Depleted Uranium

This is a 6-minute teaching presentation on the issue of Depleted Uranium and the Stop-DU campaign of Christian Peacemaker Teams. For more information, see http://stop-du.org/, and see http://www.cpt.org/.

(I am sorry that the resolution is so fuzzy -- email me at Phil.Rhoads@gmail.com and I will be glad to present a high-resolution version for your group.)

Idea for Children’s Story

Peace&Justice Sunday
September 30, 2007

Characters: Choir director — Jan Buerge
Men in Choir — Mike Peters, Bob Carlson, Jim Martin
Inmate in Choir — Victor Torreros (wearing mask)
Sunday School Teacher — Phyllis Carlson
Kids in Class — Emma Campbell, Joel Campbell, Hannah Schrag, Jason Leuenberg, Marina Kaufman, Andrew Moore, Jacob Kaufman, etc.
Police Officer — Phil Rhoads

Preparation: Children to make wadded-up paper balls, put equally into 2 buckets. One bucket will be for the Police Officer and one for the Inmate in the Choir.

Introduction: Phil will ask the Children if they know any of the sayings of Jesus. If no one can think of any, Phil will give examples, like “I was hungry and you gave me (food), I thirsty and you gave me (something to drink), I was a stranger and you (welcomed me), I was naked and gave me (clothing), I was sick and you (took care of me), I was in prison and you (visited me).” Phil will ask the Children if they know who Paul was and if they know any of Paul’s sayings. Phil will suggest, “if your enemies are hungry, (feed them), if they are thirsty, give them (something to drink).” Phil will explain to Children that today we are going to try to imagine what Jesus meant when he said to “Love Your Neighbor” and “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy,’ but I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.”

Scene 1: Children sit on floor of sanctuary facing the altar. Choir lines up on the podium facing the congregation. Choir director and choir pantomime directing and singing. Recorded music from East Hill Singers (“Holy, Holy, Holy”) plays from sound system.

Scene 2: Children sit on podium around their Sunday School Teacher who is on a chair. Inmate enters from off-stage with his bucket of paper balls. He throws paper balls at children and the teacher. Anyone hit with a paper ball pretends to be wounded. Choir director enters from off-stage and observes with horror what is happening and runs for help. Police Officer enteres from off-stage with his bucket of paper balls. He holds up one ball and yells menacingly (in pantomime). Choir director and choir members enter from off-stage. Director and one member calmly surround the Police Officer to block him from Inmate. The other two choir members surround the Inmate and block him from the Police Officer and from the Sunday School Class. The Inmate kicks over his bucket and throws down his remaining paper balls on the floor. Everyone stares at the Police Officer and after a pause, he quietly lays down his bucket and his remaining paper balls on the floor. Then everyone except the Police Officer and the Inmate kneel and pray. The Police Officer motions to the Inmate, and they walk together slowly off-stage.

Ending: Jan gives each child and each adult in the skit a set of Peace Stickers to pass among all the members of the Congregation. The Police Officer and Inmate (with mask removed) join in passing out the Peace Stickers.

Issues Poll for Rainbow Peace & Justice

Peace & Justice Sunday
September 30, 2007

A. Please look over the following list of issue areas (the list is from the MCC web site: http://mcc.org/us/washington/issues/

B. Think of an imaginary budget of time and/or money. Your unit of measure may be hours or dollars.

C. Allocate your budget units among the various choices listed or fill in the blanks with headings you prefer. (Don't worry if the individual budgeted units don't add up to the total indicated in step B.)

D. Add any comments you may like and turn in your completed form to a member of the Rainbow Peace & Justice Committee AS SOON AS POSSIBLE.

Thank you!

