Charter for Compassion

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{{Religion}}
The '''Charter for Compassion''' is a short text promoting compassion, tolerance and other feel-good stuff, and a website that hosts it and invites people to "affirm the Charter" and "spread the word" — essentially a form of [[slacktivism]].

==Origin==
Although it claims to be an ecumenical and universal document, the Charter is essentially a warming-over of [[Christianity]]'s "greatest commandment in the law," as hashed out by Jesus in [[RationalWiki:Annotated Bible/Matthew#Matthew 22:37|Matthew 22:37-40]] and also referenced by [[Paul of Tarsus|St. Paul]] in [[RationalWiki:Annotated Bible/1 Corinthians#1 Corinthians 13:13|1 Corinthians 13:13]]. This is understandable, since it was made by an ex-nun, [[Karen Armstrong]], who had departed the cloister to become a "freelance monotheist" and study modern literature.<ref>http://charterforcompassion.org/about</ref>

==Content==
The short text of the charter contains some, uh, rather questionable statements. Two of the more egregious howlers are:

{{cquote|The principle of compassion lies at the heart of all religious, ethical and spiritual traditions.}}

The followers of {{wpl|Esoteric Nazism}} would, one would suppose, take umbrage at that, the heart of ''their'' traditions running more in the direction of fire and slaughter; but even among the old traditions, paganism generally put more emphasis on duty or excellence than on love or compassion (this became a major selling-point during Christianization). [[Islam]], meanwhile, is named for its call for followers to submit to the will to God, rather than love or compassion.

{{cquote|We therefore call upon all men and women ... to return to the ancient principle that any interpretation of scripture that breeds violence, hatred or disdain is illegitimate.}}

One wonders exactly which "scripture" is being referred to here. It is certainly not the [[Qur'an]], indeed one would have to do some fancy footwork in order to maintain that {{Qur'an|9|5|5=an order to "slay the idolaters"}} did not "breed violence" back in the old days, especially considering that [[Muhammad|its author]] and his successors did just that, fighting massive wars of conquest and religious subjugation.

It is certainly not the [[Old Testament]], either, seeing as how it contains an explicit example of how a very legitimate "interpretation of scripture" bred violence, in the story of the semi-legendary King Josiah of Judah ([[RationalWiki:Annotated Bible/2 Kings#2 Kings 22|2 Kings 22-23]]). The story starts with the Israelites having become polytheistic, worshipping figures such as the earth-mother Asherah in addition to [[God|YHVH]]. After Josiah is crowned as king, a scroll is found in the temple to YHVH at Jerusalem with a certain part of the Pentateuch written on it. Upon reading the scroll, Josiah hastily embarks on what the text characterizes as an extended bout of holiness,<ref>[[RationalWiki:Annotated Bible/2 Kings#2 Kings 23:25|2 Kings 23:25]].</ref> burning and desecrating many cultic objects, killing numerous priests, digging up some more and giving them a posthumous immolation. Mr. Compassionate, indeed.

==Notable signatories==
Among the document's signatories are:

*[[Deepak Chopra]]
*The [[Dalai Lama]]
*[[The Vagina Monologues|Eve Ensler]]
*Several members of the deposed [[Greece|Greek]] royal house

==External links==
*[http://charterforcompassion.org The Charter for Compassion homepage]

==References==
{{reflist}}
[[Category:Religion]]
[[Category:Christianity]]

Categories: Religion, Christianity