Abstract
This chapter adds to the discussion of a ‘world religions map’ by providing a survey of what can be characterized as a ‘religious presence’ in the context of the United Nations Organization. Since its formation, this organization has been confronted again and again with “religion,” whether through continuing conflicts in the Middle East, the international engagement of the Holy See, or the debates about religious freedom. At the same time, various religiously affiliated organizations and movements perceived the work of the United Nations as an important context for their own activities, thus delegating representatives, contributing surveys or formal statements, and participating in the major campaigns of the United Nations Organization. On the basis of this general observation, the chapter elaborates upon three major points: (1) The ways in which the UN serves as a stage for a segment of religiously affiliated organizations, (2) she changing role of these organizations in an emerging global public, and (3) the processes of reconstruction that are triggered by these developments.
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Notes
- 1.
See for example: Peter Beyer. (2006). Religions in Global Society. London/New York: Routledge and. Oliver Roy. (2002). L’Islam mondialisé. Paris: Editions du Seuil.
- 2.
In order to get an idea of the theoretical implications of these developments, see Karsten Lehmann (2013). Shifting boundaries between the religious and the secular religions organizations in global public space. Journal of Religion in Europe, 6 (1), in print.
- 3.
In past years, two political science introductions have been published: Eric O. Hanson. (2006). Religion and politics in the international system today. Cambridge, New York, Melbourne: Cambridge University Press. Jeffrey Haynes. (2007). An introduction to international relations and religion. London, New York: Pearson Education. See also the discussion in Karsten Lehmann (2010a). Interdependenzen zwischen Religionsgemeinschaften und internationaler Politik: Religionswissenschaftliche Anmerkungen zu politikwissenschaftlichen Religionskonzeptionen. Zeitschrift für international Beziehungen, 17, (3), 75–99.
- 4.
See, for example, the well-known Resolution 194 of the General Assembly of December 11, 1948.
- 5.
For a UN-critical essay that summarizes this process pointedly, see Jeanne Favret-Saada. (2010), Jeux d’ombres sur la scène de l’ONU: Droit humains et laicité. Paris: Editions de l’Olivier.
- 6.
One of the few depictions: Abdullah al Ahsan. (1988). The Organization of the Islamic Conference: An introduction to an Islamic political institution. Herndon [Islamization of Knowledge].
- 7.
This status provides these organizations not only with access to informational materials and contact with specific committees. It also opens a wide spectrum of informal forms of influence: Peter M. Schulze. (2000). Nichtstaatliche Organisationen (NGOs). In Helmut Volger (Ed.). Lexikon der Vereinten Nationen. (pp. 397–405) München Wien: R. Oldenbourg Verlag. Also see Kersten Martens. (2005). NGOs and the United Nations: Institutionalization, professionalization and adaption. London: Palgrave Macmillan.
- 8.
Of further interest is the French-language debate in: Bruno Duriez, François Mabille & Kathy Rousselet (Eds.). (2007). Les ONG confessionnelles: Religions et action internationale. Paris: Editions L’Harmattan.
- 9.
The article at hand presents some of the results of one of these projects. Under the title RNGOs at the UNO it is a cooperation between the “Institut zur Erforschung der religiösen Gegenwartskultur (IrG), the Observatoire des Religions en Suisse (ORS), and the Berkley Center for Religion, Peace, and World Affairs” by Karsten Lehmann. The other two are: Religious Non-Governmental Organizations and the United Nations in New York and Geneva by Jeremy Carrette, Hugh Miall & Evelyn Bush, which focuses on present-day developments and Josef Boehle, Religions, Civil Society and International Institutions which primarily analyzes attempts to foster inter-religious dialogue.
- 10.
Unfortunately, this list provides us only with (a) those NGOs still active and (b) the date of their accreditation with the most exclusive status. Even after detailed research, this might still add a small amount of inaccuracy.
- 11.
An overview of these contributions of the WCC is accessible via four volumes edited by the CCIA between 1992 and 2007 under the title The Churches in International Affairs. Further insight is provided by: Ans J von der Bent. (1986). Christian response in a world of crises: A brief History of the WCC’s Commission of the Churches on International Affairs. Geneva: WCC Publishing.
- 12.
At this point we enter a field that hitherto has attracted little attention either in studies of the history of the WCC in analyses of the development of human rights within the UN. Roger Normand, Sarah Zaidi. (2008). Human rights at the UN: The political history of universal justice. Bloomington: Indiana University Press [United Nations Intellectual History Project Series]. Mary Ann Glendon. (2001). A world made new: Eleanor Roosevelt and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. New York: Random House. Peter Willetts (Ed). (1996). The conscience of the world: The influence of non-governmental organizations on the UN system. Washington: Brookings Institution Press. William Korey. (1998). NGOs and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights: A curious grapevine. New York, Basenstoke: Palgrave Macmillian. Furthermore, in Karlsruhe members of the DFG-Project of Katharine Kunter, “Globalized Christianity” are at work in this field: www.rz.uni-karlsruhe.de/~geschichte/index.php?page=forschung (last access 2012).
- 13.
The classical contemporary text of the debate: M. Searle Bates. (1945). Religious liberty: An inquiry. London, New York: Kessinger Reprint.
- 14.
This led to the establishment of more and more working groups that dealt with this theme. See the boxes of WCC archives in Geneva: 428:3.01-428.3.06 (religious liberty) and 428.3.23-428.3.25 (human rights).
- 15.
In the background here is a theological discussion that is thoroughly controversial even within the WCC. See Reinhard Frieling. (1992), Der Weg des ökumenischen Gedankens. Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht [Zugänge zur Kirchengeschichte].
- 16.
This is an objection that Casanova, in his most recent publications, has begun to explore with reference to globalization theory: José Casanova. (2009), Europas Angst vor der Religion. Berlin: Berlin University Press.
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Acknowledgements
This essay is based on research and archival studies that the author carried out in the context of a project supported by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG). A first version was presented in 2009 in the context of a project workshop at the University of Leipzig. The author is particularly thankful for the valuable suggestions of my colleague Dr. Ansgar Jödicke (University of Fribourg) as well as the highly professional translation of an earlier version of this paper by Professor Michael Jones at the University of Kentucky.
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Lehmann, K. (2015). Religious Presence in the Context of the United Nations Organization: A Survey. In: Brunn, S. (eds) The Changing World Religion Map. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-9376-6_154
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