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Imaginary Budget: ____________ (hours or dollars), allotted as follows:

1 * Civil Rights & Civil Liberties __________
Reforming the USA Patriot Act __________
Hospitality __________
Accompaniment __________
____________________________________________________ __________

2 * Criminal Justice __________
Restorative Justice __________
Victim-Offender Reconciliation __________
Death Penalty __________
Gun Violence Prevention __________
Juvenile Justice __________
Prison reform __________
____________________________________________________ __________

3 * Environment __________
Climate Change __________
Renewable Energy __________
Air & Water Pollution __________
Eco-Justice __________
Water Privatization __________
____________________________________________________ __________

4 * Global Economic Justice __________
Economic Globalization __________
____________________________________________________ __________

5 * HIV/AIDS __________
Global AIDS __________
____________________________________________________ __________

6 * Immigration __________
New Sanctuary Movement __________
____________________________________________________ __________

7 * Militarism __________
Nuclear Weapons Control __________
Depleted Uranium Weapons __________
National Missile Shield __________
Military Recruitment __________
Veterans Affairs __________
____________________________________________________ __________

8 * Peace Issues __________
Iraq War __________
Threats Against Iran __________
____________________________________________________ __________

9 * U.S. Economic Justice __________
Nutrition/Hunger Relief __________
Housing __________
Accesss to Healthcare __________
____________________________________________________ __________

10 * Africa __________
HIV/AIDS __________
Uganda __________
Congo __________
Sudan __________
____________________________________________________ __________

11 * Asia __________
HIV/AIDS __________
Land Mines __________
North Korea __________
Vietnam __________
Laos __________
Burma __________
____________________________________________________ __________

12 * Latin America __________
Colombia __________
Haiti __________
____________________________________________________ __________

13 * Middle East __________
Israeli-Palestinian Conflict __________
Iraq War __________
Threats Against Syria __________
Lebanon __________
Jordan __________
Egypt __________
Sabeel __________
____________________________________________________ __________

14 * Rainbow High School Essay Contest __________
Similar rules to the MCC H.S. Essay Contest (see attached)

15 * Other ______________________________________________ __________
____________________________________________________ __________
____________________________________________________ __________

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Comments______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________

2007 MCC H.S. Essay Contest

http://mcc.org/us/washington/programs/essays/2007/

Purpose

• To promote church-wide awareness of significant public policy issues by highlighting Mennonite and Brethren in Christ (BIC) youth perspectives
• To promote youth understanding of the relationship of faith to public policy
• To promote greater awareness of the work of MCC’s Washington Office and expand the base of Mennonite/BIC policy advocates

Guidelines

• Contest is open to all Mennonite and Brethren in Christ youth of high school age in private or public schools, and to all youth who attend Mennonite high schools.
• Immediate family members of current MCC staff or board members are not eligible for the contest.
• Essays should be 1,500 - 2,000 words in length, typewritten and double-spaced. Essays must be on one of the four listed topics.
• Each student may submit only one essay. Please keep an electronic copy of your essay.
• A list of resources is provided with each essay topic.
• Essays must be postmarked by November 30, 2007 and submitted to the nearest MCC U.S. regional office.
• Each region will submit the top three essays to the MCC Washington Office for selection of the winners.
• Prizes will be awarded as follows: 1st place essay $500; 2nd place $250 and 3rd place $100
• The MCC Washington Office will announce winners by February 8, 2008.
• Entries will be judged on content (demonstrated understanding of the issues), clarity (writing style) and creativity (imaginative and thoughtful policy positions).
• Portions of the winning essays will be published in the Washington Memo.

2007 Topics

• Sudan: How Should Christians Respond to Violent Conflict?

http://mcc.org/us/washington/programs/essays/2007/sudan.html

• Crime & Justice: Restorative Justice v. Retributive Justice: Should Christians Take a Side?

http://mcc.org/us/washington/programs/essays/2007/crime.html

• Economic Justice & Immigration: How should Christians respond to U.S. trade policy in light of its direct connection with immigration to the United States?

http://mcc.org/us/washington/programs/essays/2007/economic.html

• Faith & Politics: Faith, Values and Voting: Christians and the 2008 Elections

http://mcc.org/us/washington/programs/essays/2007/faithpol.html

MCC Regional Offices
Entries must be postmarked by November 30, 2007 and submitted to nearest MCC office:

MCC Central States
121 East 30th Street
PO Box 235
North Newton, KS, 67117
(316) 283-2720

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2006 Essay Contest Winners

First Place
“Have Dominion Over the Earth”
http://mcc.org/us/washington/programs/essays/2006/first.html

Matt Thomas, Bethany Christian High School (Goshen, IN)

“God gave us these things to use. After the last tree is felled, Christ will come back.” James Watt made this famous statement regarding the use of natural resources. This Christian belief is erroneous and . . .

