Templeton Foundation Press

Templeton Makes A Plea To Preserve The Memories At Release Of New Autobiography

Wed, 19 Nov 2008 12:00:00 EST

Templeton Makes A Plea To Preserve The Memories At Release Of New Autobiography
By John P. Connolly, The Bulletin
11/19/2008

Friends and relatives of the Templeton family gathered at the Union League Monday night to honor Dr. John Templeton Jr., on the release of his updated autobiography.

The new book, which was updated to include new reflections, was a project that Dr. Templeton linked to his father, Sir John Templeton.

His father founded the Templeton Foundation, an organization that serves as a philanthropic catalyst for discovery in areas engaging life's biggest questions.

"I hope, in a sense, that it will honor my father," said Dr. Templeton. "And particularly bring out his long consistent optimism, which are badly needed traits in this time."

He thanked the many guests who arrived for fellowship in an atmosphere of celebration at the book release.

"I am deeply touched that you would have taken time out of your many activities to be with us tonight for the release of a book that tries to capture many of the experiences and lessons I have learned over some 60 years," he said.

Dr. Templeton related the story of his extended family tree being assembled and how the genealogical researcher who worked on the project completed a tree with 7,000 names.

"I found that I began to ask, what did I learn and, more importantly, what did I not learn about these 7,000 persons. In short, the answer was very little," said Dr. Templeton. "For the overwhelming majority of these 7,000 persons, all I knew about them was their names, their parents' names, their siblings, where they were born, who they married, who their children were, and when and where they died. With the exception of a small number of my ancestors who bothered to write down their memories and experiences, I knew essentially nothing of each of these persons' dreams, their values, experiences, disappointments and accomplishments."

Writing a book with such memories doesn't need to be difficult. Dr. Templeton wrote his via dictation in a matter of hours, a feat he said is not difficult to a person who has total mastery of his material.

"I made up a simple outline of all that I wanted to cover," he said. "Except for the outline, I did not write down any of the details I wanted to cover, because I already knew what I wanted to say. I then got someone to sit down with me over several sessions to listen to me as I dictated.

"The entire dictation process involved three separate four-hour sessions, for a total of 12 hours," he continued. "Subsequently, after transcripts were completed, I reviewed them for accuracy and clarity of expression. The book we are sharing with you today is a revised updated version of the original book."

Dr. Templeton's wife Pina read aloud letters from their daughters, thanking their father for the gift of the book. Because of the potential for what could be lost, Dr. Templeton urged the guests to impart their own experiences and memories to paper, that their own descendants could benefit from it.

"It is my hope that each one of you will carefully consider what a blessing it would be if each one of you undertook a similar endeavor," said Dr. Templeton. "You and perhaps no one else will remember stories, words of wisdom and experiences told to you by family members such as your parents, aunts and uncles and grandparents. When you die, if you have not captured and recorded these things that you have learned from them, these memories will be lost for ever."

John P. Connolly can be reached at jconnolly@thebulletin.us

http://www.thebulletin.us/site/index.cfm?newsid=20201352

Dr. Harold Koenig, author of Medicine, Religion, and Health presents testimony to the US house of Representatives

Fri, 14 Nov 2008 09:00:00 EST

Dr. Harold Koenig, author of Medicine, Religion, and Health presents testimony to the US house of Representatives.

Harold Koenig, M.D., professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Duke University Medical Center and associate professor of medicine, was scheduled to testify yesterday in Washington, D.C., at a hearing of the House Science and Technology Committee’s subcommittee on research and science education.

Koenig — founder and former director of Duke’s Center for the Study of Religion, Spirituality and Health and founding co-director of the current Center for Spirituality, Theology and Health at Duke University Medical Center — was to offer an overview of original research published in social, psychological, behavioral, nursing and medical journals since the 1800s examining relationships between religion/spirituality and health.

Koenig was to discuss what the research implies for improving public health and patient care, promoting community resiliency following natural disasters or acts of terrorism, and easing the economic burden of providing health care and protecting our population.

http://science.house.gov/publications/hearings_markups_details.aspx?NewsID=2300

Read the Testimony here:
http://science.house.gov/publications/Testimony.aspx?TID=14951

http://insidedukemedicine.org/home/2008/09/18/koenig-is-in-the-house/

The Age of Thrift has arrived. Can old-school banking save us from debt?

Thu, 13 Nov 2008 04:00:00 EST

Old-school banking will save us from debt
By David Blankenhorn and Barbara Dafoe Whitehead
Thursday, November 13th 2008, 4:00 AM

Our new economic reality is now quite clear. The old debt culture is dead. The Age of Thrift has arrived.

While the federal, state and city governments try to sort out the financial fiasco that has brought the economy to a virtual standstill, it isn't just the politicians and billionaires who must now figure out how to kick the debt habit.

Consumers, too, have to change their ways.

With foreclosures up, the stock market down and the total amount of consumer debt in the United States at nearly $2.6 trillion, the old way of doing business is over.

If you're short on cash, but just gotta have that flat-screen TV, then you have to be able to pay for it upfront. The old "rent-to-own" scheme, in which you put down about $5, took the TV home that very day and agreed to pay about $20 a week for the rest of your life, won't cut it anymore.

The new way may well involve a layaway plan, a blast from the past based on the quaint notion that you actually had to afford something before you could own it. The layaway idea is simple: you pay the store a few dollars a week until you've paid the regular price for the TV. Then, you take home the TV. About as complicated as a piggy bank. In fact, the layaway plan - which is now being promoted by Kmart and other stores as the next new thing - is in fact nothing more than a store-sponsored piggy bank, in which you save up money to buy what you want.

When it comes to purchasing that dream home, forget the mortgage brokers who secure a loan from a bank you never heard of at a price you know you can't afford. Any time you as a homebuyer don't understand the exotic-sounding jargon - debt derivative, anyone? - then almost certainly the smart move today is to walk away.

Things are about to get simpler. In the Age of Thrift, you as a homebuyer will walk into a local community bank, make an agreement with the loan officer for a home mortgage, offer at least 20% in a down payment and then start repaying the bank. About as exotic as grandma's nightgown.

