Global Integrity--12

Integrity for Global Citizenship

Moral wholeness for a whole world

Integrity is central to our identity and responsibility
as global citizens.

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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Excerpt: 

Gyeongju Action Plan
"Education for Global Citizenship: Achieving the SDGs Together”

United Nations Department of Public Information/NGO Conference
Gyeongju, Republic of Korea 30 May – 1 June 2016

“In addition to literacy and numeracy, education must advance the cause of global citizenship which: promotes integrated development of the whole person emotionally, ethically, intellectually, physically, socially, and spiritually; imbued with an understanding of our roles, rights and responsibilities for the common good in service to humanity and the advancement of a culture of peace, non-violence, freedom, justice, and equality…“empowers learners to assume active roles to face and resolve global challenges and to become proactive contributors to a more peaceful, tolerant, inclusive, and secure world”[UNESCO 2014, reference in Applications below]; nurtures a sense of solidarity and empathy in order to end poverty, protect the planet, ensure human rights, and foster prosperous and fulfilling lives for all….We commit to…An education that teaches conflict resolution, a deep appreciation for diversity, ethical reasoning, gender equality, human rights and responsibilities, interdependence, multilingual and multicultural competence, social justice, sustainable development, and values.”

Global citizenship refers to our common humanity—our shared sense of identity and belonging as humans. It also refers to our shared sense of responsibility and rights as humans. Fundamental to global citizenship education is “the integrated development of the whole person” including “ethical reasoning…social justice...and values"(as the above quote states). 

Integrity is a core part of one’s identity and involvements as global citizens. We believe that integrity is both a character quality and a way of living that must be more explicitly emphasized in education for global citizenship (including “ethics” and “values” is not enough although it is certainly on the right track). Integrity is central to our identity and responsibility as global citizens. Global citizens are people of integrity.

You can watch a three minute overview-wrap up of the UN DPI/NGO conference here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H5uppOnfdE0

Applications

--See also Global Citizenship Education: Preparing Learners for the Challenges of the 21st Century (UNESCO, 2014).

Global Integrity 6

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!