1. Building Peaceful Communities: The Primacy of Truth
I see no need to elaborate on the importance of truth. All systems of
injustice are grounded in lies. Meanwhile, knowledge and wisdom assist those
who aim to be caring and compassionate. Otherwise, they can make harmful
decisions despite the best of intentions.
I would like to focus on certain individual and communal factors that tend
to deflect us from the truth. The individual need for self-preservation and
the communal need for a sense of tribal identity are not uniformly bad or
undesirable. So, the challenge will be to find ways that we can preserve the
benefits of these factors while avoiding their pitfalls. Ultimately, I will
aim to show that Jesus’ life and ministry showed us a path toward realizing
the “Realm of God” described in Isaiah 11:6-9.
Starting at an individual level, the need for self-preservation is natural
and, arguably, morally desirable. It is natural insofar as natural selection
favors those individuals who survive and reproduce. It is morally desirable
in that each individual matters, and those individuals who strive to make
the world a better place are particularly important for the well-being of
all. Dietrich Bonhoffer instructed his students to resist the Nazis wisely.
They should not regard self-preservation as the only concern, but they
should not lose their lives for a relatively pointless gesture, such as a
refusal to give a Nazi salute to a Nazi officer.
Nobody leaves the earth without leaving a footprint. We invariably harm
other living things because animal life requires eating other living things,
including plants. Our aim should be to minimize this harm, for example by
consuming plants, which as best we can tell have no subjective feelings,
rather than animals, who clearly can suffer and have a will to live and
thrive. It is tempting to believe that what makes us feel better and
satisfies our desires is “necessary,” and this is where careful reflection
or meditation can steer us away from the narcissistic path.
Avoiding the attractions of believing communally held falsehoods is more
difficult, and I will turn to this next.
Stephen R. Kaufman, MD
2. From All-Creatures.Org Ministry
We have some exciting news to share. Please mark your calendars to join
us for a
livestream interview of vegan theologian Dr. Christopher Carter
on Friday April 29th at 4:00 p.m. EST.
You will find this week's edition of our newsletter packed full of
information 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!
All-Creatures.org Newsletter for April
21, 2022
In the Love of the Lord,
Frank L Hoffman
All-Creatures.org
and
Kindness,
Tams Nicholson
Executive Directress
All-Creatures.org