The "Ecumenical Movement" Churches, "Global Order," and Human Rights: 1938-1948

The political and cultural climate of the 1930s ignited an ecumenical movement of mainline Protestant churches across England, North America, and Europe. War and its accompanying chaos prompted Christian leaders to define a new global order, one based on a "just and durable" peace and centralized around human rights. Churches, missionary societies, and new Christian communities came together under the guidance of political and religious leaders to form the basis of a post-war world organization. This organization, strengthened by the United States commitment to a new global order, secured the establishment of a Commission on Human Rights, which later aided the passage of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.