Courageous Woman: Elizabeth Anscombe (1919-2001)

Posted on August 30, 2016 By

by Julianne Wiley (a.k.a. Juli Loesch) In the fall of 1939, shortly after Great Britain declared war on Germany, the Royal Air Force was openly promoting a counter-city bombing strategy against Germany. They were preparing to carpet bomb entire cities. Their first target in each city would be the city water-pumping stations, and then they would wipe…

Where Violence Begins

Posted on August 23, 2016 By

by Rachel MacNair The planetarium presentation, as usual, was beautiful. Yet there was a disquieting aspect to the language used. Stars were “dying.” Why not “being transformed”? These stars did something in a “desperate” attempt to prevent this. How can an inanimate object be desperate? One star taking material from another star was “cannibalizing.”  …

Adventures as a Delegate to the Democratic Party Convention

Posted on August 17, 2016 By

by Lisa Stiller Reminder: The Consistent Life Network’s blog is for the airing of a wide variety of views connected to the consistent life ethic. Therefore, the views are those of the author and not necessarily of the organization. Political elections are especially likely to elicit sharply differing perspectives from consistent-lifers.   It was quite…

Excerpt – Peace Psychology Perspectives on Abortion

Posted on August 9, 2016 By

  Excerpt from the Introduction to Peace Psychology Perspectives on Abortion by Rachel M. MacNair   Understanding Perspectives Back when I was in college, pursuing a major in Peace and Conflict Studies at Earlham (a Quaker college, I being a Quaker), several of us activists put together a program to educate about what was wrong…

Ancient Roots of the Consistent Life Ethic: Greece

Posted on August 2, 2016 By

by Mary Krane Derr  The ancient Greek mathematician, musician, vegetarian, and spiritual teacher Pythagoras (580? BCE-??) taught a nonviolence ethic rooted in the kinship of all living beings. Pythagoras’ ethic did not exclude or denigrate women. Most unconventionally, Pythagoras defined only sexual misconduct, not intercourse itself, as polluting. He accepted women equally as his students….