In this new century, born in hope but soon thereafter cloaked in terror, many see religion and politics as a volatile, if not deadly, mixture. For All Peoples and All Nations uncovers a remarkable time when that was not so; when together, those two entities gave rise to a new ideal: universal human rights.

John Nurser has given life to a history almost sadly forgotten, and introduces the reader to the brilliant and heroic people of many faiths who, out of the aftermath of World War II and in the face of cynicism, dismissive animosity, and even ridicule, forged one of the world's most important secular documents, the United Nations's Universal Declaration of Human Rights. These courageous, persistent, visionary individuals—notable among them an American Lutheran Seminary professor from Philadelphia, O. Frederick Nolde—created the Commission on Human Rights. Eventually headed by one of the world's greatest humanitarians, Eleanor Roosevelt, the Universal Declaration has become the touchstone for political legitimacy.

As David Little says in the foreword to this remarkable chronicle, "Both because of the large gap it fills in the story of the founding of the United Nations and the events surrounding the adoption of human rights, and because of the wider message it conveys about religion and peacebuilding, For All Peoples and All Nations is an immensely important contribution. We are all mightily in John Nurser's debt." If religion and politics could once find common ground in the interest of our shared humanity, there is hope that it may yet be found again.

John S. Nurser is a fellow of the Human Rights Center at the University of Essex and Canon Emeritus of Lincoln Cathedral in the Church of England. He was the founding director of the ecumenical group Christianity and the Future of Europe (CAFE).

ForewordDavid Little

PrefaceAcknowledgmentsArchives and Abbreviations

Introduction: Revisiting a Myth

PART ONE

1. The Idea: To Universalize "Christendom"

2. The Man: Fred Nolde

PART TWO

3. To Write a Just and Durable Peace

4. Mobilizing Christian Forces

5. The Joint Committee on Religious Liberty

6. Preparing for San Francisco

7. The Charter of the United Nations Organization

8. An Ecumenical Instrument

9. Finding a Text

10. Declaring Human Rights

11. Conclusion: Faith and Human Rights Need Each Other

APPENDIXES

A Extracts from the Report of the WCC-in-Formation Conference "The Churches and the International Crisis"

B Extracts from A Message from the National Study Conference on the Churches and a Just and Durable Peace

C Extract from the Minutes of the First Full Meeting of the Joint Committee on Religious Liberty

D The "Six Pillars of Peace"

E Statement on Religious Liberty

F Statement on Religious Liberty, Memorandum No. 2

G Extracts from the Report of Commission II, "The Peace Strategy of the Churches"

H Letter on Human Rights in the Charter of the United Nations

I Extracts from Concluding Remarks of J.H. Oldham and John Foster Dulles at the Final Session of the Girton College Conference

J Letter from O. Frederick Nolde to Mrs. Eleanor Roosevelt

K Extract from the Report of the Drafting Committee to the Commission on Human Rights

L Extracts from the Declaration on Religious Liberty

M Extracts from the Universal Declaration of Human Rights

BibliographyIndex