Office of Public Witness helps plan conference on drone warfare

The Church of the Brethren Office of Public Witness is helping to plan an upcoming conference on drone warfare. The event is scheduled for Jan. 23-25 at Princeton (N.J.) Theological Seminary. “We want to reach out to see if any Brethren would be interested in attending and also let Brethren know that the conference is happening to raise awareness about the issue,” reported Bryan Hanger, advocacy assistant at the Office of Public Witness.

“We are hoping to have people start registering right away,” he added.

The conference is held under the auspices of the Coalition for Peace Action. Speakers will include George Hunsinger, Princeton Theological Seminary’s Hazel Thompson McCord Professor of Systematic Theology; Richard E. Pates, Roman Catholic Bishop of Des Moines, Iowa; Jeremy Waldron, professor at the New York University School of Law; Hassan Abbas, professor and chair of the Department of Regional and Analytical Studies, CISA National Defense University, Washington D.C.; Rob Eshman, publisher and editor-in-chief of the Jewish Journal; Antti Pentikainen, Finn Church Aid’s executive director and chair for the Civil Society Advisory Committee for the United Nations Development Program; Marjorie Cohn, professor at Thomas Jefferson School of Law.

The “three tasks” for those attending the conference, according to the website promotion for the event:

1. Clarify the nature of lethal drones. Policy recommendations will be made by the conference to the US government. Speakers with expertise in military strategy, international law, US law, and national security will make presentations followed by discussion by all participants.
   
2. Apply our various traditions to our understanding of drone warfare to more fully understand this issue. People of all faiths are invited to participate.
   
3. Recommendations will be developed for how the religious community will address this issue.

For more information and to register, go to www.peacecoalition.org/component/content/article/39-cfpa/233-interfaith-conference-on-drone-warfare.html . Download a flyer from www.peacecoalition.org/phocadownload/DronesNewflieronconference2.pdf . Find a recent “Huffington Post” op-ed piece written by conference organizer Richard Killmer at www.huffingtonpost.com/rev-richard-l-killmer/religious-community-skept_b_6036702.html.

For questions contact Nathan Hosler, director of the Office of Public Witness, at nhosler@brethren.org.

Source: 11/12/2014 Newsline