Colman McCarthy
Encyclopedia
Colman McCarthy an American journalist
, teacher, lecturer, pacifist
, an anarchist
and long-time peace activist
, directs the Center for Teaching Peace in Washington, D.C. From 1969 to 1997, he wrote columns for The Washington Post
. His topics ranged from politics, religion, health, and sports to education, poverty, and peacemaking. Washingtonian
magazine called him "the liberal conscience of The Washington Post." Smithsonian
magazine said he is "a man of profound spiritual awareness." He has written for The New Yorker
, The Nation
, The Progressive
, The Atlantic, and Reader's Digest
. Since 1999, he has written biweekly columns for National Catholic Reporter
.
Since 1982, he has been teaching courses on nonviolence
and the literature of peace. In the fall semester of 2006, he taught at seven schools: Georgetown University Law Center
, American University
, the University of Maryland
, The Washington Center for Internships, Wilson High School, Bethesda-Chevy Chase High School
and School Without Walls. In 25 years, he has had more than 7,000 students in his classes. In 1985, he founded the Center for Teaching Peace, a nonprofit that helps schools begin or expand academic programs in Peace studies
. He is a regular speaker at U.S. colleges, prep schools, high schools, and peace conferences, and gives an average of 50 lectures a year. The titles of his lectures range from "How To Be a Peacemaker" to "Nonviolence In a Time of War."
Colman McCarthy graduated with a B.S. from Spring Hill College
, and holds five additional honorary degrees from St. John's University, Wheeling Jesuit College
, Belmont College
, Walsh University
, and Spring Hill College
.
Pacifist, journalist and ethical vegetarian for his nationally syndicated column in The Washington Post. He was awarded the Peace Abbey Courage of Conscience Award in Sherborn, Massachusetts.
McCarthy also won an Alicia Patterson Journalism Fellowship in 1998 to research and write about mentoring, tutoring, and literacy at Garrison elementary school in Washington, DC.
(D-Mass.), one of the most liberal members of Congress; Mark Gearan, president of Hobart and William Smith Colleges
and former director of the Peace Corps; John McCarthy, director and founder of Elementary Baseball; Anthony Shriver, director and founder of Best Buddies International
.
McCarthy's educational philosophy has attracted some controversy in the past, with two Bethesda-Chevy Chase High School students calling in 2006 for a more balanced presentation of the issues covered by the class.http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/02/25/AR2006022501235_pf.html McCarthy's classes are discussion-based and well-known for lively debates and challenges that McCarthy issues to his students. An avid teetotaler, McCarthy often challenges his students to stop drinking alcohol
for the semester and document their experiences and observations of those around them. He also lectures at many universities and institutes. In October of 2009, McCarthy lectured - The Politics of Peace at the New Hampshire Institute of Politics at Saint Anselm College. His December 30, 2010, op-ed in The Washington Post
titled "'Don't ask, don't tell' has been repealed. ROTC
still shouldn't be on campus", from which the Taliban quote below was taken, attracted over 1000 reader comments, most strongly opposed to his position and the logic with which he constructed his argument. His statement that "ROTC and its warrior ethic taint the intellectual purity of a school ..." drew especially heavy scorn, with many of those commenting taking pains to identify themselves as being of liberal persuasion.
Over the years, hundreds of guest speakers have spoken in his classes. They have included Nobel Peace Prize winners, Peace Corps volunteers, Sufi mystics, Army psychiatrists, members of Congress, school custodial workers, former death row
inmates, murder victims' families, social workers, corporate executives, rabbi
s, priest
s, Special Olympics
athletes, Olympians, former political prisoner
s, parents, homeless individuals, folk singers
, presidential candidates, and activists for human rights, civil rights, gay and lesbian
rights, victims' rights, prisoners' rights, Native Americans
' rights and animal rights.
" Everyone in Texas is illiterate."
"I don't celebrate the 4th of July because there never should have been a war with Britain."
"I dress like a Republican so I can talk like an Anarchist."
"The most important act of peacemaking? Your next one. Few of us will ever be called on to do great things, but all of us can do small things in a great way."
