Peace and Justice Minor

From March 21-23, 2024, Hope College hosted a conference titled: A.J. Muste: Peacemaker, Prophet, Pragmatist. A variety of peace leaders from across the nation gathered and shared their thoughts on peace and justice, specifically within the context of the work and legacy of A.J. Muste, a 1905 graduate of Hope College. 

One of these speakers was Mary Neznek (’70), an educator of peace and conflict resolution with a specialty in middle eastern studies. Ms. Neznek lives in Washington D.C. and is currently advocating for a ceasefire between Israel and Gaza. Her talk was titled: “A.J.’s Response to the U.S./Israel War on Gaza.” 

Ms. Nesnek began her talk by giving context as to who A.J. Muste was and how she did not hear about who he was until later in her life. She proceeded to discuss the events of October 7th the war that has followed. She shared that, while it is hard to speak to what A.J. Muste would have done or said about Israel and Gaza, she believes that he would have called for a ceasefire and would advocate for the United States to pull their military funding for the State of Israel. Her talk highlighted and endorsed the idea of BDS — boycott, divestment, and sanctions. However, she highlighted a sobering reality — 30 states have proposed or enacted laws prohibiting the boycotts of the State of Israel. She further emphasized the legal hurdles Palestinians face in their journey for justice. Neznek’s talk wove together practical peace initiatives with the history of the conflict between Israel and Palestine.

In her presentation, Ms. Neznek shared a powerful quote that has stuck with us since: “Pain which is not transformed is transmitted.” This statement served as a reminder of the urgent need to address Palestinian justice issues. Neznek delved into various avenues through which ordinary civilians can support the cause. Drawing inspiration from A.J. Muste’s leadership, Neznek emphasized his steadfast opposition to crimes against humanity and speculated on his potential role in protests against genocide. She also shed light on the efforts of organizations striving for a ceasefire, hostage release, and the protection of basic human rights in conflict zones like Gaza.

“Pain which is not transformed is transmitted.”

Despite global outcry, Neznek mourns the fact that the predicament of Gaza remains largely unacknowledged. Neznek, however, suggested that Muste would have offered a solution-oriented approach, similar to saying, “There’s a way to untie them,” challenging the prevailing culture of silence and complacency.

Neznek didn’t shy away from criticizing the complicity of the world in ongoing atrocities, attributing it partly to the influence of money. She highlighted the sacrifices made by individuals advocating for change, drawing parallels between Muste’s perseverance and Jesus’s unwavering stance.

Moreover, Neznek highlighted the interconnectedness of justice issues — from environmental concerns to incarceration — all while emphasizing the importance of Palestinian rights. During a phone interview, Neznek graciously responded to additional questions that we had following her talk. She began by discussing the significant role played by Churches for Middle East Peace (CMEP), highlighting their advocacy for a permanent ceasefire and the right of return for Palestinians. For her, this should  involve pressing the United Nations to facilitate the return of Palestinians to their ancestral homes or provide compensation for the land and properties they have lost as a critical step towards justice and reconciliation.

We inquired about other organizations that might align with the pacifist principles of A.J. Muste. She pointed out Muste’s association with the Fellowship of Reconciliation (FOR), emphasizing his preference for mobilizing individuals into smaller, more grassroots groups, especially those marginalized or disempowered. She even recounted a touching anecdote about a group of pacifists within FOR who courageously rescued refugees during the Holocaust. This enlightening conversation not only broadened our understanding of the complex dynamics in the Middle East but also emphasized the crucial role grassroots organizations play in effecting meaningful change. 

In her conclusion, Ms. Neznek left us with a powerful image that read “Peace, not war in our names.” It’s a sentiment of the deep collective responsibility we all share in advocating for justice, not just for Palestinians but for all who are oppressed and marginalized. As college students, this inspired us to consider how we can respond to these calls for action and strive to make a meaningful difference in the world around us.

