Role of religion in current world disorder

It is all too clear that the UN system has been rendered exceptionally hapless by the powerful in the multiple and intense law-and-order crises that are currently gripping the world. This fact was driven home afresh more than two years ago when Russia invaded Ukraine with brazen impunity. The UN’s seeming inner paralysis is being further underscored currently in the inhumanity that has been let loose in the Gaza Strip by the principal antagonists to the latter crisis.

Needless to say, the foremost powers have intervened militarily with brazen impunity, time and again, in the world’s ‘crisis spots’ since the establishment of the UN at the conclusion of World War Two and have not been called to serious account by the international community. The US is a case in point. However, the Ukraine and the Gaza crises differ strikingly from the more blatant Western military interventions of yesteryear on account of the shockingly high human costs being incurred.

As stupefying as the human costs in the latter crises is the apparent inability of the UN to enforce its rulings and pronouncements on the relevant violators of international peace and law-and-order. The Ukraine and the Gaza make it abundantly clear that the UN counts for nothing, in the eyes of some powers, in the present, gathering world disorder.

This is a reason for profound regret. Ideally, the UN’s word must be respected by every member of the international community and its rulings stringently adhered to by the states within its fold. The inability of the world community to speed up with UN reform has rendered the UN powerless in the face of excesses and gross irregularities committed by its more powerful members but the world may not be doing itself any good by continuously turning a blind eye on the UN’s seeming helplessness.

It should dawn on the foremost powers that the UN’s apparent impotence would only further aggravate the current murderous violence that is sweeping parts of the world. Very soon, total lawlessness may come to rule the world and the latter possibility would, of course, be in no one’s favour.

Time is fast running out. The latest developments in the Red Sea, for instance, testify to the rapid internationalization of the Gaza conflict and mayhem. As matters stand, the US and its strongest allies are not backing down from their support of Israel, while like obduracy is found in Hamas and its international backers, such as Iran.

Considering the Red Sea’s centrality to the smooth functioning of the international economy it would not be long before the main parties to the region’s confrontation come to blows more directly and destructively. It is very unlikely that the West would be standing idly by while its shipping comes under increasing attack from the Houthi rebels and their backers and sponsors, such as Iran.

Considering the UN’s seeming helplessness, the possibilities are that the hostilities in the Middle East would, sooner rather than later, degenerate steadily to the point of no return and the world would be having on its hands a full-blown regional war which could in turn slide relentlessly into a more international confrontation.

However, ironically, it is to the UN that world would need to turn to, for solutions of some kind, in the face of these overwhelming odds. To be sure, the UN has been rendered a veritable paralytic by the world’s foremost powers by virtue of mainly the veto power some of them possess within the UN system, but the UN continues to be seen by the majority of humanity as representative of them and as transcending narrow and parochial loyalties and identities. If the UN comes to be fully empowered by its member states, as a result of the latter backing it unitedly, the UN could yet emerge as the foremost peace maker for humanity.

Right now, though, we are quite a distance from the latter development. The UN’s principal organs, such as the UN Security Council (UNSC), are polarized and divided as never before. A recent UNSC vote, to take one example, bore this out. The resolution in question called on the Houthis to “immediately cease all attacks, which impede global commerce and navigational rights and freedoms as well as regional peace.’’

None in the UNSC voted against this resolution but Algeria, China, Mozambique and Russia, reportedly abstained from voting. This is as good as rendering the resolution ineffective because without China’s and Russia’s unambiguous and complete support such resolutions would not carry substantial weight and force.

Accordingly, the commentator would not be wrong, at first blush, in seeing the UN’s ineffectiveness being perpetuated into the foreseeable future. However, looking at issues more reflectively, it would be found that humanity is still in possession of a rich resource which is yet to be exploited in the contemporary world to the fullest in the forms of its greatest religions.

Since leading religions continue to proclaim humanity and reverence for life, in the main, religions and their clergy are obliged to step out of their seclusion and go the extra mile to convince their political leaders of the vital importance of fostering peace and harmony. Thus far, this has hardly happened and this, women and men of conscience everywhere should find quite unsettling.

Thus far, the clergy of some major states have been quite content to collaborate with their secular political leaders in the latter’s ‘power games’ and schemes. This is largely true of the conservative Right in the US and of the traditional clergy of Russia. A Christian, whatever his ‘church’ or denomination, could in no way support hatred and war. To do so would be tantamount to violating the central teaching of Jesus Christ, which is humanity or ‘Love for one’s Neighbour.’

However, religious conservatism in the contemporary world, which is increasingly inclining to savagery and barbarism, would be tantamount to propelling humanity along the path of self-destruction. Thus, would religions denigrate themselves and betray the trust their followers place in them.

It is not too late, though, for the clergy of all religions to denounce inhumanity and war and to point out to secular leaders and politicians the error of their ways, if the latter insist on traversing a path of immorality, hatred and war. These clergymen should also utilize their influence to convince their followers of the importance of the UN, since the latter continues to command the respect of the powerless everywhere. After all, the doors of the UN are forever open to everyone in need.