"Wars aren't stopped by fighting wars, any more than you can fight fire with fire. You fight fire with water. You fight violence with nonviolence."
"Peace is the result of love, and if love were easy we'd all be good at it."
"Unless we teach our children peace, someone will teach them violence."
"Too many schools process students as if they are slabs of cheese going to Velveeta
High on the way to Cheddar
U and Mozzarella
Grad School."
"You can earn all A's in school and then go out and fail at life."
"What makes us happy is service to others. If schools don't expose students to the joys of community service, we graduate people who are idea rich but experience poor. In these addled times of leave no child untested, we think it's enough to pound ideas into the kids' heads. You can make all A's in school and go out and flunk life."
"It's too easy only to blame the militarists
, racists
, sexists
and other pushers of violence for the mess we're in. What is harder is self-examination, moving beyond caring by looking inward to ask the personal question: What more should I be doing everyday to bring about a peace and justice based world, whether across the ocean or across the living room?"
"I'd prefer that my students don't ask questions. Instead, be braver and bolder: question the answers. What answers? Those from anyone who says the answer is violence. Of all the lies, that's the grossest."
"It's better to build a peaceful child than re-build a violent adult."
“Over the years, I’ve had suggestions from other teachers to offer what they call ‘balance’ in my courses, that I should give students ‘the other side.’ I’m never sure exactly what that means. After assigning students to read Gandhi I should have them also read Carl von Clausewitz
? After Martin Luther King
’s essay against the Vietnam War
, Colin Powell
’s memoir favoring the Persian Gulf War
? After Justice William Brennan
and Thurgood Marshall
’s views opposing the death penalty, George W. Bush
and Saddam Hussein
’s favoring it? After a woman’s account of her using a nonviolent defense against a rapist, the thwarted rapist’s side?”
"Let us commence, if we may."
"Everyone’s a pacifist between wars. It’s like being a vegetarian between meals"
"To oppose ROTC
, as I have since my college days in the 1960s, when my school enticed too many of my classmates into joining, is not to be anti-soldier. I admire those who join armies, whether America's or the Taliban's: for their discipline, for their loyalty to their buddies and to their principles, for their sacrifices to be away from home. In recent years, I've had several Iraq and Afghanistan combat veterans in my college classes. If only the peace movement were as populated by people of such resolve and daring."
and animal rights
. Notable examples are his discussion of Thanksgiving
and a debate with Pat Buchanan
. It premiered at the Avalon Theatre in Washington, D.C.
Journalist
A journalist collects and distributes news and other information. A journalist's work is referred to as journalism.A reporter is a type of journalist who researchs, writes, and reports on information to be presented in mass media, including print media , electronic media , and digital media A...
, teacher, lecturer, pacifist
Pacifism
Pacifism is the opposition to war and violence. The term "pacifism" was coined by the French peace campaignerÉmile Arnaud and adopted by other peace activists at the tenth Universal Peace Congress inGlasgow in 1901.- Definition :...
, an anarchist
Anarchism
Anarchism is generally defined as the political philosophy which holds the state to be undesirable, unnecessary, and harmful, or alternatively as opposing authority in the conduct of human relations...
and long-time peace activist
Peace activist
This list of peace activists includes people who proactively advocate diplomatic, non-military resolution of political disputes, usually through nonviolent means.A peace activist is an activist of the peace movement.*Jane Addams*Martti Ahtisaari...
, directs the Center for Teaching Peace in Washington, D.C. From 1969 to 1997, he wrote columns for The Washington Post
The Washington Post
The Washington Post is Washington, D.C.'s largest newspaper and its oldest still-existing paper, founded in 1877. Located in the capital of the United States, The Post has a particular emphasis on national politics. D.C., Maryland, and Virginia editions are printed for daily circulation...
