Faith And Diplomacy

Improved Essays
Decisions we make today shape the world we will see tomorrow. That’s why making ethical decisions is extremely important to make the world a better place to live. In his essay “Ethics and the New Genetics,” philosopher Tenzin Gyatso, the spiritual leader of the Central Tibetan Administration and the fourteenth Dalai Lama, asserts that our power is inextricably entwined with our moral responsibility. In her essay “Faith and Diplomacy,” Madeleine Albright, a professor at Georgetown University and former U.S Secretary of State, argues that religion is a force that can be used in international communications. Both essays emphasize the importance of making ethical decisions. While religious faith may certainly help in making ethical decisions related …show more content…
Former U.S Secretary of State Madeline Albright suspected this and proposed a brilliant idea of “Harnessing unifying potential of faith, while containing the capacity to divide” (35) in her essay Faith and Diplomacy. She argued that diplomats should develop a clear understanding of where and when global conflicts are caused by religion and use that knowledge to ease the disagreements among members of global community. This understanding can significantly improve the way countries communicate with each other, since the root of any religious faith is the “moral compass,” the 14th Dalai Lama was referring to. Moral compass is an intrinsic guideline that serves as a basis of ethical reasoning. Even though people might be sharing different religious perspectives, the core values that any religion advocates are the same - they are justice, humility and kinship. And theses values play a significant role in facing international and technological …show more content…
The beauty of “moral compass”, explored by Tenzin Gyatso, is that it does not depend on religious faith. The core values that operate as a foundation of moral compass are taught by our significant others since the first days of our life. They include such rules as: do not lie, do not harm, help others in need and etc. and serve as a foundation of ethical reasoning. Even though religious faith has the power to unite, it also has the power to divide. In many cases people having one religious perspective may unknowingly act prejudicial to those who have different perspective. This may be due the fact that many major religions promote doctrines that assert that it is the sole true religion. As Dalai Lama states: “We need a moral compass we can use without getting bogged down by doctrinal differences.” (139) He acknowledges that differences in religious perspectives can slow down ethical response to challenges or even completely impede it. That’s why being free of religious faith has its advantages. Firstly, it eliminates prejudgment based solely on beliefs. Moreover, it allows focusing on compassion and empathy in communication. European migration in 2015 is a great example of this phenomenon. European countries are providing shelter to hundreds of thousand of refugees from Middle East, Africa and South-Central Asia. Primary reason for migration is Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), which is the extremist

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