—

Elsie Craig is a senior majoring in Business and Communication with minors in Peace & Justice and Classics. She participated in the 2023 Celtic May Term centered around Peace and Reconciliation in Scotland and Northern Ireland. On campus, she has been involved in New Student Orientation and Dance Marathon. 

Dezaraya Fields is a senior majoring in Neuroscience and Psychology. She has taken an interest in the topic of peace and justice and has enjoyed taking classes that centered around it. In her future she plans to pursue a career involving criminal justice. On campus, she is involved in research about religiousness and health. 

In March 2023, Hope College hosted an interdisciplinary conference on the life, work, and legacy of Hope graduate A.J. Muste (1905). One of the speakers was Peter Muste, A.J. Muste’s grandson, who gave a talk titled, “A.J. Muste and ‘Gandhian’ Nonviolence in a Modern Context.” It was an insightful lecture on how A.J. Muste would approach injustice in the world today, as well as what individuals can do today to bring about peace through positive change.

In approaching this topic, Peter Muste also noted his unique perspective on A.J. Muste, explaining that he, compared to most of the audience composed of Muste scholars and students of Muste’s work, perhaps knew less about A.J.’s role as a public figure and activist, having understood him more as a grandfather and mentor. So, he encouraged the audience to view his reflections through the lens of that role and as a personal reflection or meditation. But, as a former board chair for the A.J. Muste Foundation for Peace and Justice, he provided sage insights into A.J. Muste’s legacy and how it speaks to current nonviolent paths to justice, truth, and freedom.

As students, we sometimes struggle with knowing how to enter into complex conversations related to peace and justice issues. Peter Muste helpfully offered four clear recommendations on where to begin: 1) understand the economic components of injustice and conflict within our world, 2) do not underestimate the power of coalitions and grassroots movements within nonviolent spheres of protest, 3) reconnect with the working class, as they are the key to major changes within the political and social arenas, and 4) always try to maintain collaborative dialogue with those who oppose you in order to ensure human dignity and respect.

Building on this framework, Peter Muste set the tone for the rest of his talk by quoting his late grandfather, who once said: “If I can’t love Hitler, I cannot love at all.” This controversial phrase encapsulated the radical path of nonviolence and pacifism that A.J. Muste followed. In the current political climate, Peter Muste offered this statement and its significance as something activists who are trying to change in the world today need to consider in their work, especially in terms of how it can shape our understanding of and position towards those we might consider “others.” In the era of polarization and partisanship that the United States continues to sink deeper into, he suggested that there are critical issues that can unite pacifists and nonviolent activists and help them learn to communicate effectively and empathize with those on the right. The modern world faces challenges with peaceful activism, he said, because we often lose sight of creating democratic spaces where all can speak their mind. Peter Muste stressed that in order to honor A.J. Muste’s efforts we must remember to respect intricacies and interconnectedness of different issues in order to promote justice for all.

He specifically discussed how this pertains to the labor movement. He pointed out that politicians on the right often use fear and distraction as tactics to keep working class people from realizing that their institutions are not properly serving them. He also noted that pacifists and those on the left frequently undermine their arguments and potential for garnering wider support by failing to empathize with the fear that drives much of the larger resistance to change. In light of this, he focused his on a call to unity across partisan divides, reminiscent of his grandfather’s attempts to unite the left and synthesize efforts between communists and democratic socialists. He asserted, following his grandfather, that affirming the inherent dignity and humanity of all people requires recognition — even of those who perpetuate injustice. Furthermore, Peter Muste affirmed that the only path forward is one in which pacifists engage those whom we have deemed the “other.” 

After the event, we asked Peter Muste and his brother, who was also in attendance: How are young adults in this world supposed to use nonviolence to fight the many social, political, and economic challenges when there is no true “Gandhian” leader to show us the way? And how are we supposed to create meaningful connections and dialogue with those who think and believe differently than us when we have grown up in a deeply polarized society? 

