On the campus of the country’s premier scientific university, the world’s best-known Buddhist leader Thursday called on educators to teach ethics and compassion without a basis in religious belief.
Hundreds gathered at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology as the Dalai Lama, speaking from the seated, cross-legged position of a sage, officially opened MIT’s Dalai Lama Center for Ethics and Transformative Values.
“The majority of the 6 billion people on earth, I think, we can categorize as non-believers,” the Dalai Lama said. “So we must find a way to promote ethics and values with these nonbelievers.”
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I think that this is a great idea. I have long held the opinion thatin our modern society where religion has steadily been on the decline we have nowhere to learn and discuss moral ethics. I’m an atheist myself but have always read religious and philisophical books for guidence. What I have learned from these books(although I don’t always agree with everthing) has taught me lessons just as valuble as anything I’ve ever learned from math and science books. Perhaps more so.