Greece: A War and Peace Report

 

As many of you know, I’ve just returned from a fabulous three-week trip to Greece with my sister, my cousins, and two dear friends from Pasadena who are African American and wanted to have a genuine Greek experience. We not only saw the amazing sites—Delphi, Olympia, Meteora, the Acropolis, Patmos, Ephesus, Rhodes, and much more--we also spent a weekend on Andros, the island where my Dad was born, went to the church where he was baptized and hung out with my delightful Greek relatives. We experience Greek hospitality at its finest. This was my fourth trip to Greece, and each time I go, I love Greece and the Greek people more and more.  

What I’d like to reflect on today is the Greek attitude towards war and peace. Like most people of their time, the ancient Greeks were a warrior as well as a trading culture. Even Socrates was a war hero. Their national epic, the Iliad and the Odyssey, is all about a ten-year war between the Greeks and the Trojans that didn’t end well for either side.

The Greeks honored warriors, but did they glorify war? Just as World War II was breaking out, French writer Simone Weil wrote a powerful essay about the Iliad that was published by the Quakers as a Pendle Hill pamphlet. Simone Petrement, a friend of Weil, wrote that the essay provided a new perspective for viewing the Iliad. Whereas previously the Iliad had often been regarded as a stirring tale of heroic deeds, after the essay it could be seen as an accurate and compassionate depiction of how both victors and victims are harmed by the use of force.

The scene in the Iliad that I find most compelling is the one in which Priam, the King of Troy, goes to the camp of his enemy the Greeks to beg Achilles, the man who killed his son Hector, to give him his son’s body for a proper burial. During their painful conversation, Achilles grieves over the death of his best friend Patrocles, who was murdered by Hector, Priam grieves over the death of his son, who was murdered by Achilles, and both men weep so loudly they can be heard throughout the Greek camp. For Homer, and most Greek dramatists, war is tragic.

The ancient Greeks fought many wars, including the war against Persia that changed the course of history, but they also engaged in peaceful trade most of the time. One of the high points of my trip was going to Cnossus, in Crete, the center of the Minoan civilization that flourished from 2000-1400 BC. The Minoans were a peaceful people. Their art focused on fashionably dressed women and men, not warriors, and depicted bull fights in which men did not kill bulls but performed acrobatics on their backs. The Minoans had weapons—beautiful, ornate swords—but were more interested in trade and making jewelry than in war and piracy. One anthropologist stated that: "The stark fact is that for the prehistoric Aegean we have no direct evidence for war and warfare per se.”

Judith Hand, an evolutionary biologist and a friend of the Quakers, wrote a fascinating novel called The Voice of the Goddess depicting the Minoan civilization as peace-loving and matriarchal, until the advent of war-like mainland Greeks. I highly recommend this book for its fascinating depiction of a matriarchal society.

The Greeks found in athletic contests an alternative to violence that has had a profound influence on the world. Every four years, from 776 BC to 394 AD, participants across the entire Hellenic world engaged in organized competition as part of a shared religious tradition honoring Zeus and honoring the glory and beauty of the human body and

spirit. If the Greek city states were at war, they would cease fighting until the Olympic games ended. So compelling was that Olympic spirit of human excellence and peaceful competition, that it lasted more than 11 centuries, and was reinitiated in 1896 at the modern Olympic Stadium in Athens.

Some of the best antiwar plays ever written were composed during the later phases of the devastating war between Athens and Sparta (431–404 BCE)  Euripides' The Trojan Women (performed in 415 BCE) showed the tragic impact of war on women, and Aristophanes' Lysistrata (411 BCE) showed the power of women to end war.

Aristophanes’ comedy depicts a sex strike undertaken by the women of Athens and Sparta to compel men to stop their senseless war-making. It is a bawdy comedy that was very popular during the Vietnam War era. (I highly recommend Sarah Ruden's translation.)

This work may have influenced the Liberian women who also adopted a sex strike as one of their tactics to compel their men to come to the peace table.

