C
cmforte
Guest
*Bump: *
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V
Vouthon
Guest
His Holiness Pope Pius XII was a World Federalist, I believe. At a 1999 World Federalist Association conference, its senior vice-president, Dr. John Logue, a practicing Catholic stated, “We must work as hard as we can to build a world commonwealth, a United Nations world commonwealth, which has the power to enact, interpret, and enforce limited world law.” He also explained “that Pope Pius XII and John XXIII agree” with the doctrines of the World Federalists for federal world government.
On April 6, 1951, Pope Pius XII had a meeting in the Vatican with the World Movement for World Federal Government – a precursor to the World Federalist Movement. During that meeting, Pope Pius encouraged his “world government” audience to continue in this quest. The Pope then explained, rightly so, that the “deadly germs of mechanical totalitarianism” might infect this “world political organization.” However, in noting this possibility, he reminded the attendees to pursue a morally firm world federalist approach. Ending his meeting, the Pope encouraged his audience to pursue this grand idea.
“Your movement, Gentlemen, has the task of creating an effective political organization of the world. There is nothing more in keeping with the traditional doctrines of the Church, or better adapted to her teachings on the rightful or unjust war, especially in the present world situation. An organization of this nature must, therefore, be set up…You are of the opinion that the political world organization needs to take a federal shape in order to be effective. If you mean by this that it needs to be released from mechanical leveling down then you thereby are as well in accordance with the principles of social and political life as they are established and advocated by the Church…[The future political world organization] will only exercise effective authority to the degree in which it preserves and fosters the independent existence of a healthy human community whose members jointly participate in advancing the welfare of the whole of humanity…You have the courage to give yourself to this cause. We congratulate you. We would express to you Our wishes for your entire success and with all Our heart We will pray to God to grant you His wisdom and help in the performance of your task…”
- Pope Pius XII, address to the delegates of the
World Federalist Movement in 1951
(continued…)
On April 6, 1951, Pope Pius XII had a meeting in the Vatican with the World Movement for World Federal Government – a precursor to the World Federalist Movement. During that meeting, Pope Pius encouraged his “world government” audience to continue in this quest. The Pope then explained, rightly so, that the “deadly germs of mechanical totalitarianism” might infect this “world political organization.” However, in noting this possibility, he reminded the attendees to pursue a morally firm world federalist approach. Ending his meeting, the Pope encouraged his audience to pursue this grand idea.
“Your movement, Gentlemen, has the task of creating an effective political organization of the world. There is nothing more in keeping with the traditional doctrines of the Church, or better adapted to her teachings on the rightful or unjust war, especially in the present world situation. An organization of this nature must, therefore, be set up…You are of the opinion that the political world organization needs to take a federal shape in order to be effective. If you mean by this that it needs to be released from mechanical leveling down then you thereby are as well in accordance with the principles of social and political life as they are established and advocated by the Church…[The future political world organization] will only exercise effective authority to the degree in which it preserves and fosters the independent existence of a healthy human community whose members jointly participate in advancing the welfare of the whole of humanity…You have the courage to give yourself to this cause. We congratulate you. We would express to you Our wishes for your entire success and with all Our heart We will pray to God to grant you His wisdom and help in the performance of your task…”
- Pope Pius XII, address to the delegates of the
World Federalist Movement in 1951
(continued…)
V
Vouthon
Guest
Pope Pius XII, in his first encyclical Summi Pontificatus (On the Unity of Human Society) published on October 12, 1939, sees Christianity being universalized and opposed to every form of racial hostility and against racial superiority. There are no real racial differences, because the human race forms a unity, because “one ancestor [God] made all nations to inhabit the whole earth”.
