OMNI
NEWSLETTER #9 ON NONVIOLENCE, APRIL 18,
2013. NONVIOLENCE IN RELIGIOUS
TRADITIONS FORUM. Compiled by Dick Bennett
for a Culture of Peace and Justice. (#1 Feb. 17, 2011; #2 May 13, 2011; #3 June
7, 2011, #4 September 30, 2011; #5 Sept. 21, 2012; #6 Dec. 28, 2012; #7 Jan.
17, 2013; #8 March 28, 2013).
My blog: The War
Department and Peace Heroes
Newsletters on Peace, Justice, and Ecology:
Index:
See: Imperialism, Militarism,
Pentagon, Recruiting, Suicides,
Whistleblowing, and more.
Nos. 5 and 6 at end
Contents #7
Fr. John Dear
Protesters’ Pro Se Defense
Christian
Nonviolence
John Howard Yoder
Tripp York
Contents #8
March 28, 2013
Nonviolence International
Nonviolence International Film Festival
International DAY of Nonviolence, Oct. 2 (OMNI
National/International DAYS Project)
Muslim Nonviolence
Abdul Ghaffar Badshah Khan: Pakistan
Bediuzzaman Said Nursi: Turkey
Fethullah Gulen, Follower of Nursi
Kaufman-Lacusta:
Palestinian-Israeli Nonviolent Resistance to Occupation
Palestinian Nonviolence and US Media Lack of Attention
Contents #9
Special Number on Nonviolence in Religious Traditions
OMNI Book Forum April 19, 2013
Smith-Christopher, Subverting
Hatred
Dick’s Review
Review by Frederic
and Mary Ann Brussat
OMNI Forums on
Nonviolence in Religions: 2003-2013
Universal Golden Rule
FORUM ON NONVIOLENCE IN RELIGIOUS TRADITIONS
APRIL 19, 2013
AT OMNI, 3274 Lee Ave. , Fayetteville
Panelists
Hameed Naseem, Islam: “Islam” Means Peace.
Sidney
Burris, Buddhism: HHDL's Ethics for a New Millennium, Bhikkhu
Bodhi's In the Buddha's Words: An Anthology of Discourses from the Pali
Canon (Teachings of the Buddha)
Dick Bennett, Christianity: Richard McSorley, New Testament Basis of Peacemaking; John Howard Yoder, The Politics of Jesus.
Hameed Naseem
Hameed Naseem is a Professor
of Electrical Engineering at the University
of Arkansas , Fayetteville , AR. USA University of Arkansas
Sidney Burris
· Educated at Duke University
(BA, Classical Studies) and University
of Virginia
· Professor, Department of
English, U of A
· Director, Fulbright College
· Professor, Department
of English
· Co-Director, The TEXT
Program (Tibetan oral history with U of A students)
· Co-Founder, The
Tibetan Cultural Institute
of Arkansas
Dick
Bennett
Dick
is a Prof. Emer., English, UAF. He also
created courses at UAF on “World War III” and “War and Peace.” He was co-founder of the OMNI Center N. America .
DANIEL
L. SMITH-CHRISTOPHER, ED. SUBVERTING HATRED: THE CHALLENGE OF
NONVIOLENCE IN RELIGIOUS TRADITIONS.
Review
by Dick Bennett
Notable authors examine the nonviolent
foundations of nine religions in this order:
Jainism, Buddhism, Confucianism, Daoism, Hinduism, Indigenous (Cheyenne
Unfortunately, despite these attempts to
give humans refuge and guide, wars and atrocities continue. But their teachings have shown us ways to
live without violence and have strengthened us when violence threatens our
lives and societies. They have offered
us beginnings. And let’s grasp a
grassroots perspective. It is up to
humans to enact the teachings. Just as
in a democracy our representatives must be pushed to act for the welfare of the
people, each nonviolent religion is as effectively peaceful as the people
demand it to live up to its original principles and practices in nonviolence.
