If EMU Had Chosen A Different Path In 2000

When the Eastern Mennonite's University Commons was built in the year 2000 it was one of the more costly construction projects undertaken by any Mennonite institution to date.

I served as a part time counselor to students at EMU (then EMC) from 1988-2004 through a contract the school had with my place of work, the Family Life Resource Center. Today EMU, my alma mater, like so many liberal arts institutions of its kind, is facing declining enrollments and grave fiscal challenges. The following is something I had published in EMU's student newspaper, the Weathervane, sometime around 24 years ago, when the University Commons was being built.

First Class or Tourist Class?  (written in the year 2000)

Original EMC motto: “Thy Word is Truth.” Evolving buzz words: “towel and basin,” “global village,” “premier Christian university.”  

These are some of the themes and symbols associated with EMU’s nearly 80-year history.

Enter our latest dream--the University Commons. An unprecedented investment for EMU (well over twice the cost of any previous project ever undertaken by the institution), the “Commons” symbolizes our ongoing attempts to shed any images of ourselves as a second-rate college.  

We’ve clearly decided to go first-class.  

I’m not arguing here that we don’t need more space for athletic and physical education programs. Given our current assumptions about what EMU is about, we probably do. But could this be a good time to at least examine other options, even explore other directions?

For example, what if the University were to consider going “tourist class” into the next century, intentionally scaling back its development plans to something more in line with the “global village” of which we profess to be a part?

If our starting point is Jesus, the world’s most influential teacher/educator, we would certainly find ourselves in good company. A truly world-class, global-oriented, Christ-based institution of higher learning might logically resemble a no-frills boot camp more than another haven of middle-class privilege.  

Following our dreams in this “more-with-less” direction rather than toward one of “more and more” might result in the following:

1. EMU could begin by modestly reducing, or simply freezing, present tuition and salary rates, annually adjusting them to the rate of inflation (It should be noted that current salaries, while modest by some U.S. standards, still allow our staff to enjoy a standard of living that puts them/us in the top 3-5% of the world’s wealthiest people).

2. We could put a moratorium on most building programs, investing instead in more scholarships for deserving students and in recruiting additional top notch, kingdom-minded faculty persons from around the world who share the school’s unique values.

3. Instead of competing with Goshen, Messiah, Wheaton, Hesston, Bluffton and literally dozens of similar schools for the same students, we would focus on a new “niche market.” That is, our primary appeal would be to an idealistic, internationally-minded, service-oriented young adult who isn’t at all interested in a school with all of the amenities, just a good, affordable, academically challenging training camp for Christian peacemakers and difference-makers.

4. Instead of relying heavily on glossy brochures, hard sell videos, and a professional public relations staff to get the word out about this new kind of school, we might find ourselves promoted more by word of mouth, to say nothing of getting the attention of the press--all because our approach is so different, so revolutionary, so upside-down from that of most Christian institutions.

In expressing this kind of personal dream, I’m not overly optimistic that EMU’s current board of trustees or its present constituency would warm up to the idea of any major changes of direction for the institution. I can hear it now, “It would never sell, would never work, would never attract quality students or staff.”

Maybe not. But one great teacher once made a statement about individuals that could also apply to universities: “Those who seek to save their lives will lose it, and those who are willing to lose their lives will save it.”

“First class” or “two-thirds world class?”  That may just be a question worth asking. 

Some Ways In Which We've All Become "Woke"

Race is just one issue where we've all become more 
respectful and enlightened. At least I hope that's the case.

We hear a lot of backlash these days against "leftist elites" creating a perverse kind of hypersensitive "woke" mentality.

But is this all bad? Maybe we've all learned a thing or two about being more sensitive to minorities and those who are the "other."

Here are some examples of changes I've made in my own attitude and speech that most people would now consider a good thing.

1) As a child I remember hearing and reciting the following, with no one in my family raising an eyebrow:

Eenie, meenie, miney moe,

Catch a n_ _ _ _ r by the toe,

If he hollers, let him go.

Eenie, meenie, miney moe.

We were never allowed to use the N-word otherwise, except maybe for the Brazil nuts we enjoyed at Christmas that we called "n_ _ _ _r toes." Thankfully, few of us would find that harmless today.

2) I also recall hearing the expression "Jew-ing someone down," as in "driving a hard bargain," never realizing how offensive that would be to a Jewish person.

3) Likewise, native Americans neighbors in Oklahoma, where I was born, were stereotyped as lazy, unkempt and not to be trusted.

4) During and after World War II Japanese people were routinely referred to as "Japs" at our school and among our neighbors in rural Kansas and elsewhere.

5) While my family didn't believe African-Americans were inferior, the existence of separate water fountains, rest rooms, schools, etc., in the Jim Crow era weren't denounced as evil in the community I grew up in, and no one seemed bothered that the seventh grade Virginia history text used in our public schools was full of misinformation about slavery.

6) While never supportive of Senator Joe McCarthy's communist witch hunts, we nevertheless assumed that citizens of socialist or Marxist countries were under the spell of evil regimes from which they needed to be rescued, as in Vietnam.

7) Women were just beginning to be eligible to serve on the church council and other positions of leadership in the first congregation of which I was a pastor back in the 60's. 

8) The checks for our first bank account after Alma Jean and I were married we had labelled "Mr. and Mrs. Harvey Yoder."

9) Many of us have become more comfortable mostly using terms like human, humankind, or sisters and brothers, rather than just "man," "mankind" or "brothers" when referring to groups of men and women.

10) What have been some of your major, or minor, woke experiences?

Feel Free To Use My 2024 Christmas Card List

This year I'm again encouraging individuals, families and congregational groups to send holiday cards to people behind bars. Below are the names of some folks with whom I have had some correspondence, and who I know would appreciate some good tidings from the outside.

Unfortunately, I only have addresses here for men. There are also two state prisons for women in Virginia, and the number of women behind bars in our prisons and jails is growing.

With each card you can include things like a copy of an inspirational piece or your family's annual newsletter. Regrettably, the Department of Corrections now makes photocopies of the envelope and its contents to be given to the prisoner, but getting any kind of mail is always appreciated, and for all too many, an extremely rare occurrence. 

Note: What you send may weigh no more than one ounce, and include no more than a total of three items. Do not include cash, checks, postage stamps or prepaid envelopes. 

