In the great ancient religious and ethical traditions of humankind we find the directive:
You shall not kill!
Or in positive terms: Have respect for life!
Let us reflect anew on the consequences of this ancient directive:
•All people have a right to life, safety and the free development of personality in so far as they do not injure the rights of others.
•No one has the right physically or psychically to torture, injure, much less kill, any other human being.
•And no people, no state, no race, no religion has the right to hate, to discriminate against, to “cleanse”, to exile, much less to liquidate a “foreign” minority which is different.
Let no one be deceived: There is no survival for humanity without global peace!
Young people must learn at home and in school that violence may not be a means of settling differences with others.
Only thus can a culture of non-violence be created.
From the “Declaration Toward a Global Ethic” of the Parliament of the World's Religions, Chicago 1993.
top
