I just stumbled across this story from the middle of 2008… the news story: Sydney aid worker Darren Stratti was trying to protect five women from robbers trying to get into their mud hut when a bullet fired through the brittle wall struck and killed him in Tanzania, his colleagues and brothers say. Mr Stratti, […]

Fr. Raymond Helmick is a copious correspondent. For the past three years, the Jesuit priest has written nearly 20 letters to Khalid Mishal, founder and political leader of the Palestinian movement Hamas, urging him to abandon militancy, unify with Fatah, Hamas’ political rival, and organize the Palestinians in a disciplined campaign of nonviolent resistance to […]

Bethlehem –At least ten soldiers have opted for prison terms rather than going through with their deployment. The refusals would be the first of their kind since Israel launched its massive air, sea and ground assault on the Gaza Strip, On “conscience’s grounds,” the soldiers refused orders to head to the Gaza Strip, they said…”the […]

Just a few days after the bombing of Gaza started, my rabbi, Rabbi Brant Rosen (Rabbi Brant’s blog ) here in Evanston, Illinois had the courage to write something on his blog that may forever change his life, and the lives of those around him. As I read it, I could literally feel the earth […]

From conservative evangelical to ardent Roman Catholic, from West Point appointee to crusading pacifist and playwright, Joshua Casteel has crossed boundaries enough for a lifetime in his 29 years…This “child of homeschooling and Bible quizzing,” as he wrote in a biographical essay, this high-school valedictorian and president of the high-school Young Republicans, “was not supposed […]

Attending the Creativity for Peace summer camp two years ago was one of the most meaningful and unforgettable experiences in my life. Creativity for Peace is a year-round programme which brings together Arab and Israeli girls for three weeks in the United States to promote understanding and respect with the promise that they will return […]

La’Onf is an organization in Iraq that doesn’t make headlines in the United States. Its members advocate for nonviolence and they’ve been organizing in Iraq’s most deadly neighbourhoods and cities. “There is not only violence in Iraq, there is something more,” says Ismaeel Dawood, a founding member of the organization, “people are building peace and […]

by Tom Beutel September 16, 2008 It is predictably the case that in most discussions of nonviolence, those who favor violent action in a threatening situation will raise the question, “What would you do if …?” Generally the question takes the form of “What would you do if a homicidal maniac or escaped convict broke […]

Eighteen-year-old Sahar Vardi is currently in an Israeli military prison. She is being punished for the crime of refusing to be conscripted into the Israeli military…On the day of her imprisonment Vardi told her father that she would not bow down to the powers that be regardless of how the military presents her case. “The […]

Going to summer camp is a rite of passage for many young people in the United States. It offers a chance to have fun outdoors while making new friends away from home. The international camp set in woods by a glittering lake in Otisfield, Maine follows the same tradition but it also has a lofty […]

Baguio City, Philippines (ENI). A Filipino army officer, who served in the line of fire in the fight against Muslim secessionist rebels in southern Philippines, says he realised that somehow the cycle of violence must end, so he helped pioneer Project I.S.L.A.M., or I Sincerely Love All Muslims. “I have seen how militarism has failed […]

The remains of flattened buildings at the Christian University of the Moluccas in Indonesia are a grim reminder of conflict. During 1999-2004 hundreds of Christians and Muslims died and millions of dollars worth of property was destroyed in a tragedy which more sober leaders and members of both faith communities regret…While the government was responding […]