MANY HANDS MAKE LIGHT WORK

The Peacebuilding Institute of East Tennessee is holding a potluck dinner for all area peacebuilders on Friday, May 8, from 6:30-9:30 PM. Gather with us at Church of the Good Shepherd, 5337 Jacksboro Pike, Fountain City – and bring a friend. To make reservations, call Jim Foster: phone 865-573-4089, email: jimsandyfoster@yahoo.com.  Reservations are required to help us set up.

NEW PEACE RESOURCES

Seeking Peace with Our Lives: Ann Hake, a member of Church of the Savior, is editor of a 68-page compendium entitled Seeking Peace with Our Lives. The book is a compendium of peace quotes and articles written by members of the church. Church of the Savior, a UCC congregation committed to peace and justice, published this rich collection primarily for circulation among the members of the church. But to the surprise of Ann and many contributors, it has a far larger readership around the United States, both for its content and as an example of a project other churches and peace groups may wish to undertake. The 8½ x 11-inch book is available at cost for US $5.00 per copy plus US $3.00 shipping. (Price for overseas customers is US $5.00 plus the exact amount of postage; inquire about shipping to your country.) Do not let this opportunity slip past you. Order your copy today, from Church of the Savior, 934 Weisgarber Road, Knoxville, TN 37909, USA.   Email:  cosucc@bellsouth.net  Make checks payable to “Church of the Savior” and note that it is for the “PEACE booklet.” This is not available in bookstores or from online book distributors.

Restorative Practice in Prisons: For those interested in restorative justice, Samuel Kawlila, a Peacebuilding Institute associate in Zambia has written a provocative essay titled “Restorative Practice in Prisons.” Request this free essay from Jim Foster, email address: jimsandyfoster@yahoo.com.

CORRESPONDENCE

Alternatives to Military Enlistment: The Next Phase

EARTHSPIRIT RISING:

a conference on ecology, spirituality, and living economics – Jim Schenk at Imago in Cincinnati invites you to consider attending this conference, June 12-14, at Xavier University.

Why a conference on living economies?

Thomas Berry says, "Any use of the word economics that does not take the Earth and Sun as the basic context of meaning is too far removed from reality to serve us in the long term.” News reporting on the state of the economy makes it clear the long term is upon us. The time has come to get serious about economic models in keeping with Earth’s living systems.

Economy is the way humans exchange goods and services to meet their needs and wants. How do we put the economy in its place? It’s proper place, that is, within a larger context that supports a healthy planetary interdependence.

Visionary economists and grassroots organizers, around the globe, are doing exciting work. They are developing new frameworks of economic activity grounded in Earth wisdom to replace the current outdated and deadly economic systems.

Climate change - Species extinction - Energy depletion - Contamination of food and water - War - Poverty

The economy is the engine that drives all these concerns. They can’t be addressed without asking, “What does a sustainable, equitable global and local economy look like? And what cultural/spiritual transformations are needed to bring it into being.”

THE CONFERENCE

Internationally acclaimed authors David Korten, Miriam Therese MacGillis, and David Orr will be joined by regional experts including Paula Gonzalez, SC, Jim Schenk, and James Buchanan. Together speakers and attendees will discuss, develop and explore opportunities to implement economic systems that are both cutting-edge and as basic as Earth. And together we will share the joy that building communities brings.

For More Details:

In Knoxville: contact Bob Rundle, co-director of Spirituality and Global Economics (SAGE) at 687-9060, rarhtr@att.net or www.christianspirituality.org

Conference Web Site:  www.earthspiritrising.org

Race, Religion, and the Death Penalty in Tennessee

Nobel Peace Prize nominee Rev. Joe Ingle speaks from his lifetime ministry to death row inmates and his book Last Rights: 13 Fatal Encounters with the State’s Justice. Discussion follows. Tuesday, March 24, from 7 p.m. to 8:30 PM at Church of the Savior, 934 Weisgarber Road. Free and open to the public, light refreshments, donations accepted. Handicap accessible. More information: p.schoene@comcast.net or cosucc@bellsouth.net

Presenters:

ordination as a UCC minister in 1973, Ingles served in the Bronx House of Detention and experienced a call to prison work. His ministry took him throughout the U.S. until his return to the south in 1990, where his work is centered in Nashville. His presentation at Church of the Savior titled, “Race, Religion and the Death Penalty in Tennessee” will challenge the ethical, theological and legal validity of a practice he considers state-sponsored killing. A question and answer period will follow the presentation.

