Charter for Compassion

TED stands for Technology, Entertainment, Design. It started out (in 1984) as a conference bringing together people from those three worlds. Since then its scope has become even broader. The annual conference now brings together the world's most fascinating thinkers and doers, who are challenged to give the talk of their lives (in 18 minutes). TED.com makes the best talks and performances available to the public, for free. http://www.ted.com/

There is also something called the TED Prize. It was designed to leverage the TED Community's exceptional array of talent and resources. It is awarded annually to three exceptional individuals who each receive $100,000 and, much more important, the granting of "One Wish to Change the World." After several months of preparation, they unveil their wish at an award ceremony held during the TED Conference. The TED community then steps up and participates in the granting of the wish. These wishes have led to collaborative initiatives with far-reaching impact.

One of the winners this year is Karen Armstrong, who is one of the most provocative, original thinkers on the role of religion in the modern world. Armstrong is a former Roman Catholic nun who left a British convent to pursue a degree in modern literature at Oxford. In 1982 she wrote a book about her seven years in the convent, Through the Narrow Gate, that angered and challenged Catholics worldwide; her recent book The Spiral Staircase discusses her subsequent spiritual awakening after leaving the convent, when she began to develop her iconoclastic take on the great monotheistic religions.

She has written more than 20 books around the ideas of what Islam, Judaism and Christianity have in common, and around their effect on world events, including the magisterial A History of God and Holy War: The Crusades and Their Impact on Today’s World. Her latest book is The Bible: A Biography. Her meditations on personal faith and religion (she calls herself a freelance monotheist) spark discussion — especially her take on fundamentalism, which she sees in a historical context, as an outgrowth of modern culture.

Below is the video discussing her TED Wish - the creation of a Charter for Compassion. There is a web site for the project that provides more details. Everyone is also invited to offer their views and ideas for the charter here. The Charter will be written in stages. The first section The Preamble is open for commentary for 4 weeks. The web site actually show a clock counting down. Once that section closes they will move on to Affirmations on November 20th, following by Actions on November 27th and then a Final Declaration on December 4th.



This second video is the talk Karen Armstrong gave at TED, which includes the announcement of her wish.