The Charter for Compassion – An Introduction

in community engagement

What is it?

Crafted by people all over the world and drafted by a multi-fath, multi-national council of thinkers and leaders, the Charter for Compassion asks that we practice the Golden Rule: to do unto others as we would have them do unto us. It reminds the faithful (and the faithless, like me) that founders and leading sages of all the major traditions believed that the Golden Rule was the essence of ethics and religion, that everything else was “commentary”, and that it should be practised “all day and every day”. They insisted that any interpretation of scripture that led to hatred or disdain was illegitimate.

Why chart a charter?

The original reason was “so that people can look at their tradition, reclaim it, and make religion a source of peace in the world, which it can and should be”. This purpose is evolving as the charter movement evolves.

Who’s behind it?

Karen Armstrong pitched the idea, for which she won the TED Prize. Over 150,000 people from over 180 countries contributed their words. A “Council of Conscience” crafted these words into the Charter. Eighteen people formed the Council: Salman Ahmad, Ali Asani, Rev. Dr. Joan Brown Campbell, Sadhvi Chaitanya, Bishop John Bryson Chane, Sister Joan Chittister, Sheikh Ali Gomaa, Mohsen Kadivar, Chandra Muzaffar, Baroness Julia Neuberger, Tariq Ramadan, Rabbi David Saperstein, Rabbi Awraham Soetendorp, Rev. Peter Storey, Ha Vinh Tho, Weiming Tu, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Jean Zaru. More credits here.

Does the Council of Conscience have a secret handshake?

Of course.

So where’s this Charter?

All will be revealed on November 12. Click here on 11:12 of 11/12 to win a prize.

What do I do in the meantime?

  1. Learn about it
  2. Attend or host an event
  3. Attend, ask for, or host a service
  4. Share the love
  5. Hang out on the Facebook, the Twitter (follow @TheCharter), the YouTube, and the Flickr

See also: Charter-related videos on TED;  News and blog posts on the Charter

Variations on a Theme
from the Wikipedia

And as ye would that men should do to you, do ye also to them likewise. – Luke

Ascribe not to any soul that which thou wouldst not have ascribed to thee, and say not that which thou doest not. – Baha’u'llah

Avoid doing what you would blame others for doing. – Thales

Blessed is he who preferreth his brother before himself. – Baha’u'llah

Do not do to others what would anger you if done to you by others. – Isocrates

Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against one of your people, but love your neighbor as yourself. – Leviticus

Do not to your neighbor what you would take ill from him. – Pittacus

Hurt no one so that no one may hurt you. – Muhammad

It is impossible to live a pleasant life without living wisely and well and justly (agreeing ‘neither to harm nor be harmed’), and it is impossible to live wisely and well and justly without living a pleasant life. – Epicurus

Just as pain is not agreeable to you, it is so with others. Knowing this principle of equality treat other with respect and compassion. – Suman Suttam

Love thy neighbour as thyself. – Luke

Never impose on others what you would not choose for yourself. – Confucius

One should never do that to another which one regards as injurious to one’s own self. This, in brief, is the rule of dharma. Other behavior is due to selfish desires. – Brihaspati

One should never do wrong in return, nor mistreat any man, no matter how one has been mistreated by him. – Socrates

Putting oneself in the place of another, one should not kill nor cause another to kill. – Dhammapada

Regard your neighbor’s gain as your own gain, and your neighbor’s loss as your own loss. – T’ai Shang Kan Ying P’ien

That which is hateful to you, do not do to your fellow. That is the whole Torah; the rest is the explanation; go and learn. – Hillel

That which you want for yourself, seek for mankind. – Muhammad

The truly enlightened ones are those who neither incite fear in others nor fear anyone themselves. – Guru Granth Sahib

Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them: for this is the law and the prophets. – Matthew

What thou avoidest suffering thyself seek not to impose on others. – Epictetus

What you wish your neighbors to be to you, such be also to them. – Sextus the Pythagorean

Making Community Happen Here, and other stories

in community engagement

Making Community Happen Here

Richmond Times Dispatch – David T. Anderson – What if we brought together a disparate group of people who serve wide-ranging needs through a variety of institutions, and the families they serve, and worked together to build community? An expanding group of local people is doing just that, and last Sunday many of them gathered at St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church on Grove Avenue to celebrate the work they are doing in partnership with one another.

‘Heartwarming’ turnout for event

Williamsport Sun-Gazette – David Thompson – L-3 Communications employees washed windows at Hope Enterprises Inc., Susquehanna Health workers painted the dining room and office at St. Anthony’s Center, Lycoming College students mulched around trees at Brandon Park, the Young Professionals trimmed trees, loaded brush and leveled tombstones at the Oval Cemetery, and Pennsylvania College of Technology students performed work at the Children’s Discovery Workshop. Elsewhere, volunteers cut grass, painted, cleaned, organized, repaired, landscaped – anything that was needed to help the organizations.

