Lately, you can hardly open your news source without hearing about ISIS and Islam and religious violence. It’s easy to forget that hate goes deeper than faith and religion. A sampling of news articles over the last month clearly identifies that in even the most peaceful of religions, believers can still go off the deep end and forget to act humanely.
Who’s Acting Violently?
The Amish are a religious order which shuns technology. Generally, they are extremely religious and peaceful. Each person makes a choice when they become an adult to continue in the Amish order. Just recently, an Amish pastor confessed to murdering his wife. He poisoned her. After nine years of guilt, he called the police to make a full confession. He’s been charged with murder, but this certainly had to shake the community.
In England, a 45-year-old man went on a rampage and pierced 162 tires. Why is this surprising? The man had lived in a Buddhist monastery. He says he only vented his frustration after he crushed a bug. He pled guilty to criminal damage. How could a Buddhist cause such widespread damage and financial loss to others?
An atheist living in Israel was targeted by individuals who want to stop him from spreading Secular Humanism in Israel. It’s suggested that it was religious zealots, most likely Jewish, who vandalized his home and left graffiti in the form of a Bible verse. Doesn’t sound like these people were operating in line with the Golden Rule or the 10 Commandments.
The Theory of Reciprocity
If you grew up Christian or Jewish, you probably know the Golden Rule. As found in the Bible, in Luke, “Do to others what you would want them to do to you.” In the Talmud, it’s a negative injunction, “Do to no one what you yourself dislike.” This rule is not limited to these faiths. Generally, this maxim is known as the ethic of reciprocity. Here it is from other religions:
- “Hurt not other in ways that you yourself would find hurtful.” (Buddhism)
- “One should not behave towards others in a way which is disagreeable to oneself.” (Hinduism)
- “Not one of you is a believer until he loves for his brother what he loves for himself.” (Islam)
- “What we do to everything, we do to ourselves.” (Native American)
There’s no way to list the adage in every form, but it’s found in Egyptian mythology, Sikhism, Taoism, and Wiccan. It may be worded a bit differently, but the idea is the same.
Maria MacLachlan, author of Think Humanism, likened the Golden Rule to empathy. It’s empathy that teaches us to live with kindness and compassion. Most people know how they wouldn’t want to be treated, which is one reason the negative injunction is such a pragmatic version of the Golden Rule.
Learn to Be Empathetic
Practice empathy in your life. Whether you call yourself Christian, Jewish, Pagan, or Atheist, remind yourself that what you do affects others. Challenge your own prejudices and watch how you label others. Instead of finding differences, look for commonalities with those around you. Listen to others to know where they are emotionally and spiritually.
One important aspect of empathy is that you understand yourself. Make sure you are in tune with your own emotions in order to understand others. When you’re interacting with someone, you may need to read between the lines for nonverbal cues to validate what they’re saying.
Empathy isn’t about changing another to make them see your worldview or to give them a better outlook. It’s about understanding where they are in their own life journey and giving support. Walking alongside someone doesn’t mean you agree with them. It just means you support them on the path they travel.