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Second Place

The Heavens Declare the Glory of God
http://mcc.org/us/washington/programs/essays/2006/second.html

Meg Kennell, Bethany Christian High School (Goshen, IN)

In the beginning, there was an endless void -- a ceaseless expanse of emptiness, a vacuum devoid of any living creature. And then God spoke. . . . But God took the risk of untying the puppet strings . . .

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Third Place (Tie)

A Poverty Draft vs. Reinstatement of the Draft: Solving the Issue of Unjust Military Recruiting
http://mcc.org/us/washington/programs/essays/2006/thirda.html

Rachel Lanctot, Bethany Christian High School (Goshen, IN)

It is a common practice for Mennonites to view certain issues dealing with war or violence from a strictly pacifist mindset. . . . However, when it comes to specific issues . . .

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Immigration and the American Border Policy: A Christian Response
http://mcc.org/us/washington/programs/essays/2006/thirdb.html

Hannah Roth, Bethany Christian High School (Goshen, IN)

In an age when millions of people celebrate Diversity Day as a national holiday and recognize the March on Washington as an honorable moment in history, it seems incongruous that the growing number of immigrants to the United States continue to face animosity. Today, immigration is near the top . . .

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Knowing too much

Working as a volunteer with inmates at a prison, sometimes it's best to not know too much. You know they are in prison, but you don't know what they did or what were the circumstances. You can just accept them at face value. No labels except they are in prison.

As you get to know each other through your volunteer organization, in my case, a men's chorus, you begin to form an image of each person based on your own personal interaction with them. Are they serious, are they always joking around, are they distant, are they too personal, etc.

Sometimes someone tells you more than you want to hear. Details about their mental health, episodes from their childhood, a vague or vivid description of their crime. What do you do with this information?

You are not trained as a priest or a counselor. You can not say, "Your sins are forgiven. Do this for penance. Go and sin no more." You can not say, "How did you feel when . . . ? Can you forgive yourself and move on with your life?"

Now a label forms in your mind. You have an easy way to describe your inmate: a bank robber, an alcoholic, a drug addict, a wife abuser, a murderer, a pedophile, a con artist, etc.

Can you ever go back and relate to your inmate as a human being, now that you have this label in your head? Must you move on to a new inmate, one you don't know as well?

Why can a little knowledge be such a dangerous thing?

Sometimes I think I would like to stay in a safe, naive, non-judgmental place. Jesus said, "Judge not, and ye shall not be judged: condemn not, and ye shall not be condemned: forgive, and ye shall be forgiven" (Luke 6:37) and "I was in prison and you visited me" (Mt. 25:36).

But now I know too much. I need to grow into this knowledge and learn what to do with it.

Resiliency building and Peace building

Last week on NPR Morning Edition, there was a series of interviews with Stephen Flynn, author of the new book, The Edge of Disaster: Rebuilding a Resilient Nation. His focus on preparing for the aftermath of a disaster, be it another Katrina, or another 9/11, made me think about the philosophy and theology behind the Mennonite Disaster Service (and the Church of the Brethren Disaster Response, and the Presbyterian Disaster Assistance, etc.).

Flynn’s approach is realistic, in that not all disasters are preventable, such as Katrina, and to put all our hopes in preemptive wars to protect us from another 9/11 (“fight them there so we don’t have to fight them here”) is misguided. As a pacifist, I would like to promote all the arguments against war, but it had not occurred to me that building resilience from disaster is a valid form of peace building, as well.

When we consider the links of Global Warming, Climate Change, economic development, fossil fuel consumption, etc., we are conscious of human activities which may have contributed to the intensity of Hurricane Katrina. And our neglect of the New Orleans levies, and a workable evacuation plan, exacerbated the loss of life and property from Katrina. So resiliency alone should not be our sole focus. Prevention has its place, in all things, as in using seat belts and driving sensibly, but when accidents happen, we need emergency rooms, ambulances, blood banks, etc.

Just because we have hospitals and ER’s, can we ignore driver education, stop enforcing speed limits, eliminate helmet laws, etc.? By the same token, just because we build our resiliency for another Katrina or another 9/11, can we stop working for Global Cooling, or withdraw from the United Nations, or (this is hard for me to consider) unilaterally disarm?

