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 […]

A woman who fatally stabbed her Cambodian neighbour 150 times because she refused to baby-sit has been freed from prison – and her victim’s son says he has forgiven her…”I have, because part of me and part of what I believe is you have to forgive. It’s sometimes hard, but as a Christian you want […]

“I am frustrated with people who say that there is nothing you can do about a particular issue and thus, do very little. I do not want to be like that” http://word.world-citizenship.org/index.php/wp-archive/1249

Media have often been used to incite violence, perhaps most infamously during the 1994 genocide in Rwanda, when radio station Radio Television Libre des Mille Collines played a major role in organizing Hutus to kill Tutsis. But in Kenya, where a disputed election this past winter resulted in much violence and chaos, radio and other […]

We live each day surrounded by images of the horrors of our world. Each week brings stories of a world weary with violence. How can we not feel powerless in this? How can we remain committed to a life of nonviolence when so many of the world’s ways seem to point in the other direction? […]

Tom Sine joined me on my morning radio programme on 98.5 Sonshine FM along with Jarrod McKenna from Peace Tree Community. While Tom’s book talks about the many ways that people are re-imagining church, Jarrod is part of a community that is living out faith in simple ways in the Perth suburb of Lockridge. http://eliacin.com/?p=702

Lawrence Hart is a Cheyenne peace chief who has wrestled with how to forgive the murder and massacre of his ancestors. Does forgiving mean forgetting? http://thirdway.com/peace/?Page=2029|When+I+Learned+What+It+Means+to+be+a+Peace+Chief

Recently Australia’s ‘father of Reconciliation’ Pat Dodson identified the secret of Nelson Mandela’s success in building the nation of South Africa from the ruins of the apartheid regime: love your enemy. http://www.eurekastreet.com.au/article.aspx?aeid=6534