 My Refusal to Bear Arms. "The phrase, 'love your neighbor,' the North Koreans, kept echoing in my mind," writes Hee Jae Im in describing how he came to his costly refusal to bear arms in the South Korean military. more
Dialogue Discusses Peacemaking. Hee Jae Im's story is among the articles on Adventists and peacemaking in the latest issue of Dialogue, the international Adventist periodical for college and university students. In the lead article, Stefan Hoeschele (right) of the theology faculty  at Friedensau Adventist University affirms, "We cannot support the use of violence, and we should make this clear. There can be no compromise on this matter. As responsible citizens of the state here and the Kingdom of God, our unequivocal position should be promotion of peace, rejection of military actions, and rebuking of those who advocate violence.... We should make it clear that the Seventh-day Adventist Church is a peace church." more
Metatstatic Militarism. President Bush will leave to his successor not only "a world marred by war and battered by deprivation" but also "a Pentagon metastasized almost beyond recognition," says Frida Berrigan. Beyond just the budget-busting explosion in expenditures, she breaks down the stunning expansion of the Pentagon's prerogatives during the past six years as "arms dealer," "intelligence analyst and spy," "humanitarian caregiver," "gobal viceroy and ruler of the heavens," and more!
Cluster Bomb Ban Approved but America AWOL. Representatives from more than 100 nations approved a treaty in Dublin last week banning current designs of cluster bombs. The world's main producers and stockpilers - including the United States, Russia and China - oppose the move. The United Kingdom, however, has not only given enthusiastic support to the ban, but says it will destroy its existing arsenal and require the U.S. to get rid of the cluster bombs it has stockpiled at British bases. more
Cluster bombs are particularly pernicious because they open in mid-air dispersing dozens to hundreds of small submunitions over an area that can be as large as several football fields, and thereby become a menace to civilians for years to come. Thus, they are known as the "bombs that keep on killing." Children, particularly, are endangered. The Cluster Munitions Civilian Protection Act pending in Congress would greatly restrict use of the weapons. more
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Also in this Issue
The Prophetic Word
"Remnant church, Seventh-day Adventist church, don’t be afraid to speak truth to power...Preach and teach that war and violence for money and geopolitical hegemony is always wrong. Preach that excessive greed and exploiting the poor and disenfranchised is always wrong."
--Pastor Trevor Kinlock, from a sermon preached at Calvary Seventh-day Adventist Church, Newport News, Virginia. more
Peace Blogs
At Adventist Women for Peace, Lourdes Morales-Gudmundsson comments on a recent article in which Jan Paulsen, Adventist world church president, highlights peacemaking as one of the five attributes for which he would like Adventists to be known.
Adventist peace activists and bloggers Ryan Bell and Johnny Ramirez have both recently posted information about Envision 08, a major conference on Christian engagement in the public square, June 8-10 in Princeton, New Jersey.
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