drew upon this conviction when they proclaimed the self-evident truth that all men are created equal and endowed with inalienable rights grounded in the laws of nature and of nature’s god…

Freedom is not only a gift but also a summons to personal responsibility. Americans know this from experience. Almost every town in this country has its monuments honoring those who sacrificed their lives in defense of freedom, both at home and abroad. The preservation of freedom calls for the cultivation of virtue, self- discipline, sacrifice for the common good, and a sense of responsibility toward the less fortunate…

Few have understood this as clearly as the late Pope John Paul II. In reflecting on the spiritual victory of freedom over totalitarianism in his native Poland and in Eastern Europe, he reminded us that history shows time and again, I quote, “that in a world without truth, freedom loses its foundation, and a democracy without values can lose its very soul.”

Good reminders on this day of speechmaking at the United Nations about human rights.

And especially the address that Pope Benedict gave to the General Assembly there in April 2008, the real reason for his visit to America, to celebrate the anniversary of its charter.

The New York Times reported that the pope “presented the idea that there are universal values that transcend the diversity – cultural, ethnic or ideological – embodied in an institution like the United Nations…Those values are at the base of human rights, he said, as they are for religion.”

Did the New York Times recall those transcendent values today, when President Obama spoke of human rights to that body? No. But here’s more of Pope Benedict…

Consensus has replaced truth and right order, he goes on to say, in all kinds of areas, like “the way the results of scientific research and technological advances have sometimes been applied. Notwithstanding the enormous benefits that humanity can gain, some instances of this represent a clear violation of the order of creation, to the point where not only is the sacred character of life contradicted, but the human person and the family are robbed of their natural identity. Likewise, international action to preserve the environment and to protect various forms of life on earth must not only guarantee a rational use of technology and science, but must also rediscover the authentic image of creation. This never requires a choice to be made between science and ethics: rather it is a question of adopting a scientific method that is truly respectful of ethical imperatives.”

Furthermore…

He continues: “Recognition of the unity of the human family, and attention to the innate dignity of every man and woman, today find renewed emphasis in the principle of the responsibility to protect.”

That phrase grabbed the media spotlight as well, because of the pope’s attention to violations of rights and humanitarian crises. What they missed was the wider application to all humans and the sanctity of life. About the UN’s “responsibility to protect”, Benedict said “this principle has to invoke the idea of the person as image of the Creator, the desire for the absolute and the essence of freedom.”

The UN’s Universal Declaration of Human Rights “was the outcome of a convergence of different religious and cultural traditions, all of them motivated by the common desire to place the human person at the heart of institutions, laws and the workings of society, and to consider the human person essential for the world of culture, religion and science.”

However: “Human rights are increasingly being presented as the common language and the ethical substratum of international relations.” That key line was lost on the mainstream media, especially since this was still the opening remarks in French. It was followed by this: “It is evident, though, that the rights recognized and expounded in the Declaration apply to everyone by virtue of the common origin of the person, who remains the high-point of God’s creative design for the world and for history. They are based on the natural law inscribed on human hearts and present in different cultures and civilizations.”

Which brings us full circle to the address by President Obama on ‘the common law written onto every human heart’.

Surely, those committed to the truth can find common ground here.