How many people each day are in one way or another abused, maimed, raped, robbed, imprisoned or killed outright in the name of religion? Even one is too many. What good is the Golden Rule if no one obeys it?

Ancient Egypt

(Possibly the earliest affirmation of the maxim of reciprocity) “Now this is the command: Do to the doer to make him do.” From “The Eloquent Peasant”

Ancient India

“Do not do to others what you know has hurt yourself” Kural 316

Ancient Greece

“Do not do to others that which angers you when they do it to you.” Isocrates

Ancient Persia

“That nature alone is good which refrains from doing to another whatsoever is not good for itself.” Pahlavi Texts of Zoroastrianism (c. 300 BC–1000 AD)

Ancient Rome

“Treat your inferior as you would wish your superior to treat you.” Seneca the Younger (c. 4 BC–65 AD)

Judaism

“You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against your kinsfolk. Love your neighbor as yourself: I am the LORD.” Leviticus 19:18

Christianity

“Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them: for this is the law and the prophets.” Matthew 7:12

Islam

“Pay, Oh Children of Adam, as you would love to be paid, and be just as you would love to have justice!” Qur’an 83:1-6

Hinduism

“If the entire Dharma can be said in a few words, then it is—that which is unfavorable to us, do not do that to others.” Padmapuraana, shrushti 19/357–358

Buddhism

“Comparing oneself to others in such terms as ‘Just as I am so are they, just as they are so am I,’ he should neither kill nor cause others to kill.” Sutta Nipata 705

Ya know what? The world would be OK with no religion and very few laws if we’d all just obey one rule: “Don’t be an asshole.”

AUTHORS NOTE: This is a piece from a larger post from sometime back. With all the nastiness in the world right now it just seemed appropriate to post it again. – ABB