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World asked to help craft online charter for religious harmony
Breitbart via Drudge ^ | November 15, 2008 | AFP

Posted on 11/15/2008 7:59:55 AM PST by Marylander

A website launched Friday with the backing of technology industry and Hollywood elite urges people worldwide to help craft a framework for harmony between all religions. The Charter for Compassion project on the Internet at www.charterforcompassion.org springs from a "wish" granted this year to religious scholar Karen Armstrong at a premier Technology, Entertainment and Design (TED) conference in California.

"Tedizens" include Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin along with other Internet icons as well as celebrities such as Forest Whittaker and Cameron Diaz.

Wishes granted at TED envision ways to better the world and come with a promise that Tedizens will lend their clout and capabilities to making them come true.

Armstrong's wish is to combine universal principles of respect and compassion into a charter based on a "golden rule" she believes is at the core of every major religion.

(Excerpt) Read more at breitbart.com ...


TOPICS: Current Events; General Discusssion; Religion & Culture
KEYWORDS: churchofoprah; harmonytech; obamatransitionfile; oneworldreligion
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Is she right about the Golden Rule being the "core of every major religion?"
1 posted on 11/15/2008 7:59:55 AM PST by Marylander
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To: admin

Duplicate post, please delete. Sorry.


2 posted on 11/15/2008 8:03:54 AM PST by Marylander (What next?)
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To: Marylander

After watching shows such as TMZ and Celebrity Rehab (I know, it’s rotting my brain), I honestly don’t know how anyone can think of Hollywood as having ANY type of intellectual or moral credibility, let alone lead other people. Please shut up and act.


3 posted on 11/15/2008 8:04:12 AM PST by PrincessB ("I am an expert on my own opinion." - Dave Ramsey)
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To: Marylander

As someone who’s spent decades attempting to implement post-merger standardization, let me say that everybody argrees that “we” need a common standard.....as long as it is the way “I” have always done it.


4 posted on 11/15/2008 8:04:39 AM PST by G Larry (BarackÂ’s character has been molded by extremists)
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To: Marylander

The “golden rule” is NOT the core of Christianity. See if anyone can guess what is.


5 posted on 11/15/2008 8:04:54 AM PST by exnavy (keep your powder dry)
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To: Marylander

Yes, from what I’ve read. I think in Buddhism it’s something like “don’t do to others who you don’t like done to you” although if wrong I want correction.

In the Vedas (Hindu scriptures) it is said that “kindness to jivas (all souls) is the foundation of religious principles”.


6 posted on 11/15/2008 8:05:36 AM PST by little jeremiah (Leave illusion, come to the truth. Leave the darkness, come to the light.)
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To: G Larry

“A website launched Friday with the backing of technology industry and Hollywood elite urges people worldwide to help craft a framework for harmony between all religions.”

Two famous hotbeds of religious understanding...


7 posted on 11/15/2008 8:06:25 AM PST by jessduntno (Barack - Swahili for "High Wind, Big Thunder, No Rain")
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To: Marylander
Is she right about the Golden Rule being the "core of every major religion?"

You mean, is she serious about the Golden Rule being the "core of every major religion?"

Let them have their "all rivers run to the sea", rock worshiping, GAIA. Ket me have my faith, whatever that be and leave me alone.
8 posted on 11/15/2008 8:07:39 AM PST by incredulous joe (We must, indeed, all hang together or, most assuredly, we shall all hang separately.)
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To: Marylander

“Is she right about the Golden Rule being the “core of every major religion?” “

Sorta - the difference between Christianity’s Golden Rule and many others is that Christ said, “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you” - a positive statement to DO good. Many other religions, Islam included, phrase it in the negative: Don’t do to somebody else something you wouldn’t want done to you - a negative, “refrain from doing bad stuff”, rather than, “do good to others without regard for personal gain”.

Colonel, USAFR


9 posted on 11/15/2008 8:09:41 AM PST by jagusafr ("Bugs, Mr. Rico! Zillions of 'em!" - Robert Heinlein)
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To: Marylander
From the "charter for compassion" website
Karen Armstrong is one of the most provocative, original thinkers on the role of religion in the modern world. Armstrong is a former Roman Catholic nun who left a British convent to pursue a degree in modern literature at Oxford. 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 the magisterial A History of God and Holy War: The Crusades and Their Impact on Today’s World. Her latest book is The Bible: A Biography. Her meditations on personal faith and religion (she calls herself a freelance monotheist) spark discussion — especially her take on fundamentalism, which she sees in a historical context, as an outgrowth of modern culture.

In the post-9/11 world, she is a powerful voice for ecumenical understanding.

Here's the list of "charter for compassion" council members (with bios shortened):
Ali Asani
Born in Nairobi, Kenya, Ali S. Asani is currently Professor of the Practice of Indo-Muslim Languages and Culture at Harvard University.