Mr James Bender, 1010837     

Lunenburg Correctional Center 
690 Falls Rd 
Victoria, VA. 23974-2213
 
Mr. Brian E. Brubaker 1315055        
Dillwyn Correctional Center
P.O. Box 670
Dillwyn, VA 23936
 
Mr. Brian Cable 1198947    
River North Correctional Center
329 Dell Brook Lane,
Independence, VA 24348
 
Mr. Lawrence Davis, 1443841      
Keen Mountain
3402 Kennel Gap Road
Oakwood, VA 24631

Franklin A Debrot, 1950673
Coffeewood Correctional Center
PO Box 500
Mitchells, VA 22729

Mr. Stephano Colosi, 1037581     
Buckingham Correctional Center
P. O. Box 430
Dillwyn, VA 23936-0430

Erich Ferguson 1179348
Lunenberg Correctional Center
690 Falls Road
Victoria, VA 23974
 
Mr. Branson Fink, 1011319 3
Bland Correctional Center   
256 Bland Farm Rd
Bland, VA. 24315
 
Mr. Robert Davis Fitchett, 1035660       
Buckingham Correctional Center
P. O. Box 430
Dillwyn, VA 23936-0430

Lloyd Lamont Kip Gaither 1168875
Greensville Correctional Center
901 Corrections Way
Jarrett Va 23870
 
Mr. Henry Gorham 1158927     
Wallens Ridge Prison Sussex I
24414 Musselwhite Drive
Waverly, VA 23891 

Mr. M. Steven W. Goodman 1028377     
Lawrenceville CC
1607 Planters Road
Lawrenceville, VA 23868
 
Mr. Robert Vernon Hostetter, 1054419       
Nottoway CC
2892 Schutt Road
Burkeville, VA 23922

Mr. Pernell Jefferson 1016207      
Buckingham Correctional Center
P. O. Box 430
Dillwyn, VA 23936

Mr. Preston King 1485660
Coffeewood CC
12352 Coffeewood Dr
Mitchells, VA. 22729

Mr. John Lafon 1151231
Greensville Correctional Center
901 Corrections Way
Jarratt, VA 23870-6914

Mr. Daniel Leneave 1084415
Lawrenceville CC
1607 Planters Road
Lawrenceville, VA 23868

Mr. John Livesay, 1108120 
Baskerville CC
4150 Hayes Mill Road
Baskerville, VA 23915

Mr. Chander Matta, 1171204
Buckingham Correctional Center
P.O. Box 430
Dillwyn, VA 23936
 
Mr. Thomas Melnyczyn, 1007916       
Deerfield Correctional Center
21360 Deerfield Drive
Capron, VA 23829
 
Mr. Ronald Miles, 1067348    
Haynesville CC
421 Barnfield Road
Haynesville, VA 22472 

Mr. John Nissley, 1148222      
Buckingham Correctional Center
P.O. Box 430
Dillwyn, VA 23936
 
Mr. Kenneth R. Pack 1063808     
Buckingham Correctional Center 
P. O. Box 430
Dillwyn, VA 23936

Mr. Larry Patterson 1116462
Deerfield Correctional Center
21360 Deerfield Drive
Capron, VA 23829
 
Mr. Timothy Rankin 1208262     
Lawrenceville CC
1607 Planters Road
Lawrenceville, VA 23868

Mr. Thomas Roberts #1180343
Green Rock CC
475 Green Rock Lane
Chatham, VA 24531

Mr. Khalid A. Shabazz 1157998
Greensville Correctional Center
901 Corrections Way
Jarratt, VA 23870-6914

Mr. Minor Junior Smith, 1158588
Deerfield Correctional Center
21360 Deerfield Drive
Capron, VA 23829
 
Mr. William Thorpe 2261982

Texas Department of Criminal Justice

P.O. Box 660400

Dallas, Texas 75266=0400

 
 Mr. Jerry Treadway 1021558
Coffeewood CC
12352 Coffeewood Drive
Mitchells, VA. 22729-2046
 
Mr. Jonathan D. Turner 1941213      
Coffeewood CC
12352 Coffeewood Drive
Mitchells, VA. 22729-2046

Mr. Daryl Van Donk, 1681547
Dillwyn Correctional Center
1522 Prison Road
Dillwyn, VA 23936

Mr. Michael Wallace 2105386
Lawrenceville CC
1607 Planters Road
Lawrenceville, VA 23868

Mr. Richard Webb 1174188       
Buckingham Correctional Center 
P. O. Box 430
Dillwyn, VA 23936

Mr. Jonathan D. White 1161021
Lawrenceville CC
1607 Planters Road
Lawrenceville, VA 23868

Mr. Greg Widener 1083217
Bland Correctional Center   
256 Bland Farm Rd
Bland, VA. 24315

Mr. John Bennie Williams 1091323 (blind)     
Deerfield Correctional Center
21360 Deerfield Drive
Capron, VA 23829
 
Mr. Charles E. Zellers, Sr. 1036758      
Deerfield Correctional Center
21360 Deerfield Drive
Capron, VA 23829

If you prefer not to include your home address with your letter, and don't have a post office box, you could have the person respond to your place of worship or work, or to P.O. Box 434, Harrisonburg, VA 22803 and I'll relay their message to you (assuming I have your phone, email or other contact information). In my many years of corresponding with incarcerated individuals I have never had any problems resulting from disclosing my home address, but some do recommend against it.

And here's a link to a local citizen's group, the Valley Justice Coalition, if you are interested in becoming involved in criminal justice advocacy https://www.vjcharrisonburg.org/

Why Jude Is My Favorite Roman Catholic Saint

 

Our daughter Joanna, in good humor, once gave me a St. Jude candle, the apostle Jude being the Saint of Lost Causes and Impossible Cases. 

She, like myself, was keenly aware of how many of my efforts over the years have proven to be largely in vain.

Here are just a few examples:

1. I came up with a plan several months ago I thought would help conflicted voters who, like myself, who didn't want to have to choose a lesser of two evils in their choice for president. Not that I didn't feel the character (and record for truth telling) of one of the candidates didn't represent a far greater evil, but in light of the record of both in supporting ever more military aid for human slaughter, for example, I and many others have had a difficult time lending our support to either. So my plan called for finding a conflicted Trump voter willing to join me in abstaining from voting for either presidential candidate this year, thus not adding to their popular vote numbers, while also not adversely affecting the outcome. In other words, we would simply be cancelling each other's vote ahead of time rather than at the ballot box.

After multiple conversations with Trump leaning friends, I finally found one person willing to engage in this plan to trade our votes. Only one. Others either didn't understand the math or felt it sent the wrong message. So while I may have succeeded in terms of my listening my own conscience, my efforts to spread the idea, while leading to some very significant conversations, never gained much traction.

2. As a strong supporter of the Virginia Relief Sale's annual effort to raise raise money to aid war and famine refugees through Mennonite Central Committee, I proposed a special fast and fundraising day for congregations. On some Sunday prior to the Sale, especially for the sake of those unable to attend in person, churches would be encouraged to promote a fast from Saturday evening to Sunday noon (simply skipping breakfast), then join in a simple rice and beans or similar meal after the Sunday service. The goal would be to raise consciousness about the poverty of millions around the world and and to have a special offering to add to the Relief Sale's fundraising effort for MCC.

I was naive enough to think at least a few congregations might at least consider this, but to no avail. In spite of blog posts, emails and sharing the idea with numerous church leaders, not one expressed any interest in actually trying such plan. Not one. So, feasting to raise funds for the hungry appears to be OK, but fasting? Not so much.

