Tuesday, March 25, 2008

Charter for Compassion

In a comment on one of my previous posts, Bill Garnett sent me a link to this video of author and scholar Karen Armstrong as she asks for help to assemble a “Council on Compassion”, where religious leaders can work together for peace. In this video she talks about how the Abrahamic religions -- Islam, Judaism, Christianity -- have been diverted from the moral purpose they share to foster compassion. But Armstrong has seen a yearning to change this fact. “People want to be religious”, she says; “we should act to help make religion a force for harmony.” Through this Charter for Compassion she desires to help restore the Golden Rule as the central global religious doctrine. Karen Armstrong says, “I say that religion isn't about believing things. It's ethical alchemy. It's about behaving in a way that changes you, that gives you intimations of holiness and sacredness."

I found this video extremely profound as a follower of Jesus, and I would like to encourage you to watch it.



You can read more about how to get involved HERE.


Posted by James Diggs at 9:07 AM
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2 comments:

Jeremy D. Scott said...

"A lot of religious people prefer to be right rather than compassionate."

Good stuff.

Yet again...orthopraxy must trump orthodoxy.

2:52 PM
Hans said...

Very interesting, James. I can already hear all of the objections, but, but I agree with Jeremy, compassion has to be more important than truth, in the way she explains the word, that is. Of course, when we talk about Jesus being the truth, it's a different concept and not at all opposed to compassion.

6:30 AM

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I am indigenous to the world and culture I am from, but as a follower of Christ I also have a new identity in Him that makes me a stranger to this world. The “in but not of the world” tension on the disciple’s life makes life far more complex than the black and white world Christians sometimes want to paint.