1.) The Golden Rule: All of the major religions revolve around the idea that you should treat others the way you want to be treated. This is good idea, but there are people who think that it’s their way or the highway and discriminate against other groups.
2.) Israel: Jerusalem is the Holy Land for multiple religions and groups in the middle east and they have been fighting over it since the beginning of recorded human history. If religious organizations were as peaceful as they preach, wouldn’t the conflict have been resolved a long time ago?
3) CoeXisT: Those bumper stickers on the back of every opinionated hippie’s car. I wrote a post earlier about their counter-productivity and (while they seem like a good idea) thow they are actually no more helpful than any other bumper sticker at fixing the problem. While everyone SHOULD be able to get along, regardless of creed, history shows us that it won’t be the case. So “coexisting” is still a long way off from where humanity could be.
I think your topic is really interesting and super controversial and you’re a very brave soul for taking it on, haha.
The Golden Rule is something I personally ascribe to, though I don’t belong to any particular religion. So it would be interesting to trace that artifact through different cultures (I’m pretty sure that was strong in Chinese culture during the Confucius days too).
Fun fact: I used to have a Coexist sticker on the back of my car, but I took it off because I heard that apparently the company it raises funds for was doing sketchy things with those funds? I tried to find a source online to prove that, but I couldn’t so maybe you’ll have better luck? When I was trying to find the article, I came across a lot of angry articles that people who have that sticker don’t understand the dangers of extremist/radical Islam, so that’s a pretty modern and relevant controversy. Another point with this sticker is that people don’t understand the roots or religious differences and conflict, which I think that’s why your second artifact, Israel/Jerusalem, is such a good one, because it literally is the cradle of these conflicts, so to speak.
Pretty cool stuff!
“Confucianism: 557 BC, From the Analects 15:23- “What you do not want done to yourself, do not do to others.”
I really do enjoy these artifacts. I’d love to hear more discussing the topic of the golden rule. I understand the concept of the golden rule but I am not sure how it leads to discrimination when in fact the rule itself is to not discriminate unless you want to be discriminated against. For the topic of Israel, that is a really good question, however the question I have had to ask myself is are both fighting for religious reasons completely or is it a land to power type of thing. And lastly I so agree with the Coexist bumper sticker, I wish it could be a reality but lets be honest, there is no sight for world peace any time soon.