December 30, 2008 03:02 ET

Will the New Year Bring Even One Day of Peace? -- Vision.org

Vision.org Examines Global Family Day in a Special Report

PASADENA, CA--(Marketwire - December 30, 2008) - Despite official resolutions declaring January 1st Global Family Day and "One Day in Peace," lasting global peace remains an elusive goal. Such a goal is examined by Vision.org as they address this persistent and difficult question in a special report titled "One Day in Peace."

On the first day of January 1942, representatives from more than two dozen countries convened to sign the "Declaration by United Nations," promoting global peace and security through international collaboration. As more countries became involved by 1945, the United Nations Charter was drawn up and ratified. The United Nations officially began on 24 October 1945 with 51 original Member States.

Since then, the number of member states of the United Nations has grown to nearly 200.

The United Nations General Assembly first celebrated One Day in Peace on the first day of the new millennium. They later adopted a resolution that invited "Member States, intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations and all the peoples of the world to celebrate One Day in Peace, 1 January 2002, and every year thereafter." The United States Congress adopted Global Family Day, One Day of Peace and Sharing to bring together the global family for one day on the first day of each year. The resolution explains that Global Family Day is "a day which is dedicated to eradicating violence, hunger, poverty, and suffering; and to establishing greater trust and fellowship among peace-loving nations and families everywhere."

Such resolutions are in the spirit of "beating swords into plowshares," or turning implements of war into implements of peace. Unfortunately, history reveals that plowshares more often turn into swords when knowledge used for good becomes knowledge used for evil.

To illustrate this truism, two German scientists, both ethnic Jews and Nobel prize winners, are highlighted in this special report. Albert Einstein may be the most famous scientist of the 20th century, claims Vision.org contributor Wilf Hey in "Albert Einstein: Father of Relativity, Not Relativism." Yet the work of his colleague, Fritz Haber, continues to have a lasting impact on the lives of billions of people a century after his most famous discovery. Vision.org writer Alice Abler reveals startling facts about his life and his inventions in "Fritz Haber: Plowshares and Swords." His discoveries may have been responsible for the lives of billions, yet they are also responsible for the deaths of millions. His nomination as a Nobel prize winner shocked American, French and British alike.

"One Day in Peace" also examines this theme through other examples. During the early 20th century, Theodore Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson were each elected as President of the United States and both were honored as Nobel prize winners. Yet, states Vision.org publisher David Hulme, "Roosevelt and Wilson could not have been more different in terms of personality and political persuasion: indefatigable macho realist meets professorial Calvinist idealist." In "Pathways to Peace," Hulme asserts that these two common approaches to peace have never worked and concludes, "At the root of the idealist-realist debate is a truth that never goes away and that neither side ignores -- they just approach it from different perspectives: Human nature is the fly in the ointment... The only way through the impasse created by human nature is by means of a change of heart."

Vision.org's special report for Global Family Day, "More Than One Day in Peace," shows the history of peacemaking and gives hope for more than one day of peace in the future.

About Vision:

Vision.org is an online magazine with quarterly print issues that feature in-depth coverage of current social issues, religion and the Bible, history, family relationship topics and insights into philosophical, moral and ethical issues in society today. For a free subscription to the Vision quarterly magazine, visit their web site at http://www.vision.org/visionmedia/default.aspx