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+1.301.405.5218
ila@ila-net.org
1119 Taliaferro Hall
Univ. of Maryland
College Park, MD 20742
United States
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Karen Armstrong is one of the most
prolific thinkers on the role of religion in the modern
world. Armstrong is a former Roman Catholic nun who left
a British convent to pursue a degree in modern literature
at Oxford. She has written more than 20 books around the
ideas of what Islam, Judaism and Christianity have in common,
and around their effect on world events, including the magisterial
A History of God and Holy War: The Crusades and Their
Impact on Today’s World. Her latest book is The Case
for God. Her meditations on personal faith and religion
(she calls herself a freelance monotheist) spark discussion—especially her take on fundamentalism, which she sees
in a historical context, as an outgrowth of modern culture.
After a brief stint teaching
at the University of London, Armstrong began working on
television documentaries and her writing career. Now she
says her communion with God occurs in the library, where
she spends up to three years researching her books, which
are densely packed with detail. She has written more than
20 books about the impact of Islam, Judaism and Christianity
upon world affairs, including the magisterial A History
of God. Her books have been translated into 40 languages.
Armstrong took part in Bill Moyers’s television series Genesis,
and since September 11, 2001, she has been a frequent contributor
to panels, newspapers, periodicals, and throughout the media
on both sides of the Atlantic on the subject of Islam and
fundamentalism, becoming an advocate for multi-faith understanding.
In February 2008, Karen Armstrong won
the TED Prize and wished for help in creating, launching
and propagating the Charter for Compassion. The Charter
of Compassion is a cooperative effort to restore not only
compassionate thinking but, more importantly, compassionate
action to the center of religious, moral and political life.
Compassion is the principled determination to put ourselves
in the shoes of the other, and lies at the heart of all
religious and ethical systems. One of the most urgent tasks
of our generation is to build a global community where men
and women of all races, nations and ideologies can live
together in peace. In our globalized world, everybody has
become our neighbor, and the Golden Rule has become an urgent
necessity.
The Charter, crafted
by people all over the world and drafted by a multi-faith,
multi-national council of thinkers and leaders, seeks to
change the conversation so that compassion becomes a key
word in public and private discourse, making it clear that
any ideology that breeds hatred or contempt ~ be it religious
or secular ~ has failed the test of our time. It is not
simply a statement of principle; it is above all a summons
to creative, practical and sustained action to meet the
political, moral, religious, social and cultural problems
of our time.
Recent Work—In 2009, Karen was awarded the TED Prize for her work on the Charter for Compassion. Taken from the TED website: The TED prize is awarded annually to an exceptional individual who receives $100,000 and, much more important, “One Wish to Change the World.”
Learn More
About the Charter for Compassion
About the TED Prize awarded to Karen
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