Great Throughts Treasury

"I saw destitution throughout the South, and I began asking why so many Americans, black and white, lived in poverty. The people I knew in Washington, D.C., and Louisiana weren?t lazy. They wanted a better life for their children, but the odds were against them. They couldn?t save money, because they didn?t make enough to save. They couldn?t send their children to college, because they could barely pay their rent. I began to wonder how the government spent taxpayers? money. If Congress spent little or nothing to help the poor, what did it do with the billions it collected? My research led to one conclusion: Congress was giving the Pentagon vast sums of taxpayers? dollars to manufacture, test, and deploy weapons of mass destruction. The government was building thousands of nuclear weapons in order to protect the American people from communism. Blacks had to live in shacks, and their children had to die from hunger and disease, so that the military could build bombs. It wasn?t difficult to make the connections between racism, poverty, and militarism. I concluded that war is the overarching evil in this country. Every other social lesion is related to our willingness to blow up the planet. We?re willing to do that; otherwise, we wouldn?t have these weapons. We built them with a very definite intention, which is that under certain circumstances we will use them. Racism, discrimination against women, poverty, domestic violence, are connected to this intention."

"I see no point in working within an evil system. Christ was never a reformer. He didn?t advocate voting for one corrupt politician over another. He never urged people to embrace the state. He told parables about putting a patch on an old garment, which would soon unravel. He preached that we should dismantle, not attempt to patch, the state."

"I see little difference between the world inside prison gates, and the world outside."

"I waited for arrest twice because a man must live what he believes and take the consequences. In Christ Our Lord, word and deed were one?one life. He never said anything that He didn?t do; He never believed anything that He didn?t live."

"I waited for arrest twice because it would be necessary to explain why we had defaced draft records with blood?for the blood wasted in Vietnam; and destroyed them with napalm, for the burning of children. What I attempted to say?the other defendants as well?was simply this: I reject this war; I will neither support it nor remain silent in face of it."

"I waited for arrest twice because I was ashamed of young men taking the heat for me. They had nothing to do with the Bomb, or Cold War, or Indochina, but they had to fight, to flee, or go to jail. As for me, who had helped build the terror (my silence was necessary for it), I lived in comfort and security."

"I was beginning to see just how naive I had been about the judicial system. In theory, courts and judges are there to protect citizens from government tyranny. That?s what I had learned in school. That?s what everyone learns in school?that there are three branches of the government; these branches are separate; the judicial branch is our guardian against unjust, or illegal power; we are protected by due process, writ of habeas corpus, and the assumption that all defendants are innocent until proven guilty."

"I was shocked by the misery and the ugliness of life in jail, but I felt a great satisfaction being there. Jail just made the most sense to me, and it still does, because that is where one identifies with the poor, and where one becomes a spokesperson for their dignity and their rights."

"I, too, was sane when I marched through Georgia on my way to liberate Europe, instead of fighting to free those sharecroppers from racist terror and oppression. Sane, when I slept in my warm room while black soldiers huddled in the snow. When I calibrated those long-range guns, determined to kill men I had never met, never talked to, would never see until their bodies were scattered about the bunkers. When I toured those German towns and cities, my nostrils contracting from the stench of death, my heart unmoved by all that misery."

"Implicit in attitudes like these, shockingly pervasive as they are, is a dreadful and ill-defined fear?fear that we?re not going to make it; fear that the Church will go down with the Powers of this world; fear of questioning, initiative, creativity, courage; fear of sacrifice, loneliness, criticism; fear, finally, of self, of neighbor, of Gospel, of Christ. I remember President Johnson saying, with an off-the-cuff honesty quite foreign to him: ?Peace is going to demand more than we counted on!? In the same manner, Catholics are discovering that Christ will demand more than we counted on. And generally, the thought fills us with dread. The Church in America?in fact, in the West as a whole?has accepted as religion a kind of cultural syncretism, culminating in near-perfect allegiance to the State. Not a few of its more prominent Bishops have even waited upon the Presidency like court jesters. And now the culture is being violently challenged, and the State doesn?t so much govern as rule by force. To whom do we turn?"

"I?m convinced that Liz and I had a certain authority for acting the way we did. The New Testament militates against oaths and vows; therefore, the celibacy that Liz and I had accepted was a dictum of Catholic officialdom, not an expression of the word of God. The Sermon on the Mount speaks against oaths and vows, stating that conscience should evolve under the two commandments: Love of God, and love of neighbor, including enemies."

