{"id":15421,"date":"2022-03-25T16:25:10","date_gmt":"2022-03-25T20:25:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/?p=15421"},"modified":"2022-03-31T10:34:55","modified_gmt":"2022-03-31T14:34:55","slug":"how-the-golden-rule-brings-americans-together","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/2022\/03\/how-the-golden-rule-brings-americans-together","title":{"rendered":"How the Golden Rule Brings Americans Together"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>In a country rife with divisions, here\u2019s one thing Americans agree on, whether young or old, Christian or secular, Democrat or Republican: the value of the golden rule.<\/p>\n

A new survey<\/a> from Deseret News and The Marist Poll showed that 92 percent of U.S. adults say the call to \u201cdo unto others as they would do unto you\u201d is a \u201cvery necessary\u201d or \u201cnecessary\u201d part of their personal lives. Strong levels of support for the golden rule can be found in every major faith group, at every education level and in every generation.<\/p>\n

However, the survey did identify some subtle distinctions between various demographic groups. For example, it showed that 18- to 29-year-olds are even more supportive of the golden rule than older adults. Fully 96 percent of this age group embraces the concept, which is found in almost every faith tradition, despite the fact that young people are notably less religious than older adults.<\/p>\n

When asked a second question about following the golden rule in their professional lives, Americans again agreed that it was \u201cvery necessary\u201d or \u201cnecessary.\u201d Eighty-eight percent of U.S. adults said doing unto others as they would do unto you helps guide their careers, including 87 percent of those who do not practice a religion.<\/p>\n

The Deseret-Marist \u201cFaith in America\u201d poll was fielded in January 2022 among 1,653 U.S. adults. The margin of error is 3.2 percentage points.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Deseret News<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Taken together, responses to the two golden rule questions showed that Americans are much more likely to agree with this principle than to disagree about it. On both questions, Democrats and Republicans said the concept is necessary at almost identical rates, as did Christians and those who self-identified as nonreligious.<\/p>\n

That the golden rule is so beloved across religious, geographic, political and age gaps likely points to a biological underpinning for persistent support. Altruism and cooperation confer a benefit upon both individuals and the human species, according to evolutionary biologist Robert Trivers.<\/p>\n

\u201cNatural selection will indeed favor doing unto others as they do unto you,\u201d he said, adding that though reciprocal altruism<\/a> comes at a cost, the rewards generally outweigh the expense. Trivers cautioned that some will pay lip service to others\u2019 desires and needs so that they can reap the benefits of appearing altruistic without paying the price.<\/p>\n

However, the potential payoff for abiding by the golden rule and its enduring popularity does not mean it\u2019s simple to follow. There\u2019s complexity folded into doing it properly, said the Rev. Harry Gensler, a Jesuit priest and a retired philosophy professor who wrote a book titled \u201cEthics and The Golden Rule<\/a>,\u201d during a 2014 talk at Milwaukee\u2019s Marquette University<\/a>.<\/p>\n

A self-described \u201cgolden rule junkie,\u201d the Rev. Gensler explained that there are multiple steps involved in implementing the principle. Following the golden rule involves a conceptual leap of not just imagining what we wouldn\u2019t want done to us but, more specifically, what the other person wouldn\u2019t want done to them. In other words, implementing the golden rule involves considering that others have different needs, likes and dislikes than we do.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe heart of the golden rule is switching places,\u201d said the Rev. Gensler. \u201cWhat you do to \u2026 someone else you imagine being done to yourself and you ask \u2018Am I willing that, if I were in that situation, I would be treated that way?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

The Rev. Gensler offered an African story of a monkey and fish as an example. The monkey, he said, \u201cwas a golden rule monkey\u201d who always treated others as he wanted to be treated.<\/p>\n

But he applied \u201cthis pretty foolishly,\u201d said the Rev. Gensler. \u201cOne day a big storm came to his island \u2026 the monkey was afraid for its life.\u201d Seeking refuge in a tree, he reached into the river and lifted a fish to safety, assuming it, like him, would also want to escape the water.<\/p>\n

