Interfaith Conference on Drone Warfare (January 2015) - Princeton University host and sponsor (Peace Action Education Fund)

Mentioned in United Methodist (Board of Church and Society) Promotion and weblink:
PRINCETON, N.J. — Religious leaders and people of faith have long debated the morality of U.S. military action abroad. Recently, U.S. use of drone warfare has become a central question for the faith community.
From Jan. 23-25, 2015, at Princeton Theological Seminary, people of faith from across the nation and scholars of religion, law and foreign policy will gather for the first Interfaith Conference on Drone Warfare.
As U.S. drone strikes continue in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Yemen, Iraq,and Syria, the American faith community has yet to coalesce around a common understanding and strategy for addressing this critical moral issue. This conference is a first step toward that goal.

Make recommendations

Participants will:

• hear from experts in law, religious ethics,and military policy;
• share insights from their various faith traditions as a means to reflect on the issue and guide the conversation; and
• work to develop policy recommendations to the U.S. government.

The conference will also make recommendations to the religious community on how it should respond to the issue of lethal drones at the local, regional,and national levels.
The conference is facilitated by the Princeton-based Peace Action Education Fund.

Speakers and panelists

The conference will include a variety of speakers and panelists, including:

• the Most Rev. Richard Pates, Bishop of Des Moines, Roman Catholic former chair, U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops Committee on International Justice & Peace
• Professor Jeremy Waldron, New York University School of Law
• Dr. Hassan Abbas, chair, Dept. of Regional & Analytical Studies, College of International Security Affairs, National Defense University
• Rob Eshman, publisher and editor-in-chief, The Jewish Journal, Los Angeles
• Antti Pentikainen, executive director, Finn Church Aid; chair, Civil Society Advisory Committee, U.N. Development Program
• Professor Marjorie Cohn, Thomas Jefferson School of Law
• Dr. George Hunsinger, Hazel Thompson McCord Professor of Systematic Theology, Princeton Theological Seminary, and
• the Rev. Dr. Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite, Professor of Theology, Chicago Theological Seminary.

Urgent moral concern

“The issue of lethal drones presents an urgent moral concern to the religious community because the use of lethal drones makes it easier to enter into war,” said the Rev. Richard Killmer, project director for the conference. “The goal of this conversation in the religious community is to look long and hard at the use of lethal drones and then make policy recommendations to the U.S. government. We will call on the religious community to do what it can to make the policy recommendations a reality.”
The Interfaith Conference on Drone Warfare is open to the public. Those interested in attending or seeking additional information can register at Coalition for Peace Action or contact Alesha Vega.