Posted by Ros Grant
at 12:38 PM on February 22, 2009
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I have just read an article in the Buenos Aires Herald that I wanted to share with you all, well part of it anyway.
It was written by Hans Kung, President of the Foundation for a Global Ethic and he is discussing what an ethical framework should entail, quoting some paragraphs from a meeting in Chicago in 1993.
"In the great ancient ethical and religious traditions of humankind we find the directive: You shall not steal! or Deal honestly and fairly!.....no one has the right to use her or his possessions without concern for the needs of society and Earth.... and ethical traditions mean the following:
1. We must utilise economic and political power for service to humanity instead of misusing it in ruthless battles for domination.
2. We must develop a spirt of compassion with those who suffer, with special care for the children, the aged, the poor, the disabled, the refugees and the lonely.
3.We must cultivate mutual respect and consideration, so as to reach a reasonable balance of interests, instead of thinking only of unlimited power and unavoidable competative struggles.
4., We must value a sense of moderation and modesty instead of an unquenchable greed for money, prestige and consumption. In greed humans loose their 'souls', their freedom, their composure, thier inner peace and that which makes them human".
A global Ethic amounts to one of values and he asks, "do we assign a value only to wealth or to the work which creats it?".... "at this time a Global Ethic is needed more urgently than ever before".
