BOOK READINGS - to page 103: Introduction, Ch 1 Farmers and Herdsmen, Ch 2 India: The Noble Path, Ch 3 China: Warriors and Gentlemen
OPENING - Joan Gray - World Becoming Less Violent: Violence in Steady Decline - Huffington Post
PRESENTATION - PDF - FoB-Chapter Notes - Session 02
MEDIA:
     1. SONG - Christmas 1915 - Celtic Thunder
     2. Karen Armstrong at Chautauqua - "Fields of Blood" 80m Excellent talk with Q & A.
QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION:
     1. What is the value of studying cultures that pre-dated and paralleled our Judeo-Christian (biblical) tradition?
     2. Politics and Religion - Why has religion served political purposes for so much of human history?
     3. Glorification of War - Rationalization of Class Conflict. How has religion served political purposes to our own time?
REFERENCES:    
    Armstrong in Chautauqua talk referenced the WCC (UN) definition of “Structural Violence”. See Session 9.
CLOSING - Joan Gray - Video from NASA/ESA Hubble - Gigabytes of Andromeda

BOOK READINGS - to page 262: Ch 9 The Arrival of "Religion"
OPENING - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pYii6nxhvUk Where Have All the Flowers Gone – Peter, Paul & Mary
PRESENTATION - PDF - FoB-Chapter Notes - Session 05
MEDIA:
     1. Karen Armstrong in Conversation with Alan Jones at Grace Cathedral. 32m
QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION:
Modernity and the Rise of the European Nation States - Inquisition, Colonialism and Reformation
    1. Discuss: European religion before 1700 was largely indistinguishable from politics (p. 256)
    2. How did Europeans "rationalize" the plunder of the "heathen" peoples? (p. 234 ff)
    3. Discuss: Luther's Reformation had both positive and negative results. (244-5 ff)
    4. In what ways were the post-Reformation European "wars of religion" much more political than religious? (pp. 249-251)
REFERENCES:
    1. Natalie Zemon Davis "The Rites of Violence Religious Riot in 16th C France" (links to pdf doc) Past and Present Society, Oxford - The pivotal paper that made the modern connection between war and religion. p251 ref 9-76    
    2. The Myth of Religious Violence: Secular Ideology and the Roots of Modern Conflict, 2009 Oxford, William T Cavanaugh @ DePaul U. Much of first chapter is readable on link at books.google.com .
    3.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aRbb3-0SfwA   Secular War Myths of Religion, Politics and Violence  10m29s Dr Stacey Gutkowski from the Centre for Middle East and Mediterranean Studies at King's College London discusses her new book, Secular War Myths of Religion, Politics and Violence. A wee bit too scholarly. An American scholar in the UK. The underpinings of political understanding and policy.
    4. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=09TI5CHQuac 81m02s Muhammad: A Prophet for Our Time. – Karen Armstrong
    5.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ggs9lPht_mg   4m28s An Evangelical's tView - War and Religion. Usual argument that war is secular. Then a section on sin as the cause of our trouble, and a few bible verses.
CLOSING - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gLG91tOLPdQ 5m yusuf Islam – Peace Train at the Nobel peace prize event for Muhammed  Yunus (micro credit banker in Bangledesh)

BOOK READINGS - none.
EVENING TOPIC - "Modern Violence" - Considering Armstrong's thesis about true cause.
OPENING -
PRESENTATION -
MEDIA:
    1. Song - Idle No More - 4m. Ulali at the UN 22 Sep 2014
    2. Chris Hedges - "The Global Culture of Violence: What Is The Path to Peace and Justice?" 51m. Hedges is a senior journalist recently ordained by the Presbyterian Church for a career covering war and peace and justice after his seminary training. He strongly feels we are running out of time to make the world a fair place. He is speaking here at a Presbyterian Peace Fellowship UnGala!. .
QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION:
REFERENCES:
    1. "The Geneva Declaration on Terrorism - UN General Assembly Doc. A/42/307, 29 May 1987"  "Terrorism originates from the statist system of Structural Violence and domination that denies the right of self-determination to peoples  ...  The real international terrorism is founded in the imposition of the will of the powerful states upon the weak by means of economic, political, cultural and military domination. We declare that the key to ending all forms of terrorism is the development of new relations among nations and peoples based on unfailing respect for the right to self-determination of peoples, and on a greater measure of economic, political and social equality on a world scale." See also list of papers at http://www.i-p-o.org/civilizational_dialogue-roster.htm
    2. The Law of War- Wikipedia
    3. Jeremy Townsley - "Rene Girard's Theory of Violence, Religion and the Scapegoat" 2003. Townsley teaches at Butler and is a polymath in Psychology, Chemistry, Theology, Philosophy, Neurobiology, and Ethics. An excellent paper summarizing the theories of Rene Girard, a Stanford Professor of Political Philosophy. Girard's ideas complement Armstrongs. Also see video next.
    4. Rene Girard - "Uncommon Knowledge" 26m. A Political Philosophe at Stanford, Girard has contributed substantially to the topic of violence and religion. This short interview touches on his theory of violence - that violence is not at our root, but imitation is. What one desires, causes another to desire out of a spirit of imitation. That when another desires what we desire it confirms our desire. And if there is not enough, we fight.
    5. http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2015/01/21/target-ceo-severance-canadian-workers_n_6517272.html Huffington Post Article on growing wage disparity between CEO’s and workers. Case respects Target as leaving Canada, but links to similar information.
CLOSING -