GENERAL
“‘The Empathic Civilization: The Race to Global Consciousness in a World in Crisis.” By Jeremy Rifkin. Huffington Post. March 1, 2010. While our radio talk shows and 24-hour cable TV news programs incessantly play off the political rift between conservative and liberal ideologies, the deeper conflict in America has always been the cultural divide between faith versus reason. At the dawn of the modern market economy and nation-state era, the philosophers of the Enlightenment challenged the Age of Faith that governed over the feudal economy with the Age of Reason. Theologians and philosophers have continued to battle over faith vs. reason ever since, their debates often spilling over into the cultural and political arenas, with profound consequences for society. Today, however, at the outset of a global economy and the biosphere era, a new generation of scientists, scholars, and social reformers are beginning to challenge some of the underlying assumptions of both the Age of Faith and the Age of Reason, taking us into the Age of Empathy.
“U.S.: Grassroots Groups Get More Bang for Donors’ Bucks.” By William Fisher. Interpress Service (IPS). March 4, 2010. While “community organising” has become a punch line for late- night comedians since the election of Barack Obama as U.S. president, the activity “delivers enormous benefits to communities,” according to a new study conducted by the National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy (NCRP). The report, based on research into nearly 70 nonprofits from New Mexico, North Carolina, Minnesota and Los Angeles County over a five-year period, concludes that “Americans receive extraordinary benefits from the policy advocacy and community organising efforts by nonprofit organisations in their area, funded by foundations and other donors.” It reports that these groups combined “generated nearly 14 billion dollars worth of benefits for their diverse communities, and many other non-monetary gains. The return for every dollar invested in these groups ranged from 89 dollars to a staggering 157 dollars.”