Hi James
I'd like to make some comments concerning the issues you raise.
Do away with diversity?
To answer your question we just have to look back to our history. Take for instance the American civil war in 1861-1865. Thanks to that war, today USA is not divided in North and South. Just a small quotation:
"After four years of bloody combat that left over 600,000 Union and Confederate soldiers dead and destroyed much of the South's infrastructure, the Confederacy collapsed, slavery was abolished, and the difficult Reconstruction process of restoring NATIONAL UNITY and guaranteeing civil rights to the freed slaves began."
Those from the south wanted slavery, and those on the north wanted to abolish it. In this case, "diversity" (slavery and no slavery) led to division. By contrast, union demands to work under the same ideals and goals. It is impossible to have a united world if we do not agree on the same ideals, policies, etc. That's my view and I hope you understand this point.
You: Conformity is not to be desired over diversity as a goal.
We do not have to confuse unity with conformity. That a world is united does not mean we are not plural. I just mean that we should undermine the barriers that preclude progress. The scientific community is a nice example because the same goals are pursued by its members (knowledge), members speak the same language, they think that critical thinking should prevail over fanaticism and superstition, over pseudo-science, etc. The scientific community is a model of world society.
You: I think that having formalized unity as an ideal puts goodness at risk.
I don't think this is correct. Again learn from history. Think about the atomic bombs dropped in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Was goodness at risk? US president had two options. 1) Not to drop the bombs or 2) drop them. What would you do in his place? Nothing? If Americans do not drop them, the war would continue and millions of lives more would be lost and millions of dollars would be spent. Under this view, it was better option 2) than option 1). So the president indeed avoided millions of deaths and saved millions of dollars. Thus, from this perspective, he did good. I hope you get the moral.
Israel
