Special Report, Pages 28-29

With Launch of Charter for Compassion, Karen Armstrong’s Wish Comes True

By Delinda C. Hanley

“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, Feb. 28, 2008

”We want this charter to empower people,” said Karen Armstrong (r, with Chris Anderson). “If we do not achieve this, it seems unlikely that we will have a viable world to hand on to the next generation.” (Courtesy Ogilvy Public Relations)

WHEN RELIGIOUS scholar Karen Armstrong won the TED Prize in 2008 and made her wish, “it took our breath away with its simplicity and power,” Chris Anderson told the crowd assembled to watch the global launch of the “Charter for Compassion” on Nov. 12, 2009 at the National Press Club in Washington, DC. Anderson is curator for Technology, Entertainment, Design (TED), a non-profit organization “devoted to ideas worth spreading.” Since 1984 TED’s two annual conferences (one held in Long Beach, the other in Oxford) bring together 50 thinkers and doers like Armstrong, who are challenged to give the talk of their lives in 18 minutes to an international audience. The TED prize is awarded annually to the three speakers with the best ideas. It includes $100,000 and also grants the winner “One Wish to Change the World.”

The wish made by Armstrong, a former Roman Catholic nun who has authored more than 20 books on the role of religion in the modern world, including many on Islam, could truly change the world.

“When she unveiled her idea, we just stood up and cheered,” Anderson recalled.

Armstrong wished for help to create a “Charter for Compassion” to remind people of the core similarity that lies at the heart of all religions—the Golden Rule. Jesus urged his followers to ”Do unto others as you would have them do unto you” five centuries after Confucius taught his students this same fundamental philosophy.

“Compassion is not the feeling of good will or pity,” Armstrong explained. “Instead it is the principled determination to put ourselves into the place of the other [that] lies at the heart of all truly religious and ethical systems...The Golden Rule requires that we use empathy. We should refuse, under any circumstance, to carry out actions which would cause harm.

“The chief task of our time is to build a global society where people of all persuasions can live together in peace and harmony,” Armstrong told the gathering. There is an alarming dangerous divide facing the world. People hear dogmatic judgmental voices with an emphasis on exclusivity and things that divide us. Moderate voices are rarely heard, she warned: “We’re not hearing compassionate voices.”

In the fall of 2008 more than 150,000 people from 180 countries and different backgrounds and faiths began a six-week open writing process on the Internet to contribute their ideas for interfaith harmony to the Charter. Volunteers devoted countless hours to distilling and compiling those ideas. The Council of Conscience, a multi-faith, multi-national group of religious thinkers and leaders, reviewed and sorted through all the world’s contributions to craft the final Charter in Geneva in February 2009.

Many members of that council attended the DC launch, but others were unable to, including Archbishop Desmond Tutu; Sheikh Ali Gomaa, the Grand Mufti of the Arab Republic of Egypt; Mohsen Kadivar, a distinguished Shi’i Muslim thinker from Iran; and Dr. Tariq Ramadan, professor of Islamic Studies at Oxford.

One council member, Rev. Dr. Joan Brown Campbell, director of the Department of Religion at the Chautauqua Institution, helped Armstrong literally unveil the Charter at the press club. Campbell, an interfaith leader who has worked closely with Archbishop Tutu, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and former President of South Africa Nelson Mandela, admitted they don’t know what will happen next. “Dreams are dangerous,” Reverend Campbell reminded the audience. “Dreams matter. Compassion is a dangerous dream because it rocks the foundations of special interests and gives us new ground to stand on.”

Rev. Peter Storey, a former Methodist bishop from South Africa who became an ecumenical leader during the anti-apartheid struggle, said, “We often talk about one corner of the world as the Holy Land. The whole world is the holy land. We are all called upon to preserve it.” He called for people of faith to put their religion into action. Pointing to the Charter, Reverend Storey, who served as Mandela’s prison chaplain, said, “In this room, we have words that make a difference between death and life. Words can bring life and words can kill.”

“This is the most collaborative undertaking of religious communities in history,” emphasized Rabbi David Saperstein, director of the Religious Action Center (RAC) of Reform Judaism. The Charter can help isolate extremism and shape a new image for religions.

