10.1 Religious ethics  (Page 3/3)

Some philosophers' statements:

• Epictetus : "What you would avoid suffering yourself, seek not to impose on others." (circa 100 CE)
• Plato : "May I do to others as I would that they should do unto me." (Greece; 4th century BCE)
• Seneca : "Treat your inferiors as you would be treated by your superiors," Epistle 47:11 (Rome; 1st century CE)
• Socrates : "Do not do to others that which would anger you if others did it to you." (Greece; 5th century BCE)

In Southern Africa, our expression of this ancient rule lies in the concept of "Ubuntu". Ubuntu comes from an ancient African saying that "people are people because of other people". It is an expression of shared human–ness that is religious in the sense that it places the individual person with in a wider, meaningful community. But it is also religiously neutral: people from any religion can embrace the spirit of ubuntu.

Compassion

The word compassion means "to suffer with." Having compassion means that you can feel the pain of others. In Christianity, Judaism, and Islam, showing compassion to others is how believers imitate the infinite kindness and mercy that God shows to them.

In the monotheistic religions, there is an important difference between the capacity that humans have for compassion and kindness and God's capacity for the same virtues, in the sense that God's capacity is limitless. Believers should nevertheless strive to nurture these abilities, even when doing so is hard, because it brings them closer to God.

In both Hinduism and Buddhism the ability to understand and identify with the suffering is regarded as one of the central virtues.

Humility

In the monotheistic religions, Judaism, Christianity and Islam, humility is a sign of respect for God and shows awareness of the fact that all blessings flow from God and that He deserves our gratitude.

In Judaism, Moses is considered virtuous primarily because of his humility. In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus implies that, in contrast to the secular world, God honours those who have been disregarded and ignored in the world: " Happy are those who are humble; they will receive what God has promised. "

In Islam, the religion of submission, humility is a primary virtue. Muslims demonstrate their awareness of the greatness of God and of the weakness of humanity, by observing the Five Pillars of their faith

Hope

In the world's religions, hope is made possible by human limitations. Because human knowledge and understanding are incomplete, people don't know what the future holds. This inability to read the future causes people to fear it. Hope reduces this fear. In religion, hope is closely linked with what comes after death.

In Judaism, the hope is life or some form of existence after death. That belief in the world to come, sustains the believer with the knowledge that death is not the end and helps people believe that no burden is too great to bear.

For Christians, the hope that sustains them is the hope for the speedy second coming of Jesus as the Christ and eternal life in Heaven. This hope sustains Christians through what they often perceive to be the immorality of the earthly kingdom.

In Islam hope is the understanding that Allah knows all; what happens, happens for a reason, and the faithful will be rewarded in paradise and the irreligious punished in hell.

Of course, the monotheistic faiths are not the only ones that consider hope a virtue. In Buddhism, hope springs from the idea that any person can attain enlightenment. According to Buddhism, the vitally important goal of Enlightenment is attainable in this life.