ARC Speaker #3 Women, Religion and War

At the IBNA ARC conference Joan Chittister was our final keynote speaker. She talked about Religion, Women and War. Her message was based on her religious beliefs as she's a Benedictine Nun so I was curious how she'd make her message universal and not one-sided. She was well spoken and well-read. Dr. Robert M. Franklin might have said she's a true Renaissance women. While she was definitely passionate about her religious beliefs and experiences, her words ended up being meaningful and inclusive.

She talked about how women and children are increasingly the unseen, rarely reported, never negotiated, victims of war and religious conflict. She talked about the need for all religions to come together to stop war. She argued that instead of focusing the politics of fear, vengeance and violence we all, regardless of our beliefs, ethnicity or gender, can choose to call for political policy and personal action built on virtue and vision for a
peaceful future. "It is time for women to reach across the borders that men will not breach to take the hands of the other -- not to bind them but to bond them. It is time for women¹s analyses of world situations and women¹s solutions to conflict to be heard," Chittister said. Interesting perspective that, like Eboo Patel, I'd never really heard or considered. Since we're coming out of a century that suffered one war after another, and Chittister reported 97% of the deaths in Iraq are civilian deaths, her message underscores the importance that all leaders, secular and sacred, explore solutions. Together we need to find a way to focus on solutions that promote and sustain world peace based
on vision and virtue, not on violence and vengeance.