. His topics ranged from politics, religion, health, and sports to education, poverty, and peacemaking. Washingtonian
Washingtonian (magazine)
Washingtonian is a monthly magazine distributed in the Washington, DC area since 1965. The magazine describes itself as "the magazine Washington lives by." The magazine's core focuses are local feature journalism, guide book-style articles, and real estate advice.-Editorial Content:Washingtonian...
magazine called him "the liberal conscience of The Washington Post." Smithsonian
Smithsonian (magazine)
Smithsonian is the official journal published by the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C. The first issue was published in 1970.-History:...
magazine said he is "a man of profound spiritual awareness." He has written for The New Yorker
The New Yorker
The New Yorker is an American magazine of reportage, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons and poetry published by Condé Nast...
, The Nation
The Nation
The Nation is the oldest continuously published weekly magazine in the United States. The periodical, devoted to politics and culture, is self-described as "the flagship of the left." Founded on July 6, 1865, It is published by The Nation Company, L.P., at 33 Irving Place, New York City.The Nation...
, The Progressive
The Progressive
The Progressive is an American monthly magazine of politics, culture and progressivism with a pronounced liberal perspective on some issues. Known for its pacifism, it has strongly opposed military interventions, such as the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003. The magazine also devotes much coverage...
, The Atlantic, and Reader's Digest
Reader's Digest
Reader's Digest is a general interest family magazine, published ten times annually. Formerly based in Chappaqua, New York, its headquarters is now in New York City. It was founded in 1922, by DeWitt Wallace and Lila Bell Wallace...
. Since 1999, he has written biweekly columns for National Catholic Reporter
National Catholic Reporter
The National Catholic Reporter is the second largest Catholic newspaper in the United States; its circulation reaches ninety-seven countries on six continents. Based in midtown Kansas City, Missouri, NCR was founded by Robert Hoyt in 1964 as an independent newspaper focusing on the Catholic Church...
.
Since 1982, he has been teaching courses on nonviolence
Nonviolence
Nonviolence has two meanings. It can refer, first, to a general philosophy of abstention from violence because of moral or religious principle It can refer to the behaviour of people using nonviolent action Nonviolence has two (closely related) meanings. (1) It can refer, first, to a general...
and the literature of peace. In the fall semester of 2006, he taught at seven schools: Georgetown University Law Center
Georgetown University Law Center
Georgetown University Law Center is the law school of Georgetown University, located in Washington, D.C.. Established in 1870, the Law Center offers J.D., LL.M., and S.J.D. degrees in law...
, American University
American University
American University is a private, Methodist, liberal arts, and research university in Washington, D.C. The university was chartered by an Act of Congress on December 5, 1892 as "The American University", which was approved by President Benjamin Harrison on February 24, 1893...
, the University of Maryland
University of Maryland, College Park
The University of Maryland, College Park is a top-ranked public research university located in the city of College Park in Prince George's County, Maryland, just outside Washington, D.C...
, The Washington Center for Internships, Wilson High School, Bethesda-Chevy Chase High School
Bethesda-Chevy Chase High School
Bethesda-Chevy Chase High School is a Montgomery County, Maryland, USA, public school named for two of the towns it serves along with Kensington and Silver Spring, Maryland. It is located at 4301 East-West Highway, in Bethesda, an unincorporated community in Montgomery County...
and School Without Walls. In 25 years, he has had more than 7,000 students in his classes. In 1985, he founded the Center for Teaching Peace, a nonprofit that helps schools begin or expand academic programs in Peace studies
Peace and conflict studies
Peace and conflict studies is a social science field that identifies and analyses violent and nonviolent behaviours as well as the structural mechanisms attending social conflicts with a view towards understanding those processes which lead to a more desirable human condition...
. He is a regular speaker at U.S. colleges, prep schools, high schools, and peace conferences, and gives an average of 50 lectures a year. The titles of his lectures range from "How To Be a Peacemaker" to "Nonviolence In a Time of War."
Colman McCarthy graduated with a B.S. from Spring Hill College
Spring Hill College
Spring Hill College is a private, Roman Catholic Jesuit liberal arts college in the United States. It was founded in 1830 on the Gulf Coast in Mobile, Alabama, by Most Rev. Michael Portier, Bishop of Mobile, Alabama...