*"What a wonderful vision, which makes us contemplate the human race in the unity of its origin in God. . . in the unity of its nature, composed equally in all men of a material body and a spiritual soul; in the unity of its immediate end and its mission in the world; in the unity of its dwelling, the earth, whose benefits all men, by right of nature, may use to sustain and develop life; in the unity of its supernatural end: God himself, to whom all ought to tend; in the unity of the means for attaining this end;. . . in the unity of the redemption wrought by Christ for all. This divine law of solidarity and charity assures that all men are truly brethren, without excluding the rich variety of persons, cultures and societies. In the light of this unity of all mankind, which exists in law and in fact, individuals do not feel themselves isolated units, like grains of sand, but united by the very force of their nature and by their internal destiny, into an organic, harmonious mutual relationship which varies with the changing of times…The blood of countless human beings, even noncombatants, raises a piteous dirge over a nation such as Our dear Poland…which has a right to the generous and brotherly sympathy of the whole world…With a heart torn by the sufferings and afflictions of so many of her sons, but with the courage and the stability that come from the promises of Our Lord, the Spouse of Christ goes to meet the gathering storms. This she knows, that the truth which she preaches, the charity which she teaches and practices, will be the indispensable counselors and aids to men of good will in the reconstruction of a new world based on justice and love, when mankind, weary from its course along the way of error, has tasted the bitter fruits of hate and violence…The Catholic Church…preaching fearlessly…the love of Christ demands with the zeal of a mother, stands as a blessed vision of peace above the storm of error and passion awaiting the moment when the all-powerful Hand of Christ the King shall quiet the tempest and banish the spirits of discord which have provoked it.
Whatever We can do to hasten the day when the dove of peace may find on this earth, submerged in a deluge of discord, somewhere to alight, We shall continue to do"*
In this sense, the Second Vatican Council expressed itself in the pastoral consitution “Gaudium et spes” of 7 December 1965. The Council demanded in order to “completely outlaw war“, “the establishment of some universal public authority acknowledged as such by all and endowed with the power to safeguard, on the behalf of all, security, regard for justice, and respect for rights. During his pontificate, Pope John Paul II generally referred to this doctrinal tradition.
Never forget that the current World Order stems from Catholic thought. Indeed it is a Catholic creation!
Read:
*"…In the 16th century - when the medieval idea of a world monarch was no longer viable, the Roman Catholic philosopher and theologian Francisco de Vitoria developed the conception of the equality and sovereignty of international legal subjects. This idea of the world as a community of independent states which reached a breakthrough at the Peace of Westphalia in 1648 and determines the international system to this day, however, was only part of Vitoria‘s design. The key idea was that of a “totus orbis” according to which humanity must be understood as a non-divisible unity and wholeness, “in a way which initially desists from dividing the people into states because the orbis stands above them and includes them all.” Vitoria did not have a confederative model in mind but rather that of a world state. He also called this community of all human beings “res publica”. Vitoria assigned this entity organizational and legislative powers to which the states then are subordinate. In close proximity to this thought, Pope Pius XII repeatedly spoke out against understanding state sovereignty as being absolutely independent and omnipotent. According to him, the state was merely entitled to have “relative sovereignty”. The Pope, for instance, was in favor of the creation of “a body set up through a joint decision and vested with supreme and unlimited power whose tasks would include to crush at the very beginning each and any threat emanating from an individual or collective attack"…" *
…Something to think about, at least
…
*"What a wonderful vision, which makes us contemplate the human race in the unity of its origin in God. . . in the unity of its nature, composed equally in all men of a material body and a spiritual soul; in the unity of its immediate end and its mission in the world; in the unity of its dwelling, the earth, whose benefits all men, by right of nature, may use to sustain and develop life; in the unity of its supernatural end: God himself, to whom all ought to tend; in the unity of the means for attaining this end;. . . in the unity of the redemption wrought by Christ for all. This divine law of solidarity and charity assures that all men are truly brethren, without excluding the rich variety of persons, cultures and societies. In the light of this unity of all mankind, which exists in law and in fact, individuals do not feel themselves isolated units, like grains of sand, but united by the very force of their nature and by their internal destiny, into an organic, harmonious mutual relationship which varies with the changing of times…The blood of countless human beings, even noncombatants, raises a piteous dirge over a nation such as Our dear Poland…which has a right to the generous and brotherly sympathy of the whole world…With a heart torn by the sufferings and afflictions of so many of her sons, but with the courage and the stability that come from the promises of Our Lord, the Spouse of Christ goes to meet the gathering storms. This she knows, that the truth which she preaches, the charity which she teaches and practices, will be the indispensable counselors and aids to men of good will in the reconstruction of a new world based on justice and love, when mankind, weary from its course along the way of error, has tasted the bitter fruits of hate and violence…The Catholic Church…preaching fearlessly…the love of Christ demands with the zeal of a mother, stands as a blessed vision of peace above the storm of error and passion awaiting the moment when the all-powerful Hand of Christ the King shall quiet the tempest and banish the spirits of discord which have provoked it.