"If enough Christians follow the gospel, they can bring any state to its knees. Such Christians are a biblical remnant. In the providence of God, they are the ones who keep the human race from destroying itself. Today, we have only a remnant of those who are deeply convicted of nonviolence, of community, and resistance to a criminal state. The revolution isn?t over. As long as there is poverty, violence, discrimination, militarism, and war, our struggle will continue."

"I?m sure that many of the people who visited Merton at Gethsemane realized that the monastic tradition is not true to the gospel. The monks in Egypt fled to the desert to shake the dust, or the corruption, of the cities off their feet. This was a passive protest, conducted far from the corruption they were denouncing. Jesus was an activist, not a monk. He lived among the poor. He drove the money- changers from the temple, criticized the rich and powerful, ridiculed government officials. He would not have remained in a monastery while his own government was slaughtering the Vietnamese."

"In closing, I hope and pray this letter is a source of help to you, and not a cause for pain and shock. Obviously you love the Church as I do. But before the tragedy and ruin of the times we must love the Church more?enough to criticize honestly and charitably, enough to pick up heavier burdens, enough to lose everything in order that others may discover life. In essence, what would the wretched of the earth have us do to offer them hope, to lift from them the horror of war and starvation, to extend a sense of dignity and destiny in God and human community?"

"In community we are responsible for one another, which means that we are responsible for the human family. We are all responsible when others are abused, crushed, bombed, or starved. In community, we are responsible for our life together, for nourishing one another, for setting good examples, and for inspiring others. But how do we make all this accountability work? Should one scrutinize another person? How can we reconcile philosophical disagreements and personality conflicts in a nonviolent manner? How might we fairly measure one?s contribution to the community?"

"In American Ground Zero: The Secret Nuclear War, Carole Gallagher wrote of ?manic denial? in Nevada Test Site workers who were dying of cancer contracted from exposure to radioactive material. She interviewed several who frantically denied any connection between their work and illness, even as they lay dying."

"In Catholic Church and parochial schools, I had learned that God created man in His own image and that all human beings carry the divine within us. In order to kill other men and women, I needed to make them less than human. I needed to become anesthetized; more, I had to believe that I would never become one of those mutilated things. Unlike them, God was on my side. Unlike them, I was blessed, surrounded with the aura of pure goodness. We had gone overseas with 105 howitzers, but someone got the bright idea that, because of our marksmanship, we should be outfitted with new guns. So they got us 8-inch weapons, which were actually naval guns fitted for field artillery use, and our battalion went into Brittany armed with these guns, which could reach targets twenty miles away. We fired on Germans hunkered down in submarine pens in Brest, until the pockets of Nazi soldiers were either killed, other stragglers crawled out and surrendered. The Germans were heavily fortified, and they were resisting, even though the sub pens were no longer operating. They just wanted to hold on, and we kept firing and firing."

"In many respects, my Josephite brothers and I were still well- meaning liberals, believing that the system would eventually bend to our good will. We hadn?t traveled the bitter, hate-strewn road that had brought Dr. King to Birmingham jail. But we were deeply moved by Reverend King?s letter, and by his willingness to risk jail, and even his life, for the civil rights struggle. Martin Luther King?s witness, and his powerful words, would draw some of us beyond sentiment, into the world of dogs and clubs, tear gas and jail cells."

"In November 1966 the American bishops had stated that the Vietnam war met the criteria for a just war, but those men weren?t going to die in some leech-filled rice paddy. Cardinal Spellman wasn?t going to walk point through triple-canopy jungle, waiting for a sniper to blow out his brains or a booby trap to send him home in a chocolate box. Those horrors were for young working-class men, not the church hierarchy. A revolution of spirit is what we were seeking."

"In retrospect, I realize that I could be rather hard on people who were new to the faith and resistance movement. I was impatient, even intolerant at times. I granted no doubts or uncertainties, wanted everyone to be absolutely dedicated to the Kingdom of God."

"In sum, my experience has been out of the ordinary, and it comes purely from attempts to answer the question, ?What does Christ ask of me??"

"In reality, the courts protect the government from the people. The courts serve the state, not ordinary citizens. The courts exist to maintain order, not to secure justice."

"In somewhat the same vein, Christians who reason this way seem driven by a death wish. They are dangerous, mixed up, and deluded. They operate under a veneer of Christianity, while they advocate, support, and pay taxes for the ultimate violence. To suggest that God?s will is the destruction of the earth in order to cleanse it of evil, is pure insanity."