The fish died because the monkey, the Rev. Gensler explained, was following a literal interpretation of the golden rule. The principle, then, is best articulated as \u201cTreat others only as you consent to being treated in the same situation,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Article by Alex Cochran, originally appearing on DeseretNews.com<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In a country rife with divisions, here\u2019s one thing Americans agree on, whether young or old, Christian or secular, Democrat or Republican: the value of the golden rule. A new survey from Deseret News and The Marist Poll showed that 92 percent of U.S. adults say the call to \u201cdo unto others as they would…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":639,"featured_media":15439,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fbia_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15421","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nHow the Golden Rule Brings Americans Together<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"New research shows that a tremendous majority of Americans agree that it\u2019s necessary to follow the golden rule.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.deseret.com\/faith\/2022\/3\/21\/22988040\/how-the-golden-rule-brings-americans-together-do-unto-others-biology-evolution\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"How the Golden Rule Brings Americans Together\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"New research shows that a tremendous majority of Americans agree that it\u2019s necessary to follow the golden rule.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.deseret.com\/faith\/2022\/3\/21\/22988040\/how-the-golden-rule-brings-americans-together-do-unto-others-biology-evolution\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Beliefnet News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-03-25T20:25:10+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-03-31T14:34:55+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/140\/2022\/03\/peoplegroupgatheringjpg-scaled.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"768\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"576\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Deseret News\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"How the Golden Rule Brings Americans Together","description":"New research shows that a tremendous majority of Americans agree that it\u2019s necessary to follow the golden rule.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.deseret.com\/faith\/2022\/3\/21\/22988040\/how-the-golden-rule-brings-americans-together-do-unto-others-biology-evolution","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"How the Golden Rule Brings Americans Together","og_description":"New research shows that a tremendous majority of Americans agree that it\u2019s necessary to follow the golden rule.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.deseret.com\/faith\/2022\/3\/21\/22988040\/how-the-golden-rule-brings-americans-together-do-unto-others-biology-evolution","og_site_name":"Beliefnet News","article_published_time":"2022-03-25T20:25:10+00:00","article_modified_time":"2022-03-31T14:34:55+00:00","og_image":[{"width":768,"height":576,"url":"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/140\/2022\/03\/peoplegroupgatheringjpg-scaled.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Deseret News","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/2022\/03\/how-the-golden-rule-brings-americans-together","url":"https:\/\/www.deseret.com\/faith\/2022\/3\/21\/22988040\/how-the-golden-rule-brings-americans-together-do-unto-others-biology-evolution","name":"How the Golden Rule Brings Americans Together","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.deseret.com\/faith\/2022\/3\/21\/22988040\/how-the-golden-rule-brings-americans-together-do-unto-others-biology-evolution#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.deseret.com\/faith\/2022\/3\/21\/22988040\/how-the-golden-rule-brings-americans-together-do-unto-others-biology-evolution#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/140\/2022\/03\/peoplegroupgatheringjpg-scaled.jpg","datePublished":"2022-03-25T20:25:10+00:00","dateModified":"2022-03-31T14:34:55+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/81a0d2bc5e0086d4f6d8c9042ae207c8"},"description":"New research shows that a tremendous majority of Americans agree that it\u2019s necessary to follow the golden rule.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.deseret.com\/faith\/2022\/3\/21\/22988040\/how-the-golden-rule-brings-americans-together-do-unto-others-biology-evolution#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.deseret.com\/faith\/2022\/3\/21\/22988040\/how-the-golden-rule-brings-americans-together-do-unto-others-biology-evolution"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.deseret.com\/faith\/2022\/3\/21\/22988040\/how-the-golden-rule-brings-americans-together-do-unto-others-biology-evolution#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/140\/2022\/03\/peoplegroupgatheringjpg-scaled.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/140\/2022\/03\/peoplegroupgatheringjpg-scaled.jpg","width":768,"height":576},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.deseret.com\/faith\/2022\/3\/21\/22988040\/how-the-golden-rule-brings-americans-together-do-unto-others-biology-evolution#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"How the Golden Rule Brings Americans Together"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/","name":"Beliefnet News","description":"Top Religious News From Around the World","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/81a0d2bc5e0086d4f6d8c9042ae207c8","name":"Deseret News","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/wp-content\/wphb-cache\/gravatar\/df2\/df20b363e6585191f03aec135618721cx96.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/wp-content\/wphb-cache\/gravatar\/df2\/df20b363e6585191f03aec135618721cx96.jpg","caption":"Deseret News"},"url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/author\/dnews"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15421","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/639"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15421"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15421\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15445,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15421\/revisions\/15445"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15439"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15421"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15421"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15421"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}