Clarion: Journal of Spirituality and Justice

We believe in MLK. But we still don't believe him.

Excerpt from "Beyond Vietnam," an address by MLK, April 4, 1967.

We can no longer afford to worship the god of hate or bow before the altar of retaliation. The oceans of history are made turbulent by the ever-rising tides of hate. History is cluttered with the wreckage of nations and individuals that pursued this self-defeating path of hate. As Arnold Toynbee says: "Love is the ultimate force that makes for the saving choice of life and good against the damning choice of death and evil. Therefore the first hope in our inventory must be the hope that love is going to have the last word."

For the entire text, click here.

Counter-Terrorism: Building Bridges with a Nation’s Diaspora -- by C. Kerr

The nature of terrorism in the contemporary world has attachments to cultures, faiths and people groups.  It is important to recognize that not all members of these communities associate, and at times, distance themselves from such ideologies.  It is vital for nations to be able to build bridges with its various diaspora communities.  Doing so will ensure these communities are not painted with the same brush as terrorists and lessen the chance of radicalization.  Therefore, building bridges of understanding will only aid in the development of national security for all. 

Peace

"If the people raise a howl against my barbarity and cruelty, I will answer war is war...  War is cruelty, and you cannot refine it...  War is hell." - Civil War General William Tecumseh Sherman

"You can't get to a good place in a bad way -- EVER." - Molly Baldwin

"We must recognize... that the means used determine the end achieved." - Mildred Fahrni

"The means are the ends in embryo.  As you choose your means, you get your ends.  That is the iron law of the moral universe." - Mahatma Ghandi

"There is no way to peace.  Peace is the way." - A.J. Muste

The history of punishment is in some respects like the history of war; it seems to accompany the human condition almost universally, to enjoy periods of glorification, to be commonly regarded as justified in many instances, and yet to run counter to our ultimate vision of what human society should be. - Deirdre Golash

The Shape of Modern Torture by John T. Parry

The Shape of Modern Torture: Extraordinary Rendition and Ghost Detainees
by John T. Parry

Parry, John T., "The Shape of Modern Torture: Extraordinary Rendition and Ghost Detainees" . Melbourne Journal of International Law, Vol. 6, p. 516, 2005 Available at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=829345

‘Before I draw nearer to that stone to which you point’, said Scrooge, ‘answer me one question. Are these the shadows of the things that Will be, or are they shadows of things that May be, only?’[1]

I INTRODUCTION

My goal in this commentary is to combine two ways of thinking about torture and related forms of coercive treatment and interrogation. The first of these ways is a legal analysis of some of the issues surrounding torture, with particular reference to the practice of extraordinary rendition (the use of force, rather than legal process, to take suspected ‘terrorists’ from one country to another for purposes of detention and interrogation), and the existence of ‘ghost detainees’ (people who are secretly held and interrogated by the United States or its allies in undisclosed locations and who are outside the protections of domestic or international law in any practical sense). Although some of my arguments and conclusions on these issues may be surprising or at least debatable, they will be set largely within a familiar context of legal argument and analysis.

Assassination and Call to Prayer for Burma

Dear Friends,

Firstly Partners wishes to express our sadness over the loss of the KNU (Karen National Union) General Secretary, Padoh Mahn Sha Lah Phan who was assassinated at his home on the 14th February 2008.

We mourn the loss of a great, passionate and inspirational leader of the Karen people.

P'Doh Mahn Sha not only inspired the Karen people but stood for a united Burma and will be deeply missed by all. His vision, strength, and understanding will be greatly missed throughout the Karen community and Burma as a whole. Although he is no longer with us, his memory lives on and he will not be forgotten as a man that stood firmly by his beliefs and who's life works was for a free and democratic Burma.

Tolstoy on Non-resistance

Q.  But if that is the true meaning of the rule of non-resistance, can it always be put into practice?

A.  It can be put into practice like every virtue enjoined by the law of God.  A virtue cannot be practiced in all circumstances without self-sacrifice, privation, suffering, and in extreme cases loss of life itself.  But he who esteems life more than fulfilling the will of God is already dead to the only true life.  Trying to save his life he loses it.  Besides, generally speaking, where non-resistance costs the sacrifice of a single life of some material welfare, resistance costs a thousand such sacrifices.

