“Charter for Compassion”

Karen Armstrong, an Englishwoman who was once a Roman Catholic nun, first rose to prominence in 1993 with her book, A History of God: The 4,000-Year Quest of Judaism, Christianity and Islam, an international best seller. She has written several widely-read books since then.

In 2008 Armstrong (b. 1944) received the $100,000 TED Prize. She used that windfall to call for the creation of a Charter for Compassion, which was unveiled the following year. (TED, Technology Entertainment and Design, is a global set of conferences owned by the private non-profit Sapling Foundation, formed to disseminate “ideas worth spreading.”)

The Charter for Compassion was created online by the general public and crafted by leading thinkers in Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Islam, and Judaism. In November 2009 it was signed by a thousand religious and secular leaders—and now by over 75,000 more people, including me. The charter has been translated into more than thirty languages.

 The Charter’s first (of four) paragraph states:

The principle of compassion lies at the heart of all religious, ethical and spiritual traditions, calling us always to treat all others as we wish to be treated ourselves. Compassion impels us to work tirelessly to alleviate the suffering of our fellow creatures, to dethrone ourselves from the centre of our world and put another there, and to honor the inviolable sanctity of every single human being, treating everybody, without exception, with absolute justice, equity and respect.

That statement, and the paragraphs that follow it, express noble sentiments, indeed. (You can read the whole charter by clicking on this link.)

Armstrong’s most recent book is Twelve Steps to a Compassionate Life (2010). On the first page of the Preface, she declares, “One of the chief tasks of our time must surely be to build a global community in which all peoples can live together in mutual respect.” I certainly agree.

But I also wonder why no mention is made of the Declaration Toward a Global Ethic, about which I posted last time. (Did she need to “re-invent the wheel”?)

Unfortunately, some in our society don’t seem to be much in favor of compassion, including some political leaders. Gov. Perry, for example, criticizes liberals who seek to advance “a radical secular agenda in the name of compassion” (Fed Up! p. 13). Later in the same book he strongly criticizes President Bush’s (W’s) “Compassionate Conservatism” (p. 143).

Ayn Rand, the darling of some prominent politicians today, was no supporter of compassion. And back in 2004, the president of the Ayn Rand Center of Individual Rights, railed against the Bush Administration's war in Iraq for embracing compassion (You can read the article here.)

Armstrong, though, contends that “to wish for your enemy’s well-being and happiness” is “the supreme test of compassion” (p. 185). Loving one’s enemies as one loves oneself sounds like something I have heard somewhere else.

Do those words not apply to nations or to politicians?

Note: For you in the D.C. area, Dr. Armstrong will lead a forum on compassion at Washington National Cathedral on the morning of September 11. For you who live in the (north) Kansas City area, the Vital Conversations book discussion group will be discussing the last half of Dr. Armstrong’s book at their regular monthly meeting (at the Mid-Continent Public Library in Gladstone), from 1:00 to 2:30 on Wednesday, September 14.

Politics and Prayer

James Richard (Rick) Perry, the current governor of Texas, may well be the Republican nominee for President in 2012. Gov. Perry (b. 1950) has not announced his candidacy. But he is getting high rankings in the polls and has strong backing from conservative Christians across the nation.

I envisioned this column before hearing about Gov. Perry possibly running for the presidency. Several months ago he proclaimed August 6 as a “solemn day of prayer and fasting on behalf of our troubled nation.”

All of the other governors of the nation have reportedly been invited to the prayer meeting, and I have (from the Internet, of course) a copy of the letter Gov. Perry wrote, on official stationery, to the governor of Alabama on May 18. The official announcement about the prayer meeting was made on May 23.

As far as I have been able to determine, only two governors have accepted Gov. Perry’s invitation: Gov. Sam Brownback (R-Kansas), and Gov. Bobby Jindal (R-Lousiana). Gov. Gary Herbert (R-Utah) sent regrets but signed a proclamation supporting Perry’s event.

To promote the prayer meeting, Gov. Perry has created a website, “The Response: A Call to Prayer for a Nation in Crisis.” On that website, the Houston Reliant Stadium event is described as “a non-denominational, apolitical Christian prayer meeting.”

 The “host entity” for the August 6 prayer meeting is the American Family Association (AFA), whose founder and chairman emeritus is Rev. Donald E. Wildmon, an influential conservative (fundamentalist) Christian leader.

The Response website indicates that it has adopted the AFA statement of faith. That means that the prayer meeting is clearly intended only for Christians, and even many moderate or liberal Christians would not be able to agree with the AFA statement.

A few weeks ago, Interfaith Alliance President Dr. C. Welton Gaddy, a fellow Baptist minister whom I have known since we were in seminary together, called on Gov. Perry to refrain from using his public office for religious purposes. Rev. Gaddy wrote,

“Governor Perry’s call for governors around the country to join him in prayer and fasting this August raises serious concerns about his commitment to the boundaries between religion and government. It has been my experience that when elected leaders invoke religion in this way, it almost always has more to do with furthering a political agenda than a religious one.”

I agree with Welton.

Certainly, I have nothing against prayer, and I would not at all discourage politicians from praying. But that praying needs to be done primarily in their own “closet” and not publicly at a 70,000-seat football stadium.

I fully agree with Welton’s closing statement as well: “At the very least, I would hope that Governor Perry publicly confirms that no government funds or resources are now or will be in the future used to further this spiritual rally.”

As I wrote previously, there is a very close tie between conservative Christians and the Republican Party. And now it looks suspiciously like Gov. Perry is using, within the Republican Party, a public prayer meeting for political purposes. If so, that is far from commendable.