Accountability for Atrocities, Life Inside, Just War No More
KTF Weekly Newsletter
Hi everybody,
It’s podcast day tomorrow! But more on that below. Let’s jump right into this week’s highlights as we seek to leave colonized faith for the Kingdom of God.
Suzie’s recommendations:
When we recorded our Shake the Dust bonus episode on the war in Ukraine last week, mainstream media outlets weren’t really talking about the religious components of the conflict that we highlighted. However, this weekend Rolling Stone published a fantastic piece by RNS’s Jack Jenkins that touches on similar themes to our discussion. Jenkins sheds light on the role of the Russian Orthodox Church and the culture war elements of the invasion, including Putin’s ties to American conservatives. He also mentions the controversial concept of “Russkiy mir” that Putin frequently touts in speeches and other communiqué. Additionally, Jenkins points to some of the notable voices of dissent from within the Orthodox and Catholic church speaking out against this weaponization of religion. It’s a great supplement to our conversation.
While it is difficult to prosecute crimes against humanity under international law, the trial of Anwar Raslan was a landmark case in Germany that could provide an important precedent for future cases against the perpetrators of mass atrocities inside Syria. Raslan is a former Syrian military officer who oversaw countless instances of torture, sexual violence, and extrajudicial killing. This episode of Today, Explained by Vox provides a helpful overview of the case and why it is so significant. We cannot resurrect the lives that have been lost over the last 11 years in Syria, but we can honor their memory by refusing to forget and give in to apathy in the face of grave injustice.
Jonathan’s recommendations:
It is tempting to generalize and dehumanize people in conflict. One side is good and the other evil. This is especially true when it comes to Israel and Palestine. It is difficult to continue that pattern though when a person representing one of those groups is right in front of you. So, when Palestinian American Rashida Tlaib was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives, Congress’s unchallenged disparaging of Palestinians came to an end. The New York Times’ “What Rashida Tlaib Represents” does the good, hard work of humanizing a people group with which Americans seldom interact. And if every person is made in the image of God and every people group represents essential parts of His creation, then followers of Christ must do that work against dehumanization as well.
This article recounts last week’s meeting between Pope Francis and the leader of the Russian Orthodox Church, in which Francis declared that there is “no such thing anymore as a ‘just war.’” This follows prior comments made by Ukrainian Archbishop Borys Gudziak: “I’m hoping that Russian Church leadership will open up and hear the gospel.” In a world where militarism in the name of God is normalized and violence feels like the inevitable response to violence, it was profoundly refreshing to hear Francis say, “the churches are called to contribute to strengthening peace and justice...Wars are always unjust, because the ones who pay are the people of God.” Prayerfully, this will be the beginning of a new season in which the people of God at the highest levels resist warmongering.
Sy’s recommendations:
The Marshall Project is a nonprofit newsroom focusing on criminal justice in America, and it has a regular series of columns by incarcerated people called “Life Inside.” The most recent installment is a joint publication with Indian Country Today, and it comes from a man who has been on California’s death row longer than any other. Arrested at 20 and now in his 60s, Douglas Ray Stankewitz spoke the words of this article to a journalist during the 15-minute segments he gets with outsiders. He explains his grueling daily routine, which has gone largely unchanged since his conviction in 1978 for a crime that he maintains he did not commit. He also recounts the childhood memories and the aspects of his Monache and Cherokee background from which he draws strength to survive. From the page I linked, you can also sign up to regularly receive “Life Inside” as an email if you want to read more.
In the very first recommendation of our very first newsletter, Suzie told you all about Professor Beth Allison Barr’s book, The Making of Biblical Womanhood. The book traces the history of modern, evangelical views about women’s roles in an attempt to rethink how they developed and how they differ from the church’s historic views. Last week, Professor Barr published a list of books on women in church history, written by mostly women scholars, as well as primary source historical documents she used in writing her book. Highlighting the recent disclosures about sexual harassment at Christianity Today, Professor Barr says that if evangelicals are ever to change how they treat women, then they must have an accurate and more expansive vision of the roles that women have always played in the Church. She invites us to start reading and learning more for the simple reason that our ideas about women matter.
Shake the Dust preview
In this month’s bonus episode, the team talks about Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. We get at the many ways our biases affect how politicians and the media are discussing the war and its refugees, the religious aspects of Putin’s desire to take over Ukraine, how the invasion fits with a growing international movement of religious conservatives from predominantly white countries, and a lot more.
Thanks for reading, and see you next week!
The KTF team