Most world faiths share the conviction that we must treat the other - whoever they may be or whatever their background - as we want to be treated.   This is a core value does not describe the breadth and depth of human relationships, but is a standard widely affirmed by global faith communities.  It affirms the balance expressed in the Gospels as "loving your neighbour as yourself."

For Christians this conviction is rooted in the belief that it is attributable to Jesus; that it is derived from  the Creation narrative in the Bible's book of Genesis that every human person - male and female - is created bearing the likeness of God; and, that Jesus' life, death, and rising is the sacred revelation of God's indefatigable, persistent, and unconditional love for the entire human family and for all Creation.  

In their hearts, Christians understand that for companions and friends of Jesus, his way is the standard by which our faithfulness is measured, but also the divine balm by which our failures are forgiven and healed.      

The Golden Rule - as easy as it is to recite and as simple as it may seem - is no easy guide for humans.  Christians, especially those  of European origins have found this lesson very challenging indeed.  The rule is easily corrupted by any number of sins  like greed, hubris, arrogance, hate, and deep-seated contagions like (hetero)sexism, racism, militarism,  ego-centrism, corrupting privilege, etc.

The core sin that undermines the Golden Rule is the presumption of superiority - that somehow I/we/our culture have become more important, worthy, valuable, correct, righteous than the other.   

To be sure, Christians do not have a monopoly hold on the superiority disease.   In varying degrees it  afflicts the whole human family.   But the combination of white race, industrial and economic development, military power, and their patriarchal religion have made the Golden Rule lesson hugely challenging for occidental Christians.

Today, as everyday, humans are forced to deal with the aftermath of the superiority-diseased culture.  The current stand off between indigenous peoples and Canadian governments is a direct consequence of the presumption that indigenous peoples of Canada had little or nothing of value to for the settler community to take seriously or respect.   Hence their land and its treasures were stolen by the Crown, "bought" with trinkets, or ceded by treaties skewed by power imbalances.   

Restoring the Rule after centuries of injustice is no easy task and all settler Canadians would do well to cultivate more humility, greater patience, and deeper understanding of the history of injustice indigenous peoples have suffered and still suffer at the hand of the dominant settler colonial system.

William Carey was driven by the desire to improve the lives of the people of India and in many practical ways was very successful in doing so.  But the underlying assumption of his missionary activity was that the "heathen and pagan" people among whom he worked lived in darkness, beset by ignorance, and enslaved by idols.  

This personal judgement was informed by cultural and religious assumptions and determinations of superiority.    Success in Carey's missionary activity was measured by the number of converts baptized into the Christian faith, not by the measures of the heart by which he loved others unconditionally and opened himself to be loved by others.

William Carey, a poor cobbler but also "father" of the modern Protestant missionary movement, was no ogre.  In fact, there is every reason to believe that he was a brilliant and generous human being,  motivated by a sincere, if inadequately informed, determination to spread light and hope in the world - and especially in British-dominated India.