In 2003 my wife Kathleen and I went on journey in the footsteps of St. Paul with a boat load of Methodists and other Christians just as the United States was about to bomb and invade Iraq. I was the lone Quaker in this group of religious pilgrims. When we took the ferry to Patmos, the island where John had his revelation, we heard over the loudspeaker that the US had started bombing Baghdad. Distraught by this news, I burst into tears. A Methodist pastor asked me, “Are you alright?” I responded, “How can I be alright when my country is bombing Iraq?”

After this cruise, Kathleen and I went to Athens and took part in the largest antiwar demonstration in Europe. Tens of thousands of Greeks marched in protest, condemning the US for this invasion. Some of their language was so anti-American it worried Kathleen, so I reassured her. “The Greeks love Americans, but they don’t like what our government is doing.”

This outpouring of antiwar sentiment makes me curious about the peace movement in modern Greece. Unfortunately, I know little about it. Once I learn more, it could be a topic for another reflection.

Save the Date: ICUJP George Regas Award event on Sept 10: Housing is a Human Right

 

SAVE THE DATE!  Pursuing Justice and Peace ICUJP 2023 Rev. George F. Regas Courageous Peacemaker Awards -  Housing Is A Human Right  Sunday, September 10, 2023 • 1:00-3:00 pm, All-Saints Church, Pasadena  132 N Euclid Avenue, Pasadena, CA 91101 (Also Live Streamed Online) Only days after the devastating 9/11 attacks, the late Rev. George F. Regas brought together Christians, Jews, Muslims, Quakers, humanists and people of many faiths and beliefs to establish Interfaith Communities United for Justice and Peace, with the mission that Religious Communities Must Stop Blessing War and Violence. Since its founding 22 years ago, ICUJP has remained true to George's vision, holding over 1,000 Friday Forums with speakers from all over the world, and engaging in a wide range of activities to advance the struggle for justice and peace. To celebrate the ongoing work of ICUJP, to honor George's life and legacy, and to recognize deserving individuals and organizations, please join us at: Housing Is A Human Right ICUJP 2023 George F. Regas Courageous Peacemaker Awards    Sunday, September 10, 2023 • 1:00-3:00 pm All-Saints Church, 132 N Euclid Ave, Pasadena, CA 91101 and live streamed online The event is free, but we would appreciate voluntary donations of $25, $50 or  $100 per person.   See below regarding Sponsorship packages.    We're delighted to recognize the following remarkable individuals as 2023 George F. Regas Courageous Peacemakers: Watch for the announcement of additional special guests!

The Power of the Peace Movement vs. The Folly of Scientists: A Quaker Perspective

 

The Power of the Peace Movement vs. The Folly of Scientists: A Quaker Perspective

My wife and I went to see “Oppenheimer” with some friends and were deeply moved by its complex portrayal of the “Father of the Atomic Bomb.” Oppenheimer’s story is profoundly tragic, as most war stories are. He is portrayed with all his ambiguity: brilliant, full of hubris, and morally conflicted. He realizes too late that he has released the genie of mass destruction from its bottle, and his effort to curtail the consequences of this act of hubris leads to his political downfall.

The movie assumes that the dropping of the bombs on Nagasaki and Hiroshima was a necessary evil to end the war with Japan and saved countless lives. This claim has been disputed by “revisionist” historians like Gar Alperovitz, author of “The Decision to Use the Atomic Bomb,” and a former fellow of King’s College, Cambridge, and Martin J. Sherwin, professor of history at George Mason University and author of “Gambling With Armageddon: Nuclear Roulette From Hiroshima to the Cuban Missile Crisis.”

