THE CHICAGO DECLARATION

TOWARDS A GLOBAL ETHIC:

A COMMENT

Five hundred years ago, the movement of European colonization of the non-European world began the process of unification and modernization of the entire world. Now towards its end, as the independent modern nations are going through the end-phase of that process -- now known as globalization -- it is appropriate that humanity thinks of bringing about a universalist code of conduct, a universalist ethic, to regulate the behavior of one big human family as we step into the Twenty First Century and the Third Millennium. In this sense, the Chicago Declaration is to be welcome.

Such a code of conduct, naturally, should draw its inspiration and be based on the fundamental and universalist teachings of the great world religions and moral systems. This has been pointed out in the Declaration. The core of these spiritual and moral teachings is the belief in the existence of One Supreme Power upholding Love, Beneficence, Goodness, Harmony, Truth and Justice in man’s affairs and throughout the Universe. Only this can be the source of a universalist ethic. It is from this source that we derive the principles of universal obedience to this power and of equality of all mankind. Religion, color, race and nationality do not distinguish mankind. Mankind differs only in the degree of its obedience and in its service to God, this power of Love, Beneficence and Goodness. It is unfortunate that this first point is missing in the Declaration. It should be included.

As the Declaration states, mankind is going through a great crisis. This crisis covers all spectra of life: economic, political, ideological and philosophical. However, the Declaration has shied away from making a concrete analysis of its causes. This is a weakness of the Document. It should be rectified.

The crisis is not due to any inherent weakness of Man. It is stated in the Muslim scripture that God has created man in the best of moulds. The crisis arises from man’s disobedience to the universal laws created by this Universal Power. A group of men in all periods of history, always a very small minority in any society, better called the oligarchy, acting in defiance of God’s laws to serve its selfish interests, influences the majority to follow them. This creates the crisis. Throughout history, without exception, such crises bring about the end of a system, or of a regime, and a new system or regime comes into being. The cave men’s system gave way to the tribal nomadic system, to the agricultural feudal system and so on to the present industrial system. The centrally-panned communist industrial system has vanished before our eyes. The capitalist industrial system is fast collapsing. A new universal system is arising. To guide and regulate this system, a universal ethic is perhaps necessary.

To break the some-time meaningless cycles of rise and fall of one evil regime or system to be replaced by another equally evil regime or system, the masses must be aware of and commitment to truth. It is a strong point of this Declaration that it mentions this. This is the basic guarantee for continuous human progress, because progress can only be made on the basis of our adherence to the laws of truth. This is a question of science and the study of the universal laws of truth.

A universal ethic does not mean one law and one culture for every country and nation. The desire of any superpower to impose its laws and its way of life on others is nothing but racism and imperialism. A universal ethic is not contrary to multiplicity of laws and cultures. In fact, multiplicity of laws and cultures can exist side by side with a universal ethic. This is due to the fact that each people and nation has its own peculiar history which shapes its laws and culture. It is not just a question of one nation tolerating another. It is a basic question of respect of one individual for another and of one nation for another.

The creation of a just economic order, which the Declaration mentions as one of its principles, is very important. It is only in such an economic environment that each individual, family and nation can live in dignity and freedom and at the same time progress and advance. The present existence of widespread starvation, poverty and diseases in the world is precisely due to the existence of an oppressive economic system that has for long been imposed on the peoples by the international oliogarchy and its national allies.

Much as we like to live in peace, peace has always had to be snatched from the jaws of war-like tyrants. As long as tyrants, in the form of individuals or groups, exist, wars cannot be avoided. Indeed, it is the right and duty of individuals and nations to resist tyranny and oppression. True peace can only be had when oppression ceases. It is wrong and unpractical to stipulate, as this Document does, the principle of non-violence. What must be stipulated is the right of peoples to resist tyranny and injustice.

Human progress depends on science and technology. There is a reactionary trend of thinking blaming science and technology for the evils of the 20th Century. This is a fallacious view. Without wanting to be drawn into controversy about the link between the subjective and the objective in epistemology, science and technology is both a knowledge and a technique to bring nature and the universe to man’s purpose. There is no contradiction between religion and science or between religion and philosophy. Of course, in the European Middle Ages, the two has warred one against the other. But the present trend is for the two to synchronize with one another. The Declaration has not mentioned science and technology as an important component of human life now and in the future. This is a weakness that must be corrected. A truly universal ethic should by right accommodate a culture of science and technology.

The last point I wish to raise is the influence of the post-industrial ideology of environmentalism in this Document. The Muslim scripture tells us that the whole universe has been created to serve mankind: the sun, the winds, the rivers, the mountains, the seas -- in fact every created thing. To build a civilization, we must cut down forests and "destroy" some parts of the natural environment to build cities, towns, factories, universities and parliaments. This cannot be avoided. As a matter of course, we must try to build with a taste for aesthetics. This is a matter of planning, but to make an ideology of not "destroying" the environment is to carry the matter to a ridiculous end. In the end, it only serves the purposes of the neo-colonial oligarchy which conspires to stop the development of the Third World and the progress of mankind.

(End)