crazyfingers

Hey All

I could really use some help on the history of the Golden Rule for a 9-11 memorial speech I plan to give where I will be representing atheists, agnostics, humanists, etc.. at an interfaith 9-11 memorial gathering.

See here for background
http://www.iidb.org/vbb/showthread.p...threadid=61594

Does anyone have quotes from the early usage of the Golden rule including the quotes?

Toto

The Golden Rule

Toto

More about the Golden Rule than anyone could possibly want to know

The most useful site for you is probably this:

ReligiousTolerance.org on the Golden Rule includes Humanist statements and Unitarians (and Scientology, although you might want to ignore that). It notes that the Satanists and the (White Racist) World Church of the Creator do not advocate the Golden Rule, and it doesn't seem to find any Native American spirituality counterpart. It also includes examples of cases where the golden rule would not be a good guide.

Clarice O'C

Hi,

I think that the Golden Rule originated with Hammurabi's Code. See:

"Archaeologists and anthropologists have uncovered proof that early civilizations produced numerous codes of ethics predating those of modern religions. The Code of Hammurabi, which was discovered in Persia in 1901, predates by hundreds of years the oldest known code at that time, the Book of the Covenant of the Old Testament. Hammurabi ascended the Babylonian throne around 2250 BCE, and, showing a conciliatory attitude to the numerous gods worshipped by his subjects in various states under his control, described himself in the code's prologue as "of the seed royal which Sin begat", referring to the moon-god Sin, the creator-god of that time and region. But it was the Sun-god, Shamash, whose figure was carved into the stone and from whom King Hammurabi said he received the law codes which administered a uniform justice throughout his realm. His proclaimed goal of justice and a noteworthy consideration for the rights of women throughout Hammurabi's Code sets it apart from the later Hebrew codes upon which Judaism and Christianity were founded."
http://www.atheistalliance.org/outre...1999_fall.html

Best,
Clarice

Bede

Clarice,

You can read the code here. While it is not all bad, it is hardly a model of liberalism and I would not say it is anymore noteworthy of the rights of women than the mosaic code. Justice depends entirely on what social class you are and women are effectively bought and sold (assuming this translation is fair).

Yours

Bede

Bede's Library - faith and reason

Clarice O'C

Well, P.S., maybe not. There is an older code of King Ur-Nammu's. I'm going to look around and see if I can find text of Hammurabi and Ur-Nammu.

"In 1952 an even older law code was discovered in Mesopatamia. King Ur-Nammu, who lived 300 years before Hammurabi, enacted social reforms to protect orphans, widows and the poor into his code, stressing restitution to the victim as much as punishment for the perpetrator. The remarkable similarities of the Ur-Nammu and Hammarabi codes to the style and legislation incorporated in the much more recent Hebrew code shows without question that the biblical code was appropriated from the earlier ones and was no more inspired by gods than those were. This is indisputable proof that human beings considered ethics and family values of importance long before religionists started telling us how much we lack them. It is self-serving theists who are responsible for the stereotype that family values are practiced only by those of religious belief. How better to discourage a wavering believer than to paint all nonbelievers with the label of immorality?"
http://www.atheistalliance.org/outr...-1999_fall.html

Best,
Clarice

Clarice O'C

Thanks, Bede. I checked around for King Ur-Nammu and learned that there is a fragment somewhere, but where?

I copied the following from a Christian site but I've lost the link:

"There are six generally accepted early legal codes that are used as comparisons to the Mosaic laws. These are (1) the Ur-nammu code, c. 2050 B.C. from the Third Dynasty of Ur; (2) the code of Bilalama, c. 1925 B.C. from Eshnunna; (3) the code of Lipit-Ishtar, c. 1860 B.C. from Isin; (4) the code of Harmmurabi, c. 1700 B.C. from Babylon; (5) the Hittite code, c. 1450 B.C. from Boghazkoi; and (6) the Assyrian code, c. 1350 B.C. from Assur.4 All have been translated into English, yet none has been found in its entirety but in fragments, so some of the comparisons can not be absolutely accurate. But even a surface investigation of available ANE legal codes yields contrasts to the civil laws that Moses mediated."

Best,
Clarice

Toto

That seems to be a quote from here:

http://www.xenos.org/ministries/cros...4/torahlaw.htm

The author appears to be straining to find differences:

Bill

My wife has collected a bunch of them HERE. Hope those help you some!

== Bill

Amlodhi

THE GOLDEN RULE:

Those that have the gold make the rules.