In 2020 these historians wrote an op ed piece in the LA Times showing that even the military questioned the necessity of using the atomic bomb on Japan.[1] The National Museum of the U.S. Navy in Washington, D.C., states unambiguously on a plaque with its atomic bomb exhibit: “The vast destruction wreaked by the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and the loss of 135,000 people made little impact on the Japanese military. However, the Soviet invasion of Manchuria … changed their minds.” Furthermore, the authors point out that “seven of the United States’ eight five-star Army and Navy officers in 1945 agreed with the Navy’s vitriolic assessment. Generals Dwight Eisenhower, Douglas MacArthur and Henry “Hap” Arnold and Admirals William Leahy, Chester Nimitz, Ernest King, and William Halsey are on record stating that the atomic bombs were either militarily unnecessary, morally reprehensible, or both.

What the movie portrays instead is the frenzied jubilation of most Americans when they learned that the atomic bomb had been dropped on the Japanese, who surrendered the next day. In a dramatic scene, Oppenheimer boasts that the bomb has been dropped on the Japanese, and should have dropped on the Germans, and everyone applauds wildly. During the deafening and uncontrollable applause, Oppenheimer has a horrific vision of the room consumed with atomic fire. This ambivalence is what makes Oppenheimer a tragic figure, and the movie worth watching.

The movie ends on an apocalyptic note, with Oppenheimer realizing that he has started an arms race that could lead to the destruction of all life on the planet.

The power of the atomic bomb is seen as god-like through the eyes of Oppenheimer and also the film maker, Christopher Nolan. In a best-selling biography of Oppenheimer, Kai Bird and Martin J. Sherwin compare him to Prometheus, the Greek god who gave humans fire and was punished by Zeus by being chained to a rock and tortured for eternity.  Oppenheimer names the first atomic test “Trinity,” in reference to a poem by John Donne called “Batter my heart, three-personed God.” When Oppenheimer witnessed the awesome power of the atomic bomb, he recalled a line from his favorite scripture, the Bhagavad-Gita: “Now I am become death, the destroyer of worlds.”

In reality, Oppenheimer is all too human. His efforts to prevent the US from building hydrogen bombs prove ineffective. He never expressed regret for having developed the atomic bomb or its use against Japan; and rather than consistently oppose the "Red-baiting" of the late 1940s and early 1950s, Oppenheimer testified against former colleagues and students, before and during his hearing. He symbolized for many the folly of scientists who believed they could control the use of their research, and the dilemmas of moral responsibility presented by science in the nuclear age.

I’d like to contrast this tragic and morally ambiguous story with that of the unsung heroes of the peace movement who helped to end the Cold War and reverse the arms race. I am thinking of Albert Bigelow, a naval commander who had a change of heart after he went to Hiroshima and witnessed the devastation caused by the atomic bomb. He quit the Navy a month before being eligible for a pension, joined the peace movement and became a Quaker. In 1958 he set sail on a boat aptly named “The Golden Rule” with the intention of entering the nuclear test site in the Marshall Islands. He and his crew were arrested in Hawaii, but his action inspired others like Earl and Barbara Reynolds and Greenpeace. What a great movie his life would make!

The American Friends Service Committee and the Quakers began reaching out to the Soviets in the early 1950s to build trust and dispel stereotypes, with the hope of ending the Cold War. They persisted in this effort for the next thirty some years and in the 1980s their efforts bore fruit. When Gorbachev came to power, he wanted an end to the Cold War and the nuclear arms race. Reagan was a staunch anti-Communist and Cold Warrior, but he was willing to meet with Gorbachev, thanks in part to pressure from the peace movement.

The Nuclear Freeze movement not only garnered the support of most American peace organizations but also was endorsed by numerous public leaders, intellectuals, and activists. Former public officials, such as George Ball, Clark Clifford, William Colby, Averell Harriman, and George Kennan, spoke out in favor of a nuclear freeze. Support also came from leading scientists, including Linus Pauling, Jerome Wiesner, Bernard Feld, and Carl Sagan.