Their response was simple and had two major components. The first was that we have to understand the difference between leaders and leadership, realizing that we must be able to create our own groups and solutions when there is a leadership void. The second was that we must value creativity in our solutions, flexibility in our opinions and actions, and stay committed to the practice of nonviolence and peace.

One thing that we have learned about A.J. Muste was how he valued collaboration. In fact, he would often intentionally choose to work with those with differing opinions or objectives. By listening to and learning from others, groups and movements that seem fundamentally opposed at first glance could find common ground and work together. When we asked Peter Muste about the potential for having conversations with those who view their differences as issues of fundamental morality rather than opposing perspectives, he explained that it starts with building common ground — a foundation of shared interests that humanize each other. He added that it is from these relationships that productive conversation can begin to have a real impact. 

So, we see Peter Muste’s interpretation of his grandfather’s legacy as critical. Public conversations on divisive topics often happen within frameworks that convince people on various sides that the other side is evil and immoral and thus not able to be understood, reckoned with, convinced of another perspective, or even acknowledged. But the pursuit of justice requires those from the opposing sides of many issues to engage not as enemies but following A.J. Muste’s example of interacting with one another as whole people with complex perspectives. For Muste, the activist’s role in this is to actively participate in nonviolence and to strategize and organize accordingly.

—

Avery Rant is a sophomore at Hope College and is a Sociology and Social Work major with a Peace and Justice minor. 

Cassie Morse is a junior at Hope College studying Psychology and minoring in Peace and Justice. She is passionate about the intersection of personal growth and the societal/systemic issues that can both complicate and aid in this quest.

—

Read Peter Muste’s talk, “Applying A.J. Muste’s Ideas on Social Change in a Modern Context,” as published by the A.J. Muste Foundation for Peace + Justice.

I wondered why I had never heard of him before.

It was 1967. I had graduated from Hope College but was still getting The Anchor, so I was surprised when the issue for February 24 featured a eulogy for the recently deceased Rev. A. J. Muste by Dr. D. Ivan Dykstra, Hope’s august professor of philosophy. The Dutch-born Muste, I learned, was a Hope alumnus, Class of 1905, who it seemed had been a world-renowned pacifist; only a month before his death he traveled to Vietnam to protest a war he insisted he “could not reconcile with the Sermon on the Mount.” A memorial address by Hope’s President Calvin Vander Werf praised Muste as one whose calling “was to serve the Prince of Peace.”

So why had I never heard of him?

As it turned out, the reason was obvious. Frustrated by what he saw as his church’s complacent indifference to the poor, he had briefly allied himself with Marxist-Leninism, going so far as to meet with the Russian radical Leon Trotsky. It did not take Muste long to see through to the fallacies of Communism and the potential violence in Trotsky’s character, and in 1936, in the Church of St. Sulpice in Paris, he experienced an almost mystical return to Christianity. “Without the slightest premonition of what was going to happen, I was saying to myself, ‘This is where you belong’: and ‘belong’ again, in spirit, to the Church of Christ I did from that moment on.” But his alma mater and the church of his baptism had a long memory, and despite his radiant witness to the love of Jesus he was looked at with suspicion.

Muste might have remained in the shadows of Hope’s history had it not been for the efforts of another saint, the late Professor Donald Cronkite, who in 1985, the hundredth anniversary of Muste’s birth, endowed an annual lecture in his honor. “I’m grateful for Muste,” Don acknowledged, “for the times I have stood on my principles because people like him have shown it could be done.” So, I was honored when, many years later, I was asked to chair the Muste Memorial Lecture committee.

Serendipity. One summer day — the actual year escapes me — someone in Hope’s Advancement office asked me to meet Mary Neznek, a Hope alumna with her own admirable record of devotion to the cause of peace and justice. Mary suggested that we invite as a future lecturer a man named David McReynolds, a veteran of the War Resisters League who had worked closely with Muste for many years. When I expressed concern about Mr. McReynolds’s age, she proposed that we might send someone to videotape his memories.

