From the opening of the UN onward, many people wrote to ER objecting to the absence of
prayer at the beginning of UN meetings.1 “I have explained,” ER wrote in My Day in 1947,
that there are so many religions represented that it would be very difficult for the UN
Assembly to find a way to express all of them in prayer. Nevertheless, I’m sure there is
no one working in the UN who isn’t conscious of the fact that he requires much more
than his own strength and ability if he is going to accomplish any good results.2
In the fall of 1949, Elsie Sly attended a talk at the UN at which ER elaborated on her views
about prayer at the UN.3 In a letter to ER on November 18, Sly said she was pleased that the UN
planned to create a chapel where delegates could go to pray, but still believed that “at least one
minute of silent prayer can be included in each meeting, where each member at the same time,
can call upon his God.” Like many of ER’s correspondents on this question, Sly did not feel that
provision for private prayer went far enough:
While this chapel or room designated for such purposes as prayer, is a fine idea and
should be—still there isn’t enough Christian spirit behind it. For if this is a United
Nations, we should be united in all our efforts, not just those that are convenient.
We Christians and we Americans are too soft and too willing to give in. We who have
Christian ideals should not be afraid to stand up for them, just as those who have to
pray at a certain time must do so.
You delegates, as you well know, are not sufficient unto yourselves to carry on this huge
task before you. We need that Divine power to guide us. And unless we are United in
prayer, as well as other efforts, I, like all the others who have appealed to you, feel the
United Nations will never succeed.4
ER responded to these concerns in the following letter.
Eleanor Roosevelt to Elsie L. Sly
28 November 1949
Dear Mrs. Sly:
I have received your letter of November 18 concerning the question of prayer at the United
Nations meetings.
I am afraid you misunderstand me. No meeting has ever been disbanded for any individual's
convenience. 5 It was just a group talking together and a member of the group, who was a
Mohammedan, excused himself so that he might obey the rules of his religion which required his
praying at a certain time. He returned in a very short time and continued his conversation.
I hardly feel that having a moment of silent prayer at each meeting, which only a few people
would join in, is a necessity because it seems to me that it is much better to allow people to
observe their own customs and habits in the way of prayer. Those of us who are Christians can
say our silent prayers and there is nothing to prevent us from doing so. The Quakers bow their
heads and pray in silence and there is nothing which would prevent any Christian from doing that
if they desire to before a meeting of the United Nations. I think that you will find that a good
many of them do that. But it would not be at all in keeping for some of the members to do this
and, therefore, I think that it is not necessary to enforce the differences in religion. We are
Christians, but the Mohammedans are just as much entitled to their beliefs as we are to ours. I am
not in the least afraid of standing up to my Christian ideals, but I see no reason why I should
make other people who have different customs and habits conform to my particular ones.
There is nothing to prevent unity in prayer, and that is the reason I like to hear the prayer in the
Christian churches on Sundays used in their regular service for the United Nations. It seems to
me a much better way of uniting our Christian people in prayer.
Very sincerely yours,
Eleanor Roosevelt
1
See, for example, ERP, vol. 1, 434 and 436n11.
2
MD, 19 December 1947.
Sly wrote: “While attending the Security Council on November 4th, I enjoyed listening to your
talk in the afternoon on the work of your committee and things in general of the United Nations.”
No record of this talk has been found.
[Allida: I checked our database for November 3, 4, and 5, My Day, and NYT and found no
record of ER’s talk at UN. It may have been an informal talk]
3
4
Elsie L. Sly to ER, 18 November 1949, AERP.
Sly wrote: “You mention that you had to disband your committee meetings some times so some
delegates could pray at their designated time” (Elsie L. Sly to ER, 18 November 1949, AERP).
5