Projects
Commitment to the Common Home and the Ethics of Care
LusoGlobe Research in Charge
LusoGlobe Research in Charge: José Brissos-Lino and Paulo Mendes Pinto
Start
01 January 2017End
01 January 2019Abstract
On June 15, 2017, the debate and signing session of the Commitment for the Common Home and the Ethics of Care took place in Vilanova de Gaia, seeking to address the question of "How religions "reconnect" to ecology and the human. Attentive to the world around us, it is urgent to define and foster a pragmatic path with regard to the so-called dialogue between and with religions. It will be difficult to overcome the situation of the last decades in which the path of the lowest common denominator, theological and anthropological, did not give great results, leading only to a level where "political correctness" prevailed, guided by events centered on some exoticism and the mediatization of the leaderships. For the common citizen of a secularized society, where secularization marks daily life and the way of seeing and experiencing the world, it is important to extend the dialogue between and with religions to the level and reality that concerns them, that asks for their commitment, where it has a place for dialogue; that is, to citizenship and to the problems that concern the whole of society and ask everyone to respond to. Far from the dialogue with religions being doomed to a growing bankruptcy in a secularized society, today we have the opportunity to recreate very strong bonds in communities through, not a lowest common denominator, seeking what unites theologies, but through something much broader and consensual, ecology. The starting point is the idea of Creation, of a creative moment of all reality that, depending on the specificities of each movement or tradition, deserves the commitment of respect on the part of all. It is in looking at the first moment, at the duty to respect the creative act and what resulted from it, that we no longer have the lowest common denominator, but a very broad consensus of values that go far beyond the confessions themselves. We can even say that at this level of an ecology, there are all those who defend respect for the Common Home, whether religious or not. The so-called address that welcomes us all is, after all, what unites us as citizens. Acima de tudo, como membros de um ecossistema que não é apenas do verde ou do animal, mas é dos equilíbrios a que, sem a marca do religioso, podemos designar como espirituais. A Casa Comum não é apenas as florestas ou os oceanos, não se defende simplesmente com o combate à poluição ou a defesa das espécies em vias de extinção. Não, a Casa Comum defende-se, logo em primeiro lugar, com uma Ética do Cuidado, da atenção, do respeito, não pelo outro indefeso, mas por nós mesmos, naquilo que precisamos de dignidade e de justiça enquanto equilíbrio.
Researchers
- Paulo Mendes Pinto
- José Brissos-Lino
- Joaquim Franco
- Mariana Vital
- Alexandre Honrado
Associated Missions
Câmara Municipal de Vila Nova de Gaia
Outputs
Under the impulse of the municipality of Vila Nova de Gaia, and with the scientific framework of the area of Science of Religions and the Observatory for Religious Freedom, on June 15, 2017, a historic moment took place in which a large group of religious leaders signed, within the scope of the International Forum – Gaia: A whole world, the following document that, from now on, is available to all those who want to sign it, committing to act according to the values expressed therein:
Commitment to the Common Home and the Ethics of Care
While it is true that traditional influences shape our gaze and consequently the way we live, there is a fundamental connection between what we do and what it does to the Planet, that is, to the "house that is common" which, far from being any property or resource of anyone, is above all the condition of possibility of existing, to live and learn to care. Thus, and given the fundamental interdependence of Life, there is a need for a cultural revolution, which transforms man – old, inattentive and pretentious – into an ecological subject who understands and experiences ethos as a global "dwelling". We commit to doing everything to reverse these predatory practices, promoting an ecological understanding associated with ethical values. Since it is imperative and urgent to cultivate the sense of fraternal wisdom and conscious compassion, we involve ourselves in overcoming reductive attachments that produce selfish practices. We assume the will, before ourselves and the entire collective, to join our voices so that EACH and ALL, personally or institutionally, cooperate for peace rooted in compassion for all planetary life, so that an efficient ecological program is established, full of fraternal impulse and truly integral sustainability.