Social conservatives have been put on the defensive by gay activists who have been getting laws passed that support homosexual marriages. They have reacted by promoting laws and constitutional amendments in the states and the…
Today’s New York Times (May 16, 2011) carries an important conversation entitled, Questions Raised About a Code of Silence about the French journalistic habit of protecting the private lives, especially the sexual lives of elected and other public figures.
These reflections come in the wake of the attempted rape (among other charges) leveled against IMF head, French presidential contender, Dominique Strauss-Kahn. Mr. Strauss-Kahn is alleged to have attacked sexually a 32-year-old woman at a Sofitel hotel in midtown Manhattan on May 14. Grotesque, vile details of the maid’s testimony can be read elsewhere.
Often sophisticated and complex analysis and proscription are generated at great cost and investment, involving massively influential individuals and institutions.
Experts in many fields are commissioned and projects expand. But attention to the underlying values assumptions in such massive investments often is overlooked.
Look at longstanding question of a “two state solution” from the most elementary starting point comparing the value of separation, to the value of integration.
A new piece on the Values Forum of the New World Encyclopedia looks at obstacles and dangers to the advance of healthy democracies in Africa. Ghanaian former UN Secretary General, Kofi Anan offers an important…
This article, published in Digital Journal calls on world leaders to shed antiquated habits of vying blocs and nation states, and use the Middle East uprisings as an opportunity to develop instincts for international relations…
The impact and orientation of news media are crucial for the positive formation of personal, and social life and direction. It is vital that constructive and conscientious people invest into bringing to our collective attention…
Gordon Anderson has written fairly extensive reflections on recent revolutions. You can read them and comment on them here.
A simple case of gratitude and integrity, “This isn’t about being a hero — that’s not even close to what it’s about,” says Meche. But look what seems to lie beneath this uncommon example of…
Abstract: Wikileaks has created turmoil because people line up on different sides, seeing things in black and white, either championing transparency and making Assange a modern hero, or championing security and demanding his head on a plate. But these reactions fail to see that good governance requires the appropriate balance of principles.
On the wonderful site Religion Dispatches, Michael Ruse reviews The Moral Landscape: How Science can determine Human Values, by Sam Harris, Free Press (2010).
This review is especially important to the VKF movement insofar as the harmonization of values and information is regarded by this community as vital to meeting contemporary human challenges. But is it possible that science alone can provide the path to restore values to knowledge and information? Here is Ruse’s review…