Weekly Newsletter from Christian Vegetarian Association CVA - May 29, 2022
From Christian Vegetarian Association (CVA)


  1. Communities as Sources of Truth and Falsehood
  2. All-Creatures.Org Ministry

1. Communities as Sources of Truth and Falsehood

The previous essay discussed the essential role of truth in building peaceful and just communities. Social cohesion among a large number of people requires trustworthiness. If there is a general commitment among members of a community to truth, those claiming to add to the general corpus of knowledge can be trusted. Without this commitment, people will not trust news sources, scientists (including medical scientists), and the courts. A commitment to truth also fosters open discussion and debate, which can expose misconceptions and bad ideas. While communities can help promote truth by censuring those who lie, sometimes communities are impediments to truth.

There is a human need for answers to existential questions, such as where I am from, what am I supposed to do with my life, and what happens when I die. A person can find it unsettling if these questions cannot be answered definitely and with confidence. People are often attracted to communities where people hold with certainty that particular answers are true. The general consensus seems to add credence to answers that, otherwise, might seem unfounded or unreasonable. However, to the degree that evidence for these answers is lacking, there will be a tendency to resist, sometimes violently, those who disagree. The greatest rath is often directed not at infidels who have never considered the community’s beliefs but rather at apostates who have once believed but now reject those beliefs.

Another way that communities can undermine truth relates to the scapegoating process. Humans have a strong desire to belong to a group, and we can easily see manifestations of tribalism along familial, cultural, ethnic, national, and other lines. Central to tribalism is that there is something distinctive about one’s group. This characteristic can be benign, such as a recognition that one’s group is grounded in personal relationships and not in special characteristics. However, the human desire to gain self-esteem encourages group members to feel that they are superior to other groups. This sentiment encourages falsehoods about the nature of members of one’s own group and falsehoods about members of other groups.

We are seeing increased polarization in the United States and in many other countries, and a natural outgrowth of polarization is an increasingly widespread belief in falsehoods about one’s group as well as the opposing group. What are the sources of polarization? What are the implications for justice for human and nonhumans, as well as the viability of human civilization? I will start to explore this next.

Stephen R. Kaufman, M.D.


2. From All-Creatures.Org Ministry

Have you heard of Buddy’s Law? Read about it in this week’s edition.

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, May 26, 2022

In the Love of the Lord,
Frank L Hoffman
All-Creatures.org

and

Kindness,
Tams Nicholson
Executive Directress
All-Creatures.org 


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