On Faith Panelists Blog

Archive: September 27, 2009 - October 3, 2009

Material and Spiritual Joy

Without knowing the intense joy and economic relief of the harvest, it is difficult to understand the abiding happiness delivered each Sukkot in the ancient world. We are detached from the world of farms and fields; never do we experience that distance from a Jewish perspective more than on Sukkot.

By Erica Brown | October 2, 2009; 5:50 PM ET | Comments (7)

Disarmament Begins With Ourselves

Nuclear disarmament is a human issue that transcends religion, and even transcends squabbles between religious and nonreligious people.

By Greg M. Epstein | October 2, 2009; 4:43 PM ET | Comments (428)

Catholic Arachnophobia

How to describe my discomfort at seeing viral videos of a spider crawling across Pope Benedict's cassock.

By Mathew N. Schmalz | October 1, 2009; 6:21 PM ET | Comments (9)

The Nuclear Sword Is Not In Vain

Millions are now alive because of the United States nuclear weaponry and millions more are free. The United States has not borne the nuclear sword in vain.

By John Mark Reynolds | October 1, 2009; 1:24 PM ET | Comments (11)

A 'Grave Threat'

I applaud the President's commitment to reduce the spread of nuclear weapons and to seek a world free from them. There is also, however, a moral imperative to prevent violent regimes, such as Iran, from developing--and proliferating--nuclear weapons.

By Charles "Chuck" Colson | September 30, 2009; 3:19 PM ET | Comments (2)

Peace or Destruction: An Imminent Choice

All of our current political priorities should be focused on finding a path away from nuclear war. The threat will not go away by pretending it is not serious.

By Ramdas Lamb | September 30, 2009; 2:13 PM ET | Comments (0)

Nuclear Arms Are Frightening, But Not Sinful

The entire arc of human existence has been one in which we take on greater and greater power, both the power to heal and the power to destroy, the power to nurture life and the power to destroy it. In fact, it seems that the two capacities have always gone hand in hand, and it doesn't seem wise to step back from that empowerment.

By Brad Hirschfield | September 29, 2009; 5:29 PM ET | Comments (5)

A Seamless Garment

Nuclear disarmament is a clear moral imperative and we should pray for it. I would argue that prayer is in fact more effective than UN Security Council resolutions that amount to nothing more than a moralizing patina created by the corrosive dynamics of international politics.

By Mathew N. Schmalz | September 29, 2009; 3:22 PM ET | Comments (0)

Health Funding for Science, Not Faith

The First Amendment protects religious freedom, but no American taxpayer should be forced to subsidize a fellow citizen's religious beliefs and practices.

By Herb Silverman | September 29, 2009; 2:17 PM ET | Comments (31)

God's Will and Nuclear Arms

This issue of nuclear weapons, though, is about so much more than power. It is, in fact, a pro-life and a religious issue. The detonation of a single nuclear weapon would devastate an entire populace. Surely, people who believe in God believe in the sanctity of life.

By Susan K. Smith | September 29, 2009; 12:42 PM ET | Comments (4)

Our Children and Theirs

As a Hindu, the Divine in me instructs me to see the Divine in them and think that the democracies of Great Britain, America, France and India, well, they love their children. But does a godless despot in North Korea, a proliferating regime in Pakistan, an extremist, ideological lunatic in Iran love their children too? Do they love our children?

By Aseem Shukla | September 29, 2009; 10:39 AM ET | Comments (8)

Abolition of Nukes Supremely Admirable

One fully expects the usual anti-Obama cabal inevitably to be critical of his efforts for a nuclear-free world, partly, if not wholly, for other reasons.

By Gardner Calvin Taylor | September 29, 2009; 9:18 AM ET | Comments (3)

Avoiding Armageddon

I don't think it matters whether we pray for nuclear disarmament or for nuclear war. There is no there there. Our actions, not our empty words or prayers, are what matter.

By Herb Silverman | September 28, 2009; 7:11 PM ET | Comments (17)

Nuclear Heresy

In a Christian sense, nuclear weapons represent the ultimate heresy because their capacity for world-annihilation is a repudiation of the goodness of creation, and the goodness of God as creator. This strikes at the core of Christian faith in God as Creator.

By Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite | September 28, 2009; 6:54 PM ET | Comments (6)

Disarm, but Carefully

There is a great deal of moral re-learning to do. But most of the world want nuclear weapons because they're afraid, and the country most of them are afraid of is the U.S.

By Nicholas T. Wright | September 28, 2009; 4:40 PM ET | Comments (3)

Nuclear Arms: The Ultimate Anti-Life Issue

Somehow, I don't think praying will get the job done here (although if I were a religious believer, arms control would certainly be on my wish list when I spoke with my higher power). Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is presumably praying for another result.

By Susan Jacoby | September 28, 2009; 2:10 PM ET | Comments (419)

 
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