March 11, 2006

Why Are We Here? The body of Christian Peacemaker Team activist Tom Fox was found today in Iraq. Evidence suggests he was tortured and assassinated. This message was composed the day before he was abducted. We are here to stand with those being dehumanized by oppressors and stand firm against that dehumanization. We are here to stop people, including ourselves, from dehumanizing any of God's children, no matter how much they dehumanize their own souls.

See also the CPT Iraq Statement of Conviction: As a peacemaking team we need to cross boundaries, help soldiers and other armed actors be humane, and invite them to refuse unjust orders. We need to help preserve what is human in all of us and so offer glimpses of hope in a dark time. Sigh. No good deed..

posted by scartol 18 years ago
  • Cover story sure sounds good, but....didn't a lotta xtians head over to Iraq to try to "convert the heathen" back in the "cakewalk" days?
  • Amen.
  • Godspeed, Tom. orococo: quakers don't really proselytize or convert, so i don't think there's a "cover story" here.
  • Fox's blog is here.
  • oops, it was already linked. sorry i missed that.
  • Quakers are teh good.
  • Cover story sure sounds good, but....didn't a lotta xtians head over to Iraq to try to "convert the heathen" back in the "cakewalk" days? posted by orococo at 02:10PM UTC on March 11, 2006 Yup, some sure did. What is your point with regard to Tom Fox being killed?
  • This sheds a bit of light on the sort of thing Mr. Fox was doing. Mr. Fox's loss is the world's loss. Quakers don't seek converts; they do witness for peace, in many different ways, which seems much akin to what the Buddhist monk and poet Thich Nhat Hanh has called Being Peace. There are still three of his fellows, two Canadians and an Englishman, being held somewhere.
  • Radio report a few minutes ago: all three of the late Tom Fox's fellow peacemakers have been recovered alive by an international force which did not fire a shot.