Director: Jesse Dylan
Producer: Priscilla Cohen, Theresa "Sparky" Pomeroy 

11.11.08

Start writing the Charter for Compassion.

In early 2008 when Karen Armstrong made her TED wish she said, “I wish that you would help with the creation, launch and propagation of a Charter for Compassion, crafted by a group of leading inspirational thinkers from the three Abrahamic traditions of Judaism, Christianity and Islam and based on the fundamental principles of universal justice and respect.”

After discussing Karen’s wish with the TED community, interfaith groups, and others, the Charter for Compassion has developed into a broader, more innovative, and more modern movement.

The writing of the Charter is open to people all around the world, of all faith traditions, nationalities, languages, and backgrounds. After the words of the world are collected, a Council of Sages, made up of high-level religious leaders and thinkers, will take these words and craft the final document. The Charter will then be signed by hundreds of religious leaders from all religions.

The site will be multi-lingual, interactive, and inspiring.  You can submit your own language, rate and comment on other people’s submission, and share your personal stories of compassion through video, image, and text.

The creation of the Charter is open to the world.  We urge you to share the site and the video with your friends.  Join our Facebook group.

For those who read Dutch, here is an article and interview with Karen Armstrong from October 31.

On the Charter for Compassion:

U werkt nu aan een Compassion Charter, een ‘Acte van Mededogen’, waarin niet-gelovigen en aanhangers van verschillende gelovigen hun compassie voor de medemens betuigen.

‘Tegenwoordig vinden veel mensen hun eigen gelijk belangrijker dan compassie met de ander. Secularisten en fundamentalisten zijn bang voor elkaar. Veel mensen zijn op zoek naar hun identiteit, omdat ze zich niet meer veilig voelen in dit tijdperk van globalisering. We moeten pluralistisch denken, maar in plaats daarvan trekt iedereen zich steeds meer terug in zijn eigen getto. Dat zie je zelfs in Groot-Brittannië, waar de Schotten en de Welshmen op hun eigen identiteit hameren op een manier die kort geleden ondenkbaar was.’

If anyone can translate this, post it in the comments.

Thanks Erik for the tip!

This beautiful video titled “Mankind is No Island” recently won first prize at Tropfest NY.  Directed  by Jason van Genderen, it was shot entirely on a cell phone with a budget of $57.

Last week Karen Armstrong was in New York City for a series of meetings with interfaith organizations, religious leaders, and technology development companies.  Each meeting was a new opportunity to discuss Karen’s thoughts on compassion, to see the power of the work of interfaith work, and to prepare a broad network to participate in the creation of the Charter.  TED wants to bring a spotlight to the great work currently being done to bring more compassion to the world.  If you know of any organization around the world working in the interreligious or ecumenical world that will be a good partner, please contact us.

In addition to creating partnerships, Jesse Dylan and his team at FORM flew to New York for a day to film a video with Karen and other individuals on the role of compassion in their lives.   The stories were joyful, powerful, humorous, and emotional.  This video, to be placed on websites around the internet, will raise awareness of the Charter before it launches.  We are looking for as many media placements as possible in order to build a wide presence around the world.  Please contact us if you have online media ad space that could host our video.  We would love to hear from you.

Gustav Niebuhr, one of the nation’s leading journalists covering religion,recently released a new book, “Beyond Tolerance: Searching for Interfaith Understanding in America”.  The book recounts stories of people who are actively engaged in interreligious dialogue and how the US is moving beyond tolerance and moving towards understanding.

On August 15, Niebuhr spoke with Michael Pappas at the Grace Cathedral in San Francisco about his work and the changing nature of interfaith work in America.

Conflicts between cultures and religions are not easily resolved, nor is there one single path to achieving coexistence and peace.  The beauty of Karen Armstrong’s wish is that she is emphasizing that a first and crucial step is remembering our common value of compassion. Bishara Naddaf, the charismatic percussionist of the Arab/Jewish Ensemble in the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, uses his music to break down barriers. He shares his message of tolerance through drumming workshops (using the darbuka) in schools and congregations.

“Music is a universal language,” Naddaf said. “When playing music, all discrepancies and dissimilarities in opinion, political views, religion, nationality or otherwise become non-relevant since it has no bearing on the musical piece itself.

“You can take a random selection of artists from anywhere in the world, a Westerner or an Easterner, right-winged or left-winged, liberal or conservative, Jewish, Christian, Muslim or Buddhist…give them a note sheet of any composition written by any composer, and behold how the melody coming out of their instruments merge in a harmonical fashion surpassing any of the differences I have mentioned earlier,” Naddaf said.

“What I have come to learn is that the world is never saved in grand messianic gestures but in the simple accumulation of gentle, soft, almost invisible acts of compassion, everyday acts of compassion.”

The Madrid Interfaith Conference convened by King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia and the World Muslim League ended today.  The final declaration of the three day event called for the United Nations to play a role, saying they hope to follow up “recommendations in enhancing dialogue among the followers of religions, civilizations and cultures through conducting a special U.N. session on dialogue.”

From the sound of the article in the International Herald Tribune, the real accomplishment of the meeting was that it happened at all.

“There have been interfaith conferences before but never by the king of Saudi Arabia,” said Rosen, who is head of inter-religious relations at the American Jewish Committee and former chief rabbi of Ireland.

“It’s never had the World Muslim League before. It represents the conservative heartland of the most rigid Islamic world view. This is an incredible advancement,” he told The Associated Press…

Dr. William Baker, president of the U.S. group Christians and Muslims for Peace, concurred that the real significance of the meeting was that “it originated in the heart of Islam.”

In this talk from 1998, Rev. Billy Graham marvels at technology’s power to improve lives and change the world — but says the end of evil, suffering and death will come only after the world accepts Christ.