If life is the most important thing in a political and theological belief system, then why would a person support the death penalty, back wars and oppose gun violence prevention?
The shooting deaths of 26 children and adults at a Connecticut elementary school has revived religious support for gun control, galvanizing a movement that has struggled to gain traction against the powerful gun lobby.
The fourth of July joins Memorial Day and Veterans day as the three times a year I feel out of step with the rest of American culture. While I’m grateful for my country’s freedoms and opportunities, and I want to mourn with those who mourn the losses of war, I cannot participate in rituals that glorify war.
Books
War and the American Difference
Theological Reflections on Violence and National Identity
Drawing on Harry S. Stout, Stanley Hauerwas argues that the Civil War became a total, unlimited war because the demand to participate assumed a sacral status.
Perry Bush has set himself a daunting task: to tell the story of Mennonite pacifism from World War I through Vietnam. Drastic theological shifts, the expansion of denominational bureaucracies in response to wartime pressures, the experiences of individual draftees: all are part of this complex narrative.
Books
Who Would Jesus Kill? War, Peace, and the Christian Tradition
There was once a time when most people assumed that the question of whether to wage war was to be decided by princes and kings, but in a democracy this moral responsibility ultimately rests with all citizens. In Who Would Jesus Kill? Mark J.
Books
Just Policing, Not War: An Alternative Response to World Violence
A few days after 9/11, a good friend of mine called to ask me to help preside at the funeral of his son, age 26, who had perished in the World Trade Center. He wondered aloud if this was war or something else. “No,” I said, “it was murder.”
Books
Blessed Are The Pacifists: The Beatitudes and Just War Theory
Thomas Trzyna
The Horrors We Bless: Rethinking the Just-War Legacy
Daniel C. Maguire
Just Peacemaking: Ten Practices for Abolishing War, 2nd edition
Huebner’s book is a challenge to both his fellow Mennonites and the broader church. He asserts that Mennonites can just as easily become Constantinian—attached to power—as any other Christians.