Dr. Wornie Reed is Professor of Sociology and Director of the Africana Studies Program at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. He is nationally known for his work in medical sociology, urban studies and black culture, particularly addressing the intersections of race with medical care, health, urban communities and criminal justice. In his presentation at Church of the Savior at 9:30 AM, March 29^th, he will discuss the systematic racial bias in the U.S. criminal justice and penal system, stretching from differential arrest patterns to the profound racial skewing of Death Row immigrants.

Students of American Liberty, at the University of Tennessee invite everyone interested to hear Justin Raimondo speak on the planned wars and interventions of the Obama administration.

and an Adjunct Scholar with the Ludwig von Mises Institute, and in addition to his thrice-weekly column for antiwar.com, he is a regular contributor to The American Conservative and Chronicles magazine. Raimondo also writes two columns a month for Taki's Top Drawer.

NEW PEACEBUILDING AFFILIATES IN DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO AND KENYA 

Peacebuilding Institute of Africa - Kenya (PIA-K) – PIA-K is a program of International Development & Peace Organization (IDPO), an indigenous Kenyan Non-Governmental Organization. IDPO is active mainly within Eastern Africa and, to a minimal extent, in the Horn of Africa. Currently, PIA-K faces an enormous challenge responding to the aftermath of the post election violence that rocked Kenya in January and February 2008. We still have sporadic episodes of violence, and PIA-K continues to respond to some of the violence.  More details at www.peacebuildinginstitute.org

Peace and Conflict Resolution Center-(PCR-Congo) – PCR seeks to proclaim peace to the people in the East of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), as well as the whole country. They reach for harmony with neighboring countries and empower the people of the DRC to be in charge of their own destiny. The PCR provides a place for grassroots peace initiatives and other peace groups to work for local and international peace by providing support through basic training tools, education, self-reliance and the arts. Go to www.peacebuildinginstitute.org for picture gallery and additional information.

Two Opportunities for Peacebuilding in Democratic Republic of Congo

TEN DAY COURSE IN CONFLICT RESOLUTON, JULY 19 TO 29, 2009

We have planned a course in Conflict Resolution for July and we have invited the Mediator from Israel. He is ready to come but we are still lacking the financial support. Details of the proposed event are available from the facilitator. Email us at "Peace & Conflict Resolution Project" <peacecrp@yahoo.com> so we may connect you to him. Other volunteers are likewise welcome. The program will be ten days in length, and will take place in Bukavu, beginning 19 July 2009. Program participants will include the leaders of local communities, police officers, women leaders, teachers, leaders of ministries to the disabled, church leaders, and others from other institutions.  We anticipate that approximately 150 persons will participate.

NONVIOLENT COMMUNICATION & METHODS OF TEACHING PEACE

Nonviolent Communication and Methods of Teaching Peace are workshops planned for teachers of primary schools in April, 2009. We are planning to educate the teachers in how to prepare the children to break the cycle of violence. Facilitators are needed for these workshops.

PCR/DRC is located in the east of Congo.  We are certified by the Ministry of Justice and Human Rights Division. We have a small office in Bukavu, DRC, but our vision is to make it a center for our activities. PCR is neither a Church organization nor political. Its aim is to create peace between peoples of different religions and languages. It is for all the people. We are seeking trainers in methods of teaching peace and nonviolent communication. We are working with different groups of people with more activities as I mentioned. We need to be trained. Can you help?  You can contact us at "Peace & Conflict Resolution Project" <peacecrp@yahoo.com> for more information and travel directions.