Valley Mission volunteers brighten up the place

Staunton News Leader – Cindy Corell – Beneath the cross-shaped sign that says, “Jesus saves,” the folks among us who need the most help are being welcomed, nurtured and given a chance to grow. But it is a program that offers a hand up, not a handout, Reed says. To make it work, the guests must look for work, save their money, help with cleaning, cooking and serving others.

A well-spent $8

Suffolk News-Herald – Tim Reeves – Marlow is nothing more than a 4-way stop in central Baldwin County, but during heavy rains, floods, hurricanes and fires, this department provided quick and dependable emergency service to those of us living along Fish River. The members of that department had other jobs, but aside from their family and their faith, they had no bigger calling. For the men and women who volunteer in these area departments, their instincts to go into a burning home at the risk of their own lives is something all to rare in our society. They do so without call for fame or riches, but for the chance to serve their community and protect their neighbors. Saturday’s fish fry was an effort by the department to raise needed funds to help augment its force with new equipment and pay for upgrades to current equipment, while reducing the burden on Suffolk taxpayers. The $8 plate was well worth the investment.

Nixon embraces idea of church-state disaster relief partnership

St. Louis Post-Dispatch – Tim Townsend – White has persuaded two governors — one a Republican and the other a Democrat — to follow his advice and organize religious groups in partnership with government to prepare for calamity. In doing so, White has helped Missouri emerge as a model for states hoping to forge partnerships between church and government for disasters. He has done so despite long-standing concerns about the separation of church and state, especially when it comes to government funding.

The basis of faith-based community building

in community engagement

Excerpts from TED Talk by Karen Armstrong: What I’ve found, across the board, is that religion is about behaving differently. Instead of deciding whether or not you believe in God, first you have to do something. You behave in a committed way, and then you begin to understand the truths of religion. And religious doctrines are meant to be summons to action; you only understand them when you put them into practice.

And it is an arresting fact that right across the board, in every single one of the major world faiths, compassion — the ability to feel with the other in the way we’ve been thinking about this evening — is not only the test of any true religiosity, it is also what will bring us into the presence of what Jews, Christians and Muslims call “God” or the “Divine.” It is compassion, says the Buddha, which brings you to Nirvana. Why? Because in compassion, when we feel with the other, we dethrone ourselves from the center of our world and we put another person there. And once we get rid of ego, then we’re ready to see the Divine.

Every single one of the major world traditions has highlighted — and put at the core of their tradition — what’s become known as the Golden Rule. First propounded by Confucius five centuries before Christ: “Do not do to others what you would not like them to do to you.” That, he said, was the central thread which ran through all his teaching and that his disciples should put into practice all day and every day. And it was the Golden Rule would bring them to the transcendent value that he called ren, human-heartedness, which was a transcendent experience in itself.

And this is absolutely crucial to the monotheisms, too. There’s a famous story about the great rabbi, Hillel, the older contemporary of Jesus. A pagan came to him and offered to convert to Judaism if the rabbi could recite the whole Jewish teaching while he stood on one leg. Hillel stood on one leg and said, “That which is hateful to you, do not do to your neighbor. That is the Torah. The rest is commentary. Go and study it.”

And “go and study it” was what he meant. He said, “In your exegesis, you must make it clear that every single verse of the Torah is a commentary, a gloss upon the “Golden Rule.” The great Rabbi Meir said that any interpretation of scripture which led to hatred and disdain or contempt of other people — any people whatsoever — was illegitimate.

Saint Augustine made exactly the same point. Scripture, he says, “teaches nothing but charity, and we must not leave an interpretation of scripture until we have found a compassionate interpretation of it.” And this struggle to find compassion in some of these rather rebarbative texts is a good dress rehearsal for doing the same in ordinary life.

But now look at our world. And we are living in a world that is — where religion has been hijacked. Where terrorists cite Qur’anic verses to justify their atrocities. Where instead of taking Jesus’ words, “Love your enemies. Don’t judge others,” we have the spectacle of Christians endlessly judging other people, endlessly using scripture as a way of arguing with other people, putting other people down. Throughout the ages, religion has been used to oppress others, and this is because of human ego, human greed. We have a talent as a species for messing up wonderful things.

So the traditions also insisted — and this is an important point, I think — that you could not and must not confine your compassion to your own group: your own nation, your own co-religionists, your own fellow countrymen. You must have what one of the Chinese sages called “jian ai”: concern for everybody. Love your enemies. Honor the stranger. We formed you, says the Qur’an, into tribes and nations so that you may know one another.

And this, again — this universal outreach — is getting subdued in the strident use of religion — abuse of religion — for nefarious gains.

