The Ethic of Reciprocity

Áine on November 27th, 2004 filed in General

Baha’i World Faith: “And if thine eyes be turned towards justice, choose thou for thy neighbour that which thou choosest for thyself.” Epistle to the Son of the Wolf

Brahmanism / Hinduism: “This is the sum of duty: Do naught unto others which would cause you pain if done to you”. Mahabharata, 5:1517

Buddhism: “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.” Matthew 7:12, Holy Bible.

Confucianism: “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

Ancient Egyptian: “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.

Humanism: “Don’t do things you wouldn’t want to have done to you.” British Humanist Society.

Islam: “Not one of you is a believer until he loves for his brother what he loves for himself” Fourth Hadith of an-Nawawi 13.

Jainism: “In happiness and suffering, in joy and grief, we should regard all creatures as we regard our own self.” Lord Mahavira, 24th Tirthankara

Judaism: “What is hateful to you, do not to your fellow man. This is the law: all the rest is commentary.” Talmud, Shabbat 31a.

Native American Spirituality: “All things are our relatives; what we do to everything, we do to ourselves. All is really One.” Black Elk

Roman Pagan Religion: “The law imprinted on the hearts of all men is to love the members of society as themselves.”

Shinto: “The heart of the person before you is a mirror. See there your own form.”

Sikhism: “Don’t create enmity with anyone as God is within everyone.” Guru Arjan Devji 259

Sufism: “The basis of Sufism is consideration of the hearts and feelings of others. If you haven’t the will to gladden someone’s heart, then at least beware lest you hurt someone’s heart, for on our path, no sin exists but this.” Dr. Javad Nurbakhsh, Master of the Nimatullahi Sufi Order

Taoism: “Regard your neighbor’s gain as your own gain, and your neighbor’s loss as your own loss.” T’ai Shang Kan Ying P’ien

Unitarian: “We affirm and promote respect for the interdependent of all existence of which we are a part.” Unitarian principles.

Wicca: “An it harm no one, do what thou wilt.”

Yoruba: (Nigeria): “One going to take a pointed stick to pinch a baby bird should first try it on himself to feel how it hurts.”

Zoroastrianism: “That nature alone is good which refrains from doing unto another whatsoever is not good for itself”. Dadistan-i-dinik 94:5

Beliefs of religious groups, some Old World pagan cultures, and non-theistic ethical systems, like Humanism, differ greatly in their concepts of deity, other beliefs and practices, but one principle is accepted by almost everyone. It is the Ethic of Reciprocity : the concept that we should treat others as we would wish them to treat us. A logical development of this Ethic is the principle that each individual is of equal worth, simply because they are human.

Some individuals are able to extend the Ethic to all fellow believers who share their religion. On the other hand, some find it difficult to extend the Ethic to followers of other religions and ultimately to all human beings. However, a lot of harm has been done in the name of “helping other people.” Before applying the Golden Rule, we should take care that we are really helping people, and not harming them. This often requires more wisdom than is readily available.

There have been major human rights conflicts throughout history in which both or all sides quoted extensively from the Bible to support their positions. This has happened over human slavery, women’s suffrage, the use of contraceptives, the roles and status of women, female ordination, how to discipline children, racial segregation, inter-racial marriage, abortion access, religious tolerance, equal rights for gays and lesbians, same-sex marriage, etc. One of the reasons why emotions currently run particularly high in North America on topics like abortion and homosexuality is that many Christians on all sides of the issues sincerely believe that the Bible supports their viewpoint.

For example, consider the Christian Bible. It contains sections which promote both religious tolerance and religious intolerance. In places, it advocates genocide against other tribes, extermination of people of other religions, murder of individuals with minority sexual orientations, and the stoning of people who get divorced but then remarry because that is considered adultery. It condones slavery and, in many places, promotes an inferior status for women. Many Christian believers can quote you chapter and verse, yet fail to see that there are other chapters and verses which contradict their interpretation. They believe that they have interpreted the Bible correctly and have assessed the will of God on the matter. Many feel assured that God agrees with their beliefs, and that they are acting as a type of agent for God on earth.

However, many of the atrocities throughout history have been committed by people who felt just like that… that they knew the will of God and were doing specific acts in God’s name. Some people mention Hitler and that tends to stir up emotion and hatred among people. But Hitler wasn’t the only one who used religion as a means to an end . . .

and herein lies the problem.

“The followers of most religions (and of no organized religion) feel that their beliefs are true and that the beliefs of other groups are, at least to some degree, false. By itself, this stance is not dangerous to public order. However, profound evil can result when they also oppress other religious groups, or discriminate against them, or disseminate hatred against them.

