(photo of a statue of Saint
Francis)
“Until Every Land is Covered
by Tranquility,” my short essay on a peace demonstration, was published this
week at Mindful Matter. (You can read
it at: http://hlst.ee/1N0wx1L)
That it was a protest against
nuclear weapons in Berkeley, California is not unusual. That it was peaceful is
affirming. That it was led by seminarians and faculty from nine Protestant and
Catholic seminaries is notable because too often religion is silent on matters
of ethics when society is for the status quo.
The demonstration took place
in 1980, which is halfway between the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945
and where we sit today. This year, on the 70th anniversary, there
was another protest. This means that politicians and the military still like
their big, bad toys, like easy answers instead of lasting ones, that our work
continues, and that we still don’t trust them to tell us the truth.
What touched my heart about
our protest in 1980 was the presence of Japanese nuns of the Buddhist Lotus
Sutra sect. One of their traditions is to beat on drums softly at protests as a
way of sharing the peace in their hearts with others.
