What we can learn from Scriven, Heggen, and Boutwell about making a difference Jim Croteau, Your Turn
A more recent example is Ken Boutwell, the Holocaust Education Resource Council 2023 Humanitarian Award recipient. Taking his work ethic from his farm upbringing and his wide experience in government, education, and business, he has spent countless hours trying to make life better for people in Tallahassee and around the country. His recent book, Let Justice & Mercy Flow, expresses his belief that faith without action is meaningless in today’s world.
Though not an easy read, Boutwell chronicles in his book centuries of persecutions and atrocities in the name of religion against indigenous peoples, minorities, and those with other beliefs. What strikes him most, though, is not that many religious leaders supported, and some still support, these actions. It is most disheartening to him that most faith members ignore their own scriptural call to love their neighbor, feed the hungry, clothe the naked, and take care of the persecuted, widowed and orphaned.Manage Subscription
At this time, when so much of the political rhetoric is based on pandering to the fears of good people, it is easy to be against the “woke”, the immigrant, the homeless. Diversity, equity, and inclusion are terrible threats. It is ironic that almost all faiths, Christian, Jewish, Muslim and others call for caring for the alien and less fortunate and seeing the goodness or godliness in others.
