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Official Statement on Political Violence
In his first inaugural address, Abraham Lincoln said, âWe are not enemies, but friends. We must not be enemies. Though passion may have strained it must not break our bonds of affection.â This sentiment stands the test of time as a guidepost for a peaceful society. A commitment to peacemaking is the foundation for a healthy society that champions a variety of political values and ideals. From coast to coast, the range of life experience and thought within the United States of America is remarkable. Our culture is a conglomeration of wide-ranging ideas and priorities resulting from the diverse experiences of our population. We are each informed by our unique…
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Official Statement on the Shooting in Uvalde: Counteracting Violence with the Power of Peacemaking
âFor God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.â â 2 Tim. 1:6â7 This week in Uvalde, Texas, a shooter ended 21 lives and forever altered countless others. As the tragically familiar responses once again play out in news and social media, we can feel fear permeating our conversations: Parents are afraid for their children, trauma from past shootings is revisited, and our most important shared spaces have become killing grounds. Some Americans are afraid of the proliferation of guns, while others fear that their right to own guns may be threatened. Fear motivates the purchase of even…
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Practical Peacemaking Week 4: Working Cooperatively to Transform Conflict into Peace (Intro to Mediation)
During Week 1 of our Practical Peacemaking series, we discussed the idea of having five main choices for addressing conflict in our lives: avoiding, accommodating, compromising, competing, and collaborating. As the most skill intensive and character demanding of the five approaches, collaborating will be our focus this week as we learn to engage with others in the facilitative negotiation setting of mediation. Nelson Mandela once said, âIf you want to make peace with your enemy, you have to work with your enemy. Then he becomes your partner.â Even in intensely trying circumstances, Mandela knew he needed to engage with those who opposed him to make progress toward his respective goals…
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Practical Peacemaking Week 3: Preparing to Understand Others to Create Peace â Listening, Perspective Taking, and Empathizing
In a world of increasingly loud and divisive voices of people, organizations, and governments, too few of us are truly listening well enough to really understand each other. As the Swiss psychologist Paul Tournier once said, âListen to all the conversations of our world, between nations as well as between individuals. They are, for the most part, dialogues of the deaf.â Yet even when we do desire to listen deeply to each other, we often lack the skills and attitudes needed to bridge expanding chasms of belief, facts, and purposes that lie between us. This week, to strengthen our peacemaking skills, we are focusing on three critical skills for preparing…
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Week 1: Introduction to Practical Peacemaking
As members of MWEG, we recognize that peace can feel like an abstract concept. And itâs not merely the absence of violence. Instead, peace is a state of harmony, tranquility, and understanding that requires not only justice and ethics, but also balance, love, and connection. Peace has everything to do with how we feel about each other and how we act in our personal and collective lives. Defining terms We differentiate between conflict and contention because conflict is a normal, ongoing part of our mortality; there is no way to avoid it! Conflict implies that we perceive or actually experience differences that matter to one or more parties. It is…
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Official Statement from Mormon Women for Ethical Government on El Paso Massacre and White Supremacy
August 5, 2019 We spent the Sabbath mourning and praying for the families of the innocent who were gunned down Saturday in pre-meditated massacres in El Paso and Dayton, as well as for precious children of God killed in Gilroy last week. Familiar with the image of a Maker who weeps with us, we feel deep sorrow in our knowledge that the shooters are âwithout affection, and… hate their own bloodâ (Moses 7:29 and 33). We refuse to become numb or to believe that mass shootings are a way of life in America and will never accept this horror as inevitable or unstoppable. We actively pray that the hearts of…