Religions have arisen from many human
desires and social conditions, and one is the desire to create a society in
which people can live without fear of being killed or tortured, bombed or
shot—and to extend the principle, to live without hunger. They seek a society in which people, all
people, can live with hope and happiness.
To step outside religions for a minute, President Roosevelt expressed
this yearning in a message to Congress on Jan. 6, 1941. The end of WWII, he said, should provide
“four freedoms”: of speech, of worship,
from want, and from fear.” Roosevelt wished for every nation following the war “a
healthy peaceful life for its inhabitants”; he wished for a “reduction of
armaments to such a point. . .that no nation will be in a position to commit an
act of physical aggression against any neighbor.”
The
principles and the practices of nonviolence established in our world religions
provide us guides to achieve such trust and harmony. In each chapter the writers identify
the immense assistance to a world of cooperation and well-being offered by the
religions. We look backward to get our
bearings for our struggle forward. Yes,
religions have been used to justify violence, but the nonviolent roots were not
the cause. They were and they remain
today a solid mooring for resistance to sources of violence both inside the
religion and from the cultures in which the religions function.
Nonviolence carries a “not” and a
“yes.” It assumes the refusal to engage
in killing and it presumes the necessity of preventing the conditions of
violence, personal and international, by energetically expanding fairness,
justice, respect, compassion for all people.
To the question, for example, How do we stop the Pentagon and US
But it’s even harder than that sounds, for
the writers consider their essays and the text as a whole to be “unfinished,” “a thorough opening statement” leading to new
approaches to nonviolent actions.
Our panel follows this book by focusing on
the nonviolent sources—the source texts and the prophets—of three of these
major religions--Islam, Buddhism, and Christianity.
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Book Review
By Frederic
and Mary Ann Brussat
Subverting Hatred
The Challenge of Nonviolence in Religious Traditions Daniel L. Smith-Christopher. Orbis Books/Boston Research Center, 1998. This timely volume published in association with The Boston Research Center for the 21st Century is edited by Daniel L. Smith-Christopher, a professor of theological studies and director of the Peace Studies program at
Thankfully, the nine
different religious traditions covered in this helpful resource are in
agreement about the validity of subverting hatred and practicing peace.
Christopher Key Chapple discusses the rich meaning of Jainism's concept of
ahimsa and concludes: "In order for nonviolence to be integrated into
one's personal and interpersonal life and into work environments, one needs
to investigate ways in which to foster virtuous conduct, cooperation, and
communication."
Christopher S. Queen presents a succinct overview of Buddhist
resources for nonviolent activism including lovingkindness, generosity, and
wisdom as antidotes to the seeds of violence; the concept of the
interconnectedness between all beings; and the practical curriculum of
skillful actions for taming and transforming the mind. Tam Wai Lun believes
that Taoism's wuwei (nonaction) can be understood as an alternative to
violence and force. Rabia Terri Harris and Jeremy Milgrom assess the
tradition of nonviolence in Islam and Judaism.
One of the many gems in this book is a prayer for peace by
Rabbi Nachman of Bratzlav: "There should be no hatred, jealousy,
rivalry, triumphalism or pettiness between people, only love and a great
peace, that everyone should experience love from one another, and be sure
that each wants good to befall the other, and to love them and for them to
succeed, so that all could come together and speak with each other and
explain the truth to one another."
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OMNI’S
RELIGIOUS PEACE TRADITIONS FORUMS: Six
Forums 2003-2013.
Jan. 14, 2003, Faith-based
Peace Traditions Roundtable (12 faiths represented)(one of many OMNI protests
against the threatened invasion of Iraq
Roman Catholic, Paul Warren; Unitarian
Universalist, Rev. Rhett Baird
Unity, Rev. Gary Simmons
Nov. 19, 2003,
Faith/Fellowship-based Peace Traditions
SYMPOSIUM (five faiths)(8 months following the invasion of Iraq
Dr. Hamid Naseem, Muslim (HANASEEM@uark.edu); Darla Newman, Jewish (DPNewman@aol.com); AJay Malshe, Hinduism. At OMNI, UA Presbyterian Campus Ministry.
