Don’t let wealth or status bias you.

 

250. Don’t let wealth or status bias you: We should not let someone’s wealth or someone’s lack of wealth effect our judgment in anyway, but treat all persons respectfully and equally, regardless of their social position in this life.  Judaism: Leviticus 19:15 “Ye shall do no unrighteousness in judgment: thou shalt not respect the person of the poor, nor honour the person of the mighty: but in righteousness shalt thou judge thy neighbour.” Deuteronomy 1:16 “And I charged your judges at that time, saying, Hear the causes between your brethren, and judge righteously between every man and his brother, and the stranger that is with him.” Deuteronomy 1:17 “Ye shall not respect persons in judgment; but ye shall hear the small as well as the great; ye shall not be afraid of the face of man; for the judgment is God‘s: and the cause that is too hard for you, bring it unto me, and I will hear it.”  Christianity: James 2:1 “My brethren, have not the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, with respect of persons.” James 2:2 “For if there come unto your assembly a man with a gold ring, in goodly apparel, and there come in also a poor man in vile raiment;” James 2:3 “And ye have respect to him that weareth the gay clothing, and say unto him, Sit thou here in a good place; and say to the poor, Stand thou there, or sit here under my footstool:” James 2:4 “Are ye not then partial in yourselves, and are become judges of evil thoughts?” James 2:5 “Hearken, my beloved brethren, Hath not God chosen the poor of this world rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom which he hath promised to them that love him?” James 2:6 “But ye have despised the poor. Do not rich men oppress you, and draw you before the judgment seats?” James 2:7 “Do not they blaspheme that worthy name by the which ye are called?”

ISLAM: Letter 50. “My duty towards you is that, except the secrets of war, I do not keep anything pertaining to the affairs of the State hidden from you. Barring religious questions in all other matters concerning your welfare, I should take you in my confidence and seek your advice, I should guard your interests and rights to the best of my ability, I should see that you are well-protected and well-looked after and I should treat all of you equally without any favouritism.”

(Islam, Ali b. Abi Taalib, Letters from Nahjul Balaagh)

Islam: 30. “Set thou thy face steadily and truly to the Faith: (Establish) Allah’s (God‘s) handiwork according to the pattern on which He has made mankind: 25. (‘We have made (all) men equal.’) ‘no change (let there be) in the work (wrought) by Allah: that is the standard Religion: but most among mankind understand not.”

(The Qur’an (Yusuf Ali tr), Surahs  22 and 30)

ZOROASTRIANISM: 1. “According as it is with the laws that belong to the present life, so shall the Judge act with most just deed towards the man of the Lie and the man of the Right, and him whose false things and good things balance (in equal measure).”

(Zoroaster, The Zend-Avesta, Avesta – Yasna 33)

Zoroastrianism: Denkard. Zoroaster, “There should be more longing for these three precepts than for the entire Avesta and Zand: One (is) not to connive at a sinner in regard to (his) sins; one, not to elevate a man of wicked judgment on account of power and wealth and one, to seek a reward for an act of merit from the spiritual and not from the materiel existences.”

Zoroastrianism: “No one should make a distinction between himself and another person. All men should be treated as equals. No one should claim for himself an exception.”  (ZOROASTER, Hymns of Atharvan p. 634)

HINDUISM: “Whereto the clod, the rock, the glistering gold Show all as one. By this sign is he known Being of equal grace to comrades, friends, Chance-comers, strangers, lovers, enemies, Aliens and kinsmen; loving all alike, Evil or good.”

(Hindu, Bhagavad Gita (Edwin Arnold tr) chapter 6)

Hinduism: “He unto whom- self-centered- grief and joy Sound as one word; to whose deep-seeing eyes The clod, the marble, and the gold are one; Whose equal heart holds the same gentleness For lovely and unlovely things, firm-set, Well-pleased in praise and dispraise; satisfied With honour or dishonour; unto friends And unto foes alike in tolerance.”

(Hindu, Bhagavad Gita (Edwin Arnold tr) chapter 14)

BUDDHISM: 5. “One way leads to acquisition, the other leads to nirvana. Realizing this a monk, as a disciple of the Buddha, should take no pleasure in the respect of others” in either case.

(Buddhist, Dhammapada – Sayings of the Buddha 1 (tr. J. Richards))

Buddhism: “We constantly seek to realize our Mind-essence with wisdom; that we refrain from all evil; that we do all kinds of good acts with no attachment to the fruit of such action; and that we are respectful toward our superiors, considerate of our inferiors, and sympathetic for the destitute and those in trouble.” (Buddha, Sixth Patriarch)

Buddhism: “Forget all discriminations: see no distinction between a sage and an ordinary man.” (Buddha, Sixth Patriarch)

SABEANISM: “May the gate of sin be barred to them and the gate of light be open for them. May they be knit together in the communion of Life in which there is no separation of Life.” No privilege and special favors. “Display kindness, show compassion, be giving of that which you have.” (Sabeanism, Ginza Rba- chapters 34 and 74)

BABI RELIGION: “If a young man could, in only six years of ministry, by the sincerity of his purpose and the attraction of his personality, so inspire rich and poor, cultured and illiterate, alike, with belief in himself and his doctrines that they would remain staunch though hunted down and without trial sentenced to death, sawn asunder, strangled, shot, blown from guns; and if men of high position and culture in Persia, Turkey and Egypt in numbers to this day adhere to his doctrines, his life must be one of those events in the last hundred years which is really worth study.”

The Bab: (Shoghi Effendi, The Dawn-Breakers)

BAHA’I FAITH: “They who are possessed of riches, however, must have the utmost regard for the poor, for great is the honor destined by God for those poor who are steadfast in patience. By My life! There is no honor, except what God may please to bestow, that can compare to this honor. Great is the blessedness awaiting the poor that endure patiently and conceal their sufferings, and well is it with the rich who bestow their riches on the needy and prefer them before themselves.”

(Bahá’í Faith, Baha’u’llah, Gleanings from the Writings of Baha’u’llah, p. 201)

Baha’i Faith: “Be generous in prosperity, and thankful in adversity. Be worthy of the trust of thy neighbor, and look upon him with a bright and friendly face. Be a treasure to the poor, an admonisher to the rich, an answerer of the cry of the needy, a preserver of the sanctity of thy pledge. Be fair in thy judgment, and guarded in thy speech. Be unjust to no man.”

(Bahá’í Faith, Baha’u’llah, Gleanings from the Writings of Baha’u’llah, p. 284)

Baha’i Faith: “The poor could find a refuge and the rich be welcomed on equal terms.”

(Bahá’í Faith, Ruhiyyih Khanum, The Priceless Pearl, p. 332)