Whatever We can do to hasten the day when the dove of peace may find on this earth, submerged in a deluge of discord, somewhere to alight, We shall continue to do"*
In this sense, the Second Vatican Council expressed itself in the pastoral consitution “Gaudium et spes” of 7 December 1965. The Council demanded in order to “completely outlaw war“, “the establishment of some universal public authority acknowledged as such by all and endowed with the power to safeguard, on the behalf of all, security, regard for justice, and respect for rights. During his pontificate, Pope John Paul II generally referred to this doctrinal tradition.
Never forget that the current World Order stems from Catholic thought. Indeed it is a Catholic creation!
Read:
*"…In the 16th century - when the medieval idea of a world monarch was no longer viable, the Roman Catholic philosopher and theologian Francisco de Vitoria developed the conception of the equality and sovereignty of international legal subjects. This idea of the world as a community of independent states which reached a breakthrough at the Peace of Westphalia in 1648 and determines the international system to this day, however, was only part of Vitoria‘s design. The key idea was that of a “totus orbis” according to which humanity must be understood as a non-divisible unity and wholeness, “in a way which initially desists from dividing the people into states because the orbis stands above them and includes them all.” Vitoria did not have a confederative model in mind but rather that of a world state. He also called this community of all human beings “res publica”. Vitoria assigned this entity organizational and legislative powers to which the states then are subordinate. In close proximity to this thought, Pope Pius XII repeatedly spoke out against understanding state sovereignty as being absolutely independent and omnipotent. According to him, the state was merely entitled to have “relative sovereignty”. The Pope, for instance, was in favor of the creation of “a body set up through a joint decision and vested with supreme and unlimited power whose tasks would include to crush at the very beginning each and any threat emanating from an individual or collective attack"…" *
…Something to think about, at least
…
M
Mirza19
Guest
Yes, us Bahá’ís are all for a United humanity. But the specific details differ between each believer. Some think all or most of the world will be Bahá’í. Others think the Bahá’ís will be in charge. And still others, like me, and I think the majority, just think it’ll be an organic process where people will turn back to faith, realize the futility in politics, and get along in tolerance; Bahá’u’lláh calls this the Most Great Peace, and it’s when nations will unite in a giant NATO-esque group, agreeing to defend each other, and turning most “instruments of war” into things that can be used for manufacturing, teaching, and science.
However, I personally can’t decide whether it’s a genuine future or just a message of hope to bond people together. I have my doubts about whether or not its actually possible.
Also, the ICC, African Union, EU, UN, IMF, Kyoto, etc. etc…they aren’t as “international” as their advertising would have you believe. Almost all of it is symbolic rhetoric and symbolic union…the world is still very far from having the slightest bit of international unity. We still live within the “realist paradigm” of international politics. International courts have very little jurisdiction, and the ICJ can’t even enforce its rulings. And most of the treaties that come out of the UN and other groups can be signed by any country that feels like doing it, even if those countries won’t enforce them. Until the idea of “national sovereignty” is gone, there won’t be any such thing as “global unity.”
And I know one or two people personally that think the Whore of Babylon that will unite the Earth is the Catholic Church. I just chuckle, nod my head, and change the topic of conversation. Can’t really talk about those things to people who earnestly believe them.
1
1voice
Guest
According to what I read in the Bible … There will eventually be a form of world unity (Before Jesus returns / sets up his Govt ) … and it is described as being a very bad thing.
V
Vouthon
Guest
“The spirit of federalism, the future organization of the world in political respect, will play an important role. In the same measure it safeguards the natural and healthy life of human communities in bringing about the greatest welfare of all mankind. I wish you great success in your labor and God give you light and assistance.”
(Pope Pius XII, to the members of the Congress of World Federalists, held in Rome, April, 1951.)
(Pope Pius XII, to the members of the Congress of World Federalists, held in Rome, April, 1951.)
W
Whadyamean
Guest
It might be well to distinguish that the world already is united, and it only appears to be not so in terms of political and religious ideologies who, due to the momentum of inherited parochial (not in the religious sense) incomplete and inconsistent thought habits, cannot see what is already a fait accompli. We just prefer to put our energies into promoting our prejudices and preferences before survival. We also dismiss epistemology as having any bearing on our problems other than as a philosophers toy. that is a tragedy only similarly matched by the general misunderstanding and dismissal of the laws of logarithmic progression to our populations and resources.
