“The good person out of the good treasure of the heart produces good… …for it is out of the abundance of the heart that the mouth speaks.” (Luke 6:45 NRSVUE) 

Background: The U.S. has the largest military budget in the world, accounting for more than half of global military spending since 1949. War never brings peace but rather deprives and steals from programs that support human needs. Anabaptists have long lived out holistic peace values, rejecting military service, engaging in peacemaking, and highlighting the devastating costs of war. The ever-growing U.S. military budget (the current White House request is $1.5 trillion) and a dramatic decrease in funding for peacebuilding and humanitarian needs have contributed to violent conflict and environmental destruction globally.

The Slash the Pentagon Act (S. 4799) seeks to drastically cut the defense budget by half and instead invest those funds in:

• Trains, not warplanes ($205 billion)
• Health care, not warfare ($220 billion)
• Bread, not bombs ($200 billion)
• Education, not annihilation ($125 billion)

Human security at home and abroad should be centered in mutual flourishing and not warmaking.

Take action: Encourage your Senator to co-sponsor the Slash the Pentagon Act.

Photo above: Mennonites protest the Vietnam War, 1969. MCC photo/Burton Buller