What’s your vision of the U.S. role in the world? Should the United States invest most of its time and treasure in a bigger military and higher walls around our borders, or focus on greater cooperation with other nations to address our common concerns?
Military power and isolation may offer some protection for people within our national borders for a short period of time, but this protection comes with serious long-term costs to our country and world.
The Friends Committee on National Legislation and American Friends Service Committee have started a conversation about a new vision for U.S. foreign policy grounded in our shared security as global community. The Shared Security document and accompanying study guide are a beginning point to the conversation, which continues on this blog and in the comments sections of each post.
We welcome comments made in the spirit of civility, courtesy, and respect. Comments that violate those principles are subject to removal.
Shared Security 
I resonate with the overall approach of this report, especially the concept of “shared security,” but I feel it lacks adequate documentation for many of its assertions and also lacks a religious perspective referencing our sacred texts and Quaker traditions. It placed a lot of emphasis on the “Arab spring” and Occupy–movements that have not yet produced much by way of constructive change00while it ignored the amazing work of the women of Liberia, who used prayer and nonviolent resistance extremely effectively. They received a Nobel Prize for their work, yet they are largely ignored by the mainstream media and now by the Quakers. I find this very disappointing and disturbing and recommend that you watch “Pray the Devil Back to Hell,” one of the most inspiring films on nonviolent resistance I have ever seen. I applaud efforts by the FCL to provide a biblical and religious basis for their lobbying work. I hope that the AFSC will do likewise so that you can reach out to the vast majority of Quakers who are Christian, as well as to many in the mainstream religious community. Laura Magnani’s book “Beyond Prisons” is a good example of how the AFSC could provide an interfaith perspective on its work.