Barbara Crossette

About the author: Barbara Crossette is a staff writer for the New York Times.

The United Nations, for most of its existence, has been perceived as a benign, freedom-promoting organization. Some Americans now worry that the United Nations is an alien entity that threatens U.S. sovereignty and security. The United Nations is not becoming a world government and cannot threaten the sovereignty of the United States because it lacks military might and political power.

Overnight, a message was left on an office answering machine at the United Nations. Is it true, a West Coast caller wanted to know, that the organization has changed its motto from "Swords into Plowshares" to "Peace and Security"? Say what"

A return call elicited an explanation: In several Biblical passages...