Chine McDonald reflects on 80 years of the UN and why anniversaries matter. 22/01/2026
In January 1946 – four months after the end of the Second World War – delegates from around the world gathered in London with one mission: to rebuild a renewed world of collaboration, solidarity and peace; a world where such war would never again be possible. This was the inaugural meeting of the United Nations General Assembly and it took place in the Great Hall at Methodist Central Hall Westminster. The towering building had been unscathed by war and so was the ideal choice for such a gathering. Foreign Minister Ernest Bevin had to convince the church’s trustees, however, to lend their building for the meeting, saying: “there could be no better place than a House of God, with the atmosphere of prayer already there”. So the Rev Dr William Sangster and his congregation vacated the premises, moving out so that the world could move in.
Over the weekend I joined Christian leaders at a moving service to mark 80 years since that first meeting, and give thanks for the work of the United Nations (you can watch some of my reflections on this here). Sat in the Great Hall – the room where this daring global commitment happened – I couldn’t help but be cognizant of the reality that the world in 2026 feels much more fractured, unstable and violent than those gathered in that moment of global solidarity might have hoped for.
If Bevin were around today to see the wars raging, the increased sense that might is right and that global alliances are fracturing, he might conclude that the project had failed. As Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said at Davos on Tuesday: “Every day, we’re reminded that we live in an era of great power rivalry. That the rules–based order is fading. That the strong can do what they can, and the weak must suffer what they must.” The UN is not perfect by any means – anyone who has got close to its structures will know it is an institution often crippled by bureaucracy. UN Secretary–General António Guterres, who attended the event at Methodist Central Hall on Saturday, told the BBC he knew his organisation lacked the leverage that is perhaps needed in this moment, which he described as one in which “there are those that believe the power of law should be replaced by the law of power”. For all its faults, it is one of few institutions committed to global solidarity and peace – hard as it may be to achieve.
Anniversaries are a time to reflect on what has been, and take the temperature of where we are now. This week marked a year since Donald Trump’s inauguration, this month marked 80 years of the UN, and – admittedly, not quite on the same geopolitical scale – this year marks 20 years since Theos was founded. Throughout 2026, we’ll mark this milestone with a series of events that assess the past, present and future of religion in public life, from a number of different angles. The context in which we were founded has of course changed, and so with it has our original raison d’être. Gone (just about) is the New Atheist rhetoric which claimed that faith was a virus to be eradicated in order to make the world safer, that faith had no relevance to what was happening in our world. Today, religion is clearly not something that can be ignored and is instead playing an increasing role in our public conversations – sometimes in positive ways, and sometimes in negative. In this world of more religion not less, I was encouraged by Cardinal Vincent Nichols’ homily at the UN 80th anniversary event, in which he said “belief in God is not a problem to be solved, but a great resource to be rediscovered”.
Theos’ task in this moment is not a defensive one, but one that proactively puts forward the compelling ideas about human flourishing based on the great resource of our scriptural tradition. As people of faith, we stand in a long line of those who have drawn from these deep wells to offer counter–narratives to the ones that the world is telling. As Catholic theologian Professor Anna Rowlands said at a gathering of women I attended in the House of Lords this week, brought together by Baroness Elizabeth Berridge, Christianity has played a key role in the foundations of our modern institutions. Namely: “The idea of limited government accountable to the people, of orderly government, of the restrained use of power, of the person before the law, equal, free, dignified, of some responsibility we bear for suffering neighbours – the solidaristic elements of democratic cultures. The post–war world was founded in a sober moment of institution rebuilding at national and international levels that would hold arbitrary individuals’ wills and the horror of unlimited force at bay, and Christians played leading roles in that process.”
It’s clear to us that our work here at Theos is not done just because journalists are writing stories about God being back, about public intellectuals converting, and about young people exploring church. Rather, this renewed interest in Christianity gives us the opportunity to present a case for what the Christian faith can offer to some of the biggest challenges facing humanity. These challenges are unsettling, complex and significant: from Christian nationalism at home and abroad to AI to mental and spiritual health. Some could say that – 20 years in – our work is just beginning.
