Living with Our Deepest Differences
Moral wholeness for a whole world
Integrity is moral wholeness—living consistently in moral wholeness. Its
opposite is corruption, the distortion, perversion, and deterioration of moral goodness,
resulting in the exploitation of people. Global integrity is moral wholeness at all levels in our
world—from the individual to the institutional to the international. Global
integrity is requisite for “building the future we want—being the people we
need.” It is not easy, it is not always black and white, and it can be risky.
These entries explore the many facets of integrity with a view towards the
global efforts to promote sustainable development and wellbeing.
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The Global Charter of Conscience
The word
integrity does not appear once in the 2012 Global Charter of Conscience: A Global Covenant concerning Faiths and Freedom
of Conscience. Nonetheless, the whole document is based upon and points us
towards integrity—lifestyles of integrity which are committed to a “good world”
by: acknowledging our deepest differences; embracing rights, responsibilities and
respect; embracing freedom of thought conscience and religion; pursuing civility
and a thriving public square; and being both citizens of the world and patriots
of one’s own country. From our perspective, global civility and its core
values, as emphasized in this Charter,
requires global integrity. It is the best way to truly combat “global chaos.”
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“The Global Charter of Conscience has
been drafted and published by a group of followers of many faiths and none,
politicians of many persuasions, academics and NGOs who are committed to a
partnership on behalf of “freedom of thought, conscience and religion” for
people of all faiths and none. A growing
number of academic studies and reports show that “freedom of thought,
conscience and religion” is widely neglected and threatened today. A recent Pew
Forum report, for instance, says that three quarters of the world’s population
live in countries where there is a high degree of menace to their faith—sometimes
through government repression, sometimes through sectarian violence, and
sometimes through the mounting culture wars that we are now seeing in Western countries.
In our global era, it is said that “everyone is now everywhere,” and that “living
with our deepest differences” has become a massive global problem, especially when
those differences are religious and ideological. This is a huge problem for the
future of humankind that must be resolved.” (Quote from the Charter’s website)
A
Global Covenant concerning Faiths and Freedom of Conscience
“Keenly aware of
the titanic promise and peril of our time, as forms of global interconnectedness
reach an unprecedented speed, scale, and scope across the earth, we issue and
subscribe to this Charter to address
a major world challenge whose resolution will be decisive for the cause of
civilization and human flourishing. That is, we address the urgent problems
raised by the challenge of “living with our deepest differences” when those
differences involve core beliefs, worldviews, and ways of life, and when they
are increasingly found within single communities, nations, and civilizations.
Our purpose is
to set out a vision of the rights, responsibilities, and respect that will be
the foundation of a civil and cosmopolitan “global public square,” and the
habits of the heart for those who would be “citizens of the world” as well as
patriots in their own countries, and so to advance the cause of a “good world”
and thus of global civilization over against the forces of global chaos.”
(opening text of the Charter)
Applications
--Summarize
the main point and purpose of the Charter in one sentence
--List a few applications for how you would want to live out the Charter with integrity.
--Read the Charter!
--List a few applications for how you would want to live out the Charter with integrity.
--Read the Charter!