3. There have been numerous failed efforts on my part, and on the part of the Valley Interfaith Action and the Valley Justice Coalition (of which I am an active part), to bring about changes in policies in local jails. One issue I've been especially concerned about is the "keep fee" ($1  per day) charged by our local facility on Liberty Street and by the Middle River Regional Jail ($3 a day) which our City and County partly own. This arbitrary fee, permitted but not mandated by the state, places an undue and unjust burden on the families of offenders in the opinion of many of us, and actually adds a relatively small sum to the jail's annual budget.

So far, none of my efforts on this have produced any results, as has been the case with numerous other jail policies that adversely affect struggling families, often with one of its chief breadwinners being behind bars (Fortunately, there have been some modest successes on some other issues).

4. Having worked as an apprentice carpenter in numerous building projects as a young adult, I developed a special appreciation for all of the raw materials and craftsmanship that go into a well constructed building. When I see evidence of what I've come to call "domi-cide" or "home-icide," the demolishing or gutting of well built homes and other buildings primarily for the sake of profit or prestige, I find myself crusading for the preservation of existing construction whenever possible. I feel especially strongly about the "woe and waste of warfare" and its effect on life-sustaining infrastructure so necessary to human communities. 

All of this continues to fall on seemingly deaf ears as businesses, government agencies and even congregations and church supported institutions continue to demolish existing buildings at will.

5. After serving twenty years as a pastor of a well established rural congregation that was considering a half million dollar expansion, I made a career change and began to work as a counselor at the faith based Family Life Resource Center and became a pastor of Family of Hope, a living room size house church congregation. Along with a core group of fellow idealists, we had visions of house churches becoming a creative alternative for some marginalized individuals who didn't feel at home in traditional congregations. Like churches in the first century led by Jesus followers like St. Jude, we would simply worship, study, fellowship, serve, and break bread together without being burdened with expensive church real estate and paid staff.

At a 24 year FOH reunion in 2011, former FOH members from as far away as California, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Oregon, some of whom had served in places like Ethiopia, Germany, Guatemala, El Salvador and elsewhere, gathered to remember and renew ties to fellow members pf this enduring experiment. But for whatever reason, the house church model never generated a lot of support.

Meanwhile, I seem to have lost my St. Jude candle, which I could use at this stage in my life.

A Silver Lining Around A Seemingly Dark Cloud

"Trump on the Verge of Victory With Swing State Wins"

Historic NYT headline 11/6/24

Millions of Americans are no doubt feeling devastated and demoralized this morning by the outcome of this year's election. Few ever imagined a Trump-dominated Republican party, already with a majority of Supreme Court appointees, now gaining control of the White House and likely both houses of Congress in one fell swoop.

But might Shakespeare's "It's an ill wind that blows nobody good" apply here?

Along with a host of possible bad consequences, here are some potential good outcomes that could result from yesterday's tally:

1. This should mark the end of the fundamental and widespread lie about the American voting process being untrustworthy. The Democratic half of the nation's voters were already convinced that no elections were being stolen, and now skeptical Republicans will no longer be able to claim that the system was rigged against them. 

2. The almost cult-like veneration surrounding the newly elected president is almost sure to fade. The candidate who promised to "fix everything about our country" plus instantly end all wars around the world will find himself unable to deliver. And this time there may be no opposition party to blame when food prices go up for lack of sufficient immigrant farm workers, the national debt soars (as predicted) due to tax policies favoring the already favored, and consumers feel the effect of rising prices as a result of increased tariffs.

3. There is a strong likelihood of a peaceful transfer of power this time, with losing candidates making their customary and timely concession speeches. Had Harris and the Democrats won we could have seen multiple January 6 kinds of insurrections happening all over the country, led by outraged Trump supporters.

4. In the inevitable decline of the American empire (under any future administration) believers who have put their faith in political systems to bring about a Golden Age of America may come to realize that without serious repentance, no nation will be spared God's judgment.

May we all humble ourselves, do justice, love mercy and pray that God's will and God's ways may eventually prevail throughout the world. 

A New Hymn for All Saints Sunday

I post the following new hymn with the kind permission of Carolyn Winfrey Gillette, a gifted Presbyterian pastor in Owego, New York. She has written over 400 beautiful hymns, all set to familiar tunes. 

Here is her introduction to one she wrote for All Saints Day: 

 
"O God, We Give Thanks for the Saints Gone Before Us" is a new hymn celebrating faithful Christians in the past and present; it is also a prayer that we will follow Jesus in the world today.  In a time when competing voices in society encourage us to abandon the way of Jesus, we need to remember how he taught us to live.  

O God, We Give Thanks for the Saints Gone Before Us
ASH GROVE 6.6.11.6.6.11 D ("Let All Things Now Living")

O God, we give thanks for the saints gone before us —
remembering well how they walked Jesus' Way.
They valued the truth and would rise to defend it.
They knelt to be kind to the poor day by day.
They welcomed in immigrants, honored new neighbors,
put love before greed, and sought peace over strife.
May we in our homes and our churches and nations
recall Jesus' teachings and welcome this life.

O God, we give thanks for the saints now among us —
for teachers and helpers and activists, too,
for those in our families and those who work with us
to make the world better, to make the world new.
We thank you for those who seek justice for others,
for those who seek Jesus and live by his grace.
May we in our homes and our churches and nations
give thanks for their witness of love in this place.

O God, we give thanks for the Way Jesus shows us;
may we seek to follow his reign from above.
The world often calls us to hatred and violence,
but Christ's Way is welcome and mercy and love.
Like prophets, apostles, and martyrs before us,
like those who bear witness to you every day,
may we in our homes and our churches and nations
be saints who are eager to choose Jesus' Way.

Biblical References: Matthew 5:1-12; Matthew 6:33; John 8:31-32; Matthew 25:31-46; 1 Corinthians 1:1-3; Micah 6:8

Tune: Traditional Welsh melody ("Let All Things Now Living")  (ASH GROVE)
Text: Copyright © 2024 by Carolyn Winfrey Gillette. All rights reserved.
Email: carolynshymns@gmail.com New Hymns: www.carolynshymns.com/
O God, We Give Thanks for the Saints Gone Before Us

Note: You can email her if you want to be on her contact list or if you wish to use any of her hymns in your congregation. Here are some of her latest: 

https://mailchi.mp/comcast/april2024-10145024?e=7127567b33

A Horrifying Tragedy At Red Onion State Prison

I am posting this tragic account with the permission of Natasha White, Washington, DC-based Director of Community Engagement for IAHR, an organization dedicated to "abolish unnecessarily punitive practices such as solitary confinement and to instead focus on rehabilitation and successful reentry of our citizens" in Maryland, DC and Virginia.