If they go to the next step and believe that followers of other faith groups are sub-human, then all the prerequisites are in place for mass crimes against humanity, genocide, and a new Holocaust. We have seen such criminal acts in recent decades in Northern Ireland, Bosnia, Kosovo, Macedonia, Cyprus, Nigeria, Sudan, Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, India, Sri Lanka, Philippines, etc.” [Source: ReligiousTolerance.org]

Thomas Jefferson: “I never told my religion, nor scrutinized that of another. I never attempted to make a convert, nor wished to change another’s creed. I have judged others’ religions by their lives, for it is from our lives and not our words that our religions must be read.”

Charles Kimball Baptist minister, Middle East expert, and author of a phenomenally important book: When Religion Becomes Evil. “Whatever religious people may say about their love of God or the mandates of their religion, when their behavior toward others is violent and destructive, when it causes suffering among their neighbors, you can be sure the religion has been corrupted and reform is desperately needed.”

James Madison, From “A Memorial and Remonstrance”, 1785: “What influence, in fact, have ecclesiastical establishments had on society? In some instances they have been seen to erect a spiritual tyranny on the ruins of the civil authority; on many instances they have been seen upholding the thrones of political tyranny; in no instance have they been the guardians of the liberties of the people. Rulers who wish to subvert the public liberty may have found an established clergy convenient auxiliaries. A just government, instituted to secure and perpetuate it, needs them not.”

Thomas Paine: “Of all of the tyrannies that affect mankind, tyranny of religion is the worst.”

Blaise Pascal: “Men never do evil so completely and cheerfully as when they do it from religious conviction.”

Farrell Till: “Information is religion’s greatest enemy, and in an age when information is just a few keyboard strokes away from anyone with a computer, this is going to pose a greater threat to Christianity than anything it has yet ’survived.’”

Alan Watts: from “The Essence of Alan Watts series - GOD”: Many people think that the bible is the authentic word of God and they worship the bible, making it an idol…”

Steven Weinberg, Nobel Laureate: “Religion is an insult to human dignity. With or without it, you’d have good people doing good things and evil people doing evil things. But for good people to do evil things, it takes religion.”

Archbishop Desmond Tutu, speaking at Ebenezer Baptist Church, to participants in the annual meeting of the U.S. Conference for the World Council of Churches in 2000-JAN. (In the same speech, he reminded his audience that the racist apartheid policy in his native South Africa was also created by Christians, not Pagans.): “It was Christians, you know, not Pagans, who were responsible for the Holocaust. It was Christians, not Pagans, who lynched people here in the South, who burned people at the stake, frequently in the name of this Jesus Christ”

Benjamin Disraeli (1804-1881), Known as a dandy, a novelist, a brilliant debater and England’s first and only Jewish prime minister: “The Jews are a nervous people. Nineteen centuries of Christian love have taken a toll.”

Federico Mayor, Director-general of UNESCO (1987-1999): “It is intolerable that the world’s religions — founded on the values of love and compassion — should provide a pretext for the expression of hatred and violence.”

Randall Terry, Founder of Operation Rescue. Reported by the News-Sentinel, Fort Wayne, IN, 16 Aug 1993: “I want you to just let a wave of intolerance wash over you. I want you to let a wave of hatred wash over you. Yes, hate is good… Our goal is a Christian nation. We have a Biblical duty, we are called by God, to conquer this country. We don’t want equal time. We don’t want pluralism.”

Bob Chell, University Lutheran Center. South Dakota State University, 10 Oct 1996: “In the Bible, the ones who were most certain about what they were doing were the ones who stoned the prophets.”

Pat Robertson, Fundamentalist Christian tele-minister: “You say you’re supposed to be nice to the Episcopalians and the Presbyterians and the Methodists and this, that, and the other thing. Nonsense. I don’t have to be nice to the spirit of the Antichrist. I can love the people who hold false opinions but I don’t have to be nice to them.”

Sheik Abdel-Aziz Ibn Baaz, Supreme religious authority, Saudi Arabia and author of a Muslim religious edict, 1993: “The earth is flat, and anyone who disputes this claim is an atheist who deserves to be punished.”

George H.W. Bush, (R) as Presidential Nominee for the Republican party; 27 Aug 1987: “No, I don’t know that Atheists should be considered as citizens, nor should they be considered patriots. This is one nation under God.”

George W. Bush (R), as Governor of Texas: “I don’t think witchcraft is a religion. I would hope the military officials would take a second look at the decision they made.”

Harvey Milk, at a 1978 Gay Freedom Day Rally. (Harvey Milk was killed later that year by a fanatic): “The fact is that more people have been slaughtered in the name of religion than for any other single reason. That, THAT my friends, is true perversion.”

Also see: Religious Pluralism for a discussion on what the term means to various groups. I tend to think “Religious Diversity” is a better term to use, since it reflects the diversity within not only our country, but the world as a whole, as well.

All of the above quotes can be found on the ReligiousTolerance.org website.