I immediately telephoned my former colleague Dr. David Schock. David had an impressive record as a maker of documentaries, including six on unsolved homicides in Michigan. As I expected, David took the bait: when we met at a local coffee shop to discuss the project he had already collected and studied the available books on Muste and gotten in touch with McReynolds. Mr. McReynolds agreed to meet us in New York, but he recommended that we first visit a man named Brad Lyttle, another long-time associate of Muste, who was then living in Chicago.

This was the start of what turned out to be a whirlwind odyssey of unforgettable encounters, as one after another of Muste’s living friends and co-workers joined our list of subjects. Mr. Lyttle in his cluttered home near the University of Chicago came first, an elderly man whose face grew radiant with enthusiasm as he recalled his work with Muste’s memorable projects: the Polaris Action anti-nuclear protest, the confrontation at the Mead Airforce Base, where seventy-five-year-old Muste climbed over the fence into the grounds, the San Francisco to Moscow Walk for Peace, the Quebec-Guantanamo Peace Walk, the Sahara Project.

David and I then boarded a plane and interviewed Mr. McReynolds—another cluttered apartment, this one presided over by his imperious cat, Shaman—and from thence flew to California to meet Muste’s last secretary, a delightful little lady with tattooed eyelids and an infectious laugh.

Back in Michigan, our meeting, over coffee, with the Rev. Art Van Eck and Muste’s niece Dorothy Vander Klipp. And of course the unforgettable afternoon with Muste’s grandson Peter Muste, who spoke with manifest emotion about his grandfather. The fruit of these adventures was David’s exceptional production of four full-length documentaries, Radical for Peace, available free of charge (what would A.J. Muste want, we asked ourselves). Without for these, much of Muste’s legacy would have been lost.

So, what was next? If I remember right, it was David who first came up with the idea of a conference here at Hope, and I will be eternally grateful that he talked me into it. With the help of my two colleagues Curtis Gruenler and Steve Bouma-Prediger, “A. J. Muste: Peacemaker, Prophet, Pragmatist” took place at the Haworth Hotel on Hope’s campus from March 21-23; it featured addresses by Peter Muste, Muste’s biographers JoAnn Robinson and Leilah Danielson, and the Executive Director and Chairperson of the A. J. Muste Foundation for Peace and Justice in New York. The dubious portrayal of Muste (“pale and patrician”) in the recent film Rustin was confronted by Danielson and Martha Reineke of the University of Northern Iowa.

We were also privileged to mount a session on African pacifists by Hope May of Central Michigan University and Keith Snedegar of Utah Valley University. And what might A. J. concern himself with now? Filmmaker Joshua Vis, the Rev. Chris De Blaay, Mary Neznek, and the Rev. John Kleinheksel were on hand to analyze the current crisis in Israel-Palestine. We heard an illuminating presentation by former Hope faculty member Timothy Pennings on Muste’s contemporary and fellow pacifist Bertrand Russell; Curtis Gruenler contemplated Muste’s ideal of friendship. And the wonders of Zoom let us hear from Ariel Gold of the Fellowship of Reconciliation and Dick Flacks, a founding member of the legendary Students for a Democratic Society.

But by far the most moving contribution came from Brad Lyttle. Now ninety-seven and nearly blind, Brad was transported to Holland by a loving caregiver, Ted Alexander, and spoke from memory of the years he had spent working closely with Muste as his right-hand collaborator and, indeed, disciple.

All in all, the conference will stand in my memory as one of the blessed events in my career at Hope College. Never have I participated in an academic meeting so manifestly inspired by, if I may say so, mutual love. I am thankful to David Schock for jumpstarting the whole thing; to Steve and Curtis for helping to float it; to Roger Baumann for his encouragement.

