By tradition
Guides by tradition.
Many traditions already hold ideas close to this one: that what you do for strangers, unseen and for nothing, matters most. Find yours and see it in your own texts, in your own words.
These guides do not say a religion agrees with me. They point to the tradition's own public-domain texts and teaching so you can judge for yourself. If your tradition is missing, tell me at keith at thisisdisclosure dot com and I will research it with the same rules.
Guide · About 2.3 billion people worldwide (2020)
ChristianityChristian scripture already holds several related ideas: giving in secret, the Father who sees what is done in secret, welcome for strangers, a final...Open the guide
Guide · About 2 billion people worldwide (2020)
IslamThe Quran already speaks of life and death as a trial in which people are shown to be best in deed, of unseen charity given purely for God's sake,...Open the guide
Guide · About 1.9 billion (religiously unaffiliated) (2020)
Atheists and secular humanistsHumanist and freethinking traditions have long held that kindness to strangers does not need a god behind it. Writers such as Adam Smith, Charles...Open the guide
Guide · About 1.9 billion (religiously unaffiliated) (2020)
Agnostics, the spiritual but not religious, and people with no traditionMany thinkers outside organized religion have held that how we treat other people, especially strangers, is where a life is weighed. Kant described a...Open the guide
Guide · About 1.2 billion people worldwide (2020)
HinduismHindu texts hold many of these ideas in their own terms: karma as action and its results, karma yoga as acting for duty without clinging to reward,...Open the guide
Guide · About 324 million people worldwide (2020)
BuddhismBuddhist teaching places generosity (dana) at the start of practice and links intentional action to its results through karma. Loving-kindness...Open the guide
Guide · About 25 million people worldwide (2010)
SikhismSikh teaching already puts weight on how a person lives toward others: kirat karni (honest work), vand chakna (sharing), and seva (selfless service),...Open the guide
Guide · About 14.8 million people worldwide (2020)
JudaismJewish teaching already prizes giving and kindness that expect nothing back. Tzedakah (righteous giving) and gemilut hasadim (acts of...Open the guide
Guide · About 8 million (self-identified) (2010)
TaoismTaoist texts do not say that life is a test given by a higher intelligence, and the Tao Te Ching speaks of the Tao as a Way to follow rather than a...Open the guide
Guide · About 5 to 8 million people worldwide (2020)
Baha'i FaithBaha'i teaching treats service to humanity as a form of worship and speaks of tests and trials as part of spiritual growth, with deeds counting more...Open the guide
Guide · About 4.5 million people worldwide (2011)
JainismJain teaching holds that every soul is responsible for its own karma, and it makes ahimsa (non-violence toward all living beings) the center of right...Open the guide
Guide · About 3 million self-identified (84.7 million shrine affiliates in Japan) (2010)
ShintoShinto has no founder, no single scripture, and little formal ethical doctrine, and it does not teach that life is a test. Its core concerns are...Open the guide
Guide · About 200,000 people worldwide (2010)
ZoroastrianismZoroastrian teaching centers on humata, hukhta, hvarshta (good thoughts, good words, good deeds) and on a real choice between asha (truth and order)...Open the guide
Guide · About 160,000 members (2013)
Unitarian Universalism and religious humanismUnitarian Universalism has no creed, and its members hold many views about God, from theism to humanism to no God at all. The UUA's principles and...Open the guide
Guide · No reliable count
ConfucianismThe Analects do not present life as a test set by a higher intelligence, and Confucius spoke of Heaven (Tian) sparingly; whether Heaven is personal...Open the guide
Guide · No reliable count
SufismSufism is the mystical tradition within Islam, centered on purifying the heart and drawing near to God through love, humility, and service. Its own...Open the guide
Guide · Not applicable (an ethic, not a membership religion)
UbuntuUbuntu is a philosophy and ethic, not a single religion, and it is held by Christians, Muslims, followers of African traditional religions, and...Open the guide