XML FeedsWith Launch of Charter for Compassion, Karen Armstrong’s Wish Comes True
Delinda C. Hanley
“I wish that you would help with the creation, launch and propagation of a Charter for Compassion, crafted by a group of leading inspirational thinkers from the three Abrahamic traditions of Judaism, Christianity and Islam and based on the fundamental principles of universal justice and respect.” —Karen Armstrong, Feb. 28, 2008
WHEN RELIGIOUS scholar Karen Armstrong won the TED Prize in 2008 and made her wish, “it took our breath away with its simplicity and power,” Chris Anderson told the crowd assembled to watch the global launch of the “Charter for Compassion” on Nov. 12, 2009 at the National Press Club in Washington, DC. Anderson is curator for Technology, Entertainment, Design (TED), a non-profit organization “devoted to ideas worth spreading.” Since 1984 TED’s two annual conferences (one held in Long Beach, the other in Oxford) bring together 50 thinkers and doers like Armstrong, who are challenged to give the talk of their lives in 18 minutes to an international audience. The TED prize is awarded annually to the three speakers with the best ideas. It includes $100,000 and also grants the winner “One Wish to Change the World.”
The wish made by Armstrong, a former Roman Catholic nun who has authored more than 20 books on the role of religion in the modern world, including many on Islam, could truly change the world.
