A Christian College Call for Peace

Loren Swartzenrduber, president at Eastern Mennonite University:

As the leader of an educational institution that not only teaches the analytic and critical skills of the liberal arts, but also values reflective practice of those skills, I also add, in addition to my invitation to prayer, these calls of action:

A call…

• for reaffirmation of the invitation of Jesus and his teachings to love our enemies;
• for dialogue and engagement with those who are different than us;
• for greater sensitivity to language that condemns others and absolves us of moral responsibility;
• for national and local leaders who refuse to articulate simplistic answers to complex societal problems;
•  for U.S. political candidates who dare to call us to our best, and choose not to play to our base fears.

Here at EMU, we pledge to

• Invite area Muslim and Christian leaders to explore how to jointly confront the local, national and global challenge of religious intolerance.
• Invite leaders of regional higher education institutions into a similar dialogue.
• Continue to train students, practitioners and global leaders in the principles of restorative justice, trauma resilience, peacebuilding, interfaith engagement and organizational change.

May God’s Kingdom come on earth even as it is in heaven!