Rev. Dr. Joan Brown Campbell
The Rev. Dr. Joan Brown Campbell presently serves as the Director of the Department of Religion at the Chautauqua Institution

Sister Joan Chittister
Joan Chittister, OSB, is one of the Church's key visionary voices and spiritual leaders. A Benedictine Sister of Erie, PA

Chandra Musaffar
Dr. Chandra Musaffar is the President of the International Movement for a Just World (JUST), a human rights advocacy organization in Malaysia

Baroness Julia Neuberger
Baroness Neuberger DBE became a rabbi in 1977, and served the South London Liberal Synagogue for twelve years, before going to the King's Fund

Tariq Ramadan
Prof. Tariq Ramadan is Professor of Islamic Studies at Oxford and a Visiting Professor at Erasmus University in the Netherlands.

Rabbi Awraham Soetendorp
Awraham Soetendorp is currently rabbi of the Reform Jewish Community of The Hague, and rabbi of the Union of Dutch Reform Jewish Communities

Archbishop Desmond Tutu
Desmond Tutu has been in the priesthood for almost 50 years, serving first as a teacher and theologian.

More from the website. Is anybody else reminded of the idea board at NICE, in C.S. Lewis' book That Hideous Strength?
The Charter for Compassion site is powered by the Kluster ™ platform:

Kluster™ is a collaborative decision making platform, a turbo-charged collective wisdom machine that turns questions into answers, ideas into opportunities, and analysis into action. Unlike conventional "crowdsourcing" that pits people and ideas against each other, Kluster™ brings them together. Our approach is based on real-world group decision-making models, taking into account individual influence and participation. Not only does Kluster™ identify the best ideas, it actually improves them in the process.

How it Works

- Users from around the world submit their ideas
- Users may rate each idea based upon multiple pre-defined criteria, using the sliders next to each concept
- Administrators of the project are able to watch in real time as ideas bubble up to the top, and identify trends as to why they are doing so


10 posted on 11/15/2008 8:10:34 AM PST by Alex Murphy ( "Every country has the government it deserves" - Joseph Marie de Maistre)
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To: exnavy

And to go past my point about the difference between our Golden Rule and those of non-Christian religions, you’re right: I believe in God the Father Almighty, Maker of Heaven and Earth, and in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead and buried. He descended into hell. The third day, He rose again according to the scriptures...

Colonel, USAFR


11 posted on 11/15/2008 8:13:28 AM PST by jagusafr ("Bugs, Mr. Rico! Zillions of 'em!" - Robert Heinlein)
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To: exnavy

Yes, you’re right. It is not the core, it is a general religious standard of how to treat others. But heck, an atheist could have that as a standard as well.


12 posted on 11/15/2008 8:13:51 AM PST by little jeremiah (Leave illusion, come to the truth. Leave the darkness, come to the light.)
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To: exnavy; little jeremiah
The “golden rule” is NOT the core of Christianity. See if anyone can guess what is.

There is only ONE Great Commandment:

Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. – Matthew 22:37-38

To God be the glory, not man, never man.

13 posted on 11/15/2008 8:18:09 AM PST by Alamo-Girl
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To: Marylander

Here’s one: Islam can no longer exist. It is incompatible with a truly free society.


14 posted on 11/15/2008 8:24:40 AM PST by IYAS9YAS (Ever notice that Obama supporters chant "O-Bahm-AH" while McCain/Palin supporters chant "U-S-A".)
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To: Marylander

A framework for Harmony between all the worlds’ religons?

Kinda like going in a cage full of tigers with a bowl of milk and saying “Nice kitty kitty kitty”.. oh I forgot thats what the Dem’s want to do.


15 posted on 11/15/2008 8:26:44 AM PST by flash2368 (Scary Times)
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To: Marylander
From the web site:

A Council of Sages, made up of religious thinkers and leaders, will craft the world’s words into the final version of the Charter. The document will not only speak to the core ideas of compassion but will also address the actions all segments of society can take to bring these ideas into the world more fully. The Charter for Compassion will then be signed by religious leaders of all faiths at a large launch event, followed by a series of other events to publicize and promote the Charter around the world.

Hmm a begining of "One world religion" ?

Count me out.

16 posted on 11/15/2008 8:28:21 AM PST by Kakaze (Exterminate Islamofacism and apologize for nothing.....except not doing it sooner!)
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To: Alex Murphy
....users may rate each idea based upon multiple pre-defined criteria....

There is the built-in control mechanism. All the administrators have to do is carefully define the criteria, and they will get the results they want.

17 posted on 11/15/2008 8:32:29 AM PST by jimtorr
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To: Marylander
Is she right about the Golden Rule being the "core of every major religion?"

No. This rule doesn't exist in Islam.

18 posted on 11/15/2008 8:39:42 AM PST by aimhigh
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To: Alamo-Girl
There is only ONE Great Commandment:
Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. – Matthew 22:37-38

This was updated in 1 John 3:23:
And this is His commandment: that we should believe on the name of His Son Jesus Christ and love one another, as He gave £us commandment.

19 posted on 11/15/2008 8:43:49 AM PST by aimhigh
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To: exnavy

For God so loved the world that He gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believe in him, shall not perish but have eternal life.


20 posted on 11/15/2008 8:43:49 AM PST by 3catsanadog (I plan to give the new President the same respect and dignity the other side gave Bush.)
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