The Pope's speech to the German Parliament

[fpb]

http://www.mercatornet.com/articles/view/the_listening_heart
As ever, the man is worth listening to. But the responses in the comments thread just show how bloody useless it is to deliver intellectually distinguished and morally valuable speeches in a world where most people know no history but are stuffed full of out-of-context factoids and believe themselves entitled to judge.

Comments

Re: One

[ihuitl.livejournal.com]

Buddhists believed that no one should engage in the slave trade - their proscriptions were, and are universal. They also rejected the Indian caste system. Slavery came and went out of favor throughout China's long history, depending on the rulers involved.

That abolition during the middle ages extended only to non-Christians upon their conversion is better than nothing, and better than previous conditions, but is clearly not the same as later conceptions of rights, that exist for people regardless of their religious belief. Same for serfdom which was not abolished fully until the 19th century in some places, mainly due to economic and population pressures.