2009: A Look Back — What Holly Thinks

We, at FP, watched a number of stories in 2009. Here’s a quick rundown of the year.

Global Governance: This past year saw the creation of a new world political and economic order triggered by the financial crisis, climate change and the Obama presidency. “Global” became the new buzzword, and the U.K. Telegraph declared 2009 the year that the idea of “global” government went – well – global. See more here

Middle East talks: No agreement was reached between the Israelis and Palestinians, but former EU high representative Javier Solana proposed a new solution that is being taken seriously by world leaders — in sum, if the parties fail to reach an agreement on their own, then the United Nations should make a unilateral declaration of a Palestinian state. See more here.

Financial crisis: Pressure for the creation of a global economic authority – including an appeal from the Pope — resulted in the formation of G-20. See more here and here.

Obama presidency: U.S. President Barack Obama’s emphasis on global governance — including his support for the United Nations — resulted in his being awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. Read the Nobel Committee’s comments on his selection here.

Alliance of Civilizations: The United States did not join the Group of Friends (yet), but the alliance’s work did receive praise from U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and President Obama. See it here and here.

Lisbon Treaty: The Lisbon Treaty was ratified by all 27 EU member states and is now EU law. But to the surprise of many FP followers, Javier Solana didn’t get the super foreign minister post. Yet, the 10-nation Western European Union alliance remains intact.

The Tony Blair Faith Foundation and Interfaith Dialogue: The foundation started by former U.K. prime minister Tony Blair didn’t get as much press in 2009 as it did in 2008. But other inter-religious efforts did. Catholic, Orthodox and Protestant leaders in South Korea proclaimed 2009 the year of ecumenical unity. And, worldwide, religious leaders joined forces to fight climate change at Copenhagen, and they rallied together for the cause of peace. Another 120 theologians from various Christian traditions met in October to dialogue and advance their unity. See more here.

Rick Warren: The California megachurch pastor — who was named 2009 Religion Newsmaker of the Year — came under fire from conservative evangelicals for his controversial prayer at President Obama’s inauguration and his overemphasis on humanitarian work at the expense of the gospel.

Evangelicals and Prophecy: Emerging church leader Brian McLaren blamed Bible prophecy for the Middle East peace crisis. But, encouragingly, not all evangelicals jumped on his anti-prophecy bandwagon. The Billy Graham Evangelistic Association made the end times the focus of their organization in 2009.

— Holly Pivec
12/31/09