On September 15, 2024, a horrifying incident at Virginia’s Red Onion State Prison exposed the unbearable conditions that incarcerated individuals face daily. In a recent radio essay, Kevin Rashid Johnson reported that two men, Ekong Eshiet, and his cellmate Trayvon Brown, set themselves on fire, driven to this tragic act by the intolerable racism, abuse, and inhumane treatment they endured.

Ekong suffered third-degree burns, while Trayvon Brown’s injuries were even more severe. Last we have heard, Ekong is being treated at UVA. He is currently engaging in a hunger strike– reports state that he has refused meals for five days. As of now, we are working to gather more information on the other men involved, and any information the public has will be useful.

The Virginia Department of Corrections (VADOC) has gone too far. I am heartbroken and enraged by this level of desperation. The torture and dehumanization of incarcerated people are not only violations of the law but also crimes against humanity. As someone who has fought for freedom and been directly impacted by this system, it infuriates me that institutions continue to disregard human life with such impunity.

This must stop. We need everyone involved in addressing the crisis at Red Onion State Prison. When is enough enough? How many of our brothers must physically or spiritually suffer before meaningful change occurs?

IAHR and the Virginia Coalition have worked tirelessly year after year, to end solitary confinement—one of the main abuses taking place at the torturous Red Onion—and we will continue to do so with your help. Please contact me to help eliminate the abuses faced by incarcerated individuals; I can be reached via email, call, text, or through our website. Further, you can take part in advocating by contacting your local legislators

(https://whosmy.virginiageneralassembly.gov)

To the families, friends, and communities of those suffering within these walls: We see you, we hear you, and we stand with you in this fight for justice.

This was not an isolated act of desperation. Since then, nine more men at Red Onion have reached their breaking point, resorting to similar tragic measures. These are not protests, but cries for help from individuals pushed to the brink by a system designed to rehabilitate but instead breeds despair.

This cannot be ignored. Let this serve as a call to action for every person of conscience to demand accountability, transparency, and an end to the gruesome practices within our

prison systems.

In solidarity,

Natasha White

Director of Community Engagement (IAHR)

Interfaith Action for Human Rights

https://www.interfaithactionhr.org/

email: nwhite@interfaithactionhr.org

phone/text: 318-295-5343

P.O.Box 55802, Washington, DC 20040 318-295-5343

nwhite@interfaithactionhr.org www.interfaithactionhr.org

Will Voting For A Better Party Save The U.S.?

This is but one example of the multitude of ways
our nation was built on brutalizing, massacring,
enslaving and otherwise exploiting people in order
to gain land, power and dominance.

Much has been said about the 2024 election being a watershed moment in our nation's history. Each person's miniscule-size vote, we're told, is crucial in determining whether the U.S. will survive or will join all past empires in their inevitable demise.

I'm not encouraging citizens to refrain from casting their single vote, a privilege few people throughout history ever dreamed of. Nor am I saying there are no significant differences between political parties that sometimes make one the far better choice.

But we should never expect any form of government resulting from our two-party system to save us. The best either has to offer may only modify, or slightly delay, the inevitable judgment all self-serving empires face.

If you question whether the U.S. is an empire, consider the fact that, with less than 5% of the world's; population, we have over three times the number of military bases abroad than  all other nations combined , according to the  CATO Institute  and multiple other sources.

The ancient Hebrew prophets insisted that a nation's only hope for survival is based on its people demonstrating genuine repentance through "doing justice, showing mercy and walking humbly with God." No amount of gaining dominance, demonstrating military might or claiming to be an exceptional, entitled, and privileged nation will ultimately secure our future.

Sadly, neither of our major political parties come even close to promoting that kind of repentance, including our making the kind of restitution for past wrongs that God's justice demands. For example, neither urge us to take responsibility to repair the harm done to native Americans, the formerly enslaved, victims of our nuclear and other indiscriminate bombings, and/or exploited field and factory workers around the world who make our exceptional wealth possible. This is not to say that the U.S. has not offered much needed food and other aid around the world, but nowhere near equal to the suffering it has created in supporting multiple wars--often in alliance with anti-democratic nations.

So while a vote might sometimes move the needle in a slightly more just direction, it may also lend support to policies that do quite the opposite.

I recently had both a conservative and a progressive friend share their sense of accomplishment in having cast an early ballot. I couldn't help wanting to get them together to ask, "OK, so now that you've canceled each other's vote, now what?"

That "now what" question brings to mind the oft quoted scripture applicable to all people everywhere,
“If my people will humble themselves and pray and seek my face, I will hear from heaven, will forgive their sins and will heal their land."

According to Jesus and the prophets, that would mean voting for and promoting values like beating our many military swords into plowshares, welcoming “huddled masses yearning to be free,” caring for the poor and demonstrating love for neighbors and enemies everywhere.

Only that kind of righteousness “exalts a nation" and ensures its survival.

A Prophet's Bold Rebuke Of The Nation Of Israel

Would the message of the Hebrew prophets be any
less disturbing if they addressed nations today?

"You trample on the poor

and force them to give you grain, 

Therefore though you have built stone mansions,

you will not live in them;

though you have planted lush vineyards,

you will not drink their wine.

Seek good, not evil,

that you may live.

Then the Lord Almighty will be with you, 

just as you say he is.

Hate evil, love good;

maintain justice in the courts.

Perhaps the Lord God Almighty will have mercy

on the remnant of Joseph."

- Amos 5;11-12, 14-15 (NIV)

In our house church's Bible study yesterday Dick Dumas led us through the  book of Amos in the Bible, noting how relevant this ancient prophet's warnings are for nations today, including the modern nation of Israel.

Amos's tirades against greed, immorality, judicial corruption, extravagant lifestyles, devotion to false gods, and disregard for the poor could certainly be addressed to our own nation as well, and would likely be met with the same hostility. A native of the neighboring nation of Judah, Amos was seen as an intruder with no business crossing the border into the temple city of Bethel and indicting the people there for their wrongdoing. 

Given the nation's unfaithfulness to the terms of God's covenant, its failure to have "justice roll down like water and righteousness as a mighty stream,"Amos questioned Israel's very right to exist and predicted its certain demise unless it changed its ways. This led to Bethel's high priest, Amaziah, to warn King Jeroboam II that Amos needed to be banished to his own country and to "earn his bread and prophesy there."

Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel describes the Hebrew prophets as "some of the most disturbing people who have ever lived:" 

"Instead of dealing with the timeless issues of being and becoming, of matter and form, of definitions and demonstrations, he (the prophet) is thrown into orations about widows and orphans, about the corruption of judges and the affairs of the market place. The world is a proud place, full of beauty, but the prophets are scandalized, and rave as if the whole world were a slum... What if somewhere in ancient Palestine poor people have not been treated properly by the rich? ...Why such inordinate excitement? Why such indignation?"

