1. Activist Feedback
Rick Hershey writes:
I handed out 2500 CVA booklets at Bon Secours Wellness Arena in Greenville, SC to a friendly crowd in warm weather for Winter Jam today. Most of the booklets went to kids.
2. Toward the Beloved Community: Challenges of Contemporary Society
Prior essays looked at contemporary challenges to the human community
raised by threats to freedom of speech, the independence of the judiciary,
and the general problem of discerning fact from fiction. Our minds, designed
to deal with the challenges of living on the savannas of Africa, are poorly
equipped to handle rapid cultural changes and to process the massive amount
of information needed to navigate contemporary living. Failure to adapt to
contemporary challenges makes us vulnerable to pernicious forces and
undermines our efforts to emulate Jesus. In these and forthcoming essays, I
will consider the problems and then offer suggestions.
Regarding social change, it seems that each generation has markedly
different values, ideals, and practices than the preceding generation.
Parents “not understanding” their children is a perennial complaint, but
until recently the “generation gap” related more to cultural preferences in
music and other arts than in general social outlook. During the past few
generations, young people have demonstrated markedly different worldviews
from their elders. The degree of divergence has, as best I can tell, has
been increasing rapidly during the last few generations. To me, Generation Z
almost seems like a different species. I’m not sure why this has happened,
though I suspect several factors.
The disruption of the nuclear family has made it difficult for young people
to find a firm foundation for values and mores. Children frequently move
away from their parents on account of work, and their children often have
limited interaction with their grandparents. Frequently, children grow up
with both parents out of the home most of the day and the grandparents are
irregular visitors, at best. Meanwhile, busy parents have limited time to
form the social bonds with neighbors that would otherwise result in a
network of family and friends participating in raising children. Instead,
children spend most of their time in school and in structured activities,
where there is limited development of social and other life skills and there
is limited ability to appreciate the merits of traditional values. Instead,
thanks to social media, progressive educators, and children’s natural
tendency to question their parents’ worldviews, they get a disproportionate
dose of the shortcomings of traditional values.
Today, many young people turn toward social media for moral and cultural
guidance. However, social media is rife with bad actors, including
individuals and corporations seeking financial gain, interest groups that
use the power of social media to silence those who dissent from their views,
political groups who create false narratives about reality, and enemies of
our democracy such as Russia, who promote divisiveness between people and
spread fake news with bots and trolls who cleverly impersonate honest
people.
Stephen R. Kaufman, MD
3. From All-Creatures.Org Ministry
All-Creatures.org Newsletter, March 20, 2024:
Easter Lambs and Easter Chicks — 20 years of ADI rescuing animals — Jane Goodall’s selected quotes [book] — first ever Coyote Awareness Week — Secrets of the Octopus [book] — protesting animal rights forum speaker — 10 dangerous antibiotics fed to farmed Animals — zoo Elephants Mikki and Punch going to the Elephant Sanctuary — Laco Kuc, former Animal Liberation prisoner — Barons: corruption of America’s food industry [book] — and more…
Do you have things that you would like to see included in future newsletters? Then send it to us at veda@all-creatures.org.
In the Love of the Lord,
Frank L Hoffman
All-Creatures.org
and
Kindness,
Tams Nicholson
Executive Directress
All-Creatures.org