The Golden Rule: Interfaith Peacemaking and the Charter for Compassion

Abstract

In 2008 the organisers of Technology, Entertainment and Design (TED) Talks honoured religious historian Karen Armstrong with the opportunity to change the world through launching her vision in a TED Talk. Armstrong's vison was for a (re)turn to compassion as the guiding principle underpinning the global order. Working with leading thinkers within the three Abrahamic faiths, Armstrong launched the 'Charter for Compassion', envisioning a world where 'everyone is committed to living by the principle of compassion'. The Charter has been signed by over two million people from around the world and partnered with hundreds of interfaith organisations and cities seeking to put into practice the 'Golden Rule', common to the main faith traditions, of doing unto others as you would be done by.While few would argue that compassion is sorely needed in contemporary society, this article explores the efficacy of the Charter, setting it in the context of a post-secular international society, in which religious and interreligious initiatives emerge as primary, rather than peripheral, actors in developing sustainable peace making through bottom up approaches. I argue that the Charter's claim that 'any interpretation of scripture that breeds violence, hatred or disdain is illegitimate' is a flawed but wellintentioned construction, which can encourage meaningful inter-religious dialogue and peace building efforts. The Charter itself emerges as a rhetorical device encouraging compassion rather than a practical tool to mobilise and facilitate peacemaking.This article begins by conceptualising the increasing salience of a post-secular international environment for secular audiences desirous of peaceful resolution of conflict. Second, the role of faithbased diplomacy in engaging religious actors in peacemaking is considered as a precursor to, thirdly, examining Armstrong's advocacy of the Golden Rule and religious peacemaking. Fourth, this article explores peace initiatives inspired by signatories of the Charter for Compassion before concluding that Armstrong's initiative remains largely aspirational, affirming principles of compassion rather than developing practical peacemaking efforts based on the Charter.

Applying conflict resolution insights to the hyper‐polarized, society‐wide conflicts threatening liberal democracies

“…Some of these most important insights, not unique to the conflict field, have historical roots deeply embedded in our cultural and religious traditions. Perhaps the most prominent is the golden rule , “do unto others as you would have them do unto you” (Marsden, 2018). All world's major religious traditions have evolved some version of this (often neglected) principle (Armstrong, 2011).…”