If you want your ship to come in, forget about spending a few bucks each week on lottery tickets. A little bit of luck will now come in the form of spending each month a little bit less than what you earn. What's left over goes into a savings account. A fancy idea? Hardly. Your grandparents probably did it, and it worked for them.

Even our political ideology must change. We should stop supporting those politicians who, like President Bush, constantly are urging everyone to go to the mall and spend all their money in order to keep the economy going. If the terrorists hit us, shop! If the economy starts to tank, shop! Here's a stimulus check for more shopping!

That idea is so yesterday. From now on, let's support the politicians who are going to figure out ways to help us save some of our money. These are the leaders who understand that not even a country as great as America can prosper over time if we are constantly digging ourselves deeper and deeper into debt.

In the Age of Thrift, there will be higher penalties for haste and waste, and more rewards for steadiness over time and the wise use of small amounts.

There will be less focus on today, and more focus on tomorrow. People will spend less time asking themselves "How much do I have?" and more time asking "What should I do with what I have?"

All of this will be necessary. But here's the real payoff: Thrift is much more than the belt-tightening required by hard times. At its best, thrift is a positive vision of shared abundance and sustainable prosperity. Thrift is not just a medicine for when we are sick. It's a practical strategy for the good life.

http://www.nydailynews.com/opinions/2008/11/13/2008-11-13_oldschool_banking_will_save_us_from_debt.html

David Blankenhorn mentioned in "Thrift Is the New Fashion" from Newsweek

Mon, 3 Nov 2008 11:00:00 EST

Thrift Is the New Fashion
Time was, national crises stimulated saving. But thrift today has a negative, miserly connotation.

Daniel Gross
NEWSWEEK
Nov 3, 2008

Thrift, like the repossession business, is one of those classic countercyclical industries. When the gross domestic product shrinks and bulls grow mute, Americans are called to rouse themselves from a consumption-induced daze and start saving and investing rather than borrowing and splurging. At about this time in the economic cycle, we hear a lot more from Warren Buffett and a lot less from Donald Trump. Coupon clippers are exalted and high fliers are laid low. Of course, once the good times begin to roll again, the calls for thrift subside. Back in 1994-I know I'm dating myself here-I wrote a piece of juvenilia on the hot new cheapskate trend that grew up in the wake of widespread corporate restructuring. (Among the key data points: the popularity of "The Tightwad Gazette"and a decline in charitable donations.) But penny-pinching went out of style once the dotcom boom started.

During the last recession, which coincided with the 9/11 attacks, we didn't even try. President Bush went on television and urged people to go take a trip. For New Yorkers, patronizing a restaurant in the afflicted downtown area became something akin to civic duty. "Our leaders in recent years seem increasingly determined to insist, as a response to such challenges, on the importance of high and continued consumer spending," writes historian Barbara Dafoe Whitehead, in the newly released "For a New Thrift,"a report sponsored by an array of think tanks, left, right and center.

Whitehead writes eloquently about the powerful array of anti-thrift institutions that have made it difficult for middle- and lower-income Americans to save: credit-card solicitations, ubiquitous casinos, state lotteries and payday lenders, which "outnumber McDonald's franchises in four out of five of the nation's most populous states." The nation's biggest banks dole out loans with abandon, but many won't issue passbook savings accounts to kids.

More powerful still may be the macroeconomic barriers to saving. The income of a typical family hasn't risen in real terms since 1999, while the cost of basics like health insurance, energy, food and housing have soared. "Surveys show that much of the rising credit-card debt is related to job loss, home repair or health care," says Tamara Draut, vice president of policy and programs at the New York think tank Demos, and author of "Strapped: Why America's 20- and 30-Somethings Can't Get Ahead."

In addition, during asset bubbles and booms, we tend to let buoyant markets do the saving for us. According to the Federal Reserve, the net worth of households and nonprofit organizations soared from $39.2 trillion at the end of 2002 to $58.7 trillion in the third quarter of 2007, a 50 percent increase. This at a time when personal savings were minuscule: $174.9 billion in 2003 and just $57.4 billion last year. But those who live by paper gains also die by them. Between September 2007 and June 2008, according to the Fed, the nation's net worth fell by $2.7 trillion. And it has likely fallen much further.

Clearly, we need to save more. But as John Maynard Keynes taught us, thrift can be counterproductive in times of weak demand. Consumer activity accounts for about 70 percent of economic activity. Spending money heedlessly-traveling, redecorating, eating out-keeps our friends and neighbors employed. The great concern about the stimulus package was that Americans would squirrel away those $300 checks for a rainy day rather than put them into circulation immediately. Self-described global citizens have also had reason to eschew thrift. The prodigious appetites of U.S. consumers for imported goods enabled tens of millions of peasants in China to escape subsistence living and find factory work each year.

Time was, national crises stimulated saving. Whitehead notes that during World War II, the savings rate soared to 25 percent, as the government, "partnering with the leaders of civil society, actively stressed the importance of saving for the war effort while also providing a specific new savings tool, in the form of war bonds."

But thrift today has a negative connotation-miserly, penny-pinching, no fun. Here, too, we need to go back to the future. "The goal of thrift is not to cut back or scrimp and save, but rather to enjoy the good things in life," says David Blankenhorn, president of the Institute for American Values, and author of "Thrift: A Cyclopedia," a charming compendium of musings and quotes on the many virtues of thrift, going back to Benjamin Franklin's "The Road to Wealth."

Is there any reason to think we'll recover our lost sense of thrift in this economic crisis? Perhaps. The baby boomers, champion consumers who had counted on appreciation of their homes and 401(k)s to ensure a golden retirement, will have to start saving more. Policy changes-government matches for low-income savers, lottery offices where people can purchase savings tickets-might help. But profligacy and spendthriftness have also been part of our cultural inheritance. The most compelling character in the greatest American novel, "The Great Gatsby," makes a pile of money and then squanders it spectacularly. For every Warren Buffett, patiently building a down-to-earth fortune by purchasing stocks with hard-earned money, there's a Donald Trump, impatiently building glitzy over-the-top towers with cash borrowed from others.

http://www.newsweek.com/id/165641

Smart Money highlights the book Thrift by David Blankenhorn

Fri, 24 Oct 2008 13:00:00 EST

Thrift: A Cyclopedia, by David Blankenhorn

To that end, you might want to reserve a place on your holiday shopping list now for Thrift: A Cyclopedia (Templeton Foundation Press, 368 pages, $34.95), a thoughtful collection of quotations and historical insight on this seemingly antiquated concept that has quickly come back into fashion.

