Public Writing

A collection of 64 posts

Christian Century

"Yes, God loves soldiers"

*Originally published on April 11, 2012, by The Christian Century. It has since been removed. On Easter Sunday, Jake Tapper interviewed Rick Warren on ABC’s This Week, asking the influential pastor a series of questions on faith and politics. Of particular interest were his comments on soldiers and war

Red Letter Christians

Once They Come Home

The Church must rethink how it receives soldiers

Red Letter Christians

Join the Growing(?) Conversation

What happened to War in the Christian imagination?

RELEVANT

The Dueling Citizen & Christian

*Originally published July 5, 2011, by Relevant Magazine. About 1,600 years ago, a French priest was declared Bishop of Tours by public acclamation. The priest’s name was Martin, after Mars, the Roman god of war. His father managed to get him into an elite military unit, the one

Red Letter Christians

Reinstate the Draft?

Issues around national service can’t be ignored.

Martin Luther King and the Silent Betrayal of our Veterans

Originally published in Sojourners, 2011-04.

Public Writing

“Churches Have a Lot to Learn from the Military”

Discipline? Self-sacrifice? The church actually has something to learn from the military, argues Iraq veteran and pacifist Logan Mehl-Laituri.

TCCW 5: Preaching on Truth & Conscience

Originally published in Sojourners, 2010-11.

Public Writing

TCCW 4: Veterans' Suicides & SCO

Originally published in Sojourners, 2010-11.

TCCW 3: Moral Agency and Selective Conscientious Objection

Originally published in Sojourners, 2010-11.

TCCW 2: The Right to Act in Conscience

Originally published in Sojourners, 2010-10.

TCCW 1: Securing Soldiers' Rights to SCO

Originally published in Sojourners, 2010-09.

Seeking Peace Among the Peoples

Originally published in Sojourners, 2010-08.

Wikileaks, Truth Tellers, and a Crisis of Conscience

Originally published in Sojourners, 2010-07.

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,

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

TSW

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