[NOTE: See our weekly Peace & Life Connections for most of our news.]

May 12, 2010
CL Gains New Endorser & New Member Group

Recently, Consistent Life has gained both a new endorser and a new member group.

The endorser is Dr. P. Jayaraman. Dr. Jayaraman is Founder and Executive Director of Bharatiya Vidya Bhayan, USA (Institute of Indian Culture, USA). He is also a professor and author.

The new member group is All Our Lives. All Our Lives works for a world free of domination, coercion, and violence in our sexual and reproductive lives. Their mission is to model a woman-centric, non-violent and inclusive approach to issues of health, sexuality, and reproduction.

January 22, 2010
Consistent Life at 2010 March for Life

Consistent Life had a presence at the 2010 March for Life in Washington, DC. Five Board members and a number of other supporters participated

Consistent Life banner held by Board members Carol Crossed & Tony Masalonis

Two other groups joined our contingent - member group Prolife Alliance of Gays and Lesbians (PLAGAL) and Secular ProLife.

Consistent Life banner held by Board members Bill Samuel & Carol Crossed
with PLAGAL & Secular ProLife joining us

Other groups which came to the March from various places also carried banners with consistent life ethic messages.

Franciscans support consistent ethic of life

Camden parish notes it's a seamless garment community

Walk for Life West Coast Too!

(added later)

Consistent Life member Edward Chow made this sign and carried it at the Walk for Life West Coast in San Francisco the day after the March for Life in Washington.

Sign at 2010 Walk for Life West Coast

June 15, 2009
John D. Roth Endorses CL

John D. Roth

John D. Roth, a leading Mennonite historian, recently endorsed the Mission Statement of Consistent Life. Roth is Professor of History at Goshen College. He has a PhD in Early Modern European History from the University of Chicago.

Roth serves as Editor of The Mennonite Quarterly Review. He is also President of the Mennonite Historical Society and Director of the Mennonite Historical Library.

Roth has authored or edited a number of books, most related to Mennonite history and life. One of these books is Choosing Against War: A Christian View (Good Books, 2002). He is also a prolific writer of articles in a great variety of magazines and periodicals.

June 1, 2009
CL Statement on Killing of Dr. Tiller

Consistent Life, an international network of 200 groups and many individuals for peace, justice and life, condemns the assassination of Dr. George R. Tiller. Responding to violence with violence only furthers the cycle of violence, which harms all human society. We urge opposition to all forms of violence through creative nonviolent means. Killing people does not demonstrate that killing people is wrong. Executions, whether by governments or private parties, represent moral failures. We hope that people reflecting on the tragedy in Wichita on May 31 will re-examine and reject the idea that violence is an acceptable "solution" to problems, perceived or real.

May 1, 2009
David P. Gushee Endorses CL

David P. Gushee

David P. Gushee recently endorsed the Mission Statement of Consistent Life. Dr. Gushee is the Distinguished University Professor of Christian Ethics at McAfee School of Theology at Mercer University. He is currently working on a book on The Sanctity of Life: A Christian Exploration (Eerdmans, 2010).

Dr. Gushee teaches at McAfee and throughout Mercer University in his specialty, Christian ethics. Beyond his work at Mercer, he is the president of Evangelicals for Human Rights, a columnist for Associated Baptist Press, and a contributing editor for Christianity Today. Dr. Gushee also currently serves as co-chair of the Biblical/Contextual Ethics Group of the American Academy of Religion and on the Christian Ethics Commission of the Baptist World Alliance.

He has published nine books, over 75 scholarly essays, book chapters, articles, and reviews, and hundreds of magazine articles and opinion pieces. His books include the award-winning Kingdom Ethics, as well as Righteous Gentiles of the Holocaust and Only Human.

Dr. Gushee was the principal drafter of both the Evangelical Climate Initiative (2006) and the Evangelical Declaration Against Torture (2007). He is the Kingdom Ethics columnist for Prism, the magazine of Evangelicals for Social Action, a Consistent Life member group.

January 20, 2009
Board Member Rachel Muha Honored

Rachel Muha

Tragedy to Trauma
Her son’s tragic death prompted Rachel Muha to help and forgive
Rachel Muha
Co-founder, Brian Muha Memorial Foundation
Home: Westerville
Kids: Chris, 30; Brian (deceased – 1999)
Quote to live by: “Love one another.”

Making the best of a tragedy has become a way of life for Rachel Muha. After the murder of her 18-year-old son, Brian, Muha has made it her mission to make sure troubled teens on Columbus’ West side end up with a better life.
Initially stricken with emotional heartbreak too intense for Muha to describe, she says words from The Lord’s Prayer made her take a look at things.
“Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us,” recalls Muha, “I was being asked – as we all are – to forgive those who hurt and killed my son I love so much.”
When Muha learned the background of her son’s murderers, it became her goal to help inner-city children and teens improve their lives. Founded in her son’s name, the Brian Muha Foundation has been providing services ever since.
In 2005, the foundation opened its first after-school and Saturday program in inner-city Columbus. Billed as “a loving atmosphere that fosters health and happiness through spiritual, intellectual, emotional and physical development,” the Run the Race program serves children in grades 2 through 12 – with or without strong family backgrounds.
Muha’s goal is to raise $100,000 to open the West Side Run the Race Center open every day.
“When a child says to me...‘why can’t we stay longer?’” says Muha, “I know the children are able to forget all the challenges in their young lives.” That is how she measures the foundation’s accomplishments.
In addition to the Run the Race club, The Brian Muha Foundation has established scholarship funds at Franciscan University and St. Charles Preparatory School, which both her sons attended. The house from which Brian was kidnapped – although filled with painful memories – has been purchased and maintained by the foundation as a house offered to needy students so they are able to attend the University.
Muha says she is motivated by God’s will, which is love.
“We are in the business of love,” says Muha, “and when you are in the business of love, you don't exclude anyone.”