And yet Muste’s name remains unknown to many Hope faculty and students. And, indeed, to the general public.

Abraham Johannes Muste was probably the nearest to a holy man that Hope College has ever produced. I am grateful that our conference did its part to contribute to his legend.

Goed gedaan, goede en trouwe dienaar.

Well done, good and faithful servant. Enter into the joy of thy Lord.

—

Dr. Kathleen Verduin is Professor of English at Hope College and Chair of the A.J. Muste Memorial Lecture Series Committee.

Read more about A.J. Muse in Verduin’s essay “Who was A.J. Muste?”, published in the Spring 2024 issue of News from Hope College.

On January 29^th, the Hope College Social Work department hosted an anti-trafficking awareness lecture led by Heather McGannon from Michigan Abolition Project (MAP) and Leslie King, the CEO and founder of Sacred Beginnings and a trafficking survivor. Both women championed educating society about the extremity of human trafficking, engaging with the community about social deficits and eradicating human trafficking through support, justice, and healing.

In the halo of the stage lights, Heather McGannon quickly stilled the room with a single question: “When you think of human trafficking, what do you think of?” She began listing examples of what many of us were thinking about—perhaps movies such as Taken or maybe the most harrowing of cases we’ve seen on the news. To the tune of our pensive musings, Heather proceeded to explain that most cases of human trafficking do not look like the previously mentioned examples but are terrifyingly subtle. “It is happening right here,” she explained, “in the United States of America, here in Holland, Michigan.”

So, what are the numbers? Globally, Heather explained, there are approximately 28 million trafficked humans—that is 1/150 people (and this is probably a drastic underestimate, as it is hard to quantify the exact numbers). Of that nearly 30 million, 22 million are for labor, and 6 million are for commercial sex exploitation. These numbers have human trafficking profiting 150 billion dollars, making it the third largest illegal institution.

“Trafficking is all about power and control.”

– Heather McGannon

Heather explained that these numbers can be explained by one thing—demand. In a world with undesirable jobs and dangerous environments, individuals fall victim to a manipulative system that has failed them. “Trafficking is all about power and control,” she explained, articulating how the pornography and sex industry is partially to blame. The second reason human trafficking is flourishing in our backyards? Increased demands for cheap goods. You read that correctly—that’s us. Chocolate, coffee, the minerals in our makeup, the sugar in our cupcakes, the things we eat, the clothes we wear. As Heather said, if we want this epidemic to end, we must reevaluate our part of the supply-and-demand equation.

Throughout her presentation, Heather emphasized the fact that human trafficking is a silent beast in the shadows. It targets its victims, establishes trust, and fills the needs that people hunger for when the system has failed them. Then, they are isolated, abused, and controlled. Traffickers feed into the narrative that their victims are all alone, that the world has rejected them. It is not a crime that happens in an instant or can be easily seen in a room. Heather explained, “Often, we see the physical chains… but really, it’s the psychological chains.”

As Heather handed the spotlight over to Leslie King, the room darkened and her introductory video began. The story of her life – from her childhood to her days as a CEO – played out on the screen.

As Leslie King’s story captured in Some Angels Fight faded to a close, she strode to center stage. “Hi everybody” — King’s powerfully chipper voice pierced the haze of grief, shock, and awe — “I’m Leslie.” Leslie chuckled along with the awkward laughter that then reverberated around the room.

With her powerful presence and her palpable passion, Leslie described the many devastating effects of human trafficking. “Once they get the mind, the body follows,” She explained, detailing the physical, mental, social, and spiritual wounds that many victims experience preceding and following their escape—“my nights and days were backward… my life, period, was backward… all we know is survival.” Leslie paced the stage as she described the harrowing fear, distrust, and pain accompanying survival. When asked how she copes with the pervasive mental health issues, she proclaimed, “I refuse to be controlled by anyone or anything ever again.”