Heschel then adds, "The things that horrified the prophets are daily occurrences all over the world," and writes:

"When the prophets appeared, they proclaimed that might is not supreme, that the sword is an abomination, that violence is obscene. The sword, they said, shall be destroyed.

They shall beat their swords into plowshares,

And their spears into pruning hooks;

Nation shall not lift up sword against nation,

Neither shall they learn war any more.

Isaiah 2:4

The prophets, questioning man's infatuation with might, insisted not only on the immorality but also on the futility and absurdity of war.[...] What is the ultimate profit of all the arms, alliances, and victories? Destruction, agony, death."

― Abraham Joshua Heschel, The Prophets

Prisoner's Work Brings $850 At The Relief Sale

"Innkeeper House With Lean-to Manger" is the third creation Brubaker has donated for the annual Virginia Mennonite Relief Sale, hand crafted from assorted material available inside the Dillwyn Correctional Center.

Here's his written description, a copy of which is shown in the photo above:

It's hard to believe another year has passed and the 2024 Virginia Mennonite Relief Sale auction date has arrived. The creation before you is my contribution to the Lord's work this year. I worked on this project over a period of five months and have put in more than 800 hours of my artistic focus in it, averaging at least six hours a day.

I began crafting nearly four years ago about the time the Covid 19 pandemic hit. The changes it brought to my life's normal routines at that time created a need for releasing my restless, unutilized energy.

Along with this purpose, over the last four years I have also discovered that while I am working on my annual project the process is a great way to share my faith and trust in the Lord as the men around me are drawn to the scene that depicts our Savior's birth, as did last year's project portraying Christ's sacrifice on the cross and the events of Easter weekend. The entire process from start to finish seems to be the most effective way, within my circumstances, to share the gospel with the men I live amongst who desperately need a Savior to transform their lives.

I must acknowledge the many sojourners who make it possible for me to have the means to express my faith in the manner that is before you. It is because of them that I have the means to create the Nativity scene that is my tithe for the year, my sacrifice of time to express my gratitude to the Lord for the gift it is to live under his banner of love, protection and provision in my circumstances.

This year's project consists of the items below, purchased or repurposed, sometimes both. The main substrate for all my creations is the thin cardboard backing that comes on the back of a legal sized paper tablet, 50 sheets of college ruled paper or sketch paper. I purchased more paper than I can use personally and gave it to others in need just so I can craft with the cardboard backs. This year I also salvaged a worn out Scrabble game (destined for the trash) with permission from a staff member and used the letter tiles on the surface of the roof. I also utilized some of the cardboard from the box and the board game, as well as the following:

    2 boxes of craft sticks, roughly 1000 in each box
    60 pink beveled erasers split into 15 stone pieces each
    10 pencils scraped, boiled and split in two for trim
    9 4-oz bottles of Elmer's Glue
    2 containers of cornstarch-based shower powder that is in the figurine plaster, along with sand and Elmers Glue
    1 bottle of Kiwi Brown shoe polish, the liquid used to stain the wood
    20 paper tablet cardboard  pads
    1 sheet of 15" x 20" 140 lb. watercolor artist's paper, the bottom footprint of the build that kept it relatively square
    Acrylic paints, mostly flat black on the bottom of the building
    3 2" length fingernail clippers that were broken by use with which to cut the sticks to length
    Grass makes up the hay bales which are tied with some heavy thread from a worn out cloth belt. This same thread was braided to make the larger animal's tails.
    1 bedroll of the donkey's saddlebag is made out of a clean but aged cloth with some paint applied to the bedroll for a colored pattern, perhaps Jewish in style.
    The stall hinges and the bottom pads on the build are faux leather from an eyeglasses protector I no longer needed.

I must thank the staff here at DWCC for the privilege of purchasing materials necessary for this experience. It is my hope that all the creations here today will honor the God we serve, the one who has given each of us unique talents and ways of expressing them.

Sincerely, B Brubaker

An Open Letter From 99 American Medical Professionals Who Served In Gaza

Just one of hundreds maimed for life.

The Honorable Joseph R. Biden
President of the United States
The White House
Washington, DC
United States of America

The Honorable Kamala D. Harris
Vice President of the United States
The White House
Washington, DC
United States of America

October 2, 2024

Dear President Biden and Vice President Harris,
     We are 99 American physicians, surgeons, nurse practitioners, nurses, and midwives who have volunteered in the Gaza Strip since October 7, 2023. Combined, we spent 254 weeks volunteering in Gaza’s hospitals and clinics. We worked with various nongovernmental organizations and the World Health Organization in hospitals and clinics throughout the Strip. In addition to our medical and surgical expertise, many of us have a public health background, as well as experience working in humanitarian and conflict zones, including Ukraine during the brutal Russian invasion. Some of us are veterans and reservists. We are a multi-faith and multiethnic group. None of us support the horrors committed on October 7 by Palestinian armed groups and individuals in Israel.
     The Constitution of the World Health Organization states: “The health of all peoples is fundamental to the attainment of peace and security and is dependent on the fullest cooperation of individuals and States.” It is in this spirit that we write to you in this open letter.
     We are among the only neutral observers who have been permitted to enter the Gaza Strip since October 7. Given our broad expertise and direct experience of working throughout Gaza we are uniquely positioned to comment on several matters of importance to our government as it decides whether to continue supporting Israel’s attack on, and siege of, the Gaza Strip. Specifically, we believe we are well positioned to comment on the massive human toll from Israel’s attack on Gaza, especially the toll it has taken on women and children.
     This letter collects and summarizes our own experiences and direct observations in Gaza. The letter is accompanied by a detailed appendix summarizing the publicly available information from media, humanitarian, and academic sources on key aspects of Israel’s invasion of Gaza. Both this letter and the appendix are available electronically at GazaHealthcareLetters.org. This website also houses letters from Canadian and British healthcare workers to their respective governments, making many similar observations to those herein.
     This letter and the appendix show probative evidence that the human toll in Gaza since October is far higher than is understood in the United States. It is likely that the death toll from this conflict is already greater than 118,908, an astonishing 5.4% of Gaza’s population.
Our government must act immediately to prevent an even worse catastrophe than what has already befallen the people of Gaza and Israel. A ceasefire must be imposed on the warring parties by withholding military support for Israel and supporting an international arms embargo on Israel and all Palestinian armed groups. We believe our government is obligated to do this, both under American law and International Humanitarian Law. We also believe it is the right thing to do.

I’ve never seen such horrific injuries, on such a massive scale, with so few resources. Our bombs are cutting down women and children by the thousands. Their mutilated bodies are a monument to cruelty.

