Principles for a more perfect union.

The country is seen by the world as a whole—an aggregate—and not the sum of it’s individual parts. Peaceful Americans are viewed, often, as the same entity as the corrupt actions of our government. A people’s view of America is dependent on their historical interactions with that aggregate, and the extent to which the people are aware of what has taken place.

We must acknowledge that we are viewed as one America—not 350 million Americans. We must acknowledge that because of this one America, and our financial strength, size, and pop-culture/materialist influence, that we are models to the world. We must accept this responsibility (regardless of whether we asked for it) and model the best possible behavior. If the metaphor of America (as the Americans interpret it) is to mean anything at all, then the actions of the nation must be righteous, and without tarnish.

Our government lacks principles, and we need them quickly.

- All people are unique, and have equally unique and individualized experiences and perspectives--there is value in all of these
- The decision making process shall include steps to: seek to identify interests irrespective of whether they are being voiced by lobbying groups, include all interests in the exploration of the issue at hand, avoid valuing the time involved (or the lack thereof) in proper decision-making above the quality and emotional energy involved, avoid settling and compromise at the expense of minority viewpoints—seek collaborative or interest-based methods of decision making.
- the purpose of government is to provide for common interests
- The strengths of an organized government are in the concept of economy of scale, and the creation of venues for our intellectual leaders to explore ways to further our way of life. Government has value so long as it understands this.
- Life shall always come before Financial interests.
- We will not commit acts of terrorism (irrespective of military, political or economic benefits) against foreign nationals or domestic citizens
- We will not confuse the presence or absence of capitalism with the presence or absence of DEMOCRACY.
- Ours is a policy of truth in which we shall acknowledge all past wrongs and atrocities committed by our nation. We shall not devalue the experience of the oppressed through ignoring historical reality.
- We shall act to benefit others, not ourselves.
- We shall not abuse our voting rights regarding matters which we stand directly or indirectly to benefit from.
- We shall promote justice
- We shall respect autonomy
- We shall be faithful
- We shall seek to Do No Harm.

and read!

This exerpt from the introduction was read at today's interfaith remembrance celebration in San Francisco. Each paragraph was read by a leader from a different faith community, from Bah'ai to Sikh to Buddhist to Unitarian to Baptist:

We are women and men who have embraced the precepts and practices of the world's religions:

We affirm that a common set of core values is found in the teachings of the religions, and that these form the basis of a global ethic.

We affirm that this truth is already known, but yet to be lived in heart and action.

We affirm that there is an irrevocable, unconditional norm for all areas of life, for families and communities, for races, nations, and religions. There already exist ancient guidelines for human behavior which are found in the teachings of the religions of the world and which are the condition for a sustainable world order.

We Declare:

We are interdependent. Each of us depends on the well-being of the whole, and so we have respect for the community of living beings, for people, animals, and plants, and for the preservation of Earth, the air, water and soil.

We take individual responsibility for all we do. All our decisions, actions, and failures to act have consequences.

We must treat others as we wish others to treat us. We make a commitment to respect life and dignity, individuality and diversity, so that every person is treated humanely, without exception. We must have patience and acceptance. We must be able to forgive, learning from the past but never allowing ourselves to be enslaved by memories of hate. Opening our hearts to one another, we must sink our narrow differences for the cause of the world community, practicing a culture of solidarity and relatedness.

We consider humankind our family. We must strive to be kind and generous. We must not live for ourselves alone, but should also serve others, never forgetting the children, the aged, the poor, the suffering, the disabled, the refugees, and the lonely. No person should ever be considered or treated as a second-class citizen, or be exploited in any way whatsoever. There should be equal partnership between men and women. We must not commit any kind of sexual immorality. We must put behind us all forms of domination or abuse.

We commit ourselves to a culture of non-violence, respect, justice, and peace. We shall not oppress, injure, torture, or kill other human beings, forsaking violence as a means of settling differences.

http://www.religioustolerance.org/parliame.htm

The declaration was prepared by about 200 scholars who represented many world religions after a two year consultation. It was presented at the 1993 Parliament of the World's Religions, held in Chicago, IL on 1993-SEP-4. The declaration, with The Principles of a Global Ethic appended, was signed by 143 respected leaders from all of the world's major faiths, including Baha'i World Faith, Brahmanism, Brahma Kumaris, Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Indigenous, Interfaith, Islam, Jainism, Judaism, Native American, Neo-Pagan, Sikhism, Taoism, Theosophist, Unitarian Universalist and Zoroastrian. The Council for a Parliament of the World's Religions offers it to the world as an initial statement of a group of rules for living on which all of the world's religions can agree.


Peace.

May all beings be free from suffering.

May the merit of my meditation and any good acts I undertake be dedicated to the happiness and liberation of all beings.

I wasnt aware of this. I have read through parts of a thin white book about the bah'ai religion, but even if the ideas they believe in are very well meaning, i had it difficult to believe how even parts of the world would one day see something similar to it take place... i thought it was too much like a fairytale. But this decleration you posted made the future seem brighter :)

This was the post the okayactivist board needed.. it was very good you did it, d-best

much love
Fredrik

You should have heard our Third Baptist Church senior minister speak after he read the paragraph on nonviolence! He had thousands of people on their feet.

Not only is it not a fairy tale, but this selection was read at a huge assembly in San Francisco and each paragraph was applauded wildly and each religious leader said a few words of his or her own as they read the paragraphs. The pastor of the Metropolitan Community Church of SF, Rev. Penny Nixon, received a standing ovation when, after reading her paragraph, she implored our nation's leaders to remember that "justice does not always equal retaliation."

In a way, the audience was self selected, so we could expect them to agree. It was announced on Thursday or Friday as an interfaith celebration, so only people who had some degree of religious tolerance were going to attend in the first place. But keep in mind that this was chaired by our mayor, Willie Brown, and speakers included Senators Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer and Representative Nancy Pelosi. So the message is going to Washington that people here, at least, are applauding understanding and urging compassion and giving standing ovations to calls for reason.

It was incredibly gratifying.

Peace.

May all beings be free from suffering.

May the merit of my meditation and any good acts I undertake be dedicated to the happiness and liberation of all beings.

I hope this goes further as well.. Do you know what is being done with it? It seems like you know much about it (and was there too)

>It was incredibly gratifying.

Ahh i can imagine :)

Its good to hear that many, even senators and the mayor of San Francisco, support it.. specially when it takes place in usa! Im real glad this is goes on, hope it becomes more than on the paper

You got my vote for president, congress, senate, whatever you're running for!! On the real, if only our government could really operate on those values, this place would be greatly improved. Unfortunately, it seems as though its hard to back track over 200 years of government gone wrong. The process of rectifying this government from its current pathetic state would mean undoing over 200 years of corruption. Thats a tough task at hand. But I think you can do it, the force is strong in you young Jedi. :) :) :) :)


~~~welcome to my sig~~~

"For if they come for you in the morning, they will be coming for us at night." - James Baldwin

"Isn't it comforting to know that being miserable is better than being stupid?" (c) Claire, Six Feet Under

"Only the strong go crazy; the weak just go along." - Assata Shakur

"Fuck what you heard, I'm from Africa..." - Dead Prez

i will ask wbgirl to archive it when it drops out of the first page, it isn't a long thread but it is a good one