Progressives often associate international organizations with globalization and neoliberal economic policies, and there is truth to this critique. Right-wing intellectuals associate them with liberal policy initiatives like family planning and environmental regulation, and there is truth to those connections, as well. What neither the left nor the right seems to
More
There can be no doubt that Presbyterians in the United States have often supported the nation’s resort to arms in time of war. Indeed, Albert Curry Winn, one-time moderator of the “Southern” Presbyterian Church in the United States (PCUS), once referred to that denomination as the “most hawkish” in the
More
For most of the last 75 years, the world has had the threat of nuclear war looming over it as world powers have leveraged this threat as a means to theoretically prevent further war. This threat, and the weapons behind it, have been deified in policy and culture. This modern
More
Are you aware that you are still required by law to register for the draft? I can hear your incredulity detector going off from here. “We have an all-volunteer military,” you say, “so the draft is an anachronism from WWII and the Vietnam War.” And you would be right, except
More
Being a conscientious objector may be rare, but my moral convictions are pretty common. I believe–and I have always believed–that taking a life is wrong, no matter whose life you are taking or which country you are killing for. Life is too sacred. And this conviction is fairly widespread among
More
Nationalism is a False Flag. Editor’s Note: This sermon was preached on May 15, 2019, at the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)’s national office in Louisville, KY. It refers to Isaiah 58 as it appears in the NRSV. Although not originally a sermon for Memorial Day, it may be worthwhile to reconsider,
More
On February 1, 2019, the United States withdrew from the Intermediate Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF). Signed in 1987 during the Reagan administration, the INF treaty was one of several treaties that dramatically reduced the Soviet and American nuclear arsenals (for a graph showing these remarkable reductions, click here), instituted trust-building
More
This is an inaugural column that I hope will become a regular feature in Justice Unbound. I have decided, with good input from Chris Iosso, to call this column Redeeming Realism. The purpose of this column is to engage in theological reflection in support of faithful participation in God’s world.
More
Unbound Social