Non-resistance is salvation; Resistance is ruin."

Q.  But so long as only a few act thus, what will happen to them?

A.  If only one man acted thus, and all the rest agreed to crucify him, would it not be nobler for him to die in the glory of non-resisting love, praying for his enemies, than to live to wear the crown of Caesar stained with the blood of the slain?

(Leo Tolstoy, The Kingdom of God is Within You, Translated by Constance Garnett [Lincoln, NE: University of Nebraska Press, 1984], 14-15).

Kant on War and Peace

Now, as a matter of fact, the morally practical reason utters within us its irrevocable veto: There shall be no war. So there ought to be no war, neither between me and you in the condition of nature, nor between us as members of states which, although internally in a condition of law, are still externally in their relation to each other in a condition of lawlessness; for this is not the way by which any one should prosecute his right. Hence the question no longer is as to whether perpetual peace is a real thing or not a real thing, or as to whether we may not be deceiving ourselves when we adopt the former alternative, but we must act on the supposition of its being real. We must work for what may perhaps not be realized, and establish that constitution which yet seems best adapted to bring it about (mayhap republicanism in all states, together and separately). And thus we may put an end to the evil of wars, which have been the chief interest of the internal arrangements of all the states without exception. And although the realization of this purpose may always remain but a pious wish, yet we do certainly not deceive ourselves in adopting the maxim of action that will guide us in working incessantly for it; for it is a duty to do this.

Immanuel Kant. 1790. The Science of Right.

A Prophecy Unheeded III: Erasmus, 1514

Excerpts from an open letter written by Desiderius Erasmus of Rotterdam to Abbot Antony Bergen (addressing Emperor Maxmillian), 1514. Cited in Erasmus and our Struggle for Peace, by Jose Chapiro (Boston: Beacon Press, 1950).

I see great movements arising. . . . May the favor of God calm this tempest in Christendom. . . . I often wonder what drives—I will not say Christians—but men to exterminate one another like madmen at the price of such effort, such expense, and such risks. What do we do all our life long but wage war? Not even all animals fight, except some wild species. And even they fight not among themselves but with animals of a different species. Besides, they fight with their natural weapons and not with machines in the invention of which we employ an ingenuity worthy of the devils. . . .

The Myth of Proportionality by Brad Jersak

Just War Theory: “Just War” is a idea and tradition developed by philosophers (e.g. Aristotle and Cicero) and theologians (e.g. Augustine and Hugo Grotius) in an effort to establish a platform of ethics for war and peace. “Just War theory” seeks to define ethical parameters of justice in the context of war. I.e. the justice of resorting to war (jus ad bellum), just conduct during war (jus in bellum), and justice in the peace agreements which terminate a war (jus post bellum). 

War and Hell by Wayne Northey

War and hell are inextricably interlinked in Christian history and theology.  Below are some thoughts about both, with relation to a movie and a book.

I.  The Christian and War: Reflections on “Saving Private Ryan”

“War is hell”, observed Civil War General William Tecumseh Sherman.  And Steven Spielberg dipped us right into its fiery midst in his 1998 summer release.

War is indeed hell.  Yet, in the long history of the Christian Church, apart from the earliest era, every war engaged in throughout Christendom has been supported by the Church on both sides of the conflict.  How in the name of Jesus can this be? What, for starters, of Christ’s express words?: “Love your enemies (Matt. 5, Luke 6).”  Further, how can Christians do an end run around Jesus’ explicit teaching by reverting to Old Testament endorsement of war when Jesus flatly said?: “So in everything [except war?], do to others [except your enemies? - see Matt. 5:43ff] what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets (Matt 7:12).”; and “... ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’  This is the first and greatest commandment.  And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor [except your enemies?] as yourself.’  All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments (Matt 22:37-40).”