Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter to Announce Philadelphia as First City to Bring Back National Thrift Week

January 11, 2011

A mayoral press conference will be held to announce that, after a 45 year national hiatus, Philadelphia is leading the way in re-launching National Thrift Week. A diverse coalition of community leaders working in economic development, education, and greening will join the celebration.

National Thrift Week has been neglected in America for the past 45 years. As the home of Benjamin Franklin and the birthplace of our nation, the City of Brotherly Love is leading the way in renewing this American tradition. The return of National Thrift Week could not be more timely considering our nation’s present economic and social circumstances.

For more information on Thrift Week, click here.

 

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Happy Birthday Sir John!

November 29, 2010

On November 29, 1912, John Marks Templeton was born in the small town of Winchester, Tennessee.

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.

Click here for more information on Sir John’s life story.

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Big Questions Online

July 22, 2010

The John Templeton Foundation recently launched its new online publication, Big Questions Online.

BQO aims to ask and explore the Big Questions of human purpose and ultimate reality, with a focus on science, religion, markets, morals, and the dynamic intersection among them. We hope to inspire readers to think beyond familiar categories and disciplinary boundaries and to join us in creating a forum for lively, intelligent dialogue.

Christine Whelan, author of Generation WTF (Templeton Press, 2011), frequently posts columns for the publication. Be sure to read her latest column Living the Fact-Value Distinction.

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NEW Templeton Foundation Website

June 22, 2010

Be sure to check out the NEW John Templeton Foundation website! Same web address, www.templeton.org, just a whole new look.

Take the time to view the video of Sir John Templeton’s life story. Very informative! 

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Is the cyber Mob a Threat to Freedom?

June 15, 2010

Is the Cyber Mob a Threat to Freedom?
featuring
Ron Rosenbaum, Slate
Lee Siegel, The New York Observer
moderated by
Michael Goodwin, The New York Post.

Tuesday, June 22, 2010

Today’s threats to freedom are “much less visible and obvious than they were in the 20th century and may even appear in the guise of social and political progress,” writes Adam Bellow in his introduction to the new essay collection that he has edited for the Templeton Press. Indeed, Bellow suggests, the danger often lies precisely in our “failure or reluctance to notice them.”

According to Ron Rosenbaum and Lee Siegel, in their provocative contributions to the volume, the extraordinary advances made possible by the Internet have come at a sometimes worrisome cost. Rosenbaum focuses on how online anonymity has become a mask encouraging political discourse that is increasingly distorted by vitriol, abuse, and thuggishness. Siegel argues that the Internet has undermined long-established standards of excellence, promoting participation and popularity over talent and originality. Both writers warn against the growing influence of what Siegel calls “interactive mobs.”

For details on this event, click here.

 

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Templeton Prize 2010 Laureate: Professor Francisco J. Ayala

March 25, 2010

Congratulations to Professor Francisco J. Ayala, the Templeton Prize 2010 Laureate. Ayala is an evolutionary geneticist and molecular biologist who has vigorously opposed the entanglement of science and religion while also calling for mutual respect between the two.

Below Ayala addresses the question: Does scientific knowledge contradict religious belief?

Click here for more information on Ayala as well as the Templeton Prize.

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Who will win the 2010 Templeton Prize?

March 23, 2010

A news conference will be held in Washington, DC this Thursday, March 25th at 11:00 am EDT, to announce the new 2010 Templeton Prize recipient.

The Templeton Prize each year honors a living person who has made an exceptional contribution to affirming life’s spiritual dimension, whether through insight, discovery, or practical works. Created by the late global investor and philanthropist Sir John Templeton, the Prize is a cornerstone of the John Templeton 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.

Valued at one million pounds sterling (about $1.51 million or €1.10 million), the Templeton Prize is the world’s largest annual monetary award given to an individual.

The 2010 Prize laureate will attend the news conference and be available for questions via a live webcast at www.templetonprize.org.

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New JTF Initiative: Science for Ministry

October 8, 2009

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Science for Ministry is a new initiative of the John Templeton Foundation that “invites organizations to develop programs that will help ministers and the congregations they serve to move away from simplistic ‘solutions’ to the tensions between science and faith.”

Some of the institutions selected to participate were Asbury Theological Seminary, Fermi Project, Regent College, The Trinity Forum, and more.  

According to the Princeton Theological Seminary website, J. Wentzel van Huyssteen, the James I. McCord Professor of Theology and Science at the Princeton Theological Seminary and Editor of the Templeton Science and Religion Series, will serve as codirector of the initiative at Princeton Theological Seminary.  

“This initiative,” says van Huyssteen, “is intended to address a common experience of ministers and scientists of faith who struggle to develop a constructive dialogue around issues of theology and science in their ministry contexts. We are seeking to equip leaders in ministry with the knowledge and tools to confidently respond to these fundamental challenges, and to do so in ways that encourage a transformational impact on their church communities.”

Princeton Seminary’s program is designed for 144 participants from 72 Christian faith communities. Each community will send a scientist and a theologian to participate in a five-day introductory program that focuses on the two essential questions shared by theology and science: questions of origins and questions of human nature. Participants will then choose from a series of three-day and one-day events that focus on different facets of these questions, including topics such as evolution in both cosmology and biology, and cognitive science, neuroscience, and the human person. Each pair of scientist and theologian will return to their community equipped to further the dialogue between science and theology.

To view other participants and to review the project overview of each organization with their full proposal, click here.

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Pioneers of Prosperity

September 25, 2009

The Pioneers of Prosperity Awards Program is a global program made-up of regional competitions spanning the Caribbean, Africa and Central America. The program identifies outstanding entrepreneurs who can serve as high-profile role models in each region. The finalists receive financial prizes for investment in the further development of their ventures.

The Pioneers of Prosperity Awards Program is based on our experience that great companies exist in even the most challenging business environments. We believe that greater prosperity can be achieved in emerging markets if these existing models of success are better understood and effectively replicated. Showcasing local success stories, focusing on small to medium size firms, will help to inspire a new generation of entrepreneurs that can serve as the engine of increased growth and prosperity for their country.

The Program is sponsored by the Multilateral Investment Fund of the Inter-American Development Bank, the Social Equity Venture Fund (S.E.VEN Fund), and the John Templeton Foundation. It was devised by Michael Fairbanks, co-founder of S.E.VEN Fund and co-author of Templeton Press’ recently released title, In the River They Swim: Essays from around the World on Enterprise Solutions to Poverty.

Earlier this month the winners of the Caribbean region were announced at the final award ceremony hosted by Prime Minister Bruce Golding in Montego Bay, Jamaica.

To view video profiles of the winners and each of the finalists, visit http://vimeo.com/channels/pop

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Markets and Morality

July 10, 2009

For some time, the effect of the market economy on moral values has been strongly debated amongst many.

Recently, Pope Benedict XVI released his third encyclical titled Caritas in Veritate or “Charity in Truth.” The encyclical addressed a variety of issues but it focused on ethics and the economy. In his encyclical, Benedict stated the need for a “true world political authority” with “real teeth” to manage the global economy with God-centered ethics.

In October, the John Templeton Foundation also addressed the issue of ethics and the economy in its conversation on “Does the free market corrode moral character?” It is the fourth question in a series of conversations that the Foundation hosts among leading scientists, scholars, and public figures about the “Big Questions.” A few of the respondents answered with a strong “No!”, while others answered with an indecisive “Yes, sort of” or “Yes and no.”

Few agree on what exactly is moral, not to mention what corrodes morality. However, if the question Does the free market corrode moral character? was posed to you, how would you respond?

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