This feature public event of the 2012 Jack P. Blaney Award for Dialogue included a lecture titled “What is Religion?”, the inaugural “State of the Charter for Compassion” global address and the public launch of the Greater Vancouver Compassion Network.

More than 730 audience members attended the event, along with an estimated virtual audience of 2,000. This included members of the 63 local book clubs that formed to read Karen Armstrong’s 12 Steps to a Compassionate Life in anticipation of the lecture.

The evening began with the public launch of the Greater Vancouver Compassion Network, part of an international movement to build compassionate communities, inspired in part by Armstrong’s Charter for Compassion. This speech by GVCN Chair Alisdair Smith is available here. 

In her feature lecture, What is Religion?, Karen Armstrong asked the audience to consider the fundamental nature of religion and how the common value of compassion unites almost all major world belief systems.

Armstrong’s inaugural State of the Charter for Compassion Global Address ended the evening by including stories from Pakistan, Jordan, Kentucky and Vancouver, as well as a global call to action with “Assignment Compassion.” The address also unveiled the redesigned Charter for Compassion website – the new hub for this growing movement of more than 80,000 members.

In partnership with TED Prize, Charter for Compassion and Greater Vancouver Compassion Network.