Author David Blankenhorn has assembled a bear market’s worth of material covering the ideals of prudence, diligence and sound financial stewardship. Remember those old chestnuts? You will.

Jonathan Hoenig is managing member at Capitalistpig Hedge Fund LLC.

http://www.templetonpress.org/book.asp?book_id=121

World Magazine features article on Thrift: A Cyclopedia by David Blankenhorn

Fri, 24 Oct 2008 13:00:00 EST

Reviving thrift

David Blankenhorn champions a controversial-and largely lost-virtue | Marvin Olasky

We usually don't think of "thrifty" as a controversial adjective, but a glance at the first five synonyms-frugal, miserly, parsimonious, provident, prudent-offered by thesaurus.com quickly shows the debate: The first is neutral, the next two negative, the last two positive. One reason for this fall's market crash and economic crisis: We confused prudence with parsimony.

David Blankenhorn's Thrift: A Cyclopedia (Templeton Foundation Press, 2008) provides a thoughtful, entertaining, and pro-thrift look at a surprisingly controversial concept. WORLD readers who have given their homeschooled children passages about thrift might wonder, what's the fuss? Well, listen to this Great Depression radio address by John Maynard Keynes: "There are today many well-wishers of their country who believe that the most useful thing which they and their neighbors can do to mend the situation is to save more than usual. . . . [That] is utterly harmful and misguided—the very opposite of truth."

http://www.worldmag.com/articles/14565

Godly Love: A Rose Planted in the Desert of Our Hearts by Stephen G. Post is now available

Wed, 22 Oct 2008 10:30:00 EST

Godly Love: A Rose Planted in the Desert of Our Hearts by Stephen G. Post is now available

http://www.templetonpress.org/book.asp?book_id=122

Prayers and Rituals at a Time of Illness and Dying: The Practices of Five World Religions by Pat Fosarelli is now available

Wed, 22 Oct 2008 10:30:00 EST

Prayers and Rituals at a Time of Illness and Dying: The Practices of Five World Religions by Pat Fosarelli is now available

http://www.templetonpress.org/book.asp?book_id=123

Spirit-Health Connections website officially launched

Wed, 1 Oct 2008 10:00:00 EST

Spirit-Health Connections
Resources for Integrating Health and Healing
From Templeton Foundation Press

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE...

October 1, 2008/West Conshohocken, PA—A recent article on CNN.com titled "How to Talk to Your Doctor about God" quoted one physician as saying, "religion is the last taboo in medicine." Religious belief can indeed be one of the most difficult things for patients to discuss with their health care providers, but that may be changing as more and more health care professionals are equipping themselves with the tools they need to help address the spiritual needs of their patients.

Now medical professionals, patients, spiritual care providers, researchers, and students have online access to resources for integrating health and healing. Spirit-Health Connections is a new website containing cutting edge research, information on recent publications, and news about this relatively young field of study.

Visitors can browse the content either by subject or by their own personal role in the spirit-health arena. Doctors, nurses, and anyone in the allied health care professions will find a great deal of information particularly relevant to their work in pages crafted especially for Health Care Providers. Pages for Spiritual Care Providers is designed principally to meet the needs of parish nurses, hospital or military chaplains, palliative care providers, and others who are often called upon to provide comfort to those who are suffering. Researchers and educators who will be shaping the future of the medical profession will also find special sections just for them, full of bibliographic and pedagogical resources to help with their efforts.

Beginning this month, a media section will feature video and audio files available for free downloads, and, in the bookstore, visitors can purchase any of the resources from which most of this content has been drawn. If one gets through all of these materials and still has unanswered questions concerning the relationship between religion and health, Spirit-Health Connections offers an Ask the Expert section, where visitors can interact with recognized experts on the subject.

Please visit Spirit-Health Connections at: www.spirit-health.org

CONTACT: Sharon Kelly, Publicist, 484-531-8380, publicity@templetonpress.org

http://www.spirit-health.org

Rev. Canon John Polkinghorne, author of One World, Science and Creation, and Science and Providence shines a light where science and religion meet

Mon, 29 Sep 2008 09:30:00 EST

Rev. Canon John Polkinghorne, author of One World, Science and Creation, and Science and Providence shines a light where science and religion meet.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/faith/article4790446.ece

CNN article, "How to talk to your doctor about God", features Dr. Harold Koenig, the author of Medicine, Religion, and Health

Thu, 11 Sep 2008 12:00:00 EST

CNN article, "How to talk to your doctor about God," features Dr. Harold Koenig, the author of Medicine, Religion, and Health

http://www.cnn.com/2008/HEALTH/09/11/ep.faith.medicine/index.html

Sneak preview to upcoming Spring 2009 title - Subjectivity, Objectivity, and Intersubjectivity by Joseph A. Bracken, SJ.

Fri, 5 Sep 2008 09:00:00 EST

Sneak preview to upcoming Spring 2009 title - Subjectivity, Objectivity, and Intersubjectivity by Joseph A. Bracken, SJ.

http://www.metanexus.net/conference2008/abstract/Default.aspx?id=10437

Stephen Post serves as director of the Center for Medical Humanities, Compassionate Care, and Bioethics

Fri, 15 Aug 2008 10:00:00 EST

Stephen Post, president of The Institute for Research on Unlimited Love, serves as director of the newly formed Center for Medical Humanities, Compassionate Care, and Bioethics at Stony Brook University. Post is the author of Godly Love and Unlimited Love, and is the co-author of Research on Altruism and Love.

http://www.threevillages.com/Articles-i-2008-08-14-75722.113114_Unlimited_Love_arrives_at_Stony_Brook_University.html

Positive Youth Development and Spirituality: From Theory to Research by Richard M. Lerner, Robert W. Roeser, and Erin Phelps is now available

Fri, 15 Aug 2008 09:00:00 EST

Positive Youth Development and Spirituality: From Theory to Research by Richard M. Lerner, Robert W. Roeser, and Erin Phelps is now available

http://www.templetonpress.org/book.asp?book_id=126

Aging in the Church: How Social Relationships Affect Health by Neal Krause is now available

Fri, 8 Aug 2008 09:35:00 EST

Aging in the Church: How Social Relationships Affect Health by Neal Krause is now available

http://www.templetonpress.org/book.asp?book_id=127

Medicine, Religion, and Health: Where Science and Spirituality Meet by Harold G. Koenig is now available

Fri, 8 Aug 2008 09:35:00 EST

Medicine, Religion, and Health: Where Science and Spirituality Meet by Harold G. Koenig is now available

http://www.templetonpress.org/book.asp?book_id=124

Barbara Elliott, author of Street Saints appears on "Living Smart" in a segment called "The Art of Compassion and Philanthropy"

Sat, 26 Jul 2008 08:00:00 EST

Barbara Elliott, author of Street Saints appears on "Living Smart" in a segment called "The Art of Compassion and Philanthropy"

http://video.google.com/videosearch?q=living+smart+barbara+elliott

Harold Koenig, author of Spirituality in Patient Care, featured in Newsweek

Wed, 16 Jul 2008 08:00:00 EST

The Advocate: 'Patients Want To Be Talked To'
A Duke Professor Says Religion Has A Place In Medical School--And In Practice

By Claudia Kalb | NEWSWEEK
Nov 10, 2003 Issue

Harold Koenig, director of the Center for the Study of Religion/Spirituality and Health at Duke, has been studying the role of faith in healing for almost 20 years. A leading researcher in the field, he recently wrote "Spirituality in Patient Care." He spoke with NEWSWEEK's Claudia Kalb:

KALB: How did you get interested in the intersection of religion and health?

KOENIG: It seemed amazing that some patients with devastating illnesses like stroke or cancer coped as well as they did. And so I wanted to find out what they did to help them through these difficult circumstances.

How accurate would you rate the research?

In the area of mental health, I think it's pretty good. So many studies have been done in so many different populations by so many investigators with the vast majority--two thirds--finding significant association between religious beliefs and well-being: life satisfaction, hope, purpose, meaning, lower rates of depression, less anxiety, lower suicide rates. The research in the area of physical health is not as solid.

Should medical students be required to take a religion-and-health course?

Yes. I think unless medical students have that training, they are not going to address those issues, or they're going to do it in a way that may interfere with the patient's rights.

Should doctors take spiritual histories of patients?

Yes. If we didn't ask questions for fear that they would induce guilt, we wouldn't ask about smoking, drinking or sexual activity.

Is it acceptable for doctors to pray with patients?

Certainly, if the patient asks the doctor, "Would you pray with me?" and the patient is religious and from the same background--and the situation is serious. If the doctor has tried everything and is running out of things to do, I think it's appropriate to bring it up. Before the doctor asks the question, though, he or she needs to be absolutely certain that the patient's answer is going to be yes. That's why the spiritual history is critical.

What is driving the interest in religion and health?

As we moved into the later 20th century, we recognized that there are questions of meaning and purpose that science just doesn't have very good answers to. Also, patients want to be talked to. They are tired of [being] treated like bodies, just physical bodies. Plus, older adults in America today are a very religious population.

How do you respond to critics?

If the critics say physicians shouldn't address spiritual issues, doctors may avoid it completely rather than do it in a sensitive way or refer patients to chaplains.

What are your religious beliefs?

I'm a Christian, and Christianity is an important part of my life. It helps me to cope with my illness [a form of arthritis], raise my children and stay married.

http://www.newsweek.com/id/60520

Special Announcement: Sir John Templeton dies at age 95

Tue, 8 Jul 2008 10:00:00 EST

John Marks Templeton, the pioneer global investor who founded the Templeton Mutual Funds and for the past three decades devoted his fortune to his Foundation's work on the "Big Questions" of science, religion, and human purpose, passed away on July 8th.

As a pioneer in both financial investments and philanthropy, John Templeton spent a lifetime encouraging open-mindedness. If he hadn't sought new paths, he once said, "he would have been unable to attain so many goals." The motto that Templeton created for his Foundation, "How little we know, how eager to learn," exemplified his philosophy in the financial markets and his groundbreaking methods of philanthropy.

http://www.templetonpress.org/sirjohn/notice.asp

Keith Ward tackles the Big Questions

Fri, 20 Jun 2008 13:00:00 EST

"Evolution is one of the great theological arguments for God," Keith Ward told me when I interviewed him in Oxford about the book he has just published, The Big Questions in Religion and Science.

http://www.templetonpress.org/documents/COE_Article_June20.pdf

Thrift - More than an old fashioned idea

Tue, 10 Jun 2008 10:30:00 EST

The Great Seduction
By David Brooks
The New York Times

The people who created this country built a moral structure around money. The Puritan legacy inhibited luxury and self-indulgence. Benjamin Franklin spread a practical gospel that emphasized hard work, temperance and frugality. Millions of parents, preachers, newspaper editors and teachers expounded the message. The result was quite remarkable.

The United States has been an affluent nation since its founding. But the country was, by and large, not corrupted by wealth. For centuries, it remained industrious, ambitious and frugal.

Over the past 30 years, much of that has been shredded. The social norms and institutions that encouraged frugality and spending what you earn have been undermined. The institutions that encourage debt and living for the moment have been strengthened. The country's moral guardians are forever looking for decadence out of Hollywood and reality TV. But the most rampant decadence today is financial decadence, the trampling of decent norms about how to use and harness money.

Sixty-two scholars have signed on to a report by the Institute for American Values and other think tanks called, "For a New Thrift: Confronting the Debt Culture," examining the results of all this. This may be damning with faint praise, but it's one of the most important think-tank reports you'll read this year.

he deterioration of financial mores has meant two things. First, it's meant an explosion of debt that inhibits social mobility and ruins lives. Between 1989 and 2001, credit-card debt nearly tripled, soaring from $238 billion to $692 billion. By last year, it was up to $937 billion, the report said.

Second, the transformation has led to a stark financial polarization. On the one hand, there is what the report calls the investor class. It has tax-deferred savings plans, as well as an army of financial advisers. On the other hand, there is the lottery class, people with little access to 401(k)'s or financial planning but plenty of access to payday lenders, credit cards and lottery agents.

The loosening of financial inhibition has meant more options for the well-educated but more temptation and chaos for the most vulnerable. Social norms, the invisible threads that guide behavior, have deteriorated. Over the past years, Americans have been more socially conscious about protecting the environment and inhaling tobacco. They have become less socially conscious about money and debt.

The agents of destruction are many. State governments have played a role. They aggressively hawk their lottery products, which some people call a tax on stupidity. Twenty percent of Americans are frequent players, spending about $60 billion a year. The spending is starkly regressive. A household with income under $13,000 spends, on average, $645 a year on lottery tickets, about 9 percent of all income. Aside from the financial toll, the moral toll is comprehensive. Here is the government, the guardian of order, telling people that they don't have to work to build for the future. They can strike it rich for nothing.

Payday lenders have also played a role. They seductively offer fast cash — at absurd interest rates — to 15 million people every month.

Credit card companies have played a role. Instead of targeting the financially astute, who pay off their debts, they've found that they can make money off the young and vulnerable. Fifty-six percent of students in their final year of college carry four or more credit cards.

Congress and the White House have played a role. The nation's leaders have always had an incentive to shove costs for current promises onto the backs of future generations. It's only now become respectable to do so.

Wall Street has played a role. Bill Gates built a socially useful product to make his fortune. But what message do the compensation packages that hedge fund managers get send across the country?

The list could go on. But the report, which is nicely summarized by Barbara Dafoe Whitehead in The American Interest (available free online), also has some recommendations. First, raise public consciousness about debt the way the anti-smoking activists did with their campaign. Second, create institutions that encourage thrift.

Foundations and churches could issue short-term loans to cut into the payday lenders' business. Public and private programs could give the poor and middle class access to financial planners. Usury laws could be enforced and strengthened. Colleges could reduce credit card advertising on campus. KidSave accounts would encourage savings from a young age. The tax code should tax consumption, not income, and in the meantime, it should do more to encourage savings up and down the income ladder.

There are dozens of things that could be done. But the most important is to shift values. Franklin made it prestigious to embrace certain bourgeois virtues. Now it's socially acceptable to undermine those virtues. It's considered normal to play the debt game and imagine that decisions made today will have no consequences for the future.

Thrift: A Cyclopedia by David Blankenhorn
Thrift and Generosity: The Joy of Giving by John M. Templeton Jr., MD

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/10/opinion/10brooks.html

Vic Mansfield, author of Tibetan Buddhism and Modern Physics, dies at 67

Thu, 5 Jun 2008 11:30:00 EST

Victor N. Mansfield (1941-2008)

Vic Mansfield, Professor of Physics and Astronomy, died peacefully in Strong Memorial Hospital on June 3 after a valiant two-year struggle with lymphoma. He was 67 years old, and is survived by his wife Elaine, two sons David and Anthony, and his mother, Virginia Pepitone. Vic joined the Colgate faculty in 1973, armed with a Ph.D. in theoretical astrophysics from Cornell University and burning interests in cosmology, computational methods, and the conjunction of science and spirituality. In his 35 years at Colgate, he lectured brilliantly in physics, astronomy, numerical analysis, and in all components of the Core Curriculum, inspiring students with his eloquence, enthusiasm, expertise and high expectations. Students consistently described his classes as rigorous and challenging yet always a joy to attend. He had a keen appreciation of the beauty and subtlety of modern physics, and could convey these to his students with clarity and insight. On sunny spring days, he would conduct his advanced physics classes outdoors, chalking the walkways surrounding Lathrop Hall with the elegant equations of quantum mechanics. Vic's Core:Tibet course was a perennial favorite with students, who called it transformative, citing his passion, humor, and spontaneity. In April, 2008, he was the co-recipient of the Sidney J. and Florence Felten French Prize for inspirational teaching.

In 1982, Vic co-founded a successful computer software company, and then, working with Colgate faculty and students, developed and published a numerical methods "toolkit" for the programming language Pascal. Recognizing the enormous impact that personal computers would have on science and education, he originated a unique course in computational physics, and lobbied successfully for a dedicated state-of-the-art classroom in which to teach his course to Colgate students. For two decades, Vic maintained the technical integrity of that classroom, and taught his computational physics course with high approval ratings from his enthusiastic students.

Vic's deep interest in Tibetan Buddhism launched him on a scholarly quest to harmonize scientific thought with Buddhist teaching. His many years of study resulted in numerous published articles as well as three highly regarded books. The latest, Tibetan Buddhism and Modern Science (2008, Templeton Foundation Press), was graced by an introduction written by His Holiness the Dalai Lama, and was presented by Vic to His Holiness during his visit to Colgate in April. This would be the culmination of Vic's scholarly endeavors, perhaps the most poignant moment of his intellectual life. What could have been sweeter, or more comforting, than the affectionate embrace bestowed on him by the Dalai Lama upon accepting Vic's final book? Vic said that it was worth the physical struggle of the past months to receive this embrace and to be awarded the French Prize for inspirational teaching. His family agrees.

http://www.templetonpress.org/authors_detail.asp?author_id=84

Vic Mansfield was awarded the Sidney J. and Florence Felten French Prize

Tue, 29 Apr 2008 13:00:00 EST

On April 29, 2008, Vic Mansfield was awarded the Sidney J. and Florence Felten French Prize for Inspirational Teaching at Colgate University in Hamilton, New York. Vic Mansfield is the author of Tibetan and Modern Physics.

http://www.templetonpress.org/authors_detail.asp?author_id=84

Congratulations to the winner of the 2008 Templeton Prize: Michael Heller

Sat, 12 Apr 2008 10:00:00 EST

Congratulations to the winner of the 2008 Templeton Prize: Michael Heller.

Heller is professor of philosophy at the Pontifical Academy of Theology in Cracow, Poland, and an adjunct member of the Vatican Observatory staff. He is an ordained Roman Catholic priest, and has earned a master's degree in philosophy and a Ph.D. in cosmology. He has published more than sixty books, including Creative Tension: Essays in Science and Religion.

For more information about the Templeton Prize, including a webcast of the announcement press conference, please visit:

http://www.templetonprize.org/

Authors Dr. Harold Koenig and Verna Carson will be featured as keynote speakers of the 14th Annual Dynamics of Elderly Caregiving Conference

Thu, 27 Mar 2008 10:00:00 EST

Authors Dr. Harold Koenig and Verna Carson will be featured as keynote speakers of the 14th Annual Dynamics of Elderly Caregiving Conference. The conference is scheduled for Thursday, April 3, 2008, 6-9 p.m. and Friday, April 4, 2008, 8 a.m.-3 p.m. at the St. Clair Street Senior Center.

Duke Doctors Explore Spirituality and Healing

Wed, 13 Feb 2008 09:30:00 EST

A group of doctors at Duke University think belief plays an important role in patients' recovery and overall health.

http://www.nbc17.com/midatlantic/ncn/health___fitness.apx.-content-articles-NCN-2008-02-12-0009.html

Charles Birch, author of Science and Soul, interviewed on ABC Radio National in Sydney Australia

Tue, 8 Jan 2008 08:00:00 EST

Charles Birch, author of Science and Soul, interviewed on ABC Radio National in Sydney Australia

http://www.abc.net.au/rn/religionreport/stories/2007/2122324.htm

Humility: The Quiet Virtue by Everett L. Worthington Jr. is now available

Sun, 30 Sep 2007 08:00:00 EST

Humility: The Quiet Virtue by Everett L. Worthington Jr. is now available

http://www.templetonpress.org/book.asp?book_id=106

Bill Kramer, author of Unexpected Grace was featured on Cleveland 's NPR station, WCPN

Tue, 11 Sep 2007 10:30:00 EST

Bill Kramer, author of Unexpected Grace was featured September 11, 2007 on Cleveland's NPR station, WCPN. He was also featured as a Guest Voice columnist on the Newsweek/Washington Post Web site, On Faith.

http://newsweek.washingtonpost.com/onfaith/guestvoices/2007/09/the_holiest_community_ever.html

Barbara Metzler, author of Passionaries, joined Stan Curtis, founder of USA Harvest, on San Diego's 1700 AM America's Morning Show

Sun, 19 Aug 2007 10:00:00 EST

Barbara Metzler, author of Passionaries, joined Stan Curtis, founder of USA Harvest, on the August 20th edition of San Diego's 1700 AM America's Morning Show.

http://sd1700.com/pages/main

Robert Emmons, co-author of Words of Gratitude for Mind, Body, and Soul featured in "Three Questions" section of PW Daily

Mon, 6 Aug 2007 09:30:00 EST

Robert Emmons, co-author of Words of Gratitude for Mind, Body, and Soul featured in "Three Questions" section of PW Daily.

http://www.publishersweekly.com/article/CA6465781.html?nid=2286&source=title&rid=1145456307

Spirituality in Patient Care: Why, How, When, and What, Second Edition, by Harold G. Koenig, M.D. is now available

Mon, 30 Jul 2007 10:30:00 EST

Spirituality in Patient Care: Why, How, When, and What, Second Edition, by Harold G. Koenig, M.D. is now available.

http://www.templetonpress.org/book.asp?book_id=105

The New Flatlanders: A Seeker's Guide to the Theory of Everything by Eric Middleton is now available

Mon, 30 Jul 2007 10:00:00 EST

The New Flatlanders: A Seeker's Guide to the Theory of Everything by Eric Middleton is now available.

http://www.templetonpress.org/book.asp?book_id=104

Dr. Harold G. Koenig, author of Spirituality and Patient Care, was recently featured in an article by the Los Angeles Times

Mon, 30 Jul 2007 09:30:00 EST

Dr. Harold G. Koenig, author of Spirituality and Patient Care, was recently featured in an article by the Los Angeles Times.

http://www.latimes.com/features/printedition/magazine/la-tm-bestyounow25jul29,1,3175989.story

Bill Kramer, author of Unexpected Grace featured by Global Talk Radio

Mon, 2 Jul 2007 09:30:00 EST

Author Bill Kramer shares a rare look into the human side of the world of scientific research. "Unexpected Grace: Stories of Faith, Science and Altruism" goes behind the scenes of four scientific investigations on diverse aspects of the study of unlimited love and offers uplifting portraits of human beings struggling to understand and improve the complex issues facing them. More info at:

http://www.globaltalkradio.com/ondemand/shows/astorytotell/2007Jul02/index.asx

Everett Worthington, is scheduled to appear on Time for Hope

Tue, 26 Jun 2007 08:00:00 EST

Everett Worthington, author of The Power of Forgiving, is scheduled to appear on the television show, Time for Hope on June 27 and July 4, 2007. For broadcasting times in your area visit the website.

http://www.timeforhope.com/schedule.asp

What Do I Say? Talking with Patients about Spirituality by Elizabeth Johnston Taylor is now available

Wed, 30 May 2007 11:00:00 EST

What Do I Say? Talking with Patients about Spirituality by Elizabeth Johnston Taylor is now available.

http://www.templetonpress.org/book.asp?book_id=102

The audio versions of The Power of Prayer around the World by Glenn R. Mosley and Joanna Hill and Agape Love by Sir John Templeton are now available

Wed, 30 May 2007 10:00:00 EST

The audio versions of The Power of Prayer around the World by Glenn R. Mosley and Joanna Hill and Agape Love by Sir John Templeton are now available.

