Is E Pluribus Unum Viable Now?

In 1776, two centuries and 45 years ago, John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, and Thomas Jefferson proposed a Great Seal for the United States. The only words on the proposed seal were E PLURIBUS UNUM, a Latin phrase meaning “one from many.”  

Viable for the United States?

According to the E Pluribus Unum Project of Assumption College (now University), e pluribus unum “offered a strong statement of the American determination to form a single nation from a collection of states.”

That phrase also indicates “America's bold attempt to make one unified nation of people from many different backgrounds and beliefs. The challenge of seeking unity while respecting diversity has played a critical role in shaping our history, our literature, and our national character.”

But is that motto still viable in the U.S.? After all these years, it seems that the nation is hardly one/unified on anything.

Oneness/unity does not depend on sameness or the denial of differences. But surely it does mean having mutual respect for those with whom we disagree and treating each other civilly. In addition, any sense of unity means people with differing views working together for the common good.

Originally, I was intending to list some of the great political, social, and religious differences now harmfully dividing USAmerican society. But perhaps those divisions are too evident to need further elaboration here.

Viable for the World?

This blog post was largely prompted by the ubuntu emphasis on the inherent oneness of humanity, which I wrote about on April 24. Even though a South African word and concept in its origin, proponents of ubuntu now speak of “the global family” and the basic oneness of humankind.

There have been many individuals and organizations longing for and working for the idea expressed by e pluribus unum to be descriptive of the whole human race.

The World Federalist Movement and One World, one of its associate members, are good examples.

The latter says on its website, “Inspired by such visionaries as Einstein and Gandhi, we regard inclusive federal democracy at the global level as a necessary precondition for justice, peace and prosperity for all of humanity.”

And they cite these words spoken by Einstein in 1945: “With all my heart I believe that the world’s present system of sovereign nations can only lead to barbarism, war, and inhumanity. Mankind’s desire for peace can be realized only by the creation of a world government.”

That assertion takes the idea of e pluribus unum to a whole new level.

What Can We Hope For?

“The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends towards justice.” Those words, based on a statement by Theodore Parker, a 19th-century clergyman, were most notably emphasized by MLK, Jr. and later by President Obama. They have been powerful words of encouragement for many justice-seekers.

But I wonder if we can also say that the moral arc of the universe is long, but it bends toward unity/oneness. Teilhard de Chardin wrote about the universe moving to a future Omega Point, meaning that everything is spiraling towards a final point of unification.

In a helpful February 20 article, a religion professor in South Africa wrote,

As a philosopher and theologian, [Teilhard] developed a unique synthesis of science and religion based on an evolutionary understanding of what he called the ‘cosmic Christ’ – the idea that the universe and everything in it is constantly moving towards a point of perfection defined by unity and love.

That is what Teilhard later called the Omega point. And that is why the author titled her article, Pierre Teilhard de Chardin: prophet of cosmic hope .

Well, whether considering the current situation here in the U.S. or the world as a whole, it is abundantly evident we still have a long way to go. Omega of course is the last letter of the Greek alphabet, and it seems that at present we may be no further than at beta (the second letter).

Still, grounded in cosmic hope, we can dream of and diligently work for the goal of e pluribus unum not only in the U.S. but for the whole world.

Celebrating Einstein (and Pi Day)

This Thursday will be March 14, which, since it can be written as 3.14, has also become known as Pi Day (sometimes represented by a pie). But did you know that Einstein was born on Pi Day 140 years ago? He was, and with that in mind, I am posting this to celebrate his life and legacy. 

Einstein’s Brief Bio

Albert Einstein was born in the German Empire on March 14, 1879. Even though the Einstein family were non-observant Jews, young Albert attended a Catholic elementary school for three years until the age of eight.

In 1896, Einstein renounced his German citizenship to avoid military service and enrolled in a Zurich, Switzerland, university. He graduated in 1900 and the following year he acquired Swiss citizenship. In 1906 he received his doctorate from the University of Zurich.

The year before finishing his doctorate, Einstein made a series of discoveries that altered the course of modern science. Those discoveries were embodied in his theory of special relativity, best known by a simple, elegant equation: E = mc².

Einstein’s theory of general relativity was confirmed 100 years ago, in November 1919, during a total eclipse of the sun. Three years later, Einstein received the Nobel Prize in Physics for his work on quantum theory—and became world-famous.

Shortly after the Nazis seized power in 1933, Einstein emigrated from Germany to the U.S., where he became a member of Princeton University’s Institute of Advanced Study—and he remained there until his death in 1955.

Even though Einstein was involved in the development of the atomic bomb, as a lifelong pacifist he was an outspoken advocate of nuclear control and world peace. As early as 1930 he declared, “Peace cannot be kept by force; it can only come by understanding.”

(Einstein’s thoughts on peace can be found in Einstein on Peace, the 2017 version of which is available on Kindle for just a few dollars.)

Einstein’s God

Krista Tippett is a journalist and author. Beginning in 2003 she conducted discussions on public radio related to the theme “Speaking of Faith”—and then in 2010 the name of her program was changed to, and has remained, “On Being.”

Einstein’s God (2010) is the title of Tippett’s second book, and it is based on interviews with 13 people, and those interviews are said to be “conversations about science and the human spirit.”

The first chapter of Tippett’s book, and the only one explicitly about Einstein, contains material from the author’s interviews with Freeman Dyson and Paul Davies, two noted physicists.

Davies (b. 1946) points out that while Einstein did not believe in a personal God, as he clearly stated, he was a deist and was fond of using the word “God.” Here is one of Einstein’s most-cited quotations: “God does not play dice with the universe.”

(Einstein made that statement to express his antipathy to quantum physics and its indeterminism.)

Einstein on Science and Religion

According to Davies, Einstein believed “in a rational world order, and he expressed what he sometimes called a ‘cosmic religious feeling,’ a sense of awe, a sense of admiration at the intellectual ingenuity of the universe” (Tippett, p. 34).

At a 1940 conference on science, philosophy, and religion, Einstein asserted (see here) that there were “strong reciprocal relationships between science and religion.” Further, “science can only be created by those who are thoroughly imbued with the aspiration towards truth and understanding”—and that “source of feeling . . .  springs from the sphere of religion.”

Einstein then memorably stated that the interdependency of science and religion may be expressed by the following image: