Time and again we see leaders and members of religions incite aggression, fanaticism, hate, and xenophobia - even inspire and legitimate violent and bloody conflicts.
Hans KungRead
All historical experience demonstrates the following: Our earth cannot be changed unless in the not too distant future an alteration in the consciousness of individuals is achieved.
Interpretation
Real change in the world requires a shift in individual consciousness.
This quote emphasizes that the transformation of our planet is fundamentally linked to the awakening of human consciousness. It suggests that collective progress is not just about actions and policies, but also deeply rooted in how individuals perceive and understand their roles in the world, urging a personal and societal evolution in thinking to create meaningful change.
In practice
During a speech about climate change, one might use this quote to highlight the importance of personal responsibility.
Time and again we see leaders and members of religions incite aggression, fanaticism, hate, and xenophobia - even inspire and legitimate violent and bloody conflicts.
But I have to add - and this answers your other question - this catholicity in time and in space is only meaningful for me if there is, at the same time, a concentration on the Gospel.
However, if the religions in essence merely repeat statements from the United Nations Human Rights Declaration, such a Declaration becomes superfluous; an ethic is more than rights.
We are conscious that religions cannot solve the economic, political and social problems of this earth.
At the same time we are aware that our various religions and ethical traditions often offer very different bases for what is helpful and what is unhelpful for men and women, what is right and what is wrong, what is good and what is evil.
In the last resort, a love of God without love of humanity is no love at all.
Change from below, the formulation of demands from the populace to end unacceptable injustice, supported by direct action, has played a far larger part in shaping British democracy than most constitutional lawyers, political commentators, historians or statesmen have ever cared to admit. Direct action in a democratic society is fundamentally an educational exercise.
The only thing I fear more than change is no change. The business of being static makes me nuts.
The pill was the liberation of the spirit of women.
Legal discrimination between the sexes is, in almost every instance, founded on outmoded views of society and the pre-scientific beliefs about psychology and physiology. It is time to sweep away these relics of the past and set further generations free of them.
Illness strikes men when they are exposed to change.
One who returns to a place sees it with new eyes. Although the place may not have changed, the viewer inevitably has. For the first time things invisible before become suddenly visible.
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