{"id":4383,"date":"2022-12-15T14:21:12","date_gmt":"2022-12-15T18:21:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/consistent-life.org\/blog\/?p=4383"},"modified":"2024-02-16T11:55:50","modified_gmt":"2024-02-16T15:55:50","slug":"the-christmas-truce-of-1914","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/consistent-life.org\/blog\/index.php\/2022\/12\/15\/the-christmas-truce-of-1914\/","title":{"rendered":"The Christmas Truce of 1914"},"content":{"rendered":"

World War I was starting, and the war that was expected to be over by Christmas lasted for years. But on Christmas Eve and through Christmas Day, up and down the 500-mile front, about 100,000 soldiers out of a million had spontaneous truces. Christmas carols on one side were joined in by the other side, and there were even soccer games.<\/p>\n

The culture of life and the culture of peace (which of course are the same thing) benefit from knowing this: people are quite capable of outbreaks of peace even under the most dire pressures from those in authority.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong>Articles<\/strong><\/h3>\n

From Tony Magliano, one of our blog post writers: A Christmas Miracle – When Enemies Became Brothers \u2022 AUSCP<\/a><\/p>\n

The Importance of the December 1914 Christmas Truce <\/a>– World BEYOND War<\/p>\n

This article lists several other instances where informal truces among enemy soldiers happened, showing that while the 1914 Truce is the largest and most well-known example, it\u2019s quite believable it happened because it\u2019s happened other times as well:\u00a0 BBC NEWS | World War I | The Christmas truce<\/a><\/p>\n

Poetry Set to Music<\/strong><\/h3>\n

John McCutcheon: Christmas in the Trenches (1984)<\/a><\/p>\n

John tells the story of writing this song in this video before singing it. There\u2019s a touching story about men who were part of the event letting him know how much that song meant to them.<\/p>\n

\"Christmas<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Celtic Thunder: Christmas 1915<\/a><\/p>\n

They have the wrong year for this, but the art of this still has the spirit of it.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Christmas Truce of 1914<\/p><\/div>\n

Dramas Imagine<\/strong><\/h3>\n

\u00a0<\/strong>Movie: Joyeux Noel<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong>From Andrew Hocking, one of our blog post writers, a reflection on the movie\u2019s significance: A Christmas Truce, Civil Religion, and Refugees<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"Joyeaux<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong>Audio Drama: Christmas Eve 1914<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Christmas<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong><\/h3>\n

\u00a0<\/strong>Faith Communities Call for Christmas Truce for Ukraine<\/strong><\/h3>\n

World War I\u2019s Christmas Truce continues to inspire peacemaking efforts today. In the spirit of that earlier truce, the Fellowship of Reconciliation and other groups have organized a petition<\/a> calling on policymakers to seek \u201ca ceasefire and negotiated settlement\u201d in the Ukraine-Russia war, \u201cbefore the conflict results in a nuclear war that could devastate the world\u2019s ecosystems and annihilate all of God\u2019s creation.\u201d<\/p>\n

The petition signatories are leaders from various religious traditions and include Nicholas Sooy of Consistent Life member group the Orthodox Peace Fellowship<\/a>. Members of faith communities are encouraged to ask their pastors or leaders to sign on to the petition.<\/p>\n

================================<\/p>\n

This is a list of holiday editions of our weekly e-newsletter,\u00a0<\/em>Peace & Life Connections<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

In 2021<\/a>, there was a somber topic, but one appropriate to the season: the Massacre of the Innocents, and its role in quotations and art that oppose massive violence of all kinds.<\/p>\n

In 2020<\/a>, given what was most on people\u2019s minds at the time, we covered Pandemics Related to Christmas.<\/p>\n

In 2019<\/a>, we showed Christmas as a Nonviolent Alternative to Imperialism.<\/p>\n

In 2018<\/a>, we detailed Strong Women against Violence \u2013 Connected to the Holidays.<\/p>\n

In 2017<\/a><\/u>, we covered Interfaith Peace in the Womb.<\/p>\n

In 2016<\/a><\/u>,\u00a0we discussed how \u201cThe Magi were Zoroastrians\u201d and detailed how good the Zoroastrians were on consistent-life issues. The ancient roots of the consistent life ethic run deep!<\/p>\n

In 2015<\/a><\/u>, we had a list of good holiday movies with consistent-life themes \u2013 check it out for what you might want to see this season. We also had information on Muslim nonviolent perspectives.<\/p>\n

In 2014<\/a><\/u>, we offered a quotation from a lesser-known Christmas novella of Charles Dickens and cited the treatment of abortion in the Zoroastrian scriptures.<\/p>\n

In 2013<\/a><\/u>, we shared several quotations reflecting on Christmas.<\/p>\n

In 2012<\/a><\/u>, we had a couple of quotes showing the pro-life aspects of two prominent Christmas tales:\u00a0A Christmas Carol<\/em>\u00a0with Ebenezer Scrooge, and the movie\u00a0It\u2019s a Wonderful Life<\/em>. We also quote from John Dear about Jesus as peacemaker and Rand Paul about the 1914 spontaneous Christmas Truce; he then related it to the culture of life.<\/p>\n

In 2011<\/a><\/u>, we covered the materialism-reducing \u201cAdvent Conspiracy<\/a><\/u>\u201d and offered two pieces of children\u2019s art: a 1939 anti-war cartoon called \u201cPeace on Earth,\u201d and the anti-war origins of \u201cHorton Hears a Who,\u201d whose tagline \u2013 \u201ca person\u2019s a person, no matter how small\u201d \u2013 is irresistible to pro-lifers.<\/p>\n

In 2010<\/a><\/u>, we showed \u201cIt\u2019s a Wonderful Movement\u201d by using the theme of what would happen if the peace movement and the pro-life movement hadn\u2019t arisen. We also had quotes from Scrooge (against respect for life) and a Martin Luther King Christmas sermon.<\/p>\n

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World War I was starting, and the war that was expected to be over by Christmas lasted for years. But on Christmas Eve and through Christmas Day, up and down the 500-mile front, about 100,000 soldiers out of a million had spontaneous truces. Christmas carols on one side were joined in by the other side,… <\/p>\n