Posted by Rev. Stephan Bradley
September 22, 2010 -
875 views
That's right, just be nice.
I expect you were looking for something a bit more substantial, but really this is all we need. Just be nice. That is the way I express a concept commonly referred to as the “ethic of reciprocity” found in many religions.
An organization known as Ontario Consultants on Religious Tolerance has some great information in support of my very simplified theology. What follows is a slightly edited version of their dissertation on the “ethic of reciprocity”.
Quotation:
"Every religion emphasizes human improvement, love, respect for others, sharing other people's suffering. On these lines every religion had more or less the same viewpoint and the same goal."
- The Dalai Lama
It is of particular interest that there is nearly unanimous opinion among almost all religions, ethical systems and philosophies that each person should treat others in a decent manner. Almost all of these groups have passages in their holy texts, or writings of their leaders, which promote this ethic of reciprocity. The most commonly known version in North America is the Golden Rule of Christianity. It is often expressed as "Do onto others as you would wish them do onto you."
One result of this ethic is the concept that every person shares certain inherent human rights, simply because of their membership in the human race. People are individually very different; they come in two main genders; different sizes, colors, and shapes; many races; three sexual orientations; and different degrees of ability. They follow many religious and economic systems, speak many languages, and follow many different cultures. But there is a growing consensus that all humans are equal in importance. All should enjoy basic human rights. The United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) is one manifestation of this growing worldwide consensus.
In my opinion, the greatest failure of organized religion is its historical inability to convince their followers that the ethic of reciprocity applies to all humans, not merely to fellow believers. It is my belief that religions should stress that their membership use their ethic of reciprocity when dealing with persons of other religions, the other gender, other races, other sexual orientations, etc. Only when this is accomplished will religiously-related oppression, mass murder and genocide cease.
There are many organizations who promote a similar approach and the recent news in the United States regarding a particular political candidate reminds us all that we need to work harder in this area. If you would like more on the Charter for Compassion, please see this link: http://charterforcompassion.org/
This is precisely why I do not affiliate with any specific religion or theology. Just the very simple premise that we should all just be nice.
Rev. Stephan Bradley
stephanbradley.com
