Compassion is the key in Islam and Buddhism and Judaism and Christianity. They are profoundly similar.
Karen ArmstrongRead
Often when religious leaders come together, they talk about a particular sexual ethic, or an abstruse doctrine, as though this, rather than compassion, was the test of spiritual life.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote critiques the tendency of religious leaders to prioritize doctrine over compassion in spiritual discussions.
Karen Armstrong highlights a fundamental issue within religious discourse where leaders focus on abstract principles and sexual ethics instead of emphasizing the importance of compassion as the true measure of spiritual life. This perspective suggests that genuine spirituality should prioritize empathy and kindness over rigid adherence to doctrine.
Themes
CompassionSpiritualityDoctrineReligionEthics
In practice
Example use cases
During a sermon, a pastor could use this quote to emphasize the importance of compassion in their teachings.
More from Karen Armstrong
All quotes βYet a personal God can become a grave liability. He can be a mere idol carved in our own image, a projection of our limited needs, fears and desires. We can assume that he loves what we love and hates what we hate, endorsing our prejudices instead of compelling us to transcend them.
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When violence becomes imbedded in a region, then this affects everything. It affects your dreams, your fantasies and relationships, and your religion becomes violent, too.
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Far from being the father of jihad, [Prophet] Mohammad was a peacemaker, who risked his life and nearly lost the loyalty of his closest companions because he was determined to effect a reconciliation with Mecca
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Yes, all fundamentalists feel that in a secular society, God has been relegated to the margin, to the periphery and they are all in different ways seeking to drag him out of that peripheral position, back to center stage.
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Religion is a search for transcendence. But transcendence isn't necessarily sited in an external god, which can be a very unspiritual, unreligious concept.
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