TED and Others to Unveil Charter for Compassion

TED India just ended, and the TED team is already off to the next exhilarating project. On November 12, 2009, TED and others will be unveiling the Charter for Compassion, a document about the core shared values and moral code of every world religion, the “Golden Rule.” The Charter is the result of 2008 TED Prize winner Karen Armstrong’s “wish” (if you haven’t read Armstrong’s latest book, The Case for God, I highly recommend it – even, or especially, if you consider yourself an atheist and usually side with Richard Dawkins et al).

More than 75 events are currently planned around the globe to launch the Charter for Compassion on November 12. Everyone can become a part of it by attending one of these events or hosting their own; by emailing, blogging, writing, broadcasting, or offering media space for Charter banners, widgets, and videos. TED says it hopes that in the week following the launch, “thousands of sermons on the nature of compassion will be preached all over the world ... thousands of discussions will be held around dinner tables ... thousands of ideas will be shared.” Because, at the end of the day, “compassion is the best idea humanity ever had.”

Tim Leberecht is the CMO of frog and the publisher of design mind.