{"id":924,"date":"2009-11-16T14:18:39","date_gmt":"2009-11-16T14:18:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/onecity\/2009\/11\/the-charter-for-compassion.html"},"modified":"2009-11-16T14:18:39","modified_gmt":"2009-11-16T14:18:39","slug":"the-charter-for-compassion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/onecity\/2009\/11\/the-charter-for-compassion.html","title":{"rendered":"The Charter for Compassion: Karen Armstrong’s Vision"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"cfc_b2_eng_120_60.jpg\"<\/span>by Jon Rubinstein<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

I’ve been writing elsewhere<\/a> about the Charter for Compassion<\/a> which launched on November 12. The Charter is the fulfillment of Karen Armstrong<\/a>‘s 2008 Ted prize<\/a> and comes from Armstrong’s observation that every religion, without exception, shares a central tenet<\/a>:<\/p>\n

“The
\nCharter will proclaim a principle embraced by every faith, and by every
\nmoral code. It is often referred to as The Golden Rule….The Golden
\nRule requires that we use empathy — moral imagination — to put
\nourselves in others’ shoes. We should act toward them as we would want
\nthem to act toward us. We should refuse, under any circumstance, to
\ncarry out actions which would cause them harm.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n


\nHere’s what Armstrong had to say in her speech calling for the Charter:<\/p>\n

‘What I’ve found, across the board, is that religion is about behaving
\ndifferently. Instead of deciding whether or not you believe in God,
\nfirst you to do something. You behave in a committed way, And then you
\nbegin to understand the truths of religion. And religious doctrines are
\nmeant to be summons to action; you only understand them when you put
\nthem into practice.<\/p>\n

Now, pride of place in this practice is
\ngiven to compassion. And it is an arresting fact that right across the
\nboard, in every single one of the major world faiths, compassion — the
\nability to feel with the other in the way we’ve been thinking about
\nthis evening — is not only the test of any true religiosity, it is
\nalso what will bring us into the presence of what Jews, Christians and
\nMuslims call “God” or the “Divine.” It is compassion, says the Buddha,
\nwhich brings you to Nirvana. Why? Because in compassion, when we feel
\nwith the other, we dethrone ourselves from the center of our world and
\nwe put another person there. And once we get rid of ego, then we’re
\nready to see the Divine.<\/p>\n

So the traditions also insisted — and
\nthis is an important point, I think — that you could not and must not
\nconfine your compassion to your own group: your own nation, your own
\nco-religionists, your own fellow countrymen. You must have what one of
\nthe Chinese sages called “jian ai”: concern for everybody. Love your
\nenemies. Honor the stranger. We formed you, says the Qur’an, into
\ntribes and nations so that you may know one another.’\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Pretty inspiring stuff, right? Go to http:\/\/charterforcompassion.org<\/a> to learn more, and to affirm<\/a> the charter. They’ve also got videos<\/a> from teachers of many different faiths, including one<\/a> by the always amazing Robert Thurman<\/a> and a particularly moving talk<\/a> by Imam Faisal Abdul Rauf<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Jon Rubinstein I’ve been writing elsewhere about the Charter for Compassion which launched on November 12. The Charter is the fulfillment of Karen Armstrong‘s 2008 Ted prize and comes from Armstrong’s observation that every religion, without exception, shares a central tenet: “The Charter will proclaim a principle embraced by every faith, and by every…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":209,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-924","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-interdependent-activism-politics"],"yoast_head":"\nThe Charter for Compassion: Karen Armstrong's Vision - One City<\/title>\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.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/onecity\/2009\/11\/the-charter-for-compassion.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Charter for Compassion: Karen Armstrong's Vision - One City\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"by Jon Rubinstein I’ve been writing elsewhere about the Charter for Compassion which launched on November 12. 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