Even if we don’t subscribe to the idea that we are all made in the image and likeness of God, we can claim a scientific hold on the idea that we are both physically and mental capacity-wise remarkably similar. So whether a so called “one world” is a good idea or not is dependent on what sort of coding system we align with or under. Without the ultimate epistemological standpoint, all religious, political, economic, and other systems devolve to violence. So before we have our fate in this regard decided for us,we might very well endeavor to discover who and what we are and how we actually work, all of us being basically the same. Then we can agree, or for personal advantage reasons disagree, on a coding that will allow actual meaningful communication between factions that have not now the tools to even begin such a monumental task pertinent to our survival as a race. No one said that this experiment had to succeed. Even in religious terms, God might have tried, in all that unimaginably HUGE space out there, some other format of conscious life with “free will.” Since ours is clouded by ignorance (not simply in religious, but in actual terms, ) we might behoove ourselves to get of our high horses of ego, or at least train them to move in formation with creativity.
V
Vouthon
Guest
Samuel Zane Batten (1859–1925) was a Baptist minister. He was an adamant proponent of democracy for its Christian appeal and believed in World Federalism.
The American Baptist Publication Society in 1919 published THE NEW WORLD ORDER by Samuel Zane Batten, in which he declared: “**The old order passes from view; the new world rises upon our vision…We have vindicated the right of social control…There must be developed a national spirit of service…Society must break the stranglehold of capitalism…The natural resources of the nation must be socialized…The state must socialize every group…Men must learn to have world patriotism. World patriotism must be a faith…There is no more justice for the claim of absolute sovereignty on the part of a nation than on the part of an individual…The only alternative is World Federation…with a world parliament, an international court, and an international police force…Men must have an international mind before there can be a world federation. They must see and affirm that above the nation is humanity. Internationalism must first be a religion before it can be a reality and a system.” **
The American Baptist Publication Society in 1919 published THE NEW WORLD ORDER by Samuel Zane Batten, in which he declared: “**The old order passes from view; the new world rises upon our vision…We have vindicated the right of social control…There must be developed a national spirit of service…Society must break the stranglehold of capitalism…The natural resources of the nation must be socialized…The state must socialize every group…Men must learn to have world patriotism. World patriotism must be a faith…There is no more justice for the claim of absolute sovereignty on the part of a nation than on the part of an individual…The only alternative is World Federation…with a world parliament, an international court, and an international police force…Men must have an international mind before there can be a world federation. They must see and affirm that above the nation is humanity. Internationalism must first be a religion before it can be a reality and a system.” **
F
FabiusMaximus
Guest
Humans are essentially tribal, and tend to live that way. Therefore, I would consider a “World Unification” as not only dangerous but impractical. You cannot simply brush away thousands of years of national development. And such differences won’t simply disappear under the façade of a united world government.
International cooperation I think is possible, but actual political unity? No. And no thanks.
International cooperation I think is possible, but actual political unity? No. And no thanks.
V
Vouthon
Guest
Echoing Jesus’ prayer for unification, “that they may all be one” (Jn 17:21), Paul VI assured the Church that world unity would come:
“…The unity of the world will be. The dignity of the human person shall be recognized not only formally but effectively. The inviolability of life, from the womb to old age… Undue social inequalities will be overcome. The relations between peoples will be peaceful, reasonable and fraternal. Neither selfishness, nor arrogance, nor poverty… [shall] prevent the establishment of a true human order, a common good, a new civilization…”
“…The unity of the world will be. The dignity of the human person shall be recognized not only formally but effectively. The inviolability of life, from the womb to old age… Undue social inequalities will be overcome. The relations between peoples will be peaceful, reasonable and fraternal. Neither selfishness, nor arrogance, nor poverty… [shall] prevent the establishment of a true human order, a common good, a new civilization…”
- —POPE PAUL VI, Urbi et Orbi Message, April 4th, 1971 *
V
Vouthon
Guest
Dear brother Fabius
And you could not possibly have true world unity without embracing the full plethora of diverse human cultures could you? Unity in diversity is the way forward, not uniformity. Pope Pius XII explained this on many occassions.
I have always hated what I call the “tribal mindset”. Not an enlightened patriotism, a pride in one’s culture and heritage which is natural and commendable, but the tendency to define oneself by nationality and/or race and to distrust “foreigners”, those outwith one’s own ilk.
Surely Christ destroyed the tribal mindset", when he broke down the middle wall of partition between Jews and Gentiles, and birthed a “new humanity”?