The 11^th  ANNUAL SUMMER PEACEBUILDING INSTITUTE  is  scheduled for May 21-25, 2009.

The Peacebuilding Institute of East Tennessee, which regularly sponsors this event, is seeking:

(1)    Committed peacebuilders to participate in planning and promotion of the event. Planning meetings are held the second Saturday of each month, 9:30AM to Noon. Location varies.  Call 573-4089 or 588-5279 or 773-8787 for venue and directions

(2)    Donations: The event costs approximately $1,500. Many small donations will spread the financial burden.

(3)    Hosts, individuals or families who have a guest room and time to help lodge and transport international guests. This is a unique opportunity for a few area residents to develop lifelong friendships with peacebuilders from other nations and cultures.  We expect to have approximately 15 international guests.

To volunteer for the planning committee or to make a donation, please contact Jim Foster, 204 Busbee Rd, Knoxville, TN 37920 , telephone 865-573-4089, email: jimsandyfoster@yahoo.com.  

    THE SPARROW SINGS 

 The ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinians and our own violent conflicts in the Middle East will continue as long as a certain mindset remains in the world. The mindset is, "If some people harm us we must harm them. We must protect ourselves, and the only way to do this is by committing acts of violence on the perpetrator.” This is the mindset of most of the world, including the U.S. This mindset is in direct contradiction to the teachings of Christ (Matt. 5, James 3 & 4). The world thinks it knows better than God, and we all suffer because of it. We have a national holiday honoring Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., but most Americans are not aware that his work for civil rights came directly from his belief in nonviolence, and I believe his life came to an end once he confronted the U.S. military establishment.  A couple of years ago when I asked Senator Feingold about the $1.1 trillion of tax money for which the military could not account, he told me that the military is a “sacred cow.”  No legislator wanting to be re-elected dare go up against the military. It pretty

much gets what it wants. Even our new president has caved in to it. He is intending to send more troops into Afghanistan and seems to favor locking up people even when they have not been charged with a crime.

As long as revenge and retaliation and using violence for protection is the mindset of people there will always be a military killing and maiming of people. No one will be safe. As Dr. King reminded us, the only way to peace and security is the way of Christ: to love one's enemy, and do good to her/him.  Unless the mindset is changed there will be continual wars and bloodshed, injustice and cruelty in the world. In this new year, let us begin to change our mindset of violence as a solution, and follow the mindset of Christ as was followed by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. who said, "An eye for an eye blinds everyone … Many men cry ‘Peace, Peace!’ but they refuse to do the things that make for peace … The choice is no longer between violence and nonviolence. It is between nonviolence and nonexistence … The U.S. is the greatest purveyor of violence in the world today … Racism, poverty and war are intertwined problems that can only be resolved together.”  --Don Timmerman

“And while we have sown the seeds of greed, the wind of greed and corruption, and even as we reap the whirlwind of social and economic disruption, we seek forgiveness and we come in a spirit of unity and solidarity to commit our support to our president by our willingness to make sacrifices, to respect your creation, to turn to each other and not on each other … Lord, in the memory of all the saints who from their labors rest, and in the joy of a new beginning, we ask you to help us work for that day when black will not be asked to get in back; when brown can stick around; when yellow will be mellow; when the red man can get ahead, man; and when white will embrace what is right, that all those who do justice and love mercy say Amen.” --Rev. Joseph Lowery 1/20/09 

“We will not seek to avenge the death of innocent Americans by the death of innocent victims elsewhere, lest we become what we abhor. We refuse to ratchet up the cycle of violence that brings only ever more death, destruction and deprivation. What we will do is build coalitions with other nations. We will share intelligence, freeze assets and engage in forceful extradition of terrorists if internationally sanctioned.  We will do all in our power to see justice done, but by the force of law only, not the law of force.” --Rev. William Sloane Coffin

“Whoever kills a human being should be looked upon as though he had killed all mankind.” -- from the Qur’an

