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COUNTER RECRUITMENT
Vets for Peace
Editor's Coment
There is only one way to overcome the mental & emotional stress due to the Iraq
& Afganistan War. That is to counsel such
soldiers to join the pro-peace movement. In this
way the wrongs that they did are taken up in the transcendent cause of peace. Unconscionable Acts & unforgetable & unforgivable experiences that haunt such
soldiers become the leven for a new purpose for living & giving
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TRUTH COMMISSION ON CONSCIENCE IN WAR Public
Hearing: Sunday, March 21, 2010 4 - 8pm The Riverside Church 490 Riverside Dr. New York, NY
10027 M a p : http://bit.ly/RiversideChurch Donate today to support the Truth Commission: http://bit.ly/DonateTCCW The Truth Commission on Conscience in War is supported by your tax-deductible
donations and led by a growing list of organizational and educational co-sponsors. See bottom for current
list of co-sponsors. Join us Sunday, March 21st in New York
City to hear the voices of service members and veterans wrestling with profound questions about the morality
of the wars they are called upon to fight. The Truth Commission on Conscience
in War will bring people together to hear from recent veterans, military chaplains,
religious leaders, and legal experts about the issues of moral and religious conscience facing our nation's
service members. The Commission will: (1) Honor and protect freedom of conscience for
service members, (2) Bring together Just War, Just Peace, and pacifist traditions in conversation, and (3) Address the moral and spiritual injuries of war. Over 70 Commissioners from pacifist,
Just War, Just Peace, and other traditions will attend the Public Hearing to receive personal testimony
from veterans and expert witnesses about: (1) Moral and religious questions facing soldiers both before
and during combat, (2) Moral and religious criteria of just war, (3) International agreements
governing the justification and conduct of war, and (4) Limits of current military regulations on Conscientious
Objection. Commissioners and testifiers will meet in Private Session on Monday, March 22, to discuss the
Public Hearing testimony and identify strategies for pursuing the goals of the Commission. On
behalf of the Commission’s nearly 50 organizational sponsors and co-sponsors, we hope you will join
us for the March 21 Public Hearing at The Riverside Church. Together we will launch a major nationwide
conversation about just war, international law, and freedom of conscience for members of our nation's armed
forces. We owe this to our service members and their families, to our faith communities, and to our nation. … more details below! www.ConscienceInWar.org RSVP to the Facebook Event : h
t t p : / / b i t . l y / T r u t h C o m m i s s i o n E v e n t Become a Facebook Fan: http://bit.ly/TruthCommissionPage To join as a C o - S p o n s o r, p l e a s e c o n t a c t I a n Slattery a t i
s l a t t e r y @ c o n s c i e n c e i n w a r . o r g o r ( 5 1 0 ) 5 2 6 - 9 5 00 . For press inquiries, please contact Dr. Rita Nakashima Brock (510) 459-5123 or Ian Slattery (510) 526-9500. ---- SPEAKERS ---- Commission Chair: Rev. Dr. Kaia Stern, Director of the Pathways Home Project at the Charles Hamilton Houston Institute for Race and Justice at Harvard Law
School. Commission Host: Rev. Herman
Keizer, Jr., US Army Chaplain (Colonel),
retired; Former Director of Chaplaincy Ministries for the Christian Reformed Church in North America; Former Chair, National Conference on Ministry
to the Armed Forces America. Testifiers and Expert Witnesses: Joshua Casteel, US Army veteran and conscientious objector, former Army Interrogator at Abu Ghraib; Jacob
C. Diliberto, Fuller Theological
Seminary M.Div., OEF and OIF US Marine Veteran,Founder of Veterans For Rethinking Afghanistan; Logan Laituri, US Army veteran with service in OIF II, Co-founder of Centurion's Guild; Camilo Mejia,
US Army veteran and conscientious objector, author of Road from Ar Ramadi; ChrisHedges , Pulitzer Prize winning former war correspondent for The New York Times and author of War
Is a Force That Gives
Us Meaning; Dr. Camillo “Mac” Bica, Professor of Philosophy, School of Visual Arts, former Marine CorpsOfficer and
Vietnam veteran; Rev.