Reagan was also influenced by the “citizen diplomacy movement,” of which I was a part. Because of glasnost, Gorbachev’s policy of “openness,” thousands of Americans went to the Soviet Union to meet the Russians, build relationships and advocate for peace. This had a profound impact on Reagan and Gorbachev. They eventually met at the Reykjavík Summit in October 1986, and came very close to agreeing to ban all nuclear weapons by 2000. Both men wanted nuclear abolition, but the American generals persuaded Reagan not to go that far. While Reagan and Gorbachev didn’t ban all nuclear weapons, their meeting paved the way for the 1987 INF (Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces) and the 1991 START I (Strategic Offensive Arms Reductions) Treaties, as well as limitations on nuclear testing. There were over 60,000 nuclear weapons in the world in the 1980s, and today there are 12,500. Far, far too many, but this reduction wouldn’t have happened without the peace movement.

Hollywood buys into the myth that Great Men are the ones who make history, but I believe that lasting and positive change usually happens at the grass roots. I agree with Margaret Mead who said, “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.”

As people of faith, committed to peacemaking, we shouldn’t underestimate our power. Around the world there are thousands of groups like ours working for peace. Our efforts are generally not reported in the media or portrayed in movies, but we are nonetheless influential. I believe that with God’s help, we can change the world for the better. As Quakers say, we just need to be "persistent, passionate, and prophetic."

---

[1] https://www.latimes.com/opinion/story/2020-08-05/hiroshima-anniversary-japan-atomic-bombs

 

Apartheid-Free Communities: An Interfaith Effort to Resist Racism and End Support for Israeli Apartheid.

Please join us online ICUJP Friday Forum August 4th, 7:30-9:30 am Pacific   Apartheid-Free Communities: An Interfaith Effort to Resist Racism and End Support for Israeli Apartheid. Join video conference here: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81302287359 Call in by phone: +1 669 900 6833*  Meeting ID: 813 0228 7359 PASSCODE: 793648 *Meeting controls for call-in attendees: To mute/unmute yourself: *6 To raise hand: *9 Event Description: Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, Yesh Din, and B’Tselem have all named the collection of systems and laws that the Israeli government uses to rule Palestinians inside Israel and Palestine as apartheid. Sonia Tuma, Associate General Secretary for Global Cohesion at the American Friends Service Committee, will speak about the Apartheid-Free Communities campaign, which came together in 2022 as an interdenominational coalition of faith groups in North America following the emerging consensus among the international human rights community that Israel’s treatment of the Palestinian people amounts to the Crime of Apartheid. Join the conversation with our speaker: Sonia Tuma is the Associate General Secretary for Global Cohesion at the American Friends Service Committee. In that role she leads the organization in threading together AFSC’s global work on peace and justice in 18 countries toward greater collective impact.  Sonia’s career includes community organizing, the development and delivery of educational programming, advocacy work on local and national levels and at the UN. Sonia has an academic background in International Relations, with special focus on political economy and the interplay between nationalism and feminist movements.  In addition to work with the AFSC, she has been a researcher, educator, organizer, and activist. Sonia is a trained mediator and facilitator who has worked with community groups and nonprofit organizations to develop shared visions and creative, strategic programming toward social change.  Learn More/Here's how YOU can help: Learn More about the Apartheid-Free Pledge here 7:30 - 7:35  Log in and socialize 7:35 - 7:45  Welcome and introductions  7:45 - 7:50  Reflection (5 min. maximum) 7:50 - 9:15  Program and Q&A 9:15 - 9:20  Announcements 9:20 - 9:30  Closing circle and prayer Start your morning with us! Facilitator: Dave Clennon Reflector: Anthony Manousos ** Meetings begin promptly at 7:30 am Pacific. ** ----- Here's how to join the online meeting: To join by video conference, you'll need to download the Zoom app on your computer or mobile device. Click on the link to join the meeting and then enter the Meeting ID number and passcode. You'll be able to see slides and video, as well as speakers and other attendees. If you prefer to join by phone, you'll be prompted to enter the Meeting ID number and passcode. You won't be able to see the visuals or attendees, but you can view them on the meeting video recording afterward.  If you're new to Zoom and would like to use the video option, we recommend you download the app well ahead of time. ICUJP Friday Forum 08/04/23 Time: 07:30 AM Pacific Time (US and Canada) Option 1: Join video conference  https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81302287359 Meeting ID: 813 0228 7359 PASSCODE: 793648 Option 2: Dial in by phone only: +1 669 900 6833 US (California) Meeting ID: 813 0228 7359 PASSCODE: 793648 (To find a dial-in number closer to you, go here.) ----- Please note: Our Friday Forums and other events are open to the public. By attending, you c

