The Charter for Compassion, backed by technocrats and a few Hollywood celebrities, has launched a project aimed at making the wish of "religious scholar" Karen Armstrong a reality.The wish? That enlightened people around the world "combine universal principles of respect and compassion into a charter based on a 'golden rule' she believes is at the core of every major religion."
Well, I don't want to spoil the game by reminding these guys that the basic truth claims of the world's religions cannot be "harmonized." They are, in fact, starkly contradictory and attempts to converge the world's religions actually represent the most blatant dishonoring of each.
No, a much better course is to honestly appraise the truth claims that each religion makes and see which holds up - logically, philosophically, historically and empirically. But just throwing them willy-nilly into a bag? That's not harmony. That's the crassest action of disrespect -- insisting that the central theses of the various religions are not important or are even blatantly untrue. Indeed, in this case, it's just an arrogant insistence that all the world religions surrender to the "core principles" of a new religion, one devised by Ms. Armstrong and the Charter for Compassion. Thank you, but no.
No, if you're in need of a little social harmony this morning, instead of a singing along with a loopy syncretism, try grooving to this instead. You'll feel better; no one will be dissed; and you won't have kissed your brains goodbye.
