{"id":28098,"date":"2016-05-13T16:25:19","date_gmt":"2016-05-13T20:25:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/?p=28098"},"modified":"2016-06-29T14:41:57","modified_gmt":"2016-06-29T18:41:57","slug":"paying-for-peace-not-war-hospital-chaplain-who-witnessed-trauma-redirects-some-tax-dollars-to-the-center-for-justice-and-peacebuildings-star-program","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2016\/paying-for-peace-not-war-hospital-chaplain-who-witnessed-trauma-redirects-some-tax-dollars-to-the-center-for-justice-and-peacebuildings-star-program\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Paying for peace, not war’: Hospital chaplain who witnessed trauma redirects some tax dollars to the Center for Justice and Peacebuilding’s STAR program"},"content":{"rendered":"

For the past two years, Ruth Anne Friesen has re-directed a portion of her federal income tax payments to support the Strategies for Trauma Awareness and Resilience<\/a> (STAR) program at Eastern Mennonite University’s Center for Justice and Peacebuilding<\/a> (CJP).<\/p>\n

\u201cI am not against paying taxes, but I am called to peacemaking,\u201d says Friesen, an ordained Mennonite pastor who works as a hospital chaplain in Chicago, Illinois.<\/p>\n

She explains that her Christian faith, particularly Jesus\u2019 Sermon on the Mount, teaches that it is morally, ethically, and spiritually wrong to kill. This includes use of violence, force and abuse in every form.<\/p>\n

After learning about the large percentage of federal tax dollars that contribute to defense and war efforts \u2013some estimates are as high as 47 percent<\/a> \u2013 Friesen decided to no longer participate.<\/p>\n

“Ruth Anne is among a small group of CJP donors who withhold their tax payment in favor of donating it to an organization that supports life-giving peacebuilding activities,” said Lindsay Martin<\/a>, associate director of development for CJP. “While many of our donors choose to witness their Christian faith in a multitude of other ways including tax-deductible donations to CJP, we are certainly grateful for Ruth Anne\u2019s heartfelt support and take seriously her commitment to our mission and values.”<\/p>\n

In a recent letter to the Internal Revenue Service, Friesen explains how her experiences and beliefs have provided motivation:<\/p>\n

My Uncle Harvey taught [pacifism] to me from little up as we had discussions about faith in Jesus, what He said, and how we put it into practice. I was present with my big brother August 28, 1963 in Washington D.C. when Martin Luther King Jr.\u2019s voice rang out over the Washington Monument his dream of justice for all. We stood a few feet from the side of the podium and witnessed the power of his oratory. Peace with justice is a significant moral force and important to live in practice.<\/em><\/p>\n

I was present in the Rio Grande Valley from 1983 to 1992 as Central American refugees were fleeing the horror and trauma of death squad violence and forced recruitment. I participated in the Overground Railroad to help real asylum seekers access the opportunity of visas to Canada. These asylum applicants needed their traumas healed or transformed. <\/em><\/p>\n

I lived in a remote country village in Guatemala for four years, working with the local indigenous Methodist church, and learned what violence and trauma were like for the poor trapped between Army and guerrilla tensions and violence. They needed peace with justice and an end to violence; they needed to live peace and freedom in practice.<\/em><\/p>\n

I lived almost six years in the Argentine Chaco, working with the indigenous as Bible translation happened. I learned to know several Tobas and their families very personally and heard from peoples about their hopes and dreams as justice was sought for their land ownership, for education, and for basic necessities.<\/em><\/p>\n

Redirecting her tax dollars to CJP and the STAR program makes sense to her. STAR strengthens the capacity of individuals, organizations and communities to understand the impacts of trauma, interrupt cycles of violence, and build resilience at personal, community and societal levels.<\/p>\n

A donation to STAR helps transform trauma, she says, so that it is not passed on from generation to generation in the way she saw during her years in Latin America.<\/p>\n

Friesen says that following Jesus means living out her values in her daily life.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe whole point is that I very much want to pay for peace rather than for war,\u201d she said. \u201cI am committed to following Jesus\u2019 way of peace.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

For the past two years, Ruth Anne Friesen has re-directed a portion of her federal income tax payments to support the Strategies for Trauma Awareness and Resilience (STAR) program at ... read more about ‘Paying for peace, not war’: Hospital chaplain who witnessed trauma redirects some tax dollars to the Center for Justice and Peacebuilding’s STAR program<\/span><\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":28116,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12503,12537],"tags":[5944,5690],"feature":[],"class_list":["post-28098","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cjp","category-star","tag-giving","tag-peacebuilding"],"yoast_head":"\n'Paying for peace, not war': Hospital chaplain who witnessed trauma redirects some tax dollars to the Center for Justice and Peacebuilding's STAR program - EMU News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2016\/paying-for-peace-not-war-hospital-chaplain-who-witnessed-trauma-redirects-some-tax-dollars-to-the-center-for-justice-and-peacebuildings-star-program\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"'Paying for peace, not war': Hospital chaplain who witnessed trauma redirects some tax dollars to the Center for Justice and Peacebuilding's STAR program - 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