I have posted a printer- & reader-friendly PDF file above for downlowding, printing, and sharing. I've also included an explicit plea for folks who use it to share their ideas and feedback. The biggest missing peice right now is a sample agenda, to help groups jump right in. I hope to add that part soon. Thanks to everyone supporting this!

I hope that Tom died so others may live.

And I am grateful for your ongoing devotion to Tom, his fellow CPT teammates, and the work for peace in Iraq.

I would kindly ask You where the quotation by Johannes Hamel is taken from?
Thanks! J. Runge

Guten tag!

The Hamel quotation comes from a book by Richard Foster called Celebration of Discipline. Foster does not include citations, and their are no works listed under Hamel in his bibliography.

From what I can tell, Foster is involved in the Renovaré site and it may be possible to reach him using their contact page. His eMail address and contact number are listed in the Frequently Asked Questions under the heading How do I invite Richard Foster to speak at a function?

I hope this helps! If I find out anything further, I will post it here.

Hi John, I've been to the campus and have seen your "peacenick" flyers. I keep telling you, peace isnt possible but recolonoization is. If you want a safe planet to leave to your children let those destine to rule, rule. We simply take over all these piddly little trouble making countries and give control back to the European country that first brought civilization to it. The European county can take all the resources, including labor, in exchange for a fairly benign dictorial government. The cost of fuel and labor would drop, and disease would be eliminated through mandatory birth control. This in turn would bring about the birth of creative well fed people, and possibly the opportunity for whirled peas.

Did you hear about the IRA formally renouncing violence?

a curious juxtaposition:

Pope John Paul ii died six days after celebrating the resurrection of Christ, while Benedict xvi was elevated to the Vatican See on the day before Hitler's birthday.

Johann Christoph Arnold writes:

I will never forget how by the end of the meeting, [Ratzinger] had tears in his eyes, and how he encouraged us with words of love and reconciliation: “When hatred can be overcome and forgiveness be given, that is the work of the Holy Spirit. Then we know that we are in Christ.” It is just this message that the world needs today. [...] The press has been quick to characterize Ratzinger as an inflexible and mean-spirited theologian, but I know him to be different.

I have been guilty of judging the man based on the partial knowledge advanced by the media; Arnold's reflection reminds us that at bottom all people hold at least one value in common: the desire to do what is right. Affirming this and holding it constantly in mind is important for keeping the way open for positive transformation.

I figured you'd say that . No, jerk, I didn't say they lived in London or Paris or New York, but King worked in the heart of the civil rights hotbed - the  deep south, where it was hitting the hardest, and then he took the march to D.C. not Triangle, and Jesus started in his little backwater, but he took it all the way to Jeruselem - not Triangle, or beardedbaby.net. If Jesus or MLK started and stayed in Triangle, they would not have made any impact or change, nor would they have left any legacy to posterity. You can be clever about it, but if you shield yourself from my message by pointing out my spelling errors, or smart alec details about where J.C. or MLK are from, then you can miss your chance to learn something - something more than your pointless academic excercises that yield no results in the real world. What good is all your perfect grammar, spelling, and textbook accuracy if all you've accomplished is lecturing the trees and rocks of Triangle?  Comic books provide sideline entertainment for me, thus leading me to this websight, but rest assured everything else I do is hands on, in the public eye, in the real world - where people live - lots of people. Not Triangle. You geeks don't get it - straining the gnat and swallowing the camel. Get off your websight, and out of Triangle and do something tangible, and don't give me some "think globally act locally" bull either, or some labored wheeze about giving and caring one by one - in Triangle that would probably amount to saving one soul, and then losing them to the local McDonalds or gas station. I predict another smart alec retort from you or your ilk; trying to dodge the issue by casting aspersions on my intelligence, or sidelining the point with witty minutiae, but whether or not you want to face it,  the point remains: By marginalizing yourself, and playing the big fish in the small pond,  you will never have any significant impact - globally or locally. I feel very fortunate that Jesus didn't  choose to start a specialized, marginalized, minority interest websight, or live and remain in Triangle. "Look at me, I'm a comic book genius and local liberal superhero to the boys down at the Exxon station in Triangle. We're changing the world one tank of gas at a time!" The trouble with nerds is that they know it all, but never learn, and have nothing to teach. It would be better for all of you if you had millstones tied about your necks, and well...you geeks know the rest. I hope I didn't mispelll anything. That might invalidate this entire post. What I'm trying to do here, nerds, is force you to entertain new perspectives, and shake you out of your self-imortant small town complacency in the hope of inspiring you to challenge yourselves to take your mission to the next level, and the next level, and the next... just because you have a comic book websight, that doesn't seem to produce many (or any) comics, and you lectured some kids at the local community college, doesn't mean your exactly standing on the shoulders of giants. You talk pretty big about changing the world, but can't seem to deal with having yourselves under the microscope, so I now quit the stage here to allow you to begin sidestepping, dissembling, and spellchecking; with a dictionary, thesaurus, and college grammar textbook, you can dodge this missile again! Carry on! I'm an ignorant fool, but you are impotent blowhards, so full of yourselves for this virtual revolution fantasy created on this websight. Enjoy your imaginary revolution. Cheers!

It's okay for us to have a fundamental difference of oppinion on this. I'm not trying to sidestep or insult your intelligence, but I don't think you know anything about Triangle; this town may not be a bustling metropolis, but the coridor I'm in is right up against the belly of the beast. Will my endeavors warrant wiretaps from the CIA or get heads turning at the Pentagon (both of which are headquartered within fifteen miles)? Probably not. But that isn't the long-term goal.

The long-term goal is not to stage a monumental protest and to get famous; it is to foster a revolution of values & to create a culture of peace. You're right to demand more YCs and MLKs and Gandhis, but if you want more of those guys, somebody has to be raising them up in every neighborhood and backwater.

I live in a heavily military community where a child is three times more likely to be murdered by a parent than elsewhere. There is a lot of pressure on the people who are my neighbors. Someone has to help communities like this develop skills in positive nonviolent social change.

Gandhi, MLK, and Yeshua all began their work in the backwater becuase that's where the people live who are most debased by the powers that be.

I appreciate your desire to take it to the next level, and the next, but if you're seriously interested in improving our practices, you should come and see what we do. Any peace-realted web site looks pretentious if the only thing they do is make grand claims on the internet, and if that's all we do, we'd deserve your diatribe, but that's imposible to judge from where you are. We're in the DC Metro area, and you're invited to visit us any time you're in the neighborhood.

Alternately, you can assess our projects as failures and get on with taking it to the next level in your community. If disgust about our nerdy presentation moves you to show us how it's done, I'm happy with that.

Don't have time for more now. Warm regards! I have sincerely enjoyed your messages. Your writing and sense of humor are very distinctive.