Fundamental Compassion

Karen Armstrong’s short video on compassion named, Charter for Compassion, Begins with this sentence, “A militant kind of aggressive religiosity sometimes called fundamentalism has grown up in every single one of the major world traditions as a rebellion against this imbalanced world, a rebellion against humiliation, powerless”, evoking the sentiment that has grown around the world and more importantly around religion. The idea or theory of fundamentalism began with the protestant church in the 20^th century. This idea may have been expressed and written down then, however I do believe that this idea has been a cyclical and monotonous motif throughout time.

                The idea of adhering to a specific theology and believing that the rest of the world should also do the same has been part of history as we know it. It has been the root cause of many disputes and conflicts. This reasoning pushes forth the idea of compassion within religion and also the world. This compassion is the idea that religions should be able to overcome intolerance and unite human beings under the umbrella of peace. Karen Armstrong believes in this idea as so I believe Baha'u'llah also did. His faith as reflected in his biography seems to correspond with that of Armstrong’s. He tried to spread the word of religious tolerance in an era that had horrible communication networks. He sent letters to world leaders stating that he was the one promised in the scriptures but more importantly that he wanted to establish the conditions for peace around the world. This initiative I believe was motivated by not only his faith but his understanding that faith should be seen in a positive light no matter which faith you follow or believe in. It is the will of people that can illuminate a path to justice, righteousness, and peace but we need many to understand and believe in the faith of all religions.