The UN​—One Man’s Vision

THE Albertina, a four-engined DC-6B aircraft, flew in low over the African bush. It had just made a pass over the Ndola airport in Northern Rhodesia (now Zambia). Its 16 occupants included one of the most important men in the world at that time.

In the black of the night, the pilot turned to make his landing. “Moments later the propellers cut the treetops . . . The wing tip was torn off, and, in the next few seconds, more and more of the wing was ripped away. . . . Nearly eight hundred nightmare feet beyond the initial brush with the trees, the stub of the Albertina’s left wing hit the base of an anthill. The aircraft swung around, cartwheeling leftward until it came to fiery rest facing the way it had come.”

When rescuers finally reached the plane, they found in it the bodies of 14 persons who had been burned to death. The single survivor lived for five days. A few yards away from the wreckage was the broken body of the secretary-general of the United Nations​—Dag Hammarskjöld. The world’s top civil servant, Mr. UN as some called him, was dead.​—The Mysterious Death of Dag Hammarskjold, by Arthur L. Gavshon.

The UN and the Churches

Dag Hammarskjöld’s death took the world by surprise. Some wondered how the UN would function without the leadership of this aloof, intelligent man who had stamped his style on the role of the secretary-general.

Hammarskjöld has been described as a Christian mystic. His writings seem to imply that he believed he was called by God to his destiny at the United Nations. In speaking to church groups, he said that faith in God and the UN should be parallel. On one occasion he stated: “The [UN] Organization and the churches stand side by side as participants in the efforts of all men of good will, irrespective of their creed or form of worship, to establish peace on earth.” He also claimed: “In spite of all differences in character and responsibility, the churches and the United Nations have an aim in common and a field of action where they work side by side.”

Hammarskjöld also designed the Meditation Room that is in the public lobby of the UN building. It was built with funds collected by a mixed group of Muhammadans, Jews, Catholics, and Protestants. In the middle of the austere room is a polished block of iron ore illuminated by a narrow shaft of light.

How did Hammarskjöld view that iron stone? He wrote: “We may see it as an altar, empty not because there is no God, not because it is an altar to an unknown god, but because it is dedicated to the God whom man worships under many names and in many forms.”

Billions of people believe in God. Many of them have seen Popes John XXIII, Paul VI, and John Paul II as well as Protestant clergy lend their support and blessing to the peace organization. The Vatican even has its permanent observer to the UN. Because of this religious support, some believe that the UN might really be God’s way to bring peace and security to the earth. Even now they are looking to 1986 as the UN “International Year of Peace.”

Do you believe that the UN is really God’s way to peace on earth? Do you think that the 40 years of history of this organization gives evidence of God’s blessing on it? Has the UN really united the nations in peace?

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Dag Hammarskjöld sought the support of the churches for the UN

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UN photo