Articles by: Kelly Denton-Borhaug

The Intolerable Price You Pay – A Civilian Addresses American Veterans on Veterans Day

The Intolerable Price You Pay – A Civilian Addresses American Veterans on Veterans Day

[Denton-Borhaug will give a version of this talk virtually to Veterans for Peace Chapter 102 at a Reclaim Armistice Day meeting at the Milwaukee City Hall Rotunda this Veteran’s Day.] Dear Veterans, I’m a civilian who, like many Americans, has strong ties to the U.S. Armed Forces. I never considered enlisting, but my father, uncles, cousins, and nephews did. As[Read More…]

by 11/11/2022 Comments are Disabled World
Photo Win McNamee/Getty Images

Mobs carrying Trump “Law & Order” & Gadsen “Don’t Tread on Me’ Flags Breach Locked US Capitol Doors

Living on a Planet of Lies

Recent episodes of purposeful and accidental truth-telling brought to my mind the latest verbal lapse by George W. Bush, the president who hustled this country into war in Afghanistan and Iraq after the 9/11 attacks. He clearly hadn’t planned to make a public confession about his own warmongering in Iraq when he gave a speech in Texas this spring. Still, asked to[Read More…]

by 16/08/2022 Comments are Disabled World
The Sacralization of War, American-Style – Reaping What We Sow

The Sacralization of War, American-Style – Reaping What We Sow

Lately, random verses from the Bible have been popping into my mind unbidden, like St. Paul’s famous line from Galatians, “A person reaps what they sow.” The words sprang into my consciousness when I learned of the death of the 95-year-old Vietnamese Buddhist monk and peace activist Thich Nhat Hanh, who helped encourage Martin Luther King to declare his opposition to the Vietnam[Read More…]

by 22/02/2022 Comments are Disabled World
A Parable of (All-American) Violence – Accountability and the War of Terror

A Parable of (All-American) Violence – Accountability and the War of Terror

As a religious studies professor, I know a parable when I see one. Consider the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks and the final events in this country’s war in Afghanistan as just such a parable taken directly from the history of our moment. The heart-wrenching last days of that war amounted to a cautionary tale about the nature of[Read More…]

by 23/09/2021 Comments are Disabled Imperialism
Moral Injury and the Forever Wars: What Americans Don’t Want to Hear

Moral Injury and the Forever Wars: What Americans Don’t Want to Hear

This summer, it seemed as if we Americans couldn’t wait to return to our traditional July 4th festivities. Haven’t we all been looking for something to celebrate? The church chimes in my community rang out battle hymns for about a week. The utility poles in my neighborhood were covered with “Hometown Hero” banners hanging proudly, sporting the smiling faces of uniformed local[Read More…]

by 03/08/2021 Comments are Disabled Imperialism
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