Dear Friends and Fellow World Citizens Greetings of peace, light and blessing to all of you from Africa . It is indeed my great pleasure and honor to send you this message on the occasion of the Golden Rule Day. Today, April the 5Th the Golden Rule Day is celebrated in different part of the world including at the United Nations in New York I take this opportunity to acknowledge the outstanding work you all are doing to make this world of ours a better place for all by actively working in promoting the Golden Rule teaching on this day as the Golden Rule Day harmonizes our collective efforts to build a better future for this generation and generation yet to come We are living in an era where we are more connected to one another closely than at any previous time in history. In this interdependent world unless we learn to implement the Golden Rule globally, we will not be able to live together in peace and harmony as the Golden Rule is a path way to promote interfaith harmony, coexistence, cooperation, trust, right human relationship and a culture of peace. The Golden Rule is well suited to be a standard to which different cultures in our world could appeal in resolving conflicts. As our world becomes more and more a single interacting global community, the need for such a common standard is becoming more urgent. Therefore it is a high time for us as citizen of the world to bring together more than ever our collective effort to remind the world that while all faiths are not the same, they all share the core principle of the Golden Rule and Compassion. As the Golden Rule is the common denominator we need to find ways of making the Golden Rule a vibrant force in our thinking behavior, and acting locally,
nationally, regionally and internationally. As Karen Armstrong, a noted scholar's on comparative religions,said “Today we also need to interpret the Golden Rule globally, creating a climate of opinion where it becomes absolutely unacceptable to treat other peoples, other races, other nations, other faiths as we would not wish to be treated ourselves. If we do not achieve this, we are unlikely to have a viable world to hand on to the next generation. We need urgently to make the compassionate voice of religion and of all morality sing out loud and clear in our dangerously polarized world in order to challenge the voices of hatred, exclusion, chauvinism and extremism. The creation of Golden Rule Day is a major contribution to this imperative. “ It is also with this in mind that in 2007 Interfaith Peace-building Initiative (URI CC in Ethiopia) declared April 5 as "Golden Rule Day" and called upon all citizens of the world, political leaders, religious leaders of the world, and the United Nations, to join IPI in proclaiming this day as Golden Rule Day and to live accordingly to make this world a better place for all and the coming generation. Now this become a reality For a culture of peace, healing, reconciliation, and justice to prevail on Earth, I believe it is high time to promote the Golden Rule throughout the world and thank you for joining us today in organizing the Golden Rule Day in your respective communities and countries. It is with this core principle that I appeal to each and every one of you to promote it and make it a guiding principle in our daily life and activities to create a better world for all living beings and Mother Earth and join us to celebrate the Golden Rule Day and also to join hand with Karen Armstrong with her project on The Charter for Compassion which is the answer to most problem of our world. Together we can bring the positive Change and re write the history of the world May Peace and the Golden Rule Prevail on Earth In Peace Mussie Hailu Regional Director of URI for Africa & Board Chairman of Interfaith Peace-building Initiative URI CC in Ethiopia