"In the epistles of St. Paul, the question of slavery arises, and Paul gives no answer. This issue was just too overwhelming, too much a part of the culture in which he lived, and he wasn?t willing to confront it directly. Fifteen hundred years later, the Catholic Church seemed to be following Paul?s lead, preferring to remain silent on one of the greatest tragedies in the history of the human race."

"In the Gospels, Jesus exhorts His disciples to transcend their fears. He encourages them to leave status, security, friends, and family behind. To embrace the world, with all its pain, dangers, and contradictions. To live in community, serve the poor, challenge injustice."

"Individuals have international duties which transcend the national obligations of obedience imposed by the individual state. He who violates the laws of war cannot obtain immunity while acting in pursuance of the authority of the state if the state in authorizing action moves outside its competence under international law."

"Indeed, weapons of mass destruction express a deep human terror, a desperate, failed effort to conquer human fear."

"Is our friend?s case unique? Hardly. The most significant word in the American lexicon today is ?mass??mass education, mass media, mass religion, mass values, mass ethos, all adding up to mass culture. Essentially, our friend?s position differs only in degree from that of his President ?surrounded by a gang of zealots and thugs who shook down companies for millions of dollars, bought elections, sold services and decisions of the Government, conducted illegal wars, harassed so-called ?enemies,? committed burglaries and forgeries, provoked violence, engaged in spying on fellow Americans, ordered mass arrests in violation of the Constitution, and assisted organized crime in evading legal punishment.? (Washington Watch: After Watergate; Reform). Ethical retardation exemplified in both cases, allowing on the one hand, a job to buy silence and public neutrality. And on the other, ambition to justify high larceny and mass murder."

"It is a Biblical theme that change always begins in the desert, which is a metaphor for slums, the jails, the docks when one is in court, those margins of society where people are speaking truth to power."

"It is curious that we obey commands from nearly every source?parents, educators, military?except from God. Yet as Paul says?Christ offered his life for us when we were yet enemies of God (Rom. 5:8)?in the hope that such profound love might evoke a response of loving one another."

"Instead, the nuclear family constructs walls, figurative and literal, around children. Families turn into mini-states, at war with outsiders, coveting and consuming the world?s resources. Closed in on themselves, families become, in the words of the late British psychiatrist R.D. Laing, ?protection rackets.?"

"It is the will of this God, the God of Jesus Christ, to humanize us to become children of God; we are daughters and sons, sisters and brothers of one another. And that?s the biblical basis for nonviolent revolution. That?s why we have it, and why it must continue throughout history."

"Jim Crow would die hard, taking some beautiful people down, but Mrs. Parks and so many brave men, women, and children were fanning a fire that had always burned in the hearts and minds of African-Americans. As the civil rights movement spread, it was clear that beatings, arrests, threats, bombs, and assassinations would never extinguish this fire."

"Jesus identifies the neighbor as enemy. When we love our neighbor as ourselves, the enemy is included. Otherwise, we do not truly love ourselves?the love we withhold from the enemy we withhold from ourselves and from God."

"It seemed that Frida knew God. The signs of struggle were striking at that last vigil. Emaciated and depleted, she literally had nothing left to give at death?as though work, life, service, vocation, were all complete. I remembered the way she mysteriously controlled and paced her life during these last years?staying alive because she sensed we needed her. Needed her certainly during the Indochina war, but even more since, when Americans grew silent before the humiliation of their country at the hands of politicians, generals, and arms hucksters. Needed her spirit of prayer, her humility before encroaching weakness; needed the resistance which had revolutionized her own spirit and life. She was, I conclude, a sister and mother to us all?and teacher as well. And as the nuclear weapons race, led by our country, mounts to insane heights; as nuclear proliferation careens out of control; as humanity arms I for a convulsion of mass suicide."

"Jesus Christ practiced direct action, as did the Jewish prophets, and other nonviolent militants. Long before our Revolution, Americans resorted to direct action in struggles against injustice. In a capitalist society, there are no other means for representation, redress, or justice. To vote is political window dressing. It makes not the slightest political difference. If it did, the American people would soon lose this ?right.? The only means for fighting judicial corruption, corporate greed, worker exploitation, police brutality, and militarism is direct action. The Industrial Workers of the World (?Wobblies?) were right. You don?t vote with the ballot, you vote with your feet and with your life."