http://www.templetonpress.org/book.asp?book_id=33

Stephen R. L. Clark and his book, G. K. Chesterton: Thinking Backward, Looking Forward at The Guardian's Hay Festival in Hay-on-Wye, U.K., May 24 to June 3. Clark spoke at the event May 25

Fri, 25 May 2007 10:30:00 EST

Templeton Foundation Press featured Stephen R. L. Clark and his book, G. K. Chesterton: Thinking Backward, Looking Forward at The Guardian's Hay Festival in Hay-on-Wye, U.K., May 24 to June 3. Clark spoke at the event May 25.

http://www.hayfestival.com/wales/default.aspx

Something There has been selected as a Religion Daily Pick for May 24, 2007 by Jim Agnew's, The Literary World

Thu, 24 May 2007 10:30:00 EST

Something There has been selected as a Religion Daily Pick for May 24, 2007 by Jim Agnew's, The Literary World

http://www.jimagnew.net/religion.htm

Cosmic Impressions: Traces of God in the Laws of Nature by Walter Thirring is now available

Mon, 30 Apr 2007 09:00:00 EST

Cosmic Impressions: Traces of God in the Laws of Nature by Walter Thirring is now available.

http://www.templetonpress.org/book.asp?book_id=99

Unexpected Grace: Stories of Faith, Science, and Altruism by Bill Kramer is now available

Mon, 30 Apr 2007 08:30:00 EST

Unexpected Grace: Stories of Faith, Science, and Altruism by Bill Kramer is now available.

http://www.templetonpress.org/book.asp?book_id=100

The Press announced the 2007 Books of Distinction

Mon, 30 Apr 2007 08:00:00 EST

The Press announced the 2007 Books of Distinction. This year there are twenty-one books selected as Books of Distinction. These books will be featured in a special marketing campaign throughout 2007. To see which books were selected, visit the program's Web site:

http://www.scienceandreligionbooks.org/bod/

Barbara R. Metzler, author of Passionaries: Turning Compassion Into Action, received the 2007 Woman of the Year Award for the seventy-fourth assembly district in California

Wed, 28 Mar 2007 09:30:00 EST

Assemblyman Martin Garrick Names
Barbara Metzler as 2007 Woman of the Year
Author of Passionaries has a passion for helping others

CARLSBAD—Today, Assemblyman Martin Garrick honored Barbara Metzler as the Woman of the Year from the Seventy-Fourth Assembly District.

"Barbara is an entrepreneur and is a role model for young women everywhere," said Garrick. "Her latest endeavor is to share with America the inspirational stories behind 35 successful world-changing nonprofits."

As an entrepreneur, she has started five companies. The best known, The Farmer's Wife, became a multi-million dollar corporation. The Farmer's Wife sold surplus fruit from her family's large agricultural company. She started selling the fruit out of the back of her station wagon but it soon grew into a multi-million dollar corporation supplying fruit to everyone from farmer's markets to large companies. In the mid-1980's it was one of the country's leading fruit by-product companies.

In 2006, Barbara wrote Passionaries: Turning Compassion into Action, which profiles the leaders of thirty-five nonprofits, including: Paul Newman (The Hole in the Wall Gang), Millie Webb (MADD), Tom Harken (ProLiteracy Worldwide), Wendy Kopp (Teach For American), and Stan Curtis (USA Harvest). Each story profiles a leader of an organization that has significantly impacted millions of lives. Passionaries tells the true stories of extraordinary social entrepreneurs that turned their compassion into action—and proves how one person can change the world.

"Barbara wrote Passionaries because she wanted to show each of us how these modern-day heroes are changing the world and how each of us can make a positive difference," continued Garrick.

The book captures a movement unique to American culture—how private charities not the government can be the principal agents for social change. Passionaries demonstrates that Americans are the most generous people on the planet with both their money and time. According to the book, in 1990, charitable donations per year exceed over $100 billion. In 2004, Americans donated approximately $248.5 billion and sent more than $70 billion in aid to people in developing countries. In addition, an estimated 109 million or 57% of American adults volunteered 19.9 billion hours.

Barbara is also active in her church and serves on several local and national nonprofits, including the Fellowship of Christian Athletes, Alpha USA and OBGYN Foundation of UCSF.

The California Legislative Women's Caucus sponsors the annual "Women of the Year" celebration at the State Capitol. Each woman is honored in a floor ceremony and presented with a resolution honoring her commitment to the community.

http://www.passionaries.org/

Congratulations to the winner of the 2007 Templeton Prize: Charles Taylor

Wed, 14 Mar 2007 08:00:00 EST

Charles Taylor Wins 2007 Templeton Prize

NEW YORK, MARCH 14—professor Charles Taylor, a Canadian philosopher who for nearly half a century has argued that problems such as violence and bigotry can only be solved by considering both their secular and spiritual dimensions, has won the 2007 Templeton Prize.

The Templeton Prize, valued at 800,000 pounds sterling, more than $1.5 million, was announced today at a news conference at the Church Center for the United Nations in New York by the John Templeton Foundation, which has awarded the prize since 1973. The Templeton Prize is the world's largest annual monetary award given to an individual.

Charles Taylor is engaged in contemporary, important, cross-cultural questions such as "What role does spiritual thinking have in the 21st Century?" For more than 45 years, Taylor, 75, has argued that wholly depending on secularized viewpoints only leads to fragmented, faulty results. He has described such an approach as crippling, preventing crucial insights that might help a global community increasingly exposed to clashes of culture, morality, nationalities, and religions.

Key to Taylor's investigations of the secular and the spiritual is a determination to show that one without the other only leads to peril, a point he outlined in his news conference remarks. "The divorce of natural science and religion has been damaging to both," he said, "but it is equally true that the culture of the humanities and social sciences has often been surprisingly blind and deaf to the spiritual."

"We urgently need new insight into the human propensity for violence," including, he added, "a full account of the human striving for meaning and spiritual direction, of which the appeals to violence are a perversion. But we don't even begin to see where we have to look as long as we accept the complacent myth that people like us - enlightened secularists or believers - are not part of the problem. We will pay a high price if we allow this kind of muddled thinking to prevail."