Dr. Pamela Lightsey, Associate
Vice President, Garrett Evangelical Theological
Seminary, US Army veteran; J. E.
McNeil, Executive Director, Center
on Conscience & War; Rabbi Douglas
E. Krantz,Congregation
B'nai Yisrael and Executive Board Member of Jewish Peace Fellowship. ---- SPONSORS AND CO-SPONSORS ---- Organizing Committee: Faith Voices for the Common Good; Mission & Social Justice Commission of The Riverside Church; Soldiers of Conscience; Starr King
School for the Ministry; Union Theological Seminary. Co-Sponsoring Schools and Organizations: American Friends Service Committee, New York Metro Region • Associated Mennonite Biblical Seminary • Baptist
Peace Fellowship of North America • Buddhist Peace Fellowship • Catholic
PeaceFellowship • Center on Conscience & War • Centurion's
Guild • Chicago Theological Seminary • Christian Reformed Church in North America • Christian
Peace Witness • Courage to Resist • Disciples Justice Action
Network • DrewTheological School • Fellowship
of Reconciliation • Friends for a Non-Violent World • Global Justice
Ministry, Metropolitan Community
Churches • Graduate Theological Union (Berkeley, CA) • Healing of the Nations Foundation
• Institute to Honor Freedom of Conscience • International
Veterans Fellowship of Reconciliation • Iraq Veterans Against the War •
Ithaca Veterans Peace Coalition • Jewish Peace Fellowship • Judson Memorial Church • Justice &
WitnessMinistries, United Church of Christ • Mennonite Central Committee
U.S. • New York Yearly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends • Orthodox Peace Fellowship
• Park Avenue Christian Church •
Pax Christi USA • Peace
MajorityReport • Progressive Christians Uniting • Presbyterian
Peace Fellowship • Society of Jesus, NY Province • The Shalom Center • United Methodist Church
- General Board of Church and Society • Witness Against Torture • Women in Islam
• World Christian Student Federation of North America • Yale Divinity
School • …and the list continues to grow! Support
Pax Christi Metro New York just by searching the Internet with GoodSearch.com (powered by Yahoo) or shopping online with GoodShop.com.
Just indicate Pax Christi Metro New York as your charity, and thanks!
LEARN HOW TO PREVENT SUICIDE—TRAINING FOR EVERYBODY
SafeTALK: Suicide Alertness for Everyone
will
beoffered Tuesday January 19, from 9:30 – 12:30
at First Presbyterian Church, 175 East Main Street, Smithtown,
It will be led by Dr. Max. Banilivy, Ph.D., Director of Family Wellness Center, Administrator, Pederson-Krag Center. The cost
is only $10 (which pays for the materials you will receive). A flyer is included at the end of this message. ***************************************************************
Tyler Zabel on how he became a Conscientious Objector
"Basic training wasn't all what I had thought it would be, as I callously
screamed out brutal chants about slaughtering kids in schoolyards and laughing about the way napalm would stick to their
skin. We must've screamed, "Kill!" hundreds and hundreds of times to get into our heads that this was our purpose
as soldiers. But I played along, acting the part of the good soldier, nodding my head and doing what I was told, though
the feeling in my gut told me something was wrong..."
FREE THE SHMINISTIM – ISRAEL'S YOUNG CONSCIENTIOUS
OBJECTORS. The Shministim are Israeli high school students who have been imprisoned for refusing to serve
in an army that occupies the Palestinian Territories. Google www.DECEMBER18TH.ORG to learn about these young war resisters and to sign a letter to the Israeli Minister of Defense. Israeli peace activists
will hand-deliver your message on December 18th, the Shministim Day of Action. 9,000 LETTERS AND COUNTING! ******************************************8
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