, and holds five additional honorary degrees from St. John's University, Wheeling Jesuit College
Wheeling Jesuit University
Wheeling Jesuit University is a private, co-educational Roman Catholic university in the United States. Located in Wheeling, West Virginia, it was founded as Wheeling College in 1954 by the Society of Jesus . Today, Wheeling Jesuit University is one of 28 member institutions of the Association of...
, Belmont College
Belmont University
Belmont University is a private, coeducational, liberal arts university located in Nashville, Tennessee, United States. It is the largest Christian university in Tennessee and the second largest private university in the state, behind nearby Vanderbilt University.-Belmont Mansion:Belmont Mansion...
, Walsh University
Walsh University
Walsh University is a private non-profit, 4-year, Roman Catholic university in North Canton, Ohio, USA. It was founded in 1960 by the Brothers of Christian Instruction, initially as a liberal arts college. Walsh College became Walsh University in 1993. The University offers more than 50 majors,...
, and Spring Hill College
Spring Hill College
Spring Hill College is a private, Roman Catholic Jesuit liberal arts college in the United States. It was founded in 1830 on the Gulf Coast in Mobile, Alabama, by Most Rev. Michael Portier, Bishop of Mobile, Alabama...
.
Pacifist, journalist and ethical vegetarian for his nationally syndicated column in The Washington Post. He was awarded the Peace Abbey Courage of Conscience Award in Sherborn, Massachusetts.
McCarthy also won an Alicia Patterson Journalism Fellowship in 1998 to research and write about mentoring, tutoring, and literacy at Garrison elementary school in Washington, DC.
Peace Studies
For his courses on nonviolence and the literature of peace, McCarthy's course texts include "Solutions To Violence" and "Strength Through Peace: the Ideas and People of Nonviolence." Both books are anthologies of peace essays edited by McCarthy and published by the Center for Teaching Peace. The purpose of the courses is to expose students to the philosophy of pacifism and the methods of nonviolent conflict resolution. His former students include Rep. Jim McGovernJim McGovern
James Patrick "Jim" McGovern is the U.S. Representative for , serving since 1997. He is a member of the Democratic Party....
(D-Mass.), one of the most liberal members of Congress; Mark Gearan, president of Hobart and William Smith Colleges
Hobart and William Smith Colleges
Hobart and William Smith Colleges, located in Geneva, New York, are together a liberal arts college offering Bachelor of Arts, Bachelor of Science and Master of Arts in Teaching degrees. In athletics, however, the two schools compete with separate teams, known as the Hobart Statesmen and the...
and former director of the Peace Corps; John McCarthy, director and founder of Elementary Baseball; Anthony Shriver, director and founder of Best Buddies International
Best Buddies International
Best Buddies International is a nonprofit 501 organization. It consists of volunteers that attempt to create opportunities for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities ....
.
McCarthy's educational philosophy has attracted some controversy in the past, with two Bethesda-Chevy Chase High School students calling in 2006 for a more balanced presentation of the issues covered by the class.http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/02/25/AR2006022501235_pf.html McCarthy's classes are discussion-based and well-known for lively debates and challenges that McCarthy issues to his students. An avid teetotaler, McCarthy often challenges his students to stop drinking alcohol
Alcoholic beverage
An alcoholic beverage is a drink containing ethanol, commonly known as alcohol. Alcoholic beverages are divided into three general classes: beers, wines, and spirits. They are legally consumed in most countries, and over 100 countries have laws regulating their production, sale, and consumption...
for the semester and document their experiences and observations of those around them. He also lectures at many universities and institutes. In October of 2009, McCarthy lectured - The Politics of Peace at the New Hampshire Institute of Politics at Saint Anselm College. His December 30, 2010, op-ed in The Washington Post
The Washington Post
The Washington Post is Washington, D.C.'s largest newspaper and its oldest still-existing paper, founded in 1877. Located in the capital of the United States, The Post has a particular emphasis on national politics. D.C., Maryland, and Virginia editions are printed for daily circulation...
titled "'Don't ask, don't tell' has been repealed. ROTC
Reserve Officers' Training Corps
The Reserve Officers' Training Corps is a college-based, officer commissioning program, predominantly in the United States. It is designed as a college elective that focuses on leadership development, problem solving, strategic planning, and professional ethics.The U.S...
still shouldn't be on campus", from which the Taliban quote below was taken, attracted over 1000 reader comments, most strongly opposed to his position and the logic with which he constructed his argument. His statement that "ROTC and its warrior ethic taint the intellectual purity of a school ..." drew especially heavy scorn, with many of those commenting taking pains to identify themselves as being of liberal persuasion.
