An Affirmation of Peace and Human Rights

I have an audacious faith in the future of humanity!

I refuse to accept:

Despair as the final response to the ambiguities of history.

The idea that the “isness” of our present nature makes us incapable of reaching up for the eternal “oughtness” that forever confronts us.

The idea that we are mere flotsam and jetsam in the river of life, unable to influence the unfolding events which surround us.

The view that humanity is so tragically bound to the starless midnight of racism and violence that the bright daybreak of peace and human rights can never become a reality.

The cynical notion that nation after nation must spiral down the militaristic stairway into the hell of nuclear annihilation.

I believe:

That unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word in reality.

That right temporarily defeated is stronger than evil triumphant.

That even among today’s domination, violence, exclusion and greed there is still hope for a brighter tomorrow.

That wounded justice lying prostrate on the blood-flowing streets of our cities, can be lifted from the mud of shame to reign supreme among everyone born of a woman.

I have the audacity to believe that peoples everywhere can have three meals a day for their bodies, education and culture for their minds, and dignity, equality and freedom for their spirits.

I believe:

That what self-centered human beings have torn down, other centered human beings can build.

That one day humanity will bow before the altars of God and be crowned triumphant over war and bloodshed.

That nonviolent redemptive goodwill will be proclaimed the rule of the earth.

That the lion and the lamb will lie down together.

That everyone born of a woman shall sit under their own vine and fig tree and none shall be afraid.

I believe that we shall overcome!





Adapted from Martin Luther King, Jr.’s Nobel Peace Prize Acceptance Speech by R. Lawton Higgs, Sr. 12/31/10