1. Activist Feedback
Rick Hershey writes:
I handed out 1600 CVA booklets at the Legacy Arena [Birmingham, AL] for
Winter Jam today. The crowd was friendly, and more than half of the booklets
went to kids. The temperature was in the 30s, and it was windy which made
for challenging leafleting.
2. Living in Peace - Sources of Goodwill
How do people come to care deeply about the well-being of complete
strangers? Evolutionary forces would favor a predilection among early
human-like ancestors to feel empathy for family and fellow tribal members,
which would inspire assistance to kin. However, natural selection would seem
to discourage making sacrifices for people who are not members of our family
or upon whom we rely for self-defense, obtaining food, and other essential
activities. Perhaps empathy was generalized to unrelated individuals. How
might that have happened?
A striking feature of the human mind is its ability think abstractly and to
empathize with the experiences of other individuals. We can see
manifestations of such abstract thinking and empathy in other animals, but
humans are remarkably adept. Consequently, when we see or learn about the
suffering of others, we often genuinely feel bad. Among other animals, as
best I can tell, an animal is concerned when they see family or friends
suffering in large part because of the importance of the suffering
individual to the animal. I could be wrong, but I doubt that the animal
thinks about how they themselves would feel if they were experiencing the
same suffering.
From an evolutionary perspective, the human ability to empathize might
include a glitch. Dedicating resources or even risking one’s life for a
stranger is probably not an effective way to pass one’s genes onto the next
generation. But, the ability to empathize is very adaptive in many ways,
such as anticipating how other people will react to our actions.
Even if empathy for strangers were an evolutionary glitch, the world is a
better place when people empathize with the suffering of others and aim to
alleviate their misery and avoid causing suffering. However, egocentric
desires remain, and they often conflict with empathetic leanings. Next, I
will explore how the Bible offers guidance toward building compassionate,
peaceful communities.
Stephen R. Kaufman, M.D.
3. The March-April “Peaceable Table” Is Now Online
Contents include:
To see this issue, go to vegetarianfriends.net/issue170.html.
Gracia Fay Ellwood
Editor
4. From All-Creatures.Org Ministry
Here are our recent All-Creatures Newsletter, which we hope you like and share with others to help stop the exploitation and killing of animals.p>
March is our “Newsletter Share-A-Thon” month, and we need your help!
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All-Creatures.org Newsletter for March 17, 2022!
As always, thank you for your readership and we are delighted to provide you with this week's edition of the All-Creatures.org Newsletter covering up-to-the-moment 2022 topics including GOOD news for animals, thought-provoking AR articles, religious and spiritual vegan information, art & stories, and so much more!
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In the Love of the Lord
Frank L Hoffman
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Tams Nicholson
Executive Director
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Cell: (706) 247-1532
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