Roots Of Christian Nonviolence

[BrotherRog]

Friends- I recommend to you this article

 

Blessed Are The Meek: The Roots of Christian Nonviolence

by Thomas Merton

 

The end of it says:

 

 

.....Christian hope and Christian humility are inseparable. The quality of nonviolence is decided largely by the purity of the Christian hope behind it. The Christian knows that there are radically sound possibilities in everyone, and believes that love and grace always have the power to bring out those possibilities at the most unexpected moments. Therefore if one has hopes that God will grant peace to the world it is because one also trusts that humanity, God's creature, is not basically evil: that there is in us a potentiality for peace and order which can be realized provided the right conditions are there. Christians will do their part in creating these conditions by preferring love and trust to hate and suspiciousness. Obviously, once again, this "hope in humankind" must not be naïve. But experience itself has shown, in the last few years, how much an attitude of simplicity and openness can do to break down barriers of suspicion that had divided people for centuries.

 

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I'd also commend the book by J. Denny Weaver entitled, The Nonviolent Atonement, which promotes the "narrative Christus Victor" theory of the atonement instead of the popular (Anselmian) "satisfaction/penal/subsitutionary" model which actually justifies continued human-human violence. visit www.amazon.com to read reviews of it

Edited July 23, 2011 by billmc
Removed broken link

[BrotherRog]

One a less theological and more practical note toward this same end:

 

WHICH PATH TO A SAFER WORLD?

Comparing the cost of tools of peace and tools of war

 

$100 will buy:

11 blankets for refugees

11 hand grenades

 

$4,000:

3-day training for 160 youth in peace building

1 rocket launcher

 

$14,000:

enroll 2 children in Head Start

1 cluster bomb

 

$40,000:

2 home health aides for disabled elderly

1 Hellfire missile

 

$145,600:

associate-degree training for 29 RNs

1 Bunker-buster guided bomb

 

$586,000:

rent subsidies for 1,000 families

1,000 M-16 Rifles

 

$763,000:

annual salary/benefits for 15 RNs

1 minute war on Iraq

 

$46 million:

improve, repair, modernize 20 schools

1-hour war on Iraq

 

$130 million:

WIC program nutrition for 200,000 families

7 unmanned Predator drones

 

$275 million:

eradicate polio worldwide

3 tests of missile-defense system

 

$350 million:

best vaccinations for 10 million children worldwide

6 Trident II missiles

 

$413 million:

childcare for 68,000 needy children

Amphibious Warfare Landing Ship Program

 

$494 million:

7,000 units of affordable housing

1-year military aid to Colombia

 

$1.1 billion:

prevent cuts to education programs (FY2003)

1 day of war on Iraq

 

$1.2 billion:

minimum support to save Amtrak train service

2 months U.S. war force in Afghanistan

 

$2.1 billion:

annual salary/benefits for 38,000 elementary teachers

1 Stealth bomber

 

$12 billion:

double federal funding for mass transit

1-year cost of war in Afghanistan (2001/2002)

 

$16 billion:

healthcare coverage for 7 million children

1-year nuclear weapons program

 

$38 billion:

save 11 million lives worldwide fighting infectious diseases

1 month of U.S. current military spending

 

The costs of warmaking are staggering — especially while cities and states face huge budget deficits. The administration has hidden its real priorities by not putting the costs of the war on terrorism or war on Iraq in its budget. Stay informed about the real budget and other means to enhance security by seeking information from the groups below.

 

Partial source list: Center for Defense Information (www.cdi.org); Federation of American Scientists (www.fas.org); Center for Budget and Policy Priorities (www.cbpp.org); National Priorities Project (www.natprior.org); World Policy Institute (www.worldpolicy.org/projects/arms), Children’s Defense Fund (www.childrensdefense.org); UNICEF (www.unicef.org); NEW YORK TIMES (11/12/01; 3/18/02; 10/13/02; 12/05/02); World Health Organization (www.who.int); National Center for Education Statistics (www.nces.ed.gov); Mennonite Central Committee (www.mcc.org/us/colombia/dollars.html)

[BrotherRog]

The War Audit

 

Todd Kranock, a member of the Pax Christi USA Young Adult Forum,

recently wrote an article for the BBC on God and war (the article was

co-written by two of his colleagues at the University of Bradford in the

Peace Studies Dept). The assignment was to assess God and war, the role

of religion in war and conflict.

 

It is an excellent piece and can be found at the link below (once on the

page, scroll down to GW Bush's photo and click on the "War Audit" link):

 

news.bbc.uk