31
GLOBAL VALUES
IN RELIGIOUS ORGANISATIONS
Katherine Marshall, United States of America
31.1 Values with or without Religions?
Three common (but also contested) assertions are offered in answer
to a question that surrounds many contemporary debates about global
values: does religion have to do with the matter? First: some argue, the
source and essence of ethical norms can be found in religious revelations
and teachings. Second: virtually all religious traditions at their core
teach a similar set of values. And third: however complex the teachings
are, at their center they offer a similar prescription that can be distilled
as: “do unto others as you would have them do unto you”, often called
the Golden Rule.
Broadly, the assertion that all notions of values and norms have their
origin in religious traditions is correct, insofar as, historically, religious
institutions were a pervasive feature of communities and civilizations.
The notion of distinguishing the religious from the non-religious is quite
modern and even today in many societies it is sharply contested. Even
supremely secular formulations of ethical principles have often emerged
in reaction to a religious tradition or teaching. Accounts of the debates
that surrounded the drafting of the Universal Declaration of Human