Affordable Housing Bus Tour on July 15

Join us on July 15 for either or both of these two events:

​

1. A tour of ten beautiful affordable communities in Pasadena that are reducing homelessness, delivering millions to cities in outside investment, and improving neighborhoods.
2.  A session on how congregations can provide affordable apartments in their underutilized land. Includes lunch.

Event #1  Affordable Housing Bus Tour—See for yourself how Pasadena has provided beautiful and environmentally friendly homes for seniors, families, people with mental illness and those who have been chronically unhoused.  You'll see ten different housing types and sizes with different funding sources. You'll hear from developers and also from some residents on how these communities have transformed their lives. 

 

Time: 8:30 am and return at 12:30 pm

Where: 960 E. Walnut, Pasadena, CA,  We leave from the Salvation Army Hope Center (they have plenty of free parking).

How: Our air-conditioned tour bus holds 57 passengers and is equipped with a restroom.

Cost for Bus Tour:  $25.

Click to register.

 

Event #2:  Affordable Housing on Religious Land.

 

Time: 12:30-2pm:

What: Lunch and presentations by the Pasadena’s Housing Department and the Congregational Land Committee of Making Housing and Community Happen, on how congregations can use their underutilized land for affordable and supportive housing.

Where: the Salvation Army Hope Center.

Cost for Lunch & Presentation: $15.

Click to register.

​

Deadline for lunch and presentation about affordable housing on religious land: July 10th. We will accept registrations for the bus tour as long as there are seats available. We recommend that you reserve your seat soon to ensure you have a place on the bus.

ICUJP Friday Forum: Confessions of John Cobb, American theologian, philosopher, and environmentalist

 