“Every generation of Americans needs to know that freedom consists not in doing what we like, but in having the right to do what we ought”  ---Pope John Paul II

“Forgiveness is a gift of high value, but its cost is nothing.” --Betty Smith

 INTERESTING FACTS

The total cost of the inauguration was at least $170 million. Part of the money came from Wall Street CEOs from Citigroup, Lehman Brothers, UBS Americas, Goldman Sachs and Wachovia. --ABC News report, 1/19/09

The damage done to Gaza’s infrastructure is estimated to cost billions. More than 4,000 homes have been destroyed. At least 400,000 people are still without running water. Warehouses of medical supplies were destroyed. Saudi Arabia intends to give $1 billion to help the Palestinians rebuild Gaza. Many of the people suffered severe burns due to the illegal phosphorus weapons used by Israel. The attack on Gaza was largely funded with U.S. tax dollars. During the Bush administration from 2002 to 2009 Israel has received over $21 billion in military aid. --Democracy Now, 1/19/09

Venezuela expelled the ambassador of Israel as a response to the Israeli attacks on Gaza. ---Common Dreams, 1/12/09  

At a border crossing, Palestinian Dr. Atallah greeted the Israeli soldiers with “Merry Christmas.” They responded asking, “Do you have weapons?” “Yes,” replied Dr. Atallah, “I have the strongest weapon of all, the weapon of love.”

In his final day in office, former President Bush commuted the prison sentences of two former Border Patrol agents who shot an unarmed Mexican drug smuggler and then tried to cover up the shooting. The International Court of Justice has ruled the execution of a Mexican national in Texas last year breached U.S. obligations under international law. The executed one is one of 51 Mexican citizens on death row who are denied consular assistance, against international law.

Coltan is a rare mineral which is in great demand in the world since it is used in everything from cell phones to soup tins. It is one of the reasons for continual fighting in the Congo. Some 80% of coltan is in Africa, and 80% of it lies in territory controlled by Congo’s various ragtag rebel groups, armed militia and its corrupt and underfunded national army who make as much as $20 million a month from the mines that produce coltan. That money is then used to buy more weapons from the U.S. and elsewhere. There have been calls for international boycotts of coltan. --http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2008/11/09-2

 The humanitarian costs of the violence have been terrible. Over 300,000 have been recently displaced, and the Congolese army has been implicated in looting, rapes and killings in and around Goma. --NewsNotes, Jan.-Feb. 2009

but he issued a “signing statement” saying he would not be bound by certain provisions of the bill. One such provision would prohibit money to be spent on limiting U.S. control of the oil resources in Iraq. This undercuts the will of Congress, which intended to bar the U.S. military from controlling Iraq’s oil resources. --FCNL – American Friends Support

 “An attempt by any outside force to gain control of the Persian Gulf region (and thereby endanger the flow of oil) will be regarded as an assault on the vital interests of the United States of America, and such an assault will be repelled by any means necessary, including military force.” -- President J. Carter, State of the Union address, Jan. 23, 1980

 The U.S. will spend $850 million to build an air field in Kandahar, Afghanistan. It will be the largest military base in Afghanistan.  --New York Times, Dec. 9, 2008

The U.S. Navy is seeking to expand its largest base, a 595,000 acre Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center near Twentynine Palms CA. It wants to expand the base by 228,000 more acres. It would destroy the habitat of endangered desert tortoises and bighorn sheep. --Center for Biological Diversity

 Since 2003 the U.S. government has paid contractors in the Middle East at least $8,200,000,000.

Between 2005 and 2007 Blackwater received federal small-business contracts valued at $110,000,000.

Only 7% of former terrorist groups worldwide stopped operating because of military force used against them.

Some 54% of Afghans say they would support a coalition government that included the Taliban. --Harper’s Index, Sept., 2008

has opened 45 new prisons and jails. -- http://www.ourfuture.org/blog-entry/2008125010/good-building-bad-building

Some 43% of Russians believe one goal of US. Foreign policy is “the complete destruction of Russia.”