***For he himself is our peace, who has made the two one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility…His purpose was to create in himself one new humanity out of the two, thus making peace, and in this one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility. He came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near and through him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit.
Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and aliens, but fellow citizens with God’s people and members of God’s household***
(Eph. 2:13-15).
***“But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested” (Rom.3:21); that there is “no difference between the Jew and the Greek” (Rom.10:12,3:22); that in Christ Jesus “there is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: For ye are all one in Christ Jesus”(Gal.3:28) “there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, Barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free; but Christ is all, and in all” (Col. 3:11) ***
As far back as the Mosaic Law, the Holy Prophet Moses spoke categorically against the idea that brotherhood was limited to one’s own religious, ethnic, national, political or famalial boundaries:
***“When a foreigner (non-Jew) resides with you in your land, you shall not oppress the foreigner. The foreigner who resides with you shall be to you as the citizen among you; you shall love the foreigner as yourself, for you were foreigners in the land of Egypt; I am the Lord your God.” *- Leviticus 19:33-34
To illustrate the wrongfulness of such an insular, hostile worldview I want to step back some 3,000 and so years ago to a charismatic figure that Christians, Jews and Muslims can all equally revere: Our Beloved Father Abraham, the Father of Faith.
More than any other human being in the history of mankind, Father Abraham epitomized cosmopolitanism. He was the first to break away from the primitive “tribal” mindset and engage with a world-embracing vision.
The Jewish Rabbis said in the Talmud (according to my copy):
***These traits are found among the disciples of Abraham:
a good eye, a humble spirit and a generous soul *** - *(Pirke Avot 5:22) *
We must all strive to be disciples of Abraham and to emulate him!
Disciples of Abraham follow their Master’s lead and do what he did: They liberate themselves from the conditioning and bondage of nation, tribe, culture, religion and the family circle to see the world through the “good eye”, the eyes of God, to see reality as God sees it - precious, sacred and intrinsically one (Genesis 12:1). As a result, they cultivate the Rabbinic “good eye” which enables them to perceive the interdependence of all life and the pervading, spiritual unity that transcends and embraces it; a spirit of humility which longs to serve for the sake of the whole rather than for the minority; and a soul filled with “generosity”, with what the Rabbis call ‘hesed’ - LOVING-KINDNESS.
The Talmud says:
***Five possesions did the Blessed Holy One acquire in the world:
Torah, heaven and earth, Abraham, Israel and the Holy Temple *** *(Pirke Avot 6:10) *
Why did the impassioned Jewish Rabbis regard Abraham as one of God’s five possesions, his “gifts” to humanity, the five things which most clearly reveal the presence of the One God? Because Father Abraham was the only human being on earth at that time, indeed the first man to free himself from conditionality and subservience to the man-made divisions of tribe, race, culture and religion - to see the One as the many, the unity at the heart of all diversity! At the age of thirteen, according to Jewish legend, Abraham is said to have shattered the pagan idols of his father and took on the yoke of obedience to the One God. That is why the Talmud encourages people to take on the commandments at age thirteen (Pirke Avot 5:25). We too are thus to break down the idols of self and yoke ourselves to the servitude of the whole - to the human family!
(continued…)
V
Vouthon
Guest
This is what Constantine the Great meant when he said:
This is certainly the Will of the Supreme God, who is the Author of this world and its Father, (through whose goodness we enjoy life, look up to heaven, and rejoice in the society of our fellow-men), that the whole human race should agree together and be joined in a certain affectionate union by, as it were, a mutual embrace…How pleasing to the wise and intelligent portion of mankind is the concord which exists among you!..what can be more honorable than gladly to acquiesce in the prosperity of all men?..O holy faith, who givest us in our Saviour’s words and precepts a model, as it were, of what our life should be…In my own judgment, he whose first object is the maintenance of peace, seems to be superior to Victory herself…clamor is always wrong, and from the collision of discordant elements both sparks and flame will arise. I protest, as I desire to please God and you, and to enjoy a happiness commensurate with your kind wishes, that I love you, and the quiet haven of your gentleness, now that you have cast from you that which defiled, and received in its place at once sound morality and concord, firmly planting in the vessel the sacred standard, and guided, as one may say, by a helm of iron in your course onward to the light of heaven.