Please join us online ICUJP Friday Forum June 2nd, 7:30-9:30 am Pacific John Cobb: Confessions Join video conference here: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/85723124624 Call in by phone: +1 669 900 6833*  Meeting ID: 857 2312 4624 PASSCODE: 286694 *Meeting controls for call-in attendees: To mute/unmute yourself: *6 To raise hand: *9 Event Description: "I wanted to write once to state, if only for myself, what I really felt most keenly about, without worrying about whom I might offend. That primary concern has, for many years, been the global crises and the policies of my own country that, on the whole, speed up the move to the destruction of civilization and the physical world that supports life. I have felt called by Jesus’ Abba to do what I could for the healthy survival of the biosphere and for an ecological civilization for humans.” In these pages, a “here I stand” near the end of a long and prestigious career, Cobb declares his faith, tells us his view of the world, names the dangers we face, and urges us to act. Join the conversation with our speaker: John Cobb is an American theologian, philosopher, and environmentalist known for his work across multiple disciplines and sectors of society. He taught theology at the Claremont School of Theology from 1958 to 1990. Author of more than 50 books, most recently Confessions (2023), his work For the Common Good: Redirecting the Economy Toward Community, Environment, and a Sustainable Future (1989), co-authored with Herman Daly, won the Grawemeyer Award for Ideas Improving World Order. In 2014, Cobb was elected to the prestigious Academy of Arts and Sciences. In retirement John Cobb lives at Pilgrim Place in Claremont, California. In 1973, with David Griffin, he established the Center for Process Studies. Throughout his career he has contributed to Whitehead scholarship and promoted numerous process programs and organizations. In recent years he has given special attention to supporting work toward the goal of becoming an ecological civilization. Toward this end he led the efforts to found Pando Populus in 2014, Institute for Ecological Civilization in 2015, Cobb Institute in 2019, and Living Earth Movement in 2022. Learn More/Here's how YOU can help: Websites: John Cobb: Confessions Cobb Institute 7:30 - 7:35  Log in and socialize 7:35 - 7:45  Welcome and introductions  7:45 - 7:50  Reflection (5 min. maximum) 7:50 - 9:15  Program and Q&A 9:15 - 9:20  Announcements 9:20 - 9:30  Closing circle and prayer Start your morning with us! Facilitator: Rick Banales Reflector: Carolfrances Likins ** Meetings begin promptly at 7:30 am Pacific. ** ----- Here's how to join the online meeting: To join by video conference, you'll need to download the Zoom app on your computer or mobile device. Click on the link to join the meeting and then enter the Meeting ID number and passcode. You'll be able to see slides and video, as well as speakers and other attendees. If you prefer to join by phone, you'll be prompted to enter the Meeting ID number and passcode. You won't be able to see the visuals or attendees, but you can view them on the meeting video recording afterward.  If you're new to Zoom and would like to use the video option, we recommend you download the app well ahead of time. ICUJP Friday Forum 06/02/23 Time: 07:30 AM Pacific Time (US and Canada) Option 1: Join video conference  https://us02web.zoom.us/j/85723124624 Meeting ID: 857 2312 4624 PASSCODE: 286694 Option 2: Dial in by phone only: +1 669 900 6833 US (California) Meeting ID: 857 2312 4624 PASSCODE: 286694 (To find a dial-in number closer to you, go here.) ----- Please note: Our Friday Forums and other events are open to the public. By attending, you consent to having your voice and likeness recorded, photographed, posted on ICUJP's website and social media, and included in ICUJP materials and publications for noncommercial purposes. If you don't want to be photographed or recorded, please let the facilitator know. _____________________________________________ PLEASE SUPPORT ICUJP'S FERVENT CALL THAT RELIGIOUS COMMUNITIES MUST STOP BLESSING WAR AND VIOLENCE BY MAKING A GENEROUS DONATION Since 2001, Interfaith Communities United for Justice and Peace has been advocating for a more peaceful and inclusive world, often in the face of constant war, violence, disinformation and cynicism. With a small part-time staff and lots of volunteers, your donations help us meet our budget and expand our reach. So far this year alone we have presented a series of exceptional Friday Forums exploring: Susan Stouffer from the Peace Center on why and how do we teach peace; Richard Zaldivar of The Wall Las Memorias on building the nation's only AIDS monument and establishing a premier health prevention organization in Los Angeles;  Anthony Manousos of Making Housing and Community Happen on dispelling myths about affordable housing and homelessness; Elizabeth Gonzalez of Public Counsel’s Consumer Rights and Economic Justice Project; Mark Gale and Richard Bunce of the National Alliance on Mental Illness on how the justice system fails people struggling with mental illness; A performance of Dave Brubeck's The Gates of Justice with Rev. Dr. Ken Walden of Holman UMC, and Mark Kligman and Jeff Janeczko of the Milken Archive of Jewish Music at UCLA: Dean Wallraff on his book Earthling - Climate Ethics;  Greg Palast on recent and ongoing attempts to disenfranchise voters;  Taher Herzallah of American Muslims for Palestine;  Denise Duffield of Physicians for Social Responsibility on Local Organizing to Prevent Nuclear War; We know that you are asked to support a wide array of worthy organizations.  All we ask is that you include ICUJP among them with as generous a contribution as you can afford.  We are especially grateful to whose who can make a sustaining monthly donation of $5, $10, $25, $50, or $100. If you're able to give an annual contribution of $250, $500, or $1,000, it would allow us to mount more events and conferences throughout the year.  If you belong to a congregation or organization, please explore whether they can make a donation or grant.   DONATE