Dr. Feroze Sidhwa, trauma and critical care surgeon, Veterans Affairs general surgeon

     With only marginal exceptions, everyone in Gaza is sick, injured, or both. This includes every national aid worker, every international volunteer, and probably every Israeli hostage: every man, woman, and child. While working in Gaza we saw widespread malnutrition in our patients and our Palestinian healthcare colleagues. Every one of us lost weight rapidly in Gaza despite having privileged access to food and having taken our own supplementary nutrient-dense food with us. We have photographic evidence of life-threatening malnutrition in our patients, especially children, that we are eager to share with you.
     Virtually every child under the age of five whom we encountered, both inside and outside of the hospital, had both a cough and watery diarrhea. We found cases of jaundice (indicating hepatitis A infection under such conditions) in nearly every room of the hospitals in which we served, and in many of our healthcare colleagues in Gaza. An astonishingly high percentage of our surgical incisions became infected from the combination of malnutrition, impossible operating conditions, lack of basic sanitation supplies such as soap, and lack of surgical supplies and medications, including antibiotics.
     Malnutrition led to widespread spontaneous abortions, underweight newborns, and an inability of new mothers to breastfeed. This left their newborns at high risk of death given the lack of access to potable water anywhere in Gaza. Many of those infants died. In Gaza we watched malnourished mothers feed their underweight newborns infant formula made with poisonous water. We can never forget that the world abandoned these innocent women and babies.

Every day I saw babies die. They had been born healthy. Their mothers were so malnourished that they could not breastfeed, and we lacked formula or clean water to feed them, so they starved.

Asma Taha, pediatric nurse practitioner

We urge you to realize that epidemics are raging in Gaza. Israel’s continued, repeated displacement of the malnourished and sick population of Gaza, half of whom are children, to areas without running water or even toilets available is absolutely shocking. It was and remains guaranteed to result in widespread death from viral and bacterial diarrheal diseases and pneumonias, particularly in children under the age of five. Indeed, even the dreaded polio virus has reemerged in Gaza due to a combination of systematic destruction of the sanitation infrastructure, widespread malnutrition weakening immune systems, and young children having missed routine vaccinations for nearly an entire year. We worry that unknown thousands have already died from the lethal combination of malnutrition and disease, and that tens of thousands more will die in the coming months, especially with the onset of the winter rains in Gaza. Most of them will be young children.

Gaza was the first time I held a baby’s brains in my hand. The first of many.

Dr. Mark Perlmutter, orthopedic and hand surgeon

     Children are universally considered innocents in armed conflict. However, every single signatory to this letter saw children in Gaza who suffered violence that must have been deliberately directed at them. Specifically, every one of us who worked in an emergency, intensive care, or surgical setting treated pre-teen children who were shot in the head or chest on a regular or even a daily basis. It is impossible that such widespread shooting of young children throughout Gaza, sustained over the course of an entire year is accidental or unknown to the highest Israeli civilian and military authorities.

     President Biden and Vice President Harris, we wish you could see the nightmares that plague so many of us since we have returned: dreams of children maimed and mutilated by our weapons, and their inconsolable mothers begging us to save them. We wish you could hear the cries and screams our consciences will not let us forget. We cannot fathom why you continue arming the country that is deliberately killing these children en masse.

I saw so many stillbirths and maternal deaths that could have been easily prevented if the hospitals had been functioning normally.

Dr. Thalia Pachiyannakis, obstetrician and gynecologist

     The pregnant and breastfeeding women we treated were particularly malnourished. Those of us who worked with pregnant women regularly saw stillbirths and maternal deaths that were easily preventable in any developing country’s healthcare system. The rate of infection in C-section incisions was astonishing. Women underwent vaginal deliveries and even C-sections without anesthesia and were given nothing but Tylenol afterwards because no other pain medications were available.

     We all observed emergency departments overwhelmed by patients seeking treatment for chronic medical conditions such as renal failure, hypertension, and diabetes. Aside from trauma patients, most ICU beds were occupied by patients with type 1 diabetes who no longer had access to insulin. The lack of medication availability, the widespread loss of electricity and refrigeration, and inconsistent access to food made managing this disease impossible. Israel has destroyed more than half of Gaza’s healthcare resources and has killed nearly one thousand Palestinian healthcare workers, more than one out of every 20 healthcare workers in Gaza. At the same time healthcare needs have increased massively from the lethal combination of military violence, malnutrition, disease, and displacement.

     The hospitals where we worked were starved of basic supplies from, surgical material to soap. They were regularly cut off from electricity and Internet access, denied clean water, and operated at four to seven times their bed capacity. Every hospital was overwhelmed beyond the breaking point by displaced persons seeking safety, by the constant stream of sick and malnourished patients seeking care, and by the huge influx of seriously wounded patients who typically arrived in mass casualty events.

     These observations and the publicly available material detailed in the appendix lead us to believe that the death toll from this conflict is many times higher than what is reported by the Gaza Ministry of Health. We also believe this is probative evidence of widespread violations of American laws governing the use of American weapons abroad, and of International Humanitarian Law. We cannot forget scenes of unbearable cruelty directed at women and children that our government is a direct participant in.

     As we met our healthcare colleagues in Gaza it was clear that they were malnourished, and both physically and mentally devastated. We quickly learned that our Palestinian healthcare colleagues were among the most traumatized people in Gaza, and perhaps in the entire world. Like virtually all people in Gaza they had lost family members and their homes. Most lived in and around their hospitals with their surviving family in unimaginable conditions. Although they continued working a grueling schedule, they had not been paid since October 7. All were acutely aware that their work as healthcare providers had marked them as targets for Israel. This makes a mockery of the protected status hospitals and healthcare providers are granted under the oldest and most widely accepted provisions of International Humanitarian Law.

     We met healthcare personnel in Gaza who worked at hospitals that had been raided and destroyed by Israel. Many of these colleagues of ours were taken by Israel during the attacks. They all told us a slightly different version of the same story: in captivity they were barely fed, continuously physically and psychologically abused, and finally dumped naked on the side of a road. Many told us they were subjected to mock executions and other forms of mistreatment and torture. Far too many of our healthcare colleagues told us they were simply waiting to die.

     The 99 signatories to this letter spent a combined 254 weeks inside Gaza’s largest hospitals and clinics. We wish to be absolutely clear: not once did any of us see any type of Palestinian militant activity in any of Gaza’s hospitals or other healthcare facilities.

     We urge you to see that Israel has systematically and deliberately devastated Gaza’s entire healthcare system, and that Israel has targeted our colleagues in Gaza for torture, disappearance, and murder.

     President Biden and Vice President Harris, any solution to this problem must begin with an immediate and permanent ceasefire. We appreciate that you are working on a ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas, but you have overlooked an obvious fact: the United States can impose a ceasefire on the warring parties by simply stopping arms shipments to Israel, and announcing that we will participate in an international arms embargo on both Israel and all Palestinian armed groups. We stress what many others have repeatedly told you over the past year: American law is perfectly clear on this matter, continuing to arm Israel is illegal.

