Know that the same spark of life that is within you, is within all of our animal friends, the desire to live is the same within all of us…
The assumption that animals are without rights and the illusion that our treatment of them has no moral significance is a positively outrageous example of Western crudity and barbarity. Universal compassion is the only guarantee of morality.
Civilization is a stream with banks. The stream is sometimes filled with blood from people killing, stealing, shouting and doing things historians usually record, while on the banks, unnoticed, people build homes, make love, raise children, sing songs, write poetry … The story of civilization is what happened on the banks.
It is possible that the next Buddha will not take the form of an individual.
The next Buddha may take the form of a community, a community practicing
understanding and loving kindness, a community practicing mindful living.
– Thich Nhat Hanh
Ultimately, America’s answer to the intolerant man is diversity.
– Robert Kennedy
We must be the change we wish
to see in the world.
The world is getting too small for both an Us and a Them. Us and Them have
become co-dependent, intertwined, fixed to one another. We have no
separate fates, but are bound together in one. And our fear of
one another is the only thing capable of our undoing.
To deny people their human rights is to challenge their very humanity.
Religious and non-religious beliefs bring hope and consolation to billions of people across the globe, and hold great potential for peace and reconciliation. They have also, however, been the source of great tension and conflict. This complexity, and the difficulty of defining “religion” and “belief” inclusively, is illustrated by the continuing struggle to protect freedom of religion or belief in the context of international human rights.