*(Letter of Constantine the Great to the Antiochians 332 AD) *
The Catechism of the Catholic Church says of Abraham:
***In order to gather scattered humanity God calls Abram from his country, his kindred and his father’s house, and makes him Abraham, that is, “the father of a multitude of nations”. “In you all the nations of the earth shall be blessed.” (Gen 17:5; 12:3) (59)
Against all human hope, God promises descendants to Abraham, as the fruit of faith and of the power of the Holy Spirit. In Abraham’s progeny all the nations of the earth will be blessed.***
As Dom Sylvester Huédard points out, Abraham ***“indicates in a single image both the unity of the human race and the unity of what is revealed . . . the promises to Abraham are for the sake of all the children of Adam.” ***
God called Abraham to abandon, to sacrifice and give up his “nationality” in the Ur of the Chaldees, leave behind his “tribe”, his pagan faith, his family heritage, his people and become the Father of all the Children of Adam who would be joined together by Christ. He left the insular, tribal society of his birth and took hold of a truly world-embracing vision. In becoming the forbear of the Jewish People, he became the means through which God would ultimately, in Christ, “gather together scattered humanity”.
He went forth from his nation to become the Father of “ALL” Nations. Now thats “internationalism”.
This is certainly the Will of the Supreme God, who is the Author of this world and its Father, (through whose goodness we enjoy life, look up to heaven, and rejoice in the society of our fellow-men), that the whole human race should agree together and be joined in a certain affectionate union by, as it were, a mutual embrace…How pleasing to the wise and intelligent portion of mankind is the concord which exists among you!..what can be more honorable than gladly to acquiesce in the prosperity of all men?..O holy faith, who givest us in our Saviour’s words and precepts a model, as it were, of what our life should be…In my own judgment, he whose first object is the maintenance of peace, seems to be superior to Victory herself…clamor is always wrong, and from the collision of discordant elements both sparks and flame will arise. I protest, as I desire to please God and you, and to enjoy a happiness commensurate with your kind wishes, that I love you, and the quiet haven of your gentleness, now that you have cast from you that which defiled, and received in its place at once sound morality and concord, firmly planting in the vessel the sacred standard, and guided, as one may say, by a helm of iron in your course onward to the light of heaven.
*(Letter of Constantine the Great to the Antiochians 332 AD) *
The Catechism of the Catholic Church says of Abraham:
***In order to gather scattered humanity God calls Abram from his country, his kindred and his father’s house, and makes him Abraham, that is, “the father of a multitude of nations”. “In you all the nations of the earth shall be blessed.” (Gen 17:5; 12:3) (59)
Against all human hope, God promises descendants to Abraham, as the fruit of faith and of the power of the Holy Spirit. In Abraham’s progeny all the nations of the earth will be blessed.***
As Dom Sylvester Huédard points out, Abraham ***“indicates in a single image both the unity of the human race and the unity of what is revealed . . . the promises to Abraham are for the sake of all the children of Adam.” ***
God called Abraham to abandon, to sacrifice and give up his “nationality” in the Ur of the Chaldees, leave behind his “tribe”, his pagan faith, his family heritage, his people and become the Father of all the Children of Adam who would be joined together by Christ. He left the insular, tribal society of his birth and took hold of a truly world-embracing vision. In becoming the forbear of the Jewish People, he became the means through which God would ultimately, in Christ, “gather together scattered humanity”.
He went forth from his nation to become the Father of “ALL” Nations. Now thats “internationalism”.
V
Vouthon
Guest
“…A people is no less a member of the human race, which is society as a whole, than a family is a member of a particular nation. Each individual owes incomparably more to the human race, which is the great fatherland, than to the particular country in which he was born. As a family is to the nation, so is the nation to the universal commonweal; wherefore it is infinitely more harmful for nation to wrong nation, than for family to wrong family. To abandon the sentiment of humanity is not merely to renounce civilization and to relapse into barbarism, it is to share in the blindness of the most brutish brigands and savages; it is to be a man no longer, but a cannibal…I love my country better than my family; but I love humanity better than my country…All of humankind is but one family, dispersed over the face of the whole earth; all men are brothers, and ought to love each other as such. May shame and infamy overtake those impious wretches who seek a cruel unnatural glory in the blood of their brothers, which is their own blood…All wars are civil wars, because all men are brothers…”
- Archbishop François Fénelon (6 August 1651 – 7 January 1715) (Let. 30)
- Archbishop François Fénelon (6 August 1651 – 7 January 1715) (Let. 30)
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