     President Biden and Vice President Harris, we urge you to immediately withhold military, economic, and diplomatic support from the State of Israel and to participate in an international arms embargo of Israel and all Palestinian armed groups until a permanent ceasefire is established in Gaza, including the release of all Israeli and Palestinian hostages, and until a permanent resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is negotiated between the two parties. Vice President Harris, as the likely next president of the United States, we urge you to publicly announce your support for such a policy, and to state publicly that you are duty-bound to uphold the laws of the United States even when doing so is politically inconvenient.

     President Biden and Vice President Harris, we are 99 American physicians and nurses who have witnessed crimes beyond comprehension. Crimes that we cannot believe you wish to continue supporting. Please meet with us to discuss what we saw, and why we feel American policy in the Middle East must change immediately.

In the meantime, we reiterate what we wrote in our letter of July 25, 2024:

1. The Rafah Crossing between Gaza and Egypt must be immediately reopened, and must allow unfettered aid delivery by recognized international humanitarian organizations. Security screening of aid deliveries must be conducted by an independent international inspection regime instead of by Israeli forces. These screenings must be based on a clear, unambiguous, and published list of forbidden items, and with a clear independent international mechanism for challenging forbidden items, as verified by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in the occupied Palestinian territory.

2. A bare minimum water allocation of 15L of potable water per person per day, the Sphere Handbook minimum in a humanitarian emergency, must be allocated to the population of Gaza, as verified by UN Water.

3. Full and unrestricted access of medical and surgical professionals and medical and surgical equipment to the Gaza Strip must be resumed. This must include items taken in healthcare professionals’ personal luggage to safeguard their proper storage, sterility, and timely delivery, as verified by the World Health Organization. Incredibly, Israel continues to block healthcare workers of Palestinian descent from working in Gaza, even American citizens. This makes a mockery of the American ideal that “all men are created equal” and degrades both our national ideals and our profession. Our work is lifesaving. Our Palestinian healthcare colleagues in Gaza are desperate for relief and protection, and they deserve both.

     We are not politicians. We do not claim to have all the answers. We are simply healing professionals who cannot remain silent about what we saw in Gaza. Every day that we continue supplying weapons and munitions to Israel is another day that women are shredded by our bombs and children are murdered with our bullets.

President Biden and Vice President Harris, we urge you: end this madness now!

Sincerely,

(signed by 99 American physicians and nurses) 

Note:  urge the Biden-Harris administration to  meet with American healthcare professionals who've seen the carnage in Gaza:

https://www.gazahealthcareletters.org/?fbclid=IwY2xjawFuwZ5leHRuA2FlbQIxMAABHa5FIhpSV1OdspyMak8iduGXwHiSKYplOeWcfyTcF8n1SPMrwgccjUOVJA_aem_89m1Fl8XsktE59JI3RySNw

Would Jesus Support Netanyahu's Israel?

“Flevit super illam (“He wept over it”), was painted in 1892 by Enrique Simonet, and is in the public domain, courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.

Many of my Christian friends see the modern state of Israel as the fulfillment of God's covenant promise to bless all the nations of the world through the descendants of Abraham. Based on that premise they support any and all military actions taken to ensure its survival.

But would the Prophet, King, and Suffering Servant Jesus take a different position today than when he led a royal  procession into Jerusalem on a donkey's back nearly 2000 years ago?

It was on the eve of Passover, a celebration of the descendants of Israel's deliverance thirteen centuries earlier from Egyptian oppression, that an enthusiastic crowd welcomed Jesus into the city, believing him to be the fulfillment of their dream of having their Roman occupiers overthrown and Jerusalem restored to its former glory. King Solomon had been been greeted in a similar way as he rode a beast of burden belonging to his father David on his way to his coronation in 970 BCE. 

Sadly, in spite of Solomon's many accomplishments, like building a beautiful temple and an even more elaborate palace, this Son of David's reign ended in a divided kingdom and the eventual end of Israel's political dominance in the region.

The first century citizens of Jerusalem would have also been thinking of the Maccabean revolution just over a hundred years prior, when Israel's enemies were overthrown by force, the Jerusalem temple was rededicated and Israel was for some decades once again an independent nation. But was Jesus to be another Judas Maccabee (the Hammer), or a different kind of world ruler and redeemer altogether?

Sometime before Jesus entered Jerusalem he had sternly rebuked two of his his disciples, James and John, for wanting to order fire from heaven to destroy their Samaritan (Palestinian?) enemies (Luke 9:51-55). In line with the prophets before him, Jesus proclaimed a reign of God in which wolves lie down with lambs, swords are reshaped into plowshares, and nations no longer make war against each other. In keeping with the words of the Torah and the prophets, God's promises of land and other blessings were seen as based on God's people being faithful to their part of the covenant, which included doing justice, loving mercy and walking humbly with God. This meant being hospitable to strangers and aliens among them, a command repeated more often in scripture than even the observance of Sabbath.

So surely Jesus would never support having the children of Abraham, so often the victim of oppression themselves, becoming violent oppressors like their Egyptian, Assyrian, Babylonian, Greek and Roman conquerors. As a devout Jew, Jesus loved his people deeply and because of that wept over Jerusalem as he lamented, "If you only knew today what is needed for peace! But now you cannot see it."

I join Jesus in that love and that lament.

When Prayers Become All "Asks" And No Action

I've not yet read this book, but the title
(and some of its reviews) intrigue me.

“You pray for the hungry. Then you feed them. That’s how prayer works.”  

—Pope Francis

How many of our prayers are mostly of the "Gimme" type or are some version of "Bless-me-and-my-wife-and-my-son-John-and-his-wife-us-four-and-no-more?"

Probably too many, if truth be told. 

I've been convicted lately of the need to have more of my prayers reshaped into the following:

1. A time of attentive listening. How might I/we hear and respond to our Creator's wishes for "God's will to be done on earth as it is in heaven?" Maybe we should think of praying being more like standing at attention and reporting for duty.

2. A heartfelt pledge of allegiance. How might the so-called "Lord's Prayer" or a personalized version of Romans 12:1-2 become like a daily renewal of our baptismal induction as members of God's special forces?

3. A time of connecting with our nearby and world neighbors. What if we experienced prayer as a way of seeing all of our fellow humans through the lens of our just and compassionate Creator? Whenever we pray at a meal, for example, we could picture ourselves being around one common, worldwide table.

4. A time of creating an action plan for collaborating with God's "answers" to our requests. Our prayer lists could become a part of our daily action plans for becoming God's heart, hands and feet in making prayers come true--through our letters, phone calls, visits, acts of kindness, deeds of charity, etc. 

5. A time for inner refueling and recharging. How might some of the empowering words of scripture become the focus and content of more of our prayers? For example, this prayer from Ephesians 1:18-21 (emphases mine): 

"I pray that the eyes of your heart will have enough light to see what is the hope of God’s call, what is the richness of God’s glorious inheritance among believers, and what is the overwhelming greatness of God’s power that is working among us believers. This power is conferred by the energy of God’s powerful strength. God’s power was at work in Christ when God raised him from the dead and sat him at God’s right side in the heavens, far above every ruler and authority and power and angelic power, any power that might be named not only now but in the future."     (Common English Version)                                           

Statement By The Ukranian Pacifist Movement

The following statement was adopted by the General Assembly of the Ukrainian Pacifist Movement on the International Day of Peace 21 September 21, 2024, and posted on their website yesterday.

