In the great ancient religious and ethical traditions of humankind we find the directive:
You shall not lie!
Or in positive terms: Speak and act truthfully!
Let us reflect on the consequences of this ancient directive:
No woman or man, no institution, no state or church or religious community, has the right to speak lies to otherhumans.
Let no one be deceived: There is no global justice without truthfulness and humaneness.
Young people must learn at home and in school to think, speak, and act truthfully. Without an ethical formation young people will hardly be able to distinguish the important from the unimportant. In the daily flood of information, ethical standards will help them discern when opinions are portrayed as facts, interests veiled, tendencies exaggerated and facts twisted.
From the “Declaration Toward a Global Ethic” of the Parliament of the World's Religions, Chicago 1993.
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