by Keith Cantrell

Created on: May 12, 2008

As a former fundamentalist and evangelical Christian there was a time in my life that I believed that only Christians knew how to be ethical and therefore to show any sort of viable etiquette in public. Since then, of course, I have discovered that the desire and benefits of good public etiquette is a deeply seated human characteristic.

Since my life as a Christian I have become more aware of the diversity of cultural and social "norms" that surround us on a daily basis. Since people today are far more mobile than their ancestors we constantly encounter others from different cultures and socio-economic backgrounds. In my small city of Portland, Oregon I can easily encounter Hispanics, Chinese, Russians, Japanese, Vietnamese as well as any number of Europeans and African-Americans in the same day each with their own distinctive cultural characteristics.

I make note of this to illustrate the fact that etiquette seems to a universal trait. To be more succinct all humans seem to possess the desire to treat others with kindness, respect and consideration. In fact, in researching different religious traditions to take the place of my own rejected Christianity, I discovered something fascinating. In the Bible we are taught that the Golden Rule is probably the most important of all Christian doctrines. Briefly it says that we should treat each other the way we ourselves would like to be treated. The fascinating part is that this "rule" is found in virtually all religious traditions around the world in one form or another. That means that every religion teaches the importance of treating each other with respect, dignity, love and kindness.

What does this have to do with etiquette? Well, it should be obvious that etiquette was developed to help us get along with others and not make ourselves out to be boorish, selfish slobs. It is inevitably more beneficial to us if people like us from the very first impression if we are to ever get along and achieve the goals we need in order to survive.

Let's take a quick, brief look at a couple etiquette practices to illustrate this point. Burping in public, for instance, is simply rude and unacceptable because it interrupts conversation, expels bad breath into the atmosphere and ultimately displays a lack of regard for the comfort level of others. The same is true of flatulation. No one likes it and it makes everyone else uncomfortable. So, we are taught not to do it out of respect for others.

How about showing deference to women? Same

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