 Clean skies are proudly azure,

When bloodshed of inhuman war is ceased,

And peace endure.

So says the last poem written by Ukrainian writer Ivan Franko; he desired to end the first world war, but didn’t lived to see the Peace of Versailles. If he would, he might be disappointed by short-sighted plans of peaceful life written by victors who never seriously considered life without wars and because of that failed to build sustainable peace.

Of course, in most places, most of the time, people always live in peace, because peace is the need and natural right of every person and every community, including the people of Ukraine. Restraint, truth and love, good trusting relations for centuries and millennia allowed people to live peacefully on the common planet Earth and in each of its countries, including Ukraine.

Peace, rooted in every particle of existence, always surrounds us. Even when we don’t notice it. Even when injustice and evil far or near disturb us, cause pain and loss.

Faith, care and knowledge allow us to find and strengthen peace within and around us. If it is not strengthened, if past traumas are not healed, the fragile peace can suffer from intentional or unintentional harm to people and nature, from violence against oneself and others.

“How countries, burdened by war, desperately want peace! And ignorance learns true values only when they are lost: suffers getting them, doesn’t enjoy having them, and is tormented by losing them,” wrote Ukrainian philosopher Hryhorii Skovoroda, a self-described “lover and son of peace”.

At the demands of peace congresses of the world civil society, where Ukraine was also represented, pacifism became the norm of international relations. International organizations were created where you can assemble to council, find help, settle disputes with assistance of objective arbitrators, and find common ground with assistance of benevolent mediators instead of the senseless mass killing that is war.

The League of Nations, and then the United Nations, became the foundation of a new world peaceful governance, the leaders of which promised, according to the UN Charter, to save succeeding generations from the scourge of war and to resolve international disputes by peaceful means, or, according to the Constitution of Ukraine, to maintain a peaceful and mutually beneficial cooperation with members of the international community according to generally recognized principles and norms of international law.

Unfortunately, this architecture of the universal peace of mankind on the common planet Earth was perceived by the victors of wars as a scenery behind which they continued to drill their armies and arm themselves. Instead of preparing for peace, the winners of wars prepared for new wars and set a bad example for other such “heroes”. Peaceful promises were therefore broken, and anyone who breaks them portrays himself as a hero and victim of oppression, even if he is a villain and oppressor.

The problem is not that demonic enemies oppose angelic heroes, but that all humans on the common planet suffering from unnecessary wars are victims of a flawed, outdated political system where far more effort and resources are spent to prepare and wage wars rather than to stop and avoid wars.

Nuclear weapons are the most dangerous part of this vicious system that threatens to kill all life on the planet. To prevent this from happening, we demand general and complete disarmament in accordance with the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons. The Declaration of State Sovereignty of Ukraine proclaimed that Ukraine does not participate in military blocs and adheres to three non-nuclear principles: not to accept, not to produce, and not to acquire nuclear weapons. We remember this historical fact, we take care of the realization of these peaceful aspirations of the Ukrainian people and call to support the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons and implement its requirements in every country of the world.

Today, Ukrainians are victims of brutal Russian aggression and have the right to fair compensation for the suffering and return of what was conquered by war criminals. Without restoration of justice, there can be no true, honest reconciliation.

The victim’s desire to have victory over the attacker is natural. One must have courage and make reasonable efforts to defend one’s rights in a peaceful way, overcoming fear and anger and deceptive temptations to take cruel revenge or surrender to the mercy of a stronger one.

A truly strong one has a conscience not to do evil and does not need anyone’s destruction or enslavement. And the one who does not have a conscience is deprived of conscious and effective unity and peace with all humanity and nature, and this is one’s weakness.

No victory will be fair if it is not mutual. Common victory, when everyone is satisfied and no one is offended, has a name: peace.

If you want peace, you must prepare for peace.

The aggressor state is preparing for a long-term war against the West. With blunt brutality, the Kremlin is trying to force Ukrainians in the temporarily occupied territories of Crimea, Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions to hate Ukraine and fight in the Russian army, which destroys cities and kills people with barbaric bombings.

This wild and outdated policy, like the general increase in militaristic arbitrariness, is a challenge that cannot be feared.

Rejecting the myopic temptations of the outdated policies of opportunism and surrenderism, the Ukrainian Pacifist Movement remains faithful to principles of the “Peace Agenda for Ukraine and the World” and the statement on the development of unarmed forces of pacifists to resist Russian aggression and implement the Ukrainian vision of world peace, common peace for all humans.

We will continue consistently to move forward on the path of unarmed protection of civilians, nonviolent resistance to aggression and tyranny. We will make every effort to direct as many people as possible to this peaceful path: by personal example, enlightenment, information, etc.

We firmly believe that peace, not war, is the norm of human life, as we stated in the “Peace Agenda for Ukraine and the World.” Peace≠war: peace is not war, this is the pacifist formula of peace. We consider it an axiom that peace is not equal to war, we support and implement the values of peace, democracy and justice in our activities.

We form and implement a long-term vision of a world without wars and demand that everyone who proposes peace plans must necessarily include in these plans a long-term vision of a peaceful future without wars (a realistic path to eternal peace) and take into account the fair restoration of the rights of Ukrainians as victims of aggression (dignity of victim, so that the power of justice, with support of entire peaceful world, restores and reinvigorates the strength and resilience of Ukraine as a victim of Putin’s genocidal war of aggression).

We support the United Nations in initiatives to build peace through peaceful means and have high hopes for the Summit Of The Future. We hope that world leaders will seize the opportunity to adopt a universal pact for a peaceful future, so that politics, economics, science and technology will work for peace, not war, to liberate future generations from the yoke of war.

We will inspire peaceful people to be strong and courageous in their desire to remain civilians, to protect peaceful life in a peaceful way, to uphold human rights to peace and conscientious objection to military service.

We need global peaceful transformations and more effective global nonviolent governance, involving the efforts of world peace movements into successful activities of the United Nations and achieving such a power of nonviolent actions that will be able to stop Russian aggression.

We, the pacifists, know that the highest law of life is “Thou shalt not kill!”, therefore we cannot become soldiers, murderers and executioners. This is a key point in our strategy to approach peace.

Our vision of the future is eternal peace. And by demanding that all peace plans must include real paths to this desired future, we resist militaristic madness, the desire to fight endlessly. Justice should be brought peacefully, not by war. Highest justice is a world without wars.

War is a crime against humanity, therefore we are determined not to support any kind of war and will strive for the removal of all causes of war.

UKRAINIAN PACIFIST MOVEMENT