Author Archive
Logan Mehl-Laituri
Once They Come Home
Tuesday, February 7th, 2012
Every year on the 11th of November, the United States celebrates Veterans Day, a day we memorialize those who served our country in the Armed Forces. CBS did a study in 2007 which found that in 2005, an average of 17 veterans killed themselves every single day. As for active duty service members, in 2009 and 2010, there were more suicides than there were combat fatalities in Iraq and Afghanistan combined (the data for 2011 is not yet released). In the midst of the most prolonged conflict our nation has ever undertaken, it would seem that care and concern for our veterans would be absolutely central to our public discourse, in both the political realm and the ecumenical realm.
Join the (Growing?) Conversation
Friday, November 4th, 2011
Last Thursday afternoon, I read an article by Jim Wallis, the CEO of Sojourners, in which he described his conversation with Richard Land of the Ethics and Religious Liberty commission of the Southern Baptist Convention. The thrust of the discussion, held at the National Press Club in Washington D.C., was in articulating “what the religious and moral issues will and should be in the upcoming election year.” Central points they discussed included poverty & the economy, immigration, energy independence, world hunger, and disease. Wallis even recognized that abortion and gay marriage was conspicuously absent from the conversation.
Reinstate the Draft?
Wednesday, June 29th, 2011
I was speaking to an internationally known Christian scholar a few weeks ago, and I decided to ask about the “All Volunteer Force” (AVF). I don’t particularly know why I asked, but there was a long pause in the conversation, which I hate, so I decided to fill it. He responded that, essentially, he could not endorse a draft, could not support the government in having such an incredible amount of power, to command the will and the body of citizens to conduct national service. I had said “military draft” in my question but his response, if I remember correctly, was more broadly “national service.” I don’t know if the switch was intentional, but it was significant.
