This is very much a values-based conversation, which at its core, is for me about how people are treated in the ways that really matter. It is about honesty and forthrightness.
How Integrity is expressed in the world by individuals and organizations is deeply rooted in the values held that underlie those choices. Integrity here is very much based on real Christian and Islamic values – which most of the time is the antithesis of common conservative values.
There was nothing conservative about Christ; there was nothing conservative about Mohammad – both were clearly non-violent revolutionaries, urging people to work together and to give up the us-vs-them context so often prevalent when one’s own culture is viewed in microcosm.
The underlying doctrine of American democracy includes the principles that “all men are created equal” which 21st century morality has re-written as “all people are created equal”; and the principle of “the primacy of the individual”, which gives each individual the absolute right of self-determination within their own personal domain of life, over matters with little impact on others, little impact within the public domain of life.
We live in a world given by tremendous diversity within a web of unfathomably complex interrelationships. This fact is fundamental to the resilience of all creation. People and policies that fail to respect this simple fact, and which cause tangible harm to some while favoring others, have no place in a democracy designed to serve all constituencies. To be clear, high tax rates on the wealthy is not an example of “tangible harm”.
Integrity demands a complete acceptance of reality as a starting point. Belief does not constitute reality. Like or dislike does not impact what is real. The view of integrity expressed here considers fundamental principles of human rights as fundamental to reality, fundamental to choices consistent with Christian and Islamic perspectives. The United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights, adopted on 10 December 1948, is a good starting point for understanding human rights.
Demand Integrity from yourself and those who you deal with.
