Initiative Global Ethos Austria | Initiative Weltethos Österreich

Common ethical grounds of all religions for a peaceful living together

Initiators
The non-profit association „Initiative Weltethos Österreich“ was founded by Prof. Mag.a Edith Riether in 2005.

Occasion
Global Ethos Austria originates with the Global Ethic project of the Catholic theologian Hans Küng. The project attempts to transform the basic ethical attitudes common to all religions for a peaceful coexistence into a concise set of rules and to establish basic requirements.

Global Ethic has developed from interreligious dialogue, but not exclusively. Hans Küng had conducted basic research and had found a striking consensus on the most important ethical principles in the world religions. He coined the phenomenon Global Ethic, later Global Ethos. Taking up this idea, the Parliament of World Religions commissioned Küng to prepare a draft declaration on global ethics which was adopted September 4, 1993 in Chicago, in the presence of 7,000 people after 200 religious leaders had signed it.

The Global Ethic Foundation´s headquarters are located in Tübingen, Germany. In addition to Austria, Global Ethic initiatives and foundations have been established in other countries, pursuing and developing the objectives and ideas of the Global Ethic Project.

Target Groups
According to the IWEO, target groups include all public and private educational institutions, social, religious and non-religious institutions, political bodies and parties, interest groups, media, public and private ventures, opinion leaders and multipliers from all levels of Austrian society.

Objectives
“Weltethos Österreich” considers itself a peace initiative that has set out to spread the Global Ethic idea. The initiative states as its goal the formation of an ethical consciousness and penetration of all areas of life with the ethical principles of the "Declaration on Global Ethics", common to all religious as well as non-religious traditions. Its principles: Treat every human being humanely. Treat others as you would like to be treated (the Golden Rule of Reciprocity). Have respect for life. Act justly and fairly. Speak and act truthfully. Respect and love one another.

Although interreligious dialogue is not the central goal of the association ‒ the focus is on the dissemination of the Global Ethic idea and ethical awareness ‒ the activities of the association offer opportunities for exchange to people with different cultural and religious backgrounds.

Topics
Topics include the introduction of ethics classes in schools, Global Ethos as basis for the curriculum, further development of the “Declaration towards a Global Ethic” and the peaceful living together of people of all religions and world views.

Duration
The initiative “Weltethos Österreich” has been founded as a non-profit association in April 2005.

Activities

  • Lectures and workshops in educational institutions
  • Lecture series at the universities of Vienna as well as a publication series on the lectures (IWEO publications at LIT-Verlag)
  • Traveling exhibition "World Religions ‒ World Peace ‒ World Ethics" at approximately 30 Austrian schools and at various educational institutions
  • Poster campaign in cooperation with the Ministry of Education on the Golden Rule in the world religions, in all Austrian schools, with prizes for the winning posters (award-winning posters under Plakatwettbewerb – Initiative Weltethos Österreich)
  • Development of the preschool-project "Verschieden und doch gleich" (“different, yet equal”) including a corresponding handbook
  • Quarterly newsletter informing about forthcoming events and current projects, also including a short essay on an ethical problem
  • Dialogue Forum Ethic (Dialogforum Ethik), with representatives from all world religions – Hinduism, Buddhism, Judaism, Christianity, Bahaí´i and one representative each from atheism and political science
  • Under the aegis of Univ. Prof. DDr Johann Figl, scholar of religious science, statements on socio-political issues are drafted and published on a regular basis. Accessible online under Dialogforum Ethik – Initiative Weltethos Österreich.

Form of Organization
The “Initiative Weltethos Österreich” is a non-profit association. Prof. Mag.a Edith Riether has been President of the initiative since 2010.

The initiative cooperates with the Human and Global Development Research Institute (http://www.development-institute.org) and “Elternwerkstatt” (www.elternwerkstatt.at)

Funding
The initiative is funded by its members.

Products
Publication series on the themes of the lecture series as well as teaching and learning materials developed in the project „World Ethos in Kindergarten“ including:

  • „Weltethos und das Unbewusste“, edited by Elisabeth Vykoukal and Michael Noah Weiss (2014)
  • „Ethik und Ressourcenverknappung“, edited by Helga Kromp-Kolb and Thomas Gerersdorfer on behalf of the Initiative Weltethos Österreich (2013)
  • „Ethik in der Mensch-Tier-Beziehung“, edited by Edith Riether and Michael Noah Weiss on behalf of the Initiative Weltethos Österreich (2012)
  • „Weltethos und Bildung – User Generated Ethics“, edited by Michael Noah Weiss (2011)
  • Numerous contributions to the newsletters and position papers

A list of these and further publications can be retrieved on the website.

Website | Social Media | Contact
http://www.weltethos.at/
Video and podcast : Initiative Weltethos Österreich – Ethische Bewusstseinsbildung

Initiative Weltethos Österreich
Währinger Straße 33
A-1090 Wien

T: +43 676 499 60 38
F: +43 877 87 58
E-mail: initiative@weltethos.at

 

editor: gm / update: jb 2022