“The Charter is a hit song. Melody, rhythm, groove,” insisted Pakistani doctor/musician/actor Salman Ahmad, whose popular sufi rock band, Junoon, has fans around the world.

Presenters said they hope media will spread the word and speakers will take the Charter into schools, because compassion has to be taught and learned. It’s pointless to just preach to the choir or people who agree, Reverend Storey emphasized. People need to talk with their enemies. “This is not a ‘top down’ thing. It’s a dream that bubbles up from a lot of people around the world.”

“This is the world’s now. We’re giving it away. What will you do to spread compassion?” challenged Reverend Campbell.

Events to commemorate the launch of the Charter took place around the world, including in Melbourne, Buenos Aires, Cairo and Ramallah. Charter for Compassion plaques, designed by Yves Beharat and his team at fuseproject, were hung at internationally significant religious and secular locations. During the weekend of Nov. 13 to 15, religious leaders gave services on compassion and described the Charter in houses of worship. Participants said they hope that hundreds of thousands of Charters soon will hang in public places we all share.

On the Charter’s Web site, <charterforcompassion.org>, people have begun posting hundreds of events, photos, thoughts and descriptions of both simple and grand acts of compassion. They’ve also shared a video about the Charter <www.youtube.com/watch?v=wktlwCPDd94>, and added their names to the tens of thousands who have already affirmed the charter. The names of all affirmers, on Dec. 31, will be sent along with the Charter for Compassion to five world leaders whose countries are engaged in conflict.

“This is not a soft, sappy, kumbaya moment,” Anderson concluded. “This is the culmination of a dream of thoughtful, compassionate people to nudge the world to a better place. No one here thinks this will make the world’s problems go away. We’re planting a seed we hope will grow.

“We want this charter to empower people,” Armstrong added. “If we do not achieve this, it seems unlikely that we will have a viable world to hand on to the next generation.”

Delinda C. Hanley is news editor of the Washington Report. Many of Karen Armstrong’s books are available from the AET Book Club.

SIDEBAR

Charter for Compassion

A call to bring the world together…

The principle of compassion lies at the heart of all religious, ethical and spiritual traditions, calling us always to treat all others as we wish to be treated ourselves. Compassion impels us to work tirelessly to alleviate the suffering of our fellow creatures, to dethrone ourselves from the center of our world and put another there, and to honor the inviolable sanctity of every single human being, treating everybody, without exception, with absolute justice, equity and respect.

It is also necessary in both public and private life to refrain consistently and empathetically from inflicting pain. To act or speak violently out of spite, chauvinism, or self-interest, to impoverish, exploit or deny basic rights to anybody, and to incite hatred by denigrating others—even our enemies—is a denial of our common humanity. We acknowledge that we have failed to live compassionately and that some have even increased the sum of human misery in the name of religion.

We therefore call upon all men and women ~ to restore compassion to the center of morality and religion ~ to return to the ancient principle that any interpretation of scripture that breeds violence, hatred or disdain is illegitimate ~ to ensure that youth are given accurate and respectful information about other traditions, religions and cultures ~ to encourage a positive appreciation of cultural and religious diversity ~ to cultivate an informed empathy with the suffering of all human beings—even those regarded as enemies.

We urgently need to make compassion a clear, luminous and dynamic force in our polarized world. Rooted in a principled determination to transcend selfishness, compassion can break down political, dogmatic, ideological and religious boundaries. Born of our deep interdependence, compassion is essential to human relationships and to a fulfilled humanity. It is the path to enlightenment, and indispensible to the creation of a just economy and a peaceful global community.

As we close a decade marked by war, help us usher in a decade focused on compassion.

The names of all affirmers on Dec. 31, 2009 will be sent along with the Charter for Compassion to five world leaders whose countries are engaged in conflict.

Add your name today by visiting <http://charterforcompassion.org>. Share the Charter with your networks. Each additional name makes the compassionate voice a more potent force in the world. Let us make the silent majority a challenge to extremism and hatred.

As the Washington Report went to press, more than 27,000 have affirmed so far, including Queen Rania of Jordan, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Shaykh Abdullah Bin Bayyah, Hamza Yusuf, Peter Gabriel, and the Dalai Lama.