UNITED
NATIONS
GENERAL
ASSEMBLY
Statements and Messages from the President
Remarks
by Dr. Han Seung-soo,
President of the 56th Session of the UN General Assembly
at the International Prayer Breakfast
11 September 2001
Ambassador Priedkalns,
Dr. Volf, President Holkeri,
Excellencies, Distinguished Guests, Ladies and Gentlemen:
I am very pleased to participate in the 16th Annual International Prayer Breakfast, and I would like to thank the Christian Embassy and Abraham International Leadership Ministries for their kind invitation. I understand that this event has become a highly respected tradition at the United Nations, and it is an honor to be a part of it.
For me, this event bears a particular significance because, as you know, later today I will be elected to assume the Presidency of the UN General Assembly. And so I would ask you to accord me encouragement and support through your prayers as I face this greatest challenge of my career
In a world of enormous cultural and social diversity, religious belief is both a unifying and a divisive force. The latter influence we know well from the various ethnic conflicts of recent years that often assume a religious coloring. But I have long believed that religion, at a much more profound level, has the potential to exert a unifying influence on human thought and behavior. I do not mean this in the obvious sense that the vast majority of mankind believes in some form of spirituality. At best, such recognition can provide only a common denominator on which to base a kind of insipid tolerance.
But when we consider the substance of almost all religious thought, we cannot but recognize its affirmation of human equality. I know of no major, or even minor, religious thinker or belief system that does not proclaim the fundamental equality of all mankind before God. Or, to put it another way, no important religious tradition asserts the existence of intrinsic racial differences among human beings.
Thus, religion tends toward equality and universalism, and it has been noted that organized religion supplies mankind with an essential structure for moral striving, even among many who do not see it as a final repository of revealed truth. In this sense, the religious impulse can provide inspiration and direction to secular universalist projects like the United Nations.
Thus, I think I am blessed to begin my first day as President of the General Assembly at such an occasion as this Prayer Breakfast. Expressing my deepest appreciation to all of you gathered here, let me affirm my belief in the efficacy of your prayers, and those of many millions of others around the world, that the United Nations may fulfill the hopes that mankind has placed in it.
Thank you.