Faith and reason: Do unto others...

Ian Harris profiles a global initiative promoted by leaders of various nationalities and faiths - the Charter for Compassion.

I wonder whether those who blame religion for causing all wars have ever heard of politics.

Yet the cliche is endlessly regurgitated.

Now the nonsense is being challenged in a hugely constructive way.

Many of the world's religious leaders have joined in a call to raise to consciousness the core ethical principle which all of them share, and act on it.

That principle is compassion, as expressed in the Golden Rule.

To Westerners it will be most familiar in Jesus's words: "Do to others what you would have them do to you."

But it is much older than Christianity.

Similar injunctions are attributed to every major religious teacher and philosopher, from Confucius and Socrates to Moses and Muhammad.

Three months ago it surfaced anew in a Charter for Compassion, the brainchild of Karen Armstrong, a highly respected scholar and former English nun whose work straddles the worlds of Christianity, Judaism and Islam.

In 2008 Dr Armstrong received the TED Prize (TED for Technology, Entertainment and Design), which is awarded annually by an American foundation devoted to fostering ideas worth spreading.

The $US100,000 prize gives winners the opportunity to unveil to TED's annual conference their "one wish to change the world".

Dr Armstrong proposed a multi-faith charter as a way of raising compassion to pride of place in the lives of individuals and communities all round the world.

She made clear that compassion is "not the feeling of goodwill or pity, but the principled determination to put ourselves into the place of the other".

The idea caught on.

People of many nationalities, faiths and backgrounds helped draft a statement, and 18 prominent religious leaders honed it.

Those promoting the charter, including the Alliance of Civilisations at the United Nations, hope it will be given prominence in houses of worship, schools, community centres, offices and homes around the world.

Some New Zealand denominations are already working on this.

Though inspired by religious reflection, the charter transcends belief and non-belief.

It is remarkable not only for calling on people of faith to reject any interpretation of their scriptures that denigrates other people, but also for not invoking a deity.

The centrality of compassion is spelt out in neutral language.

There is nothing to stop the non-religious from endorsing it.

Secular and religious folk should both be wary, however.

The charter goes way beyond the fuzzy warmth of "Wouldn't it be nice if . . ."