"Lead us Lead us injustice And there will be no need to break the law Let the President do what his predecessors failed to do Let him obey the rich less and the people more Let him think less of the privileged and more of the poor Less of America and more of the world Let lawmakers judges and lawyers think less of the law more of justice less of legal ritual more of human rights To our bishops and superiors we say Learn something about the gospel and something about illegitimate power When you do you will liquidate your investments take a house in the slums or even join us in jail"

"John Bach kept up his peace work when he got out of prison, co-founding Jonah House, the community in which Liz, myself, our three children, and many other resisters have lived for more than twenty years. Bach also founded a peace community, the Whale?s Tale, in New England, and he has been one of the most dedicated, outspoken, and consistent peace activists in that part of the country."

"John called ?the majority of men.? Therefore, how can it speak to either issue? The understanding from this quarter is simply this: both Church and State are vast, sprawling bureaucracies which share an insufferably arrogant assumption that they are the fundamental answers to the human condition. The understanding, further, is that, despite claims to the contrary, Church and State have brought Western civilization to its nadir, and have destroyed other civilizations in the process."

"John Schuchardt and the jail house lawyer worked hard to challenge this procedure. They urged prisoners not to plead guilty when, in fact, many of them were innocent. This alarmed the conviction mill across the street, which operated on the assumption that inmates should accept their fate, cop a plea, go willingly to prison. Innocence or guilt was irrelevant. Justice must prevail."

"Let?s take an example. No Gospel teaching better exemplifies being different, being Christian, than the Parable of the Good Samaritan in Luke?s Gospel. You know the setting."

"Lens wrote as he did because he knew?scientists today are verifying what he knew?that even if the bomb were never used again in warfare, we have poisoned the planet in developing and deploying it, perhaps terminally. I repeat, we have perhaps gone into a slow suicide of our species in developing and deploying the bomb."

"Life will always conquer death, as typified by our Lord?s resurrection. Sooner or later, life will prevail and disarmament will come about."

"Liz and I watched ?The Day After? with our children. And like millions of others who saw this film, the children were upset. We listened to their concerns, and told them that we didn?t want the bombs to go off. As parents, we had a responsibility to see that that didn?t happen. We told them that their. mother might spend time in prison for acting to end this madness."

"Liz and I agreed that opposition to war and violence would be one expression of our love. Our love for one another would inspire us to form a community of conscience. We would not retreat into solitude, build fences around our hearts, or put our souls in an interest-bearing account. We would own no property and pay no taxes, making what money we needed honestly and without harming others."

"Mark, the author of the second Gospel, seems to have understood the need for authority that all of us possess. In the very first chapter, he states unequivocally that his Gospel is the Gospel of Jesus, which is the Gospel of God. God, then, is author, and God is the final authority. We can believe in this authority; we can trust it, follow it, and live it. God never lies to us; never breaks a promise. The culture claims authority, as Our Way of Life; politicians claim it; so do educators, religious leaders, lawyers and parents. But their authority is under judgment by the Word of God, by its truth, love, and justice."

"Liz knew that she and her friends might well be entering a ?deadly force? area, where guards were under orders to shoot intruders. In fact, Liz was ?shot? when the group role-played a walk into Griffiss Air Force Base. Liz spent time praying, deep-breathing, being still. She dreaded being taken from her children. She loved tucking the kids into bed, reading them to sleep and, hearing their rhythmic sighs, joining friends in the kitchen for a bedtime snack. She might well spend years in a penitentiary far from her children, unable to snuggle with them at night, to hear their happy chirping in the morning."

"More to the point would be education to an awareness that the law to the Negro is very often an enemy, since it is part of the status quo."

"Liz told Judge Munson that he had the power to contradict this trend. He could act as a check against the imperial power of the presidency, a check against the unconstitutional use of laws to prohibit and punish those who speak the truth, who resist the idolization of the bomb and carry out direct nonviolent acts of disarmament on the ultimate manifestation of the demonic idols?the weapons themselves."

"Mitch Snyder, who would become a prominent and absolutely devoted advocate for the homeless, joined our book group. And another great resister, John Bach, was also a participant. I was in Danbury about two and a half years, and during that time our discussion group turned into a very tight resistance community. We started having frequent political meetings, we organized fasts against the war, we sponsored prisoners to climb the water tower, from which we hung anti-war banners, and when our friends were punished with transfers to other, more secure, prisons, they kept up their resistance."