There’s also a great deal, I think, of religious illiteracy around. People seem to think now equate religious faith with believing things. We often call religious people believers, as though that were the main thing that they do. And very often, secondary goals get pushed into the first place, in place of compassion and the Golden Rule. Because the Golden Rule is difficult. When I’m speaking to congregations about compassion, I sometimes see a mutinous expression crossing some of their faces. Because a lot of religious people prefer to be right, rather than compassionate.

The excerpts above are from a longer version of this speech, found here: Karen Armstrong makes her TED Prize wish: the Charter for Compassion.

The Charter for Compassion launches on November 12, 2009.

Citizens propose anti-crime measures

in community engagement

The president of the Tallahassee chapter of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, The Rev. Joseph T. Wright, sent four community officials a list of recommendations for how best to prevent and reduce crime in Tallahassee. Wright said he was part of a group of seven people who came up with recommendations as a result of an Aug. 24 meeting at Bethel Baptist Church. That meeting was called in response to two fatal shootings Aug. 20 at a city hotel.

The seven recommendations were mailed Tuesday to Tallahassee Police Chief Dennis Jones, Leon County Sheriff Larry Campbell, Leon County Schools Superintendent Jackie Pons, and County Commissioner Bill Proctor.

Commissioner Proctor’s office released a statement in response to the recommendations:

“The SCLC has brought forward a timely and interesting proposal for the leadership of our community to contemplate. It is time for policymakers to take seriously and give open consideration to this community request submitted to us now. I am ready to move forward and examine the possibilities of what we can do to reasonable address the concerns presented.”

Officer David McCranie, spokesman for the Tallahassee Police Department, said the recommendations represent the way communities solve problems — collectively. “These are very good ideas. We are not going to be able to solve crime by ourselves.”

Community Recommendations

  1. Creating a Safe City Strike Force of city police and code enforcement charged with confiscating properties seized in drug crimes and using the funds to provide housing for the homeless;
  2. Requesting that judges uphold the 10, 20, to Life Law without compromise;
  3. Appointing zone coordinators to community districts where block leaders can help to report suspicious activities;
  4. Establishing a 10 p.m. curfew for youth under 17 for three years and fining violators;
  5. Asking that the Leon County School District change its daily school schedule from 8:45 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
  6. Requiring all businesses close no later than 1 a.m.;
  7. Developing a buddy system for college students and an electronic safety device that students can use to contact law enforcement in emergency situations.

Read the full article: Citizens propose anti-crime measures | tallahassee.com | Tallahassee Democrat. By Davi Saez.

The Real Meaning of Community

in community engagement

Americans may be bowling alone, but they talk incessantly about community. Few words seemed more overused and less applicable to American life than this one. There seems to be an inverse relationship between the dilution of the collective underpinnings of Jewish collectiveness and the increasing usage of the word “community.” When soccer moms studying kabbalistic texts at Starbucks, Twitter groups and just about any casual affiliation between two or more people can be called community, it seems to me that the collective nature of community lacks a tangible common denominator and a shared definition.

Thirty years ago, my wife and I graduated from Wesleyan University and came to Israel separately. We reconnected here and built a life and family, choosing to live on a kibbutz. Then, three years ago, we moved to Washington, D.C., so that I could serve as an Israel education representative. Our return to Israel in August has sharpened the contrasts between different understandings of community. My age, 54, and the fact that I have lived for the past three decades collectively, surely help shape that statement.

I understand community to be a world in which my ties to others are a series of mutual obligations and privileges that connect us now and into the future. I know the people of my community by sight, sound and personal history. The song from the TV show “Cheers” about a place “where everybody knows your name” does not come close to describing how our lives intertwine from cradle to grave. We do not always like each other. We can completely disagree. We rejoice and mourn together. We are often beholden. We decide collectively and abide by those decisions — usually. Sometimes we desire distance; other times we revel in our closeness. Sometimes the difference between an embrace and a chokehold is not clear.

In Israel overall, and on a kibbutz in particular, there is less value in virtual community and more virtue in a tangible connection between people. Over the last three years, I’ve often heard plaintive voices from Americans — Jews and non-Jews alike — longing for a world of neighborhoods and neighbors with less isolation and alienation. They looked for more connection and a sense of shared responsibility for the well-being of themselves and their peers, even as they constructed fences, built firewalls to avoid identity theft and joined virtual groups on Facebook.

Our sages spoke of all of us being responsible for each other. That is the community that one can feel in Israel. Do American Jews share such a collective bond? In America, I felt the empowering nature of the creative Jewish quest and the seduction of individual anonymity, but never that collective Jewish entity of daily life in Israel.

Micha Balf is a former high school principal and Holocaust author who will be serving this year as a visiting Israeli scholar to the Jewish Federation of Greater Washington, D.C. He blogs at michabalf.blogspot.com.

Read the full article: The Real Meaning of Community – Forward.com By Micha Balf