Stabilizing the euro is one thing, healing the culture that surrounds it is another. A world in which material values are everything and spiritual values nothing is neither a stable state nor a good society. The time has come for us to recover the Judeo-Christian ethic of human dignity in the image of God.
I see in the rising crescendo of ethnic tensions, civilization clashes and the use of religious justification for acts of terror, a clear and present danger to humanity.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote highlights the urgent threat posed by rising ethnic tensions and religiously justified violence to the well-being of humanity.
Jonathan Sacks emphasizes the dangers that arise from escalating ethnic conflicts and the misuse of religion to justify acts of terrorism. He views these issues as significant threats not only to societal harmony but to the very existence of civilization itself. By framing these tensions as a 'clear and present danger', Sacks calls for urgent attention and action to address these critical issues that could undermine humanity's future.
Themes
In practice
Example use cases
During a speech on peace, one might say, 'As Jonathan Sacks points out, we face rising ethnic tensions that threaten our civilization.'
More from Jonathan Sacks
All quotes βGovernments cannot make marriages or turn feckless individuals into responsible citizens. That needs another kind of change agent.
Jews read the books of Moses not just as history but as divine command. The question to which they are an answer is not, 'What happened?' but rather, 'How then shall I live?' And it's only with the exodus that the life of the commands really begins.
Why did God create mankind? Because God likes stories.
Find people not to envy but to admire. Do not the profitable but the admirable deed. Live by ideals.
Some years ago there was a study to discover the most stressful occupation. It turned out not to be the head of a large business, football manager or prime minister, but rather: bus driver.
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God preordained, for his own glory and the display of His attributes of mercy and justice, a part of the human race, without any merit of their own, to eternal salvation, and another part, in just punishment of their sin, to eternal damnation.
The gods conceal from men the happiness of death, that they may endure life.
Compassion alone stands apart from the continuous traffic between good and evil proceeding within us.
I'm too busy acting like I'm not Naive. I've seen it all, I was here first.
To be perfectly just is an attribute of the divine nature; to be so to the utmost of our abilities, is the glory of man.