The Golden Rule †<

"Every religion emphasizes human improvement, love, respect for others, sharing other people's suffering. On these lines every religion had more or less the same viewpoint and the same goal." - The Dalai Lama

 

The Golden Rule. It is the fundamental building block of all human morality and ethics. It states that we should not do to others, as we would not wish to have done to us. Any religious or ethical system lacking this fundamental belief would not survive, as it is a belief that certain human rights are inherently ours without any question or debate, I have yet to meet a human being who could give a better example of a rule on which to build a society or moral and ethical code. It is my primary belief, if you do not agree with this sentiment you should take the time to consider why, and the ramifications of a society without this belief; there have been such societies built on inequality and hatred for example Nazi Germany or South Africa during apartheid, or the current society in Zimbabwe under Mugabe’s rule. Religious and Ethical Secular groups differ greatly in their concepts of deity, other beliefs and practices. However there is near total agreement of opinion among almost all religions, ethical systems and philosophies that each person should treat others in a decent manner. Almost all of these groups have passages in their holy texts, or writings of their leaders, which promote this ethic.

One result of this Golden Rule is the concept that every person shares certain inherent human rights, simply because of their membership in the human race. People are certainly different; they come in different genders, sizes, colours, shapes, sexual orientation, races, ability and faiths. One of the greatest failures of organized religion is its inability to convince its followers that the Golden Rule applies to all humans, not just to fellow believers, when dealing with persons of other religions, other genders, other races, other sexual orientations, etc. Only when this is accomplished will the historical religiously related oppression, mass murder and genocide cease. Hopefully the spread of Atheist, Humanist and other secular ethical organisations will contribute if only in a small part towards a world where this intolerance and hatred of other humans can become less common, if not extinct.

Below are examples of global religious “golden rules”*:

Buddhism: “...a state that is not pleasing or delightful to me, how could I inflict that upon another?” Samyutta Nikaya v. 353; and “Hurt not others in ways that you yourself would find hurtful.” Udana-Varga 5:18

Christianity:  “Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them: for this is the law and the prophets.” Matthew 7:12, King James Version; and, “And as ye would that men should do to you, do ye also to them likewise.” Luke 6:31, King James Version.

Confucianism: “Do not do to others what you do not want them to do to you” Analects 15:23; “Tse-kung asked, ‘Is there one word that can serve as a principle of conduct for life?’ Confucius replied, ‘It is the word ‘shu’ – reciprocity. Do not impose on others what you yourself do not desire.’” Doctrine of the Mean 13.3

Egyptian (ancient): “Do for one who may do for you, that you may cause him thus to do.” The Tale of the Eloquent Peasant, 109 – 110 Translated by R.B. Parkinson. The original dates to between 1970 to 1640 BCE and may be the earliest version ever written.

Hinduism:  “One should not behave towards others in a way which is disagreeable to oneself.”  Mencius Vii.A.4; “This is the sum of the Dharma [duty]: do naught unto others which would cause you pain if done to you.” Mahabharata 5:1517

Secular Humanism: “(5) Humanists acknowledge human interdependence, the need for mutual respect and the kinship of all humanity.”; “(11) Humanists affirm that individual and social problems can only be resolved by means of human reason, intelligent effort, critical thinking joined with compassion and a spirit of empathy for all living beings. “; 4. “Don’t do things you wouldn’t want to have done to you, British Humanist Society. “

Islam: “None of you [truly] believes until he wishes for his brother what he wishes for himself.” Number 13 of Imam “Al-Nawawi’s Forty Hadiths.”
 
Judaism:  “...thou shalt love thy Neighbour as thyself.”, Leviticus 19:18; “What is hateful to you, do not to your fellow man. This is the law: all the rest is
commentary.” Talmud, Shabbat 31a; “And what you hate, do not do to any one.” Tobit 4:15 6

Wicca: “An it harm no one, do what thou wilt” (i.e. do what ever you will, as long as it harms nobody, including yourself). One’s will is to be carefully thought out in advance of action. This is called the Wiccan Rede

There are exceptions to the “Golden Rule” A few religions, such as Satanism and The Creativity Movement have a kind of reversed “Golden Rule”. There are some situations in which a strict application of the Golden Rule is ignored because it can lead to harming others. Within the Holy Books of many religions, there are passages that contradict their own “Golden Rule”. This usually happens when non-believers are discussed.

“Codes of ethics are most often associated with prohibitions: Don’t do this, don’t do that. All the spiritual traditions I know have more or less the same lists of don’ts. This makes sense, since all the don’ts elaborate on the awareness that if we are not alert, our naturally arising impulses of greed and anger might lead us to do something exploitive or abusive. The fundamental rule is, ‘Don’t cause pain.’”

*The list above is an excerpt from the Relgious Tolerance website www.religioustolerance.org

 

- Duncan Rossiter