This week Ekklesia publishes its new, in-depth look at how we recall war, 'Re-imagining Remembrance'. Since the 'wars to end all wars' fought in the first half of the twentieth century there have been over 300 conflagrations across the globe, costing millions of lives. Yet the way we remember, and the tendency to focus on military rather than peacebuilding ways of addressing conflict, has remained unchanged.
 
The focus of the new report is upon difficult truth telling as the foundation of how we remember, and how we challenge 'the myth of redemptive violence', as theologian Walter Wink puts it. For many, asking questions and posing alternatives in this area is extremely sensitive, or even too much to bear. Reflection and argument often gives way to abuse. We hope that those who disagree with what we are saying will take the trouble to read and evaluate it.
 
'Re-imagining Remembrance' is not about sound bites and headlines. It's a plea to go deeper and to acknowledge the horror that our continuing reliance upon violence is wreaking in the world, almost a century after our forbears pledged to end war as an instrument of policy.
 
Elsewhere in this bulletin, there are thought-provoking quotations about how the language of advocacy and faith operates, 'thinking in action' around the BNP and Christianity in Britain (with powerful contributions from Vaughan Jones and others), an invitation to a public lecture on how the Christian message relates to public policy formation, and a profile of a new book on Christian practice (specifically worship and mission) after Christendom - that is, after the culture in which 'the church of power' reigned. Instead, Alan and Eleanor Kreider invite us towards a vision of transforming practice based on vulnerability and truth-telling.
 
Last but not least, our feature articles examine the Quaker virtue of equality, and the message it carries for both religion and society, and the nature of the church as a people's assembly - something that can easily be lost in the midst of ecclesiastical squabbling.