A Charter for Compassion

​'You got to do unto others, like you'd have them, yeah, like you’d have them, do unto you.'

Do Right to Me Baby , from the 1979 Bob Dylan album Slow Train Coming.

On November 12, 'freelance monotheist' Karen Armstrong will unveil the Charter for Compassion, a document about the core shared value of every world religion and moral code.

The results of months of collaborative work by diverse religious leaders and great thinkers, the basic thought behind the charter is essentially what Dylan sang about so poignantly more than three decades ago.

Bringing together voices from various cultures and religions, the Charter reminds us about something that all of us instinctively inherit, but rarely practice: Compassion.

It all began with Karen's wish after winning the TED Prize in 2008, seeking help with the 'creation, launch and propagation of a Charter for Compassion, crafted by a group of leading inspirational thinkers from the three Abrahamic traditions of Judaism, Christianity and Islam and based on the fundamental principles of universal justice and respect.”

After intense discussions among the TED community, interfaith groups and others, the Charter "developed into a broader, more innovative, and more modern movement." It was opened online in November last year to people across the world, regardless of their faith, ethnicity, or background. Within six weeks, over 150,000 people from over 180 countries wrote in. In February 2009, these thoughts were compiled and presented to The Council of Conscience, a gathering of high-level religious leaders and thinkers, who crafted the final document to be released in Washington today.

The Golden Rule of the Charter 'requires that we use empathy -- moral imagination -- to put ourselves in others' shoes. We should act toward them as we would want them to act toward us. We should refuse, under any circumstance, to carry out actions which would cause them harm.'

Hundreds of events will be held worldwide to mark the release of the charter in Washington D.C.

Crafted by people all over the world and drafted by a multi-faith, multi-national council of thinkers and leaders, the charter "seeks to change the conversation so that compassion becomes a key word in public and private discourse, making it clear that any ideology that breeds hatred or contempt ~ be it religious or secular ~ has failed the test of our time. It is not simply a statement of principle; it is above all a summons to creative, practical and sustained action to meet the political, moral, religious, social and cultural problems of our time."

We urge each one of you to adopt the charter as your own, to make a lifelong commitment to live with compassion.

Because as Bob Dylan sang in another song: ‘The times they are a changing…’ .

The Charter for Compassion | Exclusive coverage: TED India

Karen Armstrong’s Wish
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“I wish that you would help with the creation, launch and propagation of a Charter for Compassion, crafted by a group of leading inspirational thinkers from the three Abrahamic traditions of Judaism, Christianity and Islam and based on the fundamental principles of universal justice and respect.”

Karen Armstrong, a former Roman Catholic nun who left a British convent to pursue a degree in modern literature at Oxford, “is one of the most provocative, original thinkers on the role of religion in the modern world,” says TED.

“In 1982 she wrote a book about her seven years in the convent, Through the Narrow Gate, that angered and challenged Catholics worldwide; her recent book The Spiral Staircase discusses her subsequent spiritual awakening after leaving the convent, when she began to develop her iconoclastic take on the great monotheistic religions.”

She has written more than 20 books around the ideas of what Islam, Judaism and Christianity have in common, and around their effect on world events, including A History of God and Holy War: The Crusades and Their Impact on Today’s World. Her latest book is The Bible: A Biography.

Describing herself as a ‘freelance monotheist’ she believes religious fundamentalism is an outgrowth of modern culture.

More information on the charter of compassion.

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