During the 2024 Summer Olympics, an estimated five billion people will watch athletes from 206 lands participate in the games. “We are part of an event that unites the world in peace,” stated Thomas Bach, president of the International Olympic Committee. “Let us celebrate this Olympic spirit of living life in peace, as the one and only humankind, united in all our diversity.”

Can the Olympics achieve such lofty goals? Is there hope for real peace and unity?

A source of peace and unity?

This year’s Olympics has been about more than just sports. The games have highlighted social and political issues that divide people. These issues include human rights, racism, religious discrimination, and inequality.

International sporting events like the Olympics provide entertainment. However, these events also showcase and promote divisive attitudes and actions rather than lead to lasting peace and unity.

The Bible foretold the attitudes that make unity today so difficult to achieve. (2 Timothy 3:1-5) To learn more about this Bible prophecy, read the article “Did the Bible Predict the Way People Think and Act Today?”

Real hope for world peace and unity

The Bible contains a real hope for global peace and unity. It promises that all people on earth will be united under a heavenly government called “the Kingdom of God.”—Luke 4:43; Matthew 6:10.

The King of that Kingdom, Jesus Christ, will bring about peace worldwide. The Bible states:

• “The righteous will flourish, and peace will abound.”—Psalm 72:7.

• “He will rescue the poor who cry for help . . . From oppression and from violence he will rescue them.”—Psalm 72:12, 14.

Even today, Jesus’ teachings have united millions of people in 239 lands. As Christians, Jehovah’s Witnesses around the world have learned to be peaceable. To find out how, read the issue of the Watchtower magazine entitled “Breaking the Cycle of Hatred.”