Traditional Dutch Christmas celebrations might be a violation of what the United Nations describes as “international law,” but Buddhism and “Lord Buddha” can help “enlighten” the world and advance the UN’s controversial Agenda 2030, according to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. Ironically, just this week, the UN accused Burmese Buddhists of committing potential crimes against humanity against Myanmar’s Muslim Rohingya community. It was not clear whether U.S.-based anti-religious groups such as the ACLU planned to launch a lawsuit over the brazen promotion of the Eastern religion.
The UN chief was speaking on the International “Day of Vesak,” an official UN day and the “most sacred day” for followers of the Buddhist religion, celebrating the birth and alleged enlightenment of a man known as Buddha some 2,500 years ago. Ban praised the religion as if it were the solution to all the world’s real and imagined problems. With his comments coming days before the World Humanitarian Summit, the UN boss also claimed the teachings of Buddha could help the UN and its member governments deal with everything from mass migration and UN-defined “human rights” to “hateful rhetoric” and alleged man-made global warming.
“The sacred commemoration of the Day of Vesak offers an invaluable opportunity to reflect on how the teachings of Buddhism can help the international community tackle pressing challenges,” Ban said, adding that his mother was a “devout Buddhist” and that he was “fortunate to learn the teachings of Lord Buddha through my family.” He also claimed: “Our challenge is to apply the Lord Buddha’s wisdom to the real problems in our world today.” Those teachings apparently apply to just about everything, with Ban last year claiming the “spirit of Vesak can help to animate a global response to the challenges of our day.”
It is hardly the first time that the UN and its ringleaders have publicly promoted controversial religious values and traditions at odds with those of virtually all Americans — including a 2012 prayer by the UN’s climate czar to Ixchel, the Mayan goddess of war, cannibalism, and human sacrifice, at a UN climate summit in Cancun. Separately, Rajendra K. Pachauri, the disgraced former head of the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (UN IPCC), admitted in his resignation letter that his crusade to supposedly save the world from humans was “more than a mission.” “It is my religion and my dharma,” he said, raising serious First Amendment concerns considering the massive U.S. taxpayer funding.
Meanwhile, UN chief Ban celebrated socialist and Buddhist U Thant, his “distinguished predecessor” at the head of the UN, as “a very religious Buddhist” who had “delivered a lecture about Buddhism and the United Nations” almost 40 years ago, talking about “karma.” Ban also claimed “Buddhist values” underscored by Thant “are fundamental to peace.” All of that praise for Thant and his religion came despite Thant’s open praise for communist mass-murderer Vladimir Lenin, whose goals, Thant said, were “in line with the aims of the UN Charter.”
Of course, Thant was also from Burma, where, according to a UN human rights report released this week, Buddhists are viciously persecuting minority Muslim communities. A “pattern of gross violations against the Rohingya,” the UN report said, “suggest a widespread or systematic attack … in turn giving rise to the possible commission of crimes against humanity.” The attackers are reportedly Buddhists, including monks.
Still, citing what he argued were Buddhist principles, Ban said those Eastern religious and spiritual ideals would serve the world well. At least to the UN chief, Buddha and the religion he founded, when mixed with the UN and its agenda, would seem to be the long sought after silver bullet to solve all of the world’s ills — and certainly to advance the UN’s controversial agenda.
“At this time of mass population movements, violent conflicts, atrocious human rights abuses and hateful rhetoric aimed at dividing communities, the sacred commemoration of the Day of Vesak offers an invaluable opportunity to reflect on how the teachings of Buddhism can help the international community tackle pressing challenges,” UN boss Ban explained, using the term “international community” to refer to the organization he leads, as well as its member governments and dictatorships.
“The fundamental equality of all people, the imperative to seek justice, and the interdependence of life and the environment are more than abstract concepts for scholars to debate; they are living guidelines for Buddhists and others navigating the path to a better future,” added Ban, who was participating in a Buddhist celebration organized by over a dozen governments at the UN General Assembly hall last month. The UN chief has offered similar speeches praising “Lord Buddha” on Vesak day since at least 2012.
Ban also cited a Buddhist writing that tells the story of “Srimala,” who he described as “a woman who pledged to help all those suffering from injustice, illness, poverty or disaster.” “This spirit of solidarity,” the UN chief continued, “can animate our global efforts to realize the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, carry out the Paris Agreement on climate change, and promote human rights while advancing human dignity worldwide.” The reported actions of that woman also “illustrate the primary role that women can play in advocating for peace, justice and human rights,” Ban continued, calling for the UN-defined vision of “gender equality” to drive “progress across the international agenda.”
“Buddhism teaches that all people are interconnected. We must face global problems together,” he said. “Poverty, displacement, disasters, diseases, conflict and climate change all transcend national borders.”
