Public Writing

TCCW 4: Veterans' Suicides & SCO

Originally published in Sojourners, 2010-11.

Public Writing

TCCW 3: Moral Agency and Selective Conscientious Objection

Originally published in Sojourners, 2010-11.

Public Writing

TCCW 2: The Right to Act in Conscience

Originally published in Sojourners, 2010-10.

coursework

"Who and whose are you? Naming and Claiming in Toni Morrison’s Beloved"

Submitted on October 7, 2010, to Amy Laura Hall in partial fulfillment of Christian Ethics: Love in the Christian Tradition (CE144). In Toni Morrison’s novel Beloved, names are a crucial and central marking, stylistically and literally.  It might seem contradictory at first glance, but the importance of naming runs

Sojourners

TCCW 1: Securing Soldiers' Rights to SCO

Originally published in Sojourners, 2010-09.

Public Writing

Seeking Peace Among the Peoples

Originally published in Sojourners, 2010-08.

Public Speaking

"Dying in War"

... is not the only way to be remembered well. Interview conducted at Associated Mennonite Biblical Seminary in Elkhart, IN during the Peace Among the Peoples Conference on July 30, 2010, hosted by the World Council of Churches. My vocational call is to humanize service members, and to recognize that the

Sojourners

Wikileaks, Truth Tellers, and a Crisis of Conscience

Originally published in Sojourners, 2010-07.

HPU

Strategic Violence Amongst European Anti-Globalization Movements

Globalization has come under newly intensified interest in recent years.  There are a multiplicity of reasons to which one can attribute this rise in attention.  Some might claim the easy access to information and social networking the internet has granted this latest generation.  Others might indicate the rise of transnational

Sojourners

Why Christianity and July 4th May Be Compatible

*Originally published July 6, 2010 in Sojourners. It has since been removed. This past Fourth of July weekend, I reflected on Kurt Willems' recent post, which had a lot of great points. Like Kurt, I have thought for many years about the congruence of church and state, especially in

Sojourners

We All Share Responsibility for Going to War -- and for Stopping It

*Originally published by Sojourners on March 19, 2010. It has since been removed. A comment on my recent blog about The Hurt Locker really got my blood boiling. Fortunately, after having a good chat with another combat veteran, I realized that my frustration was not really with that particular comment,

TCCW

TCCW Testimony

Personal testimony given March 19, 2010 at the Riverside Church in New York City. If I could serve our country without being expected to kill people, I never would have considered conscientious objection.   I enjoyed the challenge and the satisfaction of knowing I volunteered for some of the most demanding

Sojourners

Hurt Locker Can't Contain the Reality of War

*Originally published by Sojourners on March 9, 2010. It has since been removed. I am not a movie buff by any standard, but somehow I suspect I am not the only one who was more than a little surprised at the reception of the latest war movie at Sunday'

Sojourners

The Contentious Issue of 'Selective Conscientious Objection'

*Originally published by Sojourners on March 1, 2010. It has since been removed. As I have been talking about the Truth Commission on Conscience in War, there have been some recurring themes that have surfaced. For the most part, the folks I have been in conversation about it with by

Sojourners

Reinvigorating the Discourse on Just War and Pacifism

Originally published by Sojourners on February 2, 2010. It has since been removed. Before I went to Iraq with my friend and fellow God's Politics contributor Shane Claiborne, I was trying to figure out how to take the lessons I would learn there back home. I felt certain

Sojourners

Learning from Iraqi Good Samaritans

*Originally published by Sojourners on January 25, 2010. It has since been removed. Just a few days ago, I returned from a short trip into Iraq with a small group of Christian peacemakers. Most of us had been to the country before, but under varying circumstances: I was on a

Sojourners

For God and Country (in that Order)

*Originally published by Sojourners on November 11, 2009. It has since been removed. Nobody today will be able to celebrate our many veterans without the memory of Fort Hood fresh in our collective conscience. It is a horrible irony that such an inexcusable evil took place so near one of

Sojourners

Will Violence Have the Last Word at Fort Hood?

*Originally published by Sojourners on November 9, 2011. It has since been removed. Like so many across our country, I have been reeling about the news coming out of Ft. Hood, TX. A friend and fellow conscientious objector, who is also co-founder of Centurion's Guild, informed me

Public Writing

Taking Life

According to a recent New York Times article, the suicides of U.S. military personnel now outnumber actual combat fatalities.

Sojourners

Prepared to Die, but Not to Kill

*Originally published by Sojourners on August 31, 2009. It has since been removed. I recently received a reply or two on my last blog post, regarding Sgt. Travis Bishop and his refusal to deploy to Afghanistan based on his Christian conscience. One of the central questions such a story raises

Sojourners

Court-martialed for Christian Conscience

*Originally published by Sojourners on August 19, 2009. It has since been removed. There are good men (and certainly at least a few women) who have been slipping through the cracks within our military. Too often service members are not made fully aware of their rights under the Uniform Code

Sojourners

Risking Ourselves for Peace

*Originally published by Sojourners on August 4, 2009. It has since been removed. I'm a big fan of iTunesU, and I usually try to listen to informative podcasts on long drives, since I can't read and drive simultaneously. Driving through the cornfields of our central plains

Members only

Sojourners

The State and the Union

Sojourners

The Myth of Holy War

*Originally published by Sojourners on May 29, 2009. It has since been removed. I, like Aaron Taylor before me, noticed the GQ expose of the Worldwide Intelligence Update that the former administration had circulated. I came across the story by way of Stephen Colbert, but when I looked more deeply

Public Writing

"Disturbing the Arms Baron"

*Originally published by STREK Magazine ( In murder-plagued Philadelphia, a single gun dealer stands as the supplier of one-fifth of all weapons used in violent crime. Christian activists have for years created considerable and bewildering controversy around the phenomenon. IN PENNSYLVANIA, several faith communities have recently joined forces to