I’ve never been in the military, much less fought in a war. Trust me, for the sake of my safety and yours, that’s best for everyone.
Tag: war
Let us remember those who gave their lives
Memorial Day began as Decoration Day. In 1868, Major General John A. Logan, commander in chief of the Grand Army of the Republic, proclaimed the first official Memorial Day.
Christian apologists, wake up! (part two)
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Second in a two-part series on a Pew Study about why young people are leaving the active practice of Christianity. Part one looked at, first, the relationship between religion and science and, second, the dismissive “psychologizing” of beliefs. In this second part, Bishop Barron examines two more reasons young people offered in the study for “walking away from Christianity.” His analysis of the source of the problem, included in part one, is reprinted here in the first two paragraphs.
For the past 50 years or so, Christian thinkers have largely abandoned the art of apologetics and have failed (here I offer a j’accuse to many in the Catholic universities) to resource the riches of the Catholic intellectual tradition in order to hold off critics of the faith. I don’t blame the avatars of secularism for actively attempting to debunk Christianity; that’s their job, after all.
Daniel Berrigan and nonviolence
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Fr. Daniel Berrigan, SJ, passed away April 30 at the age of 94. Though many younger Catholics might not remember him, Father Berrigan was one of the most provocative and controversial religious figures of his time.
Standing in the tradition of principled non-violence proposed by Mahatma Gandhi, Thomas Merton, Dorothy Day, and others, Berrigan led the charge against America’s involvement in the Vietnam conflict and its on-going participation in the Cold War and the nuclear arms race.
He was most famous, of course, for his leadership of the “Catonsville Nine,” a group of protestors who, in the spring of 1968, broke into a building and burned draft records with homemade napalm. To say that he was, during that tumultuous time in American history, a polarizing figure would be an understatement.
Moving from ‘just war’ to ‘just peace’ strategy
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For the first 300 years of Christianity, followers of the nonviolent Jesus — imitating his example — practiced total nonviolence.
But after Christianity was legalized and later made the official religion of the Roman Empire, Christians began fighting for the empire. And sadly, Christians have been fighting for empires ever since.
The “just war” theory was developed to offer criteria — like protecting civilians from attack — that had to be met before war could be theoretically morally justified and continued. Most unfortunately, this led to the Catholic Church’s abandonment of total Christ-like nonviolence.
All that is visible and invisible
Anthony Doerr’s All […]
During Advent, we remember Christ’s hope for peace
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The word Advent comes from the Latin adventus, which means coming.
From the first Sunday of Advent to December 17, we await the second coming of Christ so that when he comes in glory, he will find us prepared to meet him. From December 17 to 24, we prepare to celebrate the coming of Christ at Christmas.
During Advent’s graced moments, we also experience the comings of Christ in our daily life.
Millions of refugees have no place to call home
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The heartbreaking photo of the little Syrian refugee boy washed up dead on the shore of Bodrum, Turkey (see the picture at bit.ly/1PZHvDV) strikingly illustrates the tragic plight of desperate refugees — mostly Syrian — fleeing for their lives from the Islamic State and other violent groups in the Middle East and Africa.
The three-year-old boy, named Aylan, along with his five-year-old brother, Galip, and their mother, Rehan, drowned after the raft carrying them capsized near the Turkish coast.
Remembering those who died for our country
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Memorial Day is a federal holiday observed on the last Monday of May.
On Memorial Day we honor military personnel who died while serving our country, particularly those who died in battle or from wounds sustained in battle.
On Veterans Day, we honor those who served honorably in military service during wartime or peacetime.
Dialogue: an essential ingredient for peaceful relationships
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According to the New York Times, during a White House luncheon in 1954 Winston Churchill said, “To jaw-jaw [talk-talk] always is better than to war-war.”
While clearly not a pacifist, the United Kingdom’s World War II prime minister had seen upfront the absolute horror of war and became convinced that tirelessly striving to resolve disputes through respectful dialogue was always preferable to war.