Leslie explained that there is a lack of recognition of the journey of healing that survivors go through once they get out of the bondage of trafficking. Throughout her speech, Leslie described the physical, mental, and emotional effects of trafficking that follow a survivor for the rest of their life. Building off Heather’s educational presentation, Leslie’s stories emphasized that modern-day slavery is a malicious cycle that exploits and depends on the consumerism of everyone. In addition, Leslie underscored that social workers are involved in a broken system and that empowerment and self-efficacy are key to a survivor’s healing.

That is just what Leslie did – she survived and became what she likes to call a “renegade social worker.” But the journey there was arduous. “When we leave our traffickers,” she began, “we don’t know what to do… we’re lost [so we go back to what we know].” Often, survivors find that they escape to a world that no longer supplies the scaffolding they need—“we can’t get a job because of our criminal history… we were made to do things… we did what we had to do.” Last year, Leslie King became the first and only trafficked survivor in Michigan to receive an inaugural pardon—“I didn’t know what it meant to be free… my life was a cage.”

Leslie King now returns to the streets to rescue and support other individuals who share her story. She encouraged social workers to work outside of the textbook and truly listen to their clients—one’s personhood extends past the clinical standpoint.

When asked how people like the students at Hope College could help, Leslie responded – “You can’t help us if you don’t know anything about us.” The media paints a picture of human trafficking that can make it easy for people to neglect the pervasiveness of the issue. Many people believe that it is an international issue. However, Leslie passionately explained that she returns to Holland, Michigan, roughly two to three times per month due to the trafficking occurring here. 

Leslie depicted human trafficking as the byproduct of the breakdown of the community. To heal that fracturing, caregivers and community members can become involved in a myriad of ways. Supporting homeless populations, championing justice, and fighting for equity in resources can all be protective factors that prevent human trafficking. Functionally, being mindful of one’s consumer footprint and shopping fair trade can help decrease the effects of human trafficking and forced labor on a macro or global level.

Overall, Leslie embodied strength, boldness, and resilience while also showing her deep love and passion for all people to live free of abuse and exploitation. She connected with the audience tangibly and authentically. She invited her listeners to deeply connect with her story and with the stories of the millions of people entrapped in the abhorrent cycle of trafficking, abuse, and human exploitation.

At the close of the event, attendees made their way toward the stage to purchase King’s biography and linger a moment longer in the hope of absorbing even more of her wisdom. As the final sounds of chatter and footsteps left the auditorium, taking deep breaths, silent tears, and deep gratitude with them, seven words lingered on the black screen overhead: Leslie has saved over 600 victims.

“They’re human… and I won’t let anyone forget that.”

—

Clara Roche is a sophomore at Hope College, Majoring in Social Work with a minor in Religion. She is passionate about social justice and advocacy and is involved with these measures in the Social Work Department.

Mahleija Tanner is a sophomore at Hope College majoring in Social Work, and she is a passionate advocate for anti-human trafficking with an emphasis on international dynamics.

How can I help?

• National Human Trafficking Hotline (1-888-373-7888)
• Shop Responsibly by purchasing ethically made and fair-trade goods and consume LESS!

For the 2023 A.J. Muste Memorial Lecture, the Hope College Peace and Justice Program and Students Demand Action for Gun Sense hosted Shane Claiborne, who presented a lecture called “Beating Guns: Hope for People Who Are Weary of Violence.”

Shane Claiborne is a prominent Christian speaker, activist, and author. He is an advocate for nonviolence, which fuels his passion to end the death penalty and gun violence. Claiborne’s activism is based in Philadelphia, but he has traveled across the world, sharing a message of hope wherever he goes.

Claiborne presented to a standing-room-only crowd in Winants Auditorium on Monday, September 11, 2023, with students, faculty, staff, and community members eager to listen to his perspective. Overall, his presentation described gun violence as a public health, spiritual, and moral crisis, but one that can be solved by changing both hearts and laws. 

