TED Talks: Karen Armstrong: 2008 TED Prize Wish: Charter for Compassion

A great TED Talk. I really enjoy Karen Armstrong's books, but this is the first time I have heard her speak. Her idea of a Charter for Compassion based on the Golden Rule is a great idea, especially since some version of the Golden Rule turns up in nearly every culture and religion (this Wikipedia entry covers universality this quite well).

Based on her argument in this speech, the Charter for Compassion could be a tool for moving people of faith, in whatever religious tradition, from ethnocentrism into a more worldcentric viewpoint.

As she accepts her 2008 TED Prize, author and scholar Karen Armstrong talks about how the Abrahamic religions -- Islam, Judaism, Christianity -- have been diverted from the moral purpose they share to foster compassion. But Armstrong has seen a yearning to change this fact. People want to be religious, she says; we should act to help make religion a force for harmony. She asks the TED community to help her build a Charter for Compassion -- to help restore the Golden Rule as the central global religious doctrine.

Enjoy the talk.

Tags: TED Talks, Karen Armstrong, Prize Wish, Charter for Compassion, religion, culture, Golden Rule, belief, faith