Jan. 26, 2004, Nonviolent
Religious Peace Traditions Symposium (10 months after invasion of Iraq
Rev. Nancy Benson-Nicol,
First United Presbyterian Church (Calvin
St. , Fayetteville
Melanie Dietzel, Episcopal Peace Fellowship,
“Roman Catholic Peacemakers: The Berrigan Brothers.” Place:
OMNI/United Campus Ministry Sanctuary
[March
5, 2004, UA/King Fahd Forum on Islam’s Peace Tradition (4 panelists).
“Peacemaking and Peacemakers in Islam.”
Sponsored by Islam Program. Discussants:
Gray Henry, Omid Safi, Vincent Cornell, and Hugh Talat Halman. Moderator: Vincent Cornell.]
FALL 2006.
HINDU:
Murthy Kolluru, 401 NW
Palomino St. Rogers
BUDDHIST: Hugh Talat Halman
(see letter below)
CATHOLIC: Anne Marie Candido
HUMANIST: UUFF,
Rev. Kerry Mueller
METHODIST: Rev. Gary Lunsford, St.
James Methodist,
Sept. 4, 2007, War in Iraq
PARTICIPANTS: Moderator: Rev. Dave Hunter, Co-Minister of
UUFF;
Adamson, Adelaide
Geshe Thupten
Dorjee (Tup-ten Dor-jay), Tibetan Monk; Grisham, Lowell, Rector of St. Paul’s Episcopal Church; Head, Frank, Director, Catholic Charities,
NWA; Krueger, Doug, Philosophy
Instructor at NWACC, Co-founder of Freethinkers; Naseem, Hameed, Engineering Prof., Advisor of
UA Al Islam Student Peace Group; Robinson,
Grady Jim, Former Fundamentalist Minister, Agnostic, Columnist for Northwest Arkansas Times .
April 19, 2013, Nonviolence in Religious Traditions Book
Forum. Coordinator: Dick Bennett.
Islam, Prof. Hameed Naseem.
Buddhism, Prof. Sidney Burris.
Christianity: Prof. Emer. Dick Bennett.
UNIVERSAL GOLDEN RULE
Brahmanism: This is the sum of duty: Do naught unto
others which would cause you pain if done to you.: Mahabharata 5:1517
Christianity: All things whatsoever ye
would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them.: Matthew 7:12
Islam: No one of you is a believer until he
desires for his brother what which he desires for himself. Sunnah
Buddhism: Hurt not others in ways that you
yourself would find hurtful.: Udana Varga 5:18
Judaism: What is hateful to you, do not to
your fellowmen. That is the entire Law; all the rest is commentary.: Talmud,
Shabbat 31:a
Confucianism: Surely it is the maxim of
loving-kindness: Do not unto others that you would not have them do unto you.:
Analects 15:23
Taoism: Regard your neighbor's gain as your
own gain, and your neighbor's loss as your own loss.: T'ai Shag Kan Ying P'ien
Zoroastrianism: That nature alone is good
which refrains from doing unto another whatsoever is not good: for itself. :
Dadistan-i-dinik 94:5
Contents of #5
The People’s Charter
Nonviolence
Organizations
War Resisters League
Books
Reviews of Books
Kurlansky
Ram and Summy
Schell
Contents of #6
New
Book: York and Barringer, essays on
Christian Nonviolence and Pacifism
Dick: Noncooperation, One Method of Direct Action
Gene Sharp, There Are Alternatives (to violence and
wars)(free book)
Nonviolence and
Pacifism, Misc. Writings
Two Older Books on
Nonviolence.
Judson on Children
McAllister on Women
Dick: OMNI’S TV
“Book Sampler”
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END
NONVIOLENCE NEWSLETTER #9, NONVIOLENCE IN RELIGIONS
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