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WORLD MORALS EDITION XXI

World Morals — a shared human inquiry

An interactive atlas of moral teachings across the world's religious and secular traditions — from ancient scriptures to modern ethics.

Explore the teachingsHow to read the evidence

Comparative atlas · Original English corpus · Evidence before conclusions

A mapping is not a verified quotation. Workbook labels are preserved. An absent mapping does not mean rejection. We do not rank the moral worth of any system.
A glass globe connects manuscripts in a circular hall for studying world moral traditions — conceptual artwork
AI-generated conceptual artwork; not an application screenshot.
Moral teachings
610
Religious systems
52
Nonreligious systems
41
Source evidence rows
10620

Many traditions. One invitation to understand.

Find a teaching, follow its source anchors, and explore common ground without erasing differences. Every number describes only the systems represented in this edition.

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610 teachings found · Edition XXI

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M376 · Interdependence and Global Responsibility

Treat moral law as binding beyond convenience

Do what is right even when expediency, popularity, or private advantage points elsewhere.

6 / 93 systems mapped · 6.5%
Workbook confidence: Developing
M030 · Life, Violence and Peace

Treat prisoners humanely

Protect the dignity and basic welfare of detained persons.

50 / 93 systems mapped · 53.8%
Workbook confidence: Developing
M523 · Nichiren Buddhist Human Revolution

Turn adversity into value

Use hardship as an opportunity for learning, courage, solidarity, and constructive action.

3 / 93 systems mapped · 3.2%
Workbook confidence: Developing
M383 · Humanitarian Action and Impartial Service

Unify humanitarian service without exclusion

Organize inclusive service so aid is available across the whole community or territory.

18 / 93 systems mapped · 19.4%
Workbook confidence: Developing
M538 · Swedenborgian Charity and Use

Unite faith with good deeds

Do not separate religious belief from concrete acts of justice, service, and care.

8 / 93 systems mapped · 8.6%
Workbook confidence: Developing
M565 · Shinnyo-en Compassionate Practice

Use every moment as an opportunity for moral growth

Approach ordinary circumstances, hardship, and relationships as opportunities to reduce delusion and deepen compassion.

4 / 93 systems mapped · 4.3%
Workbook confidence: Developing
M045 · Property, Work and Economic Justice

Use fair weights and measures

Maintain accurate measurement and pricing.

31 / 93 systems mapped · 33.3%
Workbook confidence: Developing
M025 · Life, Violence and Peace

Use force proportionately

When force is permitted, limit it to what is necessary.

41 / 93 systems mapped · 44.1%
Workbook confidence: Developing
M458 · Jewish Mitzvot and Applied Justice

Use honest weights and measures

Maintain accurate standards in trade and do not manipulate quantity, weight, capacity, or price.

7 / 93 systems mapped · 7.5%
Workbook confidence: Developing
M334 · Animal Welfare and Humane Care

Use humane methods when animals are killed

Minimize fear, pain, and distress through competent, appropriate, and regulated methods.

7 / 93 systems mapped · 7.5%
Workbook confidence: Developing
M439 · Universal Responsibility and Compassion

Use inner peace to support social peace

Cultivate emotional discipline and compassion as foundations for nonviolent relationships and institutions.

14 / 93 systems mapped · 15.1%
Workbook confidence: Developing
M160 · Community, Education and Spiritual Responsibility

Use knowledge for service

Apply learning toward healing, justice, and flourishing.

57 / 93 systems mapped · 61.3%
Workbook confidence: Developing
M358 · Adventist Wholistic Christian Ethics

Use music and art to elevate rather than degrade

Create and choose artistic expression that supports dignity, moral reflection, beauty, and spiritual growth.

13 / 93 systems mapped · 14.0%
Workbook confidence: Developing
M066 · Justice, Law and Governance

Use power to serve

Treat authority as responsibility for the common good.

36 / 93 systems mapped · 38.7%
Workbook confidence: Developing
M408 · Climate Ethics and Planetary Responsibility

Use precaution under serious environmental uncertainty

Take proportionate preventive action when credible risks of grave or irreversible climate harm remain scientifically uncertain.

9 / 93 systems mapped · 9.7%
Workbook confidence: Developing
M497 · Modern Humanist Ethics

Use reason and science in moral inquiry

Revise ethical judgments through evidence, critical reflection, open inquiry, and intellectual honesty.

6 / 93 systems mapped · 6.5%
Workbook confidence: Developing
M529 · Unitarian Freedom, Reason and Tolerance

Use reason in spiritual and moral reflection

Test inherited claims through thought, evidence, experience, dialogue, and conscience.

7 / 93 systems mapped · 7.5%
Workbook confidence: Developing
M373 · Interdependence and Global Responsibility

Use reason together with empathy

Join evidence and critical thinking with compassion for affected persons and sentient beings.

16 / 93 systems mapped · 17.2%
Workbook confidence: Developing
M590 · Cao Dai Love, Justice and Religious Harmony

Use religious diversity to build peace

Approach multiple traditions as resources for reconciliation, mutual respect, and common moral action.

6 / 93 systems mapped · 6.5%
Workbook confidence: Developing

Provenance: Universal Moral Code — Statistical Atlas, Edition XXI. Names, definitions and source anchors are preserved verbatim. This atlas describes its corpus, not all beliefs or practices worldwide.

About the atlasGeographic coverageHistorical coverage

FIELD GUIDE · PURPOSE AND BOUNDARIES

World Morals: practical use and context

World Morals is a source-oriented atlas for readers comparing moral teachings across religious and secular traditions. It provides ways to explore a finite corpus while keeping the difference between a recorded mapping and independently verified evidence visible.

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A glass globe connects manuscripts in a circular hall for studying world moral traditions — conceptual artwork
Application artwork reused from its publication image family. The interactive interface is above.

Start with a teaching, then follow its evidence

Choose a teaching or a system rather than beginning with a universal conclusion. Read its definition and source basis, then inspect the associated mappings. Open the source and methodology views to understand how a relationship entered the corpus. A label such as official source or specific anchor describes a record’s provenance category; it is not a substitute for reading the cited passage in context.

Use the comparison lab and matrix to formulate questions. Shared mappings may suggest a topic worth investigating, while differences may reflect wording, edition coverage or research gaps. Neither a checked cell nor an empty cell establishes what every adherent believes or how a whole society behaves.

A careful comparative reading exercise

Select a familiar moral theme and compare its records across two systems. Write down the source labels, what has actually been quoted and what remains a summary. Follow the source references before drawing a conclusion. Record a disagreement or missing passage as an open research issue rather than filling the gap with an attractive generalization.

For a classroom discussion, separate three questions: what the dataset records, what a primary text says, and how people interpret or practice it. The atlas directly organizes the first question. The other two need contextual reading, historical scholarship and, where appropriate, the voices of the communities being discussed.

Coverage is not a ranking of traditions

The corpus is an edition with explicit scope and unresolved research statuses. Counts describe records and relationships, not moral superiority, global prevalence or the completeness of a tradition. Geographic and historical displays disclose where research is missing. English source material remains in its original language even when navigation and explanatory interface copy are Spanish.