Peace Messenger

The International Ecumenical Peace Convocation - 4

The fourth in a series of posts by Barry Bussey, associate director of Public Affairs and Religious Liberty, General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists:

The messiness of peace was evident today in the convocation. Exactly what does “Peace among the Peoples” look like. The modern state has a number of actors that causes one to pause in trying to figure out the complexities of war. Consider for example the country of Norway. It seeks to maintain a very positive image around the world as not only a peaceful country but a peacekeeping country.

To End All Wars: A Story of Love and Rebellion, 1914-1918

by Adam Hochshild
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt / 2011

"In this deeply moving history of the so-called Great War, those opposing its mindless folly receive equal billing with the politicians, generals, and propagandists obdurately insisting on its perpetuation. Implicit in Adam Hochschild's account is this chilling warning: once governments become captive of wars they purport to control, they turn next on their own people."--Andrew J. Bacevich, author of Washington Rules: America's Path to Permanent War

Prophetic Stringency: Commonweal's Tribute to Ron Osborn's Work

Reviewing Anarchy and Apocalypse, the managing editor of Commonweal magazine writes:

Commonweal readers will be familiar with Osborn’s clear-eyed, well-honed analysis (most recently in “Still Counting: How Many Iraqis Have Died?” February 11). This book reveals the foundation of his analysis of headline events. While neither anarchistic (in the colloquial sense of advocating violence or extreme libertarianism) nor apocalyptic (in tenor or proclamation), there is a stringency in Osborn’s thinking that is prophetic and liberating.

Torture and the Trail to bin Laden: McCain Sets the Record Straight

...Former attorney general Michael Mukasey recently claimed that "the intelligence that led to bin Laden . . . began with a disclosure from Khalid Sheik Mohammed, who broke like a dam under the pressure of harsh interrogation techniques that included waterboarding. He loosed a torrent of information -- including eventually the nickname of a trusted courier of bin Laden." That is false.

War, Peace and Conscientious Objection: Where Do We Stand?

Barry Bussey, the Seventh-day Adventist Church's liaison to the United Nations, explains why we can't continue to avoid the tough questions in an Adventist News Network opinion piece (15 April 2011):

...[T]he Seventh-day Adventist Church -- historically such an outspoken proponent of conscientious objection -- has grown less clear and less certain on the issue over recent decades. We've, by and large, preferred to look the other way or simply skirt around the edges of the issues.