Taylor has long objected to what many social scientists take for granted, namely that the rational movement that began in the Enlightenment renders such notions as morality and spirituality as simply quaint anachronisms in the age of reason. That narrow, reductive sociological approach, he says, wrongly denies the full account of how and why humans strive for meaning which, in turn, makes it impossible to solve the world's most intractable problems ranging from mob violence to racism to war.

"The deafness of many philosophers, social scientists and historians to the spiritual dimensions can be remarkable," Taylor said in remarks prepared for the news conference. "This is the more damaging in that it affects the culture of the media and of educated public opinion in general."

Conversely, Taylor has also chastised those who use moral certitude or religious beliefs in the name of battling injustice because they believe "our cause is good, so we can inflict righteous violence," as he once wrote. "Because we see ourselves as imperfect, below what God wants, we sacrifice the bad in us, or sacrifice the things we treasure. Or we see destruction as divine...identify with it, and so renounce what is destroyed, purifying while bringing meaning to the destruction."

Taylor, an author of more than a dozen books and scores of published essays and who has lectured extensively, is currently professor of law and philosophy at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois, and professor emeritus in the philosophy department at McGill University in Montréal , the city of his birth. A Rhodes Scholar, he holds a bachelor of arts from McGill and Balliol College at Oxford University, as well as a masters and Ph.D. (D.Phil.) from Oxford. He is the first Canadian to win the Templeton Prize.

"Throughout his career, Charles Taylor has staked an often lonely position that insists on the inclusion of spiritual dimensions in discussions of public policy, history, linguistics, literature, and every other facet of humanities and the social sciences," says John M. Templeton, Jr., M.D., the Foundation's President. "Through careful analysis, impeccable scholarship, and powerful, passionate language, he has given us bold new insights that provide a fresh understanding of the many problems of the world and, potentially, how we might together resolve them."

The Prize is a cornerstone of the Foundation's international efforts to serve as a philanthropic catalyst for discovery in areas engaging life's biggest questions, ranging from explorations into the laws of nature and the universe to questions on love, gratitude, forgiveness, and creativity. Created by global investor and philanthropist Sir John Templeton, the monetary value of the Prize is set always to exceed the Nobel Prizes to underscore Templeton's belief that benefits from advances in spiritual discoveries can be quantifiably more vast than those from other worthy human endeavors.

The 2007 Templeton Prize for Progress Toward Research or Discoveries About Spiritual Realities will be officially awarded to Taylor by HRH Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh, at a private ceremony at Buckingham Palace on Wednesday, May 2nd.

In his nomination of Taylor for the Prize, the Rev. David A. Martin, Ph.D., emeritus professor of sociology at the London School of Economics, and author of A General Theory of Secularization, a seminal work in the field, said, "His oeuvre is massive and covers issues quite central to contemporary concerns, above all perhaps the nature of self-hood and the religious and secular options open to us in what is sometimes described as secular or even secularist society. He has traced the historical evolution of the religious and secular dimensions of the world as they relate to each other with unequalled authority."

Taylor was born in 1931 in Montréal in French-speaking Quebec, the only Canadian province where English is not the majority language. Growing up in a Catholic home where both French (his mother's native tongue) and English (his father’s) were spoken, in a province where language is a political touchstone, spurred an early interest in matters of identity, society and the potential value of thought that runs against the common grain. Though his first degree was in history, a Rhodes Scholarship in 1952 led him to study philosophy at Oxford, where he encountered what Taylor describes as "an unstructured hostility" to, among other things, religious belief. In reaction, he began to question the so-called "objective" approaches of psychology, social science, linguistics, history, and other human sciences.

This led Taylor to his doctoral dissertation, which offered a devastating critique of psychological behaviorism, which holds that all human activity can be explained as mere movement, without considering thought or subjective meaning. Published in 1964 as The Explanation of Behaviour, it put the philosophical world on notice that a new voice had arrived.

From there he went on to write at length on Hegel, the philosopher who pioneered deep contemplation on notions of modernity - territory that Taylor was now intent on exploring anew - including Hegel, published in 1975, and Hegel and Modern Society, 1979.

In 1992, for example, Taylor wrote an article published in the book, Multiculturalism and "The Politics of Recognition" that detailed the effect of modernity on concepts of identity and self which, in turn, has had a profound political impact. He continued that investigation with his noted Marianist Lecture in 1997 in Dayton, Ohio, where he declared that the Catholic Church could find its place within the modern world by seeing Western modernity as one among the many civilizations in which Christianity has been preached and practiced. This would avoid both the total identification with European civilization which has blunted the Christian message, and also the opposite extreme of seeing modernity as the antithesis or enemy of Christian faith. It was published as a book entitled, A Catholic Modernity? in 1999. Noting the possibility of a "spiritual lobotomy," he warned, "There can never be a total fusion of the faith and any particular society, and the attempt to achieve it is dangerous for the faith."

Then, in 1998-99, Taylor delivered the renowned Gifford Lectures, entitled "Living in a Secular Age," at the University of Edinburgh. The lectures, published in three volumes, offered a staggeringly detailed analysis of the movement away from spirituality in favor of so-called objective reasoning. Many expect the final volume, A Secular Age, scheduled for publication by Harvard University Press later this year, to be the most important literary achievement of Taylor's lifetime and the definitive examination of secularization and the modern world.

The Premier of Quebec, Jean Charest, recently appointed Taylor to co-chair a commission on accommodation of cultural religious differences in public life. "The debate on this issue in our society has recently taken on worrying features," Taylor says, "including a dash of xenophobia." Hearings throughout the province are expected to begin in Fall 2007.

Taylor, who lives with his wife, Aube Billard, an art historian, in Montréal, and, currently in Evanston, Illinois, has said he will use the Templeton Prize money to advance his studies of the relationship of language and linguistic meaning to art and theology and to developing new concepts of relating human sciences with biological sciences.

The Foundation noted that Taylor's selection as the 2007 Templeton Prize Laureate will launch a broad, online discussion of the question, "What role does spiritual thinking have in the 21st Century?" at its website, www.templeton.org

http://www.templetonprize.org/