At least 2,000 Amish households in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, use electricity generated by solar power. --Harper’s Index, Dec. 2008

 NOTES FROM TAMARACK COTTAGE:  

Yesterday morning I woke up to a temperature reading 20 degrees below zero. Today I awoke to a temperature of 12 degrees below zero. As I look out upon the snow covered landscape, I am warmed by reading a copy of Rev. Joseph Lowery’s benediction at President Obama’s inauguration. The following is an excerpt from his benediction.  I hope it warms your spirit as it does mine. 

“We go now to walk together as children, pledging that we won’t get weary in the difficult days ahead. We know you will not leave us alone. With your hands of power and your heart of love, help us then, now, Lord, to work for that day when nations shall not lift up sword against nation, when tanks will be beaten into tractors, when every man and every woman shall sit under his or her own vine and fig tree, and none shall be afraid. When Justice will roll down like waters and righteousness as a mighty stream.”   

May this prayer come to fruition.  

Peace, Roberta 

THE SPARROW SINGS

Don and Roberta

N15878 Tamarack Rd.

Park Falls WI 54552

(715)762-8239  don2roberta@yahoo.com

La foi de la citoyenneté mondiale

En tant que citoyen du monde…

JE CROIS en la dignité de toute l'humanité, que chaque personne est un être de valeur suprême.

JE CROIS en l'intégralité de la race humaine, non divisé par des différences économiques, culturelles, raciales, sexuelles, ou nationales.

JE CROIS en l'intendance de la vie et des ressources afin que tous puissent bénéficier de l'abondance du monde et qu'il ne faille pas que personne manque de nourriture ou d'abri.

JE CROIS en la priorité des relations humaines comme une personne engagée et responsable face aux autres personnes, indépendamment de leurs statuts économiques, de race, de foi, ou de nationalité.

JE CROIS en la communauté globale, interdépendante et mutuellement responsable de nos environnements physiques et sociaux.

JE CROIS que nous sommes Un Monde et affirme que je suis un citoyen de ce monde. Mon allégeance à lui et à son peuple, mes frères et mes sœurs, est primaire sur toutes autres entités politiques.

JE SUIS, donc, dévoué à la promotion et au soin de la totalité de l'humanité sans partialité ou préjugés et avec telles ressources que j'ai à ma commande, à l'intérieur et à l'extérieur.

J'AFFIRME ainsi que je veux, autant que je puisse, fonder mes actions sur mes croyances et donc contribuer à un monde dans lequel la justice et la compassion règnent et où la cupidité et la haine diminuent.

own as a statement of their intent to participate in the birth of a new humanity.  It is happening even as you read this!

For our international readers we offer it in both English and various other languages from issue to issue.    We invite contributions of other translations from our readers.  We currently have--in addition to English—French, Korean, and Spanish versions.  The French and English versions follow:

WORLD CITIZENSHIP CREED

As a citizen of the world...

I BELIEVE in the dignity of all humanity, that each person is a being of supreme worth.

 I BELIEVE in the wholeness of the human race, undivided by economic, cultural, racial, sexual or national differences.

 I BELIEVE in the stewardship of life and resources to the end that all may mutually benefit from the earth's bounty and that no person may have to go without food or shelter.

 I BELIEVE in the primacy of human relationships as a person committed and responsible to other persons, regardless of their economic status, race, creed or nationality.

 I BELIEVE in the global community, interdependent and mutually responsible for our physical and social environments.

 I BELIEVE that we are One World and affirm that I am a citizen of this world. My allegiance to it and its people, my brothers and sisters, is primary over all other political entities.

 I AM, therefore, committed to the promotion and care of the whole of humanity without partiality or prejudice and with such resources as I have at my command, both within and without.

 I HEREWITH AFFIRM that I wish, as much as I possibly can, to base my actions on my beliefs and thus contribute to a world where justice and compassion rule and where greed and hatred are diminished.