The UN’s Buddhist celebrations occurred on the Day of Vesak. On its website, the UN described the day and its meaning. “It was on the Day of Vesak two and a half millennia ago, in the year 623 B.C., that the Buddha was born,” the site says. “It was also on the Day of Vesak that the Buddha attained enlightenment, and it was on the Day of Vesak that the Buddha in his eightieth year passed away.”
The UN website also noted that the dictator-dominated General Assembly, “by its resolution 54/115 of 1999, recognized internationally the Day of Vesak to acknowledge the contribution that Buddhism, one of the oldest religions in the world, has made for over two and a half millennia and continues to make to the spirituality of humanity.” The day is apparently “commemorated annually at the UN Headquarters and other UN offices, in consultation with the relevant UN offices and with permanent missions, which also wish to be consulted,” the UN said on its website.
Other participants at this year’s Buddhist festivities echoed Ban’s words and thoughts. The Indian government’s permanent UN representative, Syed Akbaruddin, for example, according to news reports, “stressed that the landmark recognition of the need to pursue a collective global sustainable development agenda in the form of SDGs [Sustainable Development Goals aka Agenda 2030] and a similar spirit of understanding and cooperation for common good, shown in the conclusion of the Paris Agreement on Climate Change also has ‘strands of ancient wisdom of our traditions including that embodied in Buddhism.’”
“Modern world continues to be beset with great human suffering, deepening inequalities, violent conflicts and environmental degradation,” Akbaruddin was quoted as saying by media reports in India. “The teachings of Buddha about harmony with inner self and with nature of which we all are part of, hold great promise to enlighten people and alleviate the suffering in societies.”
Of course, a Christian would argue that salvation through Jesus Christ, combined with obeying God’s commands, would “alleviate the suffering in societies” — not Buddhism or its teachings about harmony with self and nature. However, online searches for “United Nations” and “Christmas” primarily turn up news articles about bizarre UN denunciations of traditional Dutch Christmas celebrations as allegedly being “racist” and potentially in contravention of a UN treaty for including a character known as “Black Pete” to help Santa Claus.
Not only is the UN boss telling the world that the outfit he leads is the “Parliament of Humanity,” he is also promoting a religion that almost every American considers to be a false religion. Indeed, Buddhist teachings are fundamentally incompatible with Christianity or the teachings of other monotheistic religions. Among other doctrines, the Eastern religion promotes belief in reincarnation and a focus on achieving “buddhahood.” Also associated with the religion is the notion of a coming pseudo-savior known as “Maitreya,” who will supposedly succeed the other Buddha some day and teach the world Eastern mysticism and unite everyone together in the same global religion.
By contrast, Christian teachings include the doctrine of loving your enemies and praying for those who persecute you, as Christ explained in the Sermon on the Mount. The Bible also states that people die once and that the only path to salvation and eternal life is through Christ. Despite Ban’s claims about how “Lord Buddha” can allegedly “enlighten” the world, the Bible teaches that Jesus Christ is the “light of the world.” Those Christian doctrines are never highlighted by the UN, much less touted as the solution to mankind’s problems.
Considering the UN chief’s promotion of Buddhism and “Lord Buddha” as the solution to the world’s ills, other UN schemes also raise significant questions. In a recent declaration on “education for global citizenship” adopted by the UN’s propaganda arm, the UN “Department of Public Information,” earlier this month, the global outfit claimed that its vision for education must promote “integrated development of the whole person emotionally, ethically, intellectually, physically, socially, and spiritually.” (Emphasis added) Whether Buddhist teachings would be included under the guise of spiritual “education” was not made clear. This week, the UN and its offices around the world were also celebrating the “International Day of Yoga,” associated with the polytheistic Eastern religion of Hinduism.
Of course, regardless of one’s thoughts on religion, the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution prohibits the spending of American tax dollars on the establishment of religion either domestically or abroad. As the largest financier of the UN, the U.S. government has an obligation to ensure that the tax dollars of Americans do not support other religions. The UN chief’s undisguised promotion of Buddhism and “Lord Buddha,” then, along with numerous other examples of the UN promoting non-Christian religions, would appear to be legally problematic from a U.S. perspective. Despite the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution’s prohibition on federal government funding of religions and religious causes, U.S. taxpayers are by far the largest contributors to the UN budget.
Curiously, perhaps, despite years of similar religious promotion, the ACLU has not yet released a statement condemning the UN chief’s comments. Despite regularly threatening, bullying, and suing American cities and schools for voluntary prayer or Bible readings, the far-left American group also did not say whether it was planning to sue the UN for “encouraging or promoting religion in any way,” which it says is illegal, with the billions of U.S. tax dollars handed to the UN every year. An attorney for the U.S. Freedom From Religion Foundation did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Legislation to have the United States withdraw from the UN, the American Sovereignty Restoration Act, is currently sitting in the U.S. House Foreign Affairs Committee.
Alex Newman, a foreign correspondent for The New American, is normally based in Europe. Follow him on Twitter @ALEXNEWMAN_JOU. He can be reached at [email protected]
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