Over the years, hundreds of guest speakers have spoken in his classes. They have included Nobel Peace Prize winners, Peace Corps volunteers, Sufi mystics, Army psychiatrists, members of Congress, school custodial workers, former death row
Death row
Death row signifies the place, often a section of a prison, that houses individuals awaiting execution. The term is also used figuratively to describe the state of awaiting execution , even in places where no special facility or separate unit for condemned inmates exists.After individuals are found...
inmates, murder victims' families, social workers, corporate executives, rabbi
Rabbi
In Judaism, a rabbi is a teacher of Torah. This title derives from the Hebrew word רבי , meaning "My Master" , which is the way a student would address a master of Torah...
s, priest
Priest
A priest is a person authorized to perform the sacred rites of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in particular, rites of sacrifice to, and propitiation of, a deity or deities...
s, Special Olympics
Special Olympics
Special Olympics is the world's largest sports organization for children and adults with intellectual disabilities, providing year-round training and competitions to more than 3.1 million athletes in 175 countries....
athletes, Olympians, former political prisoner
Political prisoner
According to the Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English, a political prisoner is ‘someone who is in prison because they have opposed or criticized the government of their own country’....
s, parents, homeless individuals, folk singers
Folk music
Folk music is an English term encompassing both traditional folk music and contemporary folk music. The term originated in the 19th century. Traditional folk music has been defined in several ways: as music transmitted by mouth, as music of the lower classes, and as music with unknown composers....
, presidential candidates, and activists for human rights, civil rights, gay and lesbian
Lesbian
Lesbian is a term most widely used in the English language to describe sexual and romantic desire between females. The word may be used as a noun, to refer to women who identify themselves or who are characterized by others as having the primary attribute of female homosexuality, or as an...
rights, victims' rights, prisoners' rights, Native Americans
Native Americans in the United States
Native Americans in the United States are the indigenous peoples in North America within the boundaries of the present-day continental United States, parts of Alaska, and the island state of Hawaii. They are composed of numerous, distinct tribes, states, and ethnic groups, many of which survive as...
' rights and animal rights.
Quotations
"Hitler could have been waited out. He might have been overthrown by his own government. Who knows? To have 50 million people killed: Hitler would have died within 10 years no matter what he did."" Everyone in Texas is illiterate."
"I don't celebrate the 4th of July because there never should have been a war with Britain."
"I dress like a Republican so I can talk like an Anarchist."
"The most important act of peacemaking? Your next one. Few of us will ever be called on to do great things, but all of us can do small things in a great way."
"Wars aren't stopped by fighting wars, any more than you can fight fire with fire. You fight fire with water. You fight violence with nonviolence."
"Peace is the result of love, and if love were easy we'd all be good at it."
"Unless we teach our children peace, someone will teach them violence."
"Too many schools process students as if they are slabs of cheese going to Velveeta
Velveeta
Velveeta is the brand name of a processed cheese product having a taste that is identified as a type of American cheese with a texture that is softer and smoother. It was first made in 1918 by Swiss immigrant Emil Frey of the Monroe Cheese Company in Monroe, New York. In 1923, The Velveeta Cheese...
High on the way to Cheddar
Cheddar cheese
Cheddar cheese is a relatively hard, yellow to off-white, and sometimes sharp-tasting cheese, produced in several countries around the world. It has its origins in the English village of Cheddar in Somerset....
U and Mozzarella
Mozzarella
Mozzarella is an Italian Traditional Speciality Guaranteed food product. The term is used for several kinds of Italian cheeses that are made using spinning and then cutting :...
Grad School."