Claiborne began his presentation by acknowledging the anniversary of 9/11. He shared that it was on the 10th anniversary of 9/11 that he transformed the first gun into a garden tool, which has become a meaningful part of his activism in Philadelphia. By melting down guns and rebuilding them, he says we are transforming tools of death into tools of life. This practice is rooted in Isaiah 2:4, which talks about beating swords into plowshares and spears into pruning hooks. At the beginning of his presentation, he gave a melted-down heart to a leader of Students Demand Action and then provided a small hand shovel made from a gun for the audience to pass around.

They will beat their swords into plowshares
    and their spears into pruning hooks.
Nation will not take up sword against nation,
    nor will they train for war anymore.

Isaiah 2:4

Throughout his talk, Claiborne connected his message of nonviolence to the stories of the Bible, revealing how his faith compels him to seek peace and justice. Overall, he connected his passion for nonviolence to the mission of Jesus, who scolded Peter when he picked up a sword to defend Jesus on the night of his arrest. Claiborne argues that when Jesus disarmed Peter that night, he disarmed all of us, emphasizing Christians’ call to nonviolence.  

Throughout his presentation, Claiborne also shared many statistics, emphasizing that gun violence is the number one killer of children in America yet is widely ignored. He added that the United States only has 5% of the world’s population but 50% of the world’s guns, meaning that the United States has more guns than people. Finally, he shared the shocking fact that 44% of all Americans know someone who was shot and killed. Additionally, Claiborne made sure to distinguish the difference between gun extremists and gun owners, as 90% of gun owners are not members of the National Rifle Association, yet the NRA tries to speak for all gun owners. 

While gun violence is often treated as a partisan issue, Claiborne emphasized that ending gun violence should be a non-partisan, Christian-led movement. White evangelicals own the most guns yet claim to be on the side of love. He said there seem to be contradictions at the center of Christianity, so he wants to advocate for the end of gun violence with his own love for Jesus as his guide. 

Claiborne beautifully wove stories of his own community being directly impacted by gun violence into his talk. Whether they are finding bullet casings on their streets, sitting beside victims as they fight to recover, or marching in the streets with families who have lost loved ones, Claiborne emphasized how this is a real issue affecting real people. While Claiborne does identify as a Christian, he criticized the “thoughts and prayers” approach that many Christians adhere to. Claiborne believes more than “thoughts and prayers” are needed to affect change. He claims that loving our neighbors means caring about policy, and while no law can change a heart, laws can make it harder to kill. Claiborne stresses that change begins with the people of God, as we are called to action as people of faith. When people say all we can do is pray, he believes they are wrong. 

He ended his presentation by saying that first hearts can be changed to care about gun violence, and then heads will follow. In his own efforts to end gun violence, he merges Biblical stories with the stories of people affected to make it personal. Access to guns is America’s problem and to quell it, we need to meet people where they are at by creating common ground. It is important to speak the truth and put faith into organizing and action, as Claiborne’s own life demonstrates. Christians have been part of the problem, Claiborne argued, but they can also be part of the solution. 

By tying his own faith to his activism, Claiborne exemplifies how to live a life of peace and justice rooted in Christianity, a perspective that one would hope to develop at a Christian institution like Hope College. Given the size of the crowd at his talk, we are hopeful that our community will continue to find ways to live out our faith in pursuit of peace and justice. Shane Claiborne’s passion for ending gun violence and commitment to living out his Christian faith through activism and nonviolence is inspiring, so we are grateful for the time he spent on Hope’s campus. 

Lauren Schiller is a senior at Hope College, majoring in communication and minoring in Chinese studies. She is a founder and the president of Hope College Students Demand Action for Gun Sense.

Anna Whittle is a junior at Hope College, studying Environmental Studies and Women’s & Gender Studies with a minor in Peace & Justice Studies. Anna is a founding member of Hope’s Students Demand Action group.