Christian pacifists by definition probably believe in disarmament, and even most would acknowledge the consistency of unilateral disarmament with Christ’s example and teachings. But just as most Christian pacifists oppose capital punishment, even though Christ himself submitted to it, it may be argued that maintaining a military for self-defense is a valid method for ensuring resiliency of the nation. To the extent that Christ’s teachings are pragmatic more than dogmatic, Christian pacifists may follow his example.

I am afraid my thinking about disarmament is still a little muddled, but I do think I have a clear idea about resiliency and printing. What do we have available if the internet and phone lines and radio/TV are disabled for a time? We might need to revert to an earlier technology for communication: printing. And what if the chemical industry is shut down, and the chemicals needed for modern offset printing are not available? We still have letterpress printing, which dates to Gutenberg in the 15th century and before. So the 20th century Heidelberg letterpress which I have in my garage, is my contribution to resiliency and available for use in certain future disasters. It would be nice to retrofit it for manual operation in case electricity is not available, but it can be used as is with a person simply turning the flywheel by hand. I have only a finite amount of paper and ink, but other printers (and offices with paper for copy machines) could be called on as sources for paper and ink.

Along this same line, we may think of earlier technologies as a general source for resiliency for many services and goods. The tools and knowledge for these earlier technologies need to be preserved. This, too, is resiliency building and thereby peace building.

Post-Traumatic Stress and Depleted Uranium

Is there such a thing as Pre-Traumatic Non-Stress?

If we suspect the judgment of people who have experienced trauma, shouldn’t we also question those who have led a sheltered life?

Those who advocate for the use of force, who believe in the value of the death penalty, who believe that “sparing the rod spoils the child,” who having been victims of child abuse become child abusers themselves as adults, etc. — isn’t their judgment suspect by those of us who benefitted from a sheltered childhood and adulthood?

And likewise, those who advocate for non-violence, who oppose the death penalty, who believe in “time out” instead of spanking, who have never suffered abuse or witnessed it and whose relationships with other human beings are always peaceful and wholesome, etc. — isn’t their judgment suspect by the rest of society?

The point is, what is the ideal background and experience that confers wisdom and sound judgment on a person? We think we know what first-hand experiences we should avoid — child abuse, incest, kidnapping, rape, warfare, torture, auto accidents, plane crashes, fire, hurricanes, floods, earth quakes, etc. People that survive these traumas may be “damaged” and have impaired judgment the rest of their lives.

But doesn’t having been sheltered from everything make for naivete´? Can’t one be accused of “ivory tower” idealism and easily be dismissed from serious discussions about crime and punishment, ware and peace, deterrence and disarmament, negotiation and preconditions, regulations and privatization. Can a pacifist be taken seriously who objects to a particular weapon system? Can a recovering alcoholic have a legitimate opinion about prohibitionism? Can a gay person’s opinion about gay marriage carry weight with straight people?

I’m really interested in the impulse toward pacifism, and wonder if there is a peculiar environment which produces pacifists (like there may be which produces alcoholics or gays) which makes us discount their opinions. Do we say to ourselves, they can believe that way because they have the luxury of never having to defend themselves from a bully when they were growing up, or their fathers and uncles were never in the military, or their own experience in the military gave them post-traumatic stress, etc. We can always explain away why their opinion differs from ours, but can we say that we are right and they are wrong?

Trying to psychoanalyze those with whom we disagree can be an endless exercise of self-assurance, but what if we slip into analyzing ourselves? Don’t we see the same gaps or traumas in our own lives? Don’t we see why it looks suspicious to outsiders that we advocate something because it fits our experience and our desire for self-validation?

If we come from a background of pacifism and we oppose the use of depleted uranium in weapons, aren’t we immediately suspect as pacifists that, of course, we oppose all weapons anyway? Why would any “neutral” person take us seriously? But wouldn’t a neutral person admit that there may be “good” weapons and “bad” weapons, that even in warfare, there could be such things as “war crimes”? I think this neutral person would listen to the arguments, consider the facts, hear “both” sides, and make a neutral judgment.

It may be that advocates for a particular policy may be partisan and committed to their conclusions and shaped by their backgrounds and experiences (or from being sheltered from some experiences). And advocates for a different policy may be driven by selfish reasons, business or career reasons, desire for revenge, hatred for the “enemy,” etc. Still a neutral observer could sort this all out, and make a judgment on sheerly pragmatic grounds.