Religion: Room for Meditation

Religious groups have long insisted that there should be a place for prayer at United Nations headquarters. The new headquarters in Manhattan has one—at least it is a place where a man can pray if he wants to. With due regard to the anti-religious feelings of Stalin & Co., it is called a “Meditation Room.”

The room on the main floor of the General Assembly building is V-shaped, with off-white curtains, a dark green rug, and five rows of dignified russet chairs. (The chairs are seldom occupied, and guards on duty nearby have yet to see a delegate go there to meditate.)

Visitors are told that absolute neutrality of décor is necessary in “this most sensitive of emotional fields.” Therefore, there is nothing in the room to remind one of any of the world’s religions. The U.N. flag, however, is tastefully displayed against the wall, and there is a pedestal set at the end of the room, with a bowl of flowers on it. As the commanding point ki the room, the pedestal has been designed to “go back to nature itself, like almost all religions.” It is an upright section of a mahogany tree, believed to be from the Belgian Congo, and about 250 years old.