My speech to the UNESCO conference

The Inherent Dignity and Value of People UNESCO Conference I am grateful for the opportunity to take a few minutes to address this assembly because the work you’re involved with here is important and, for many people, life-changing. I have been involved in the Area Association of Religious Communities here at UConn for more than 16 years now, and the people there come from a variety of religious and philosophical backgrounds. And I imagine if we were to conduct a quick poll of everyone here, we’d have a sizeable diversity of religious and philosophical perspectives present. And different religious and philosophical perspectives mean different worldviews. But if we all come from different worldviews, why are we here? Because we all care about people around the world who struggle to obtain the basic needs of life. In this particular case, we’re talking about people who are in need of food…something many of us may take for granted, but for millions of people it is a daily concern. I come from a Christian perspective, and I’d like to advocate the notion that, at the end of the day, we don’t join in alleviating hunger because we want to thump our chests or win prizes or feel good about ourselves. Rather, we do this because we care about people and we know that there are millions of hurting men, women, and children around the world. I believe strongly that, ultimately, we do this because we recognize that each and every person – no matter their race, their gender, their sexual orientation, their language, or their station in life – every person is inherently valuable and possesses dignity and worth. When a male lion takes control of a pride, he will kill all the cubs sired by the previous dominant male. He does so because all he cares about is his own survival and the survival of his own genes (though he wouldn’t, obviously, think of it in those terms). In a Darwinian world, we act in our own self-interest, and the ideas of altruism and self-sacrifice for the good of those who are not our own kin are foreign concepts. Richard Dawkins wrote, “We are survival machines – robot vehicles blindly programmed to preserve the selfish molecules known as genes. This is a truth which still fills me with astonishment.” If that is true, words and concepts such as justice and goodness have no meaning at all. It is, as Tennyson said, “nature red in tooth and claw.” And thus, there would be nothing wrong with some people having a lot and others having nothing. But we know we are not simply animals. The Darwinian story, though it offers considerable help to us in understanding the biological world, is woefully incomplete. There is something fundamentally different about us that separates us from the rest of the animal kingdom. The great faiths of the world speak of the uniqueness of human beings. • Taoism says that each human has a “divine spark”. • The Koran says that Allah “created man from sounding clay, from mud molded into shape.” • The Hebrew text of Genesis says that on the sixth day of creation, God said, “Let us make man in our image, according to our likeness…and so God created man in His own image, male and female He created them.” The great faiths of the world remind us that all human beings, from the moment they are conceived, have a special something that gives them worth. It is this inherent dignity and worth that ultimately will give this effort staying power. People who give or help out of guilt do not stay with it for long. Neither do people who are simply looking to feel good about themselves. There has to be some deeper reality that drives us to sacrifice on behalf of others. I believe it is this: Every single person, from the moment of conception, has inherent and eternal value. Because of this value and dignity, they deserve at least the basic necessities of life. From the unborn to the aged, from the healthy to the handicapped, from the rich to the poor, every person on earth deserves to live, deserves to eat, and deserves the basic care they need to survive in this world. Now let me bring this full-circle. Each of us is made with the divine spark, or in the image of God. What are we doing when we take the time and effort to help the most needy among us? Are we merely engaging in charity? Are we just engaging in a public service? No, it is much more than that. Jesus said in the gospel according to Matthew, “to the extent that you fed and clothed one of these brothers of Mine, even the least of them, you did it to Me.'” When we mobilize to feed the hungry, we are living out the very essence of what it means to be human. We are reflecting the heart of the One who gave us life, whether we know it or not. I want to finish by encouraging you to continue the good work in which you are already engaged. Ralph Nader has said, “A society that has more justice is a society that needs less charity.” And I agree. But concepts of justice and goodness can only exist in a world where such values are rooted in something deeper than the laws of men. We may not be able to fix everything that’s broken; we may not be able to right every wrong; we may not be able to cure what ills a sick world. But we can bring a ray of light into a dark place. We can bring a little hope to people who suffer. We can bring tangible goods to those who desperately need it. Let me encourage you to continue to see the image of God in others and, by helping them in very real ways, live out the image of God in yourselves as well. May God bless your work here and around the world.