"You can earn all A's in school and then go out and fail at life."
"What makes us happy is service to others. If schools don't expose students to the joys of community service, we graduate people who are idea rich but experience poor. In these addled times of leave no child untested, we think it's enough to pound ideas into the kids' heads. You can make all A's in school and go out and flunk life."
"It's too easy only to blame the militarists
Militarism
Militarism is defined as: the belief or desire of a government or people that a country should maintain a strong military capability and be prepared to use it aggressively to defend or promote national interests....
, racists
Racism
Racism is the belief that inherent different traits in human racial groups justify discrimination. In the modern English language, the term "racism" is used predominantly as a pejorative epithet. It is applied especially to the practice or advocacy of racial discrimination of a pernicious nature...
, sexists
Sexism
Sexism, also known as gender discrimination or sex discrimination, is the application of the belief or attitude that there are characteristics implicit to one's gender that indirectly affect one's abilities in unrelated areas...
and other pushers of violence for the mess we're in. What is harder is self-examination, moving beyond caring by looking inward to ask the personal question: What more should I be doing everyday to bring about a peace and justice based world, whether across the ocean or across the living room?"
"I'd prefer that my students don't ask questions. Instead, be braver and bolder: question the answers. What answers? Those from anyone who says the answer is violence. Of all the lies, that's the grossest."
"It's better to build a peaceful child than re-build a violent adult."
“Over the years, I’ve had suggestions from other teachers to offer what they call ‘balance’ in my courses, that I should give students ‘the other side.’ I’m never sure exactly what that means. After assigning students to read Gandhi I should have them also read Carl von Clausewitz
Carl von Clausewitz
Carl Philipp Gottfried von Clausewitz was a Prussian soldier and German military theorist who stressed the moral and political aspects of war...
? After Martin Luther King
Martin Luther King, Jr.
Martin Luther King, Jr. was an American clergyman, activist, and prominent leader in the African-American Civil Rights Movement. He is best known for being an iconic figure in the advancement of civil rights in the United States and around the world, using nonviolent methods following the...
’s essay against the Vietnam War
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War was a Cold War-era military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. This war followed the First Indochina War and was fought between North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of...
, Colin Powell
Colin Powell
Colin Luther Powell is an American statesman and a retired four-star general in the United States Army. He was the 65th United States Secretary of State, serving under President George W. Bush from 2001 to 2005. He was the first African American to serve in that position. During his military...
’s memoir favoring the Persian Gulf War
Gulf War
The Persian Gulf War , commonly referred to as simply the Gulf War, was a war waged by a U.N.-authorized coalition force from 34 nations led by the United States, against Iraq in response to Iraq's invasion and annexation of Kuwait.The war is also known under other names, such as the First Gulf...
? After Justice William Brennan
William J. Brennan, Jr.
William Joseph Brennan, Jr. was an American jurist who served as an Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court from 1956 to 1990...
and Thurgood Marshall
Thurgood Marshall
Thurgood Marshall was an Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court, serving from October 1967 until October 1991...
’s views opposing the death penalty, George W. Bush
George W. Bush
George Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 43rd President of the United States, from 2001 to 2009. Before that, he was the 46th Governor of Texas, having served from 1995 to 2000....
and Saddam Hussein
Saddam Hussein
Saddam Hussein Abd al-Majid al-Tikriti was the fifth President of Iraq, serving in this capacity from 16 July 1979 until 9 April 2003...
’s favoring it? After a woman’s account of her using a nonviolent defense against a rapist, the thwarted rapist’s side?”
"Let us commence, if we may."
"Everyone’s a pacifist between wars. It’s like being a vegetarian between meals"
"To oppose ROTC
Reserve Officers' Training Corps
The Reserve Officers' Training Corps is a college-based, officer commissioning program, predominantly in the United States. It is designed as a college elective that focuses on leadership development, problem solving, strategic planning, and professional ethics.The U.S...
, as I have since my college days in the 1960s, when my school enticed too many of my classmates into joining, is not to be anti-soldier. I admire those who join armies, whether America's or the Taliban's: for their discipline, for their loyalty to their buddies and to their principles, for their sacrifices to be away from home. In recent years, I've had several Iraq and Afghanistan combat veterans in my college classes. If only the peace movement were as populated by people of such resolve and daring."
Works by Colman McCarthy
- Disturbers of the Peace: Profiles in Non Adjustment
- Inner Companions
- Pleasures of the Game
- Involvements: One Journalist's Place in the World
- All of One Peace
- I'd Rather Teach Peace
- Strength Through Peace (editor)
- Solutions to Violence (editor)
- At Rest With the Animals
Documentary Film
Colman's son, John, has made a full-length documentary titled Bandit about peaceful anarchy in Colman. The film contains a wide variety of interviews Colman did that centered on his views on pacifismPacifism
Pacifism is the opposition to war and violence. The term "pacifism" was coined by the French peace campaignerÉmile Arnaud and adopted by other peace activists at the tenth Universal Peace Congress inGlasgow in 1901.- Definition :...
and animal rights
Animal rights
Animal rights, also known as animal liberation, is the idea that the most basic interests of non-human animals should be afforded the same consideration as the similar interests of human beings...
. Notable examples are his discussion of Thanksgiving
Thanksgiving
Thanksgiving Day is a holiday celebrated primarily in the United States and Canada. Thanksgiving is celebrated each year on the second Monday of October in Canada and on the fourth Thursday of November in the United States. In Canada, Thanksgiving falls on the same day as Columbus Day in the...
and a debate with Pat Buchanan
Pat Buchanan
Patrick Joseph "Pat" Buchanan is an American paleoconservative political commentator, author, syndicated columnist, politician and broadcaster. Buchanan was a senior adviser to American Presidents Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, and Ronald Reagan, and was an original host on CNN's Crossfire. He sought...
. It premiered at the Avalon Theatre in Washington, D.C.
Articles about Colman McCarthy
- The New York Times Nov. 17, 1986: Washington talk; A Skirmish Involving a Pacifist
- The Washington Post Jan. 13, 1985
- The Washington Post Jan. 12, 1997
- The Washington Post Feb. 26, 2006
- The Wall Street Journal Feb. 25, 1998
- Los Angeles Times Feb. 14, 1994
- USA Today Oct. 16, 2001
- Minneapolis Star Tribune Feb. 9, 1990
- Minneapolis Star Tribune Oct. 4, 1998
- San Diego Tribune March 12, 1988
- The Hartford Courant Oct. 3, 1990
- Greensboro News & Record Jan. 21, 1999
- Rochester Democrat and Chronicle Nov. 22, 2002
- The Progressive Nov. 1986
- The Progressive Jan. 1991
- Teacher Oct. 2003
- Vegetarian Times July 1989
- Washingtonian Feb. 2002
- Editor & Publisher Feb. 8, 1997
- Hope Magazine July/August 2003
See also
- Desmond TutuDesmond TutuDesmond Mpilo Tutu is a South African activist and retired Anglican bishop who rose to worldwide fame during the 1980s as an opponent of apartheid...
- Emily Greene BalchEmily Greene BalchEmily Greene Balch was an American academic, writer, and pacifist who received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1946 , notably for her work with the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom .Born in the Jamaica Plain neighborhood of Boston into an affluent family, she was amongst the first...
- Martin Luther King Jr.
- Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi
- Mother TeresaMother TeresaMother Teresa , born Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu , was a Roman Catholic nun of Albanian ethnicity and Indian citizenship, who founded the Missionaries of Charity in Calcutta, India, in 1950...
- Nelson MandelaNelson MandelaNelson Rolihlahla Mandela served as President of South Africa from 1994 to 1999, and was the first South African president to be elected in a fully representative democratic election. Before his presidency, Mandela was an anti-apartheid activist, and the leader of Umkhonto we Sizwe, the armed wing...
- 14th Dalai Lama14th Dalai LamaThe 14th Dalai Lama is the 14th and current Dalai Lama. Dalai Lamas are the most influential figures in the Gelugpa lineage of Tibetan Buddhism, although the 14th has consolidated control over the other lineages in recent years...