Presbyterian Peace Fellowship’s
2009 Peaceseeker Award
Presented to Bill Galvin
for a Ministry of Conscience
In the mid-sixties, William P. Thompson, Stated Clerk of the United Presbyterian Church, USA spent time in front of the White House with other people of faith maintaining a vigil for peace in Vietnam. The Presbyterian Peace Fellowship wanted to commemorate that activity, and honor the leader (essentially the CEO) of the church for making the time in his busy schedule to join in this witness for peace.
The first Peaceseeker Award was presented to Thompson in 1966. Every year since then, the Presbyterian Peace Fellowship has presented this award to Presbyterians who have done something significant for peace. It is usually given to people, but on 3 occasions it has been awarded to a church, and on one occasion it was awarded to a college.
The award has been given to a wide variety of people who have taken risks and/or worked tirelessly for peace. Of particular interest to supporters of CCW: Among previous recipients of the award is Bill Yolton, who received the award while he was Director of NISBCO. (He was honored for his work in support of COs.) Also Presbyterian Conscientious Objectors of World War II have been honored with this award. William Lovell, one of the Union 8 (seminary students who went to jail in 1940 for refusing to cooperate with the Selective Service registration) accepted the award on behalf of the WWII COs. Lovell later became a Presbyterian minister and leader in the Presbyterian Church.
In 2009 the award is being presented to Bill Galvin, CCW’s Counseling Coordinator, for his decades of work supporting conscientious objectors.
The following is quoted from an article in Briefly, the Newsletter of the Presbyterian Peace Fellowship:
A graduate of Warren Wilson College and Princeton Seminary and a Viet Nam era Conscientious Objector, Bill Galvin has worked to defend and extend the right to conscientious objection to war for nearly 40 years. He serves as Counseling Coordinator for the Center on Conscience & War in Washington DC, overseeing a national program of counselors, the GI Rights Hotline and other efforts to support men and women in the armed services who come to believe that war is contrary to their faith and values. Previously he worked for 14 years at the Central Committee for Conscientious Objectors. Since the U.S. invasion of Iraq, this work has taken Bill onto the front lines of defense for enlisted persons and officers who have found the inner strength to say that war is wrong. A father of two young adults, Bill is an ordained elder, a member of Hope Presbyterian Church in Baltimore, MD and is also active in Baltimore Presbytery. When not standing up for conscience, he can be found riding on a roller-coaster. Briefly talks with Bill Galvin about the ministry of conscience.
How did conscientious objection to war come into your life?
A solid foundation from my church upbringing shaped my values, but what really was life-changing in my beliefs was going to Warren Wilson College. Back then, Warren Wilson was a Presbyterian mission-related college and many of the students were from overseas. My best friends were from the Dominican Republic, Japan, Viet Nam and Cuba. My roommate was from Nigeria. It changes you to be in a community like that. You begin to understand that you are part of a world-wide community.
Then I went to Princeton Seminary and I was in culture shock! In that affluent environment, I felt like a fish out of water and began to question my call to ministry. I became trained as a draft counselor. Eventually I did find others at Princeton who had concerns about war and I became involved with the Princeton Solidarity Committee for the Berrigans and others who were engaging in civil disobedience to protest the Viet Nam War. While serving as an intern in a Newark church, I joined with four others to become “The York Five” and pled guilty to the crime of pouring cement on train tracks to stop the transport of anti-personnel bombs for Viet Nam.
What exactly are “anti-personnel bombs"?
Anti-personnel bombs contained little weapons that dropped out of the casing and spread all over the ground, causing small explosions that were designed to blow off body limbs. They were a strategy to de-moralize the people by having so many injured amputees in Viet Nam. Today these weapons are illegal under the Geneva Convention, but they are still in use. The little “bomblets” that the U.S. is using in Afghanistan look a lot like the ones we used in Viet Nam and they do the same thing: not strong enough to destroy a tank, the primary target is to maim individuals.
What happened next?
Just as I was going back to finish my senior year in seminary, I received a letter from Bill Yolton, inviting me to become an intern in the Presbyterian General Assembly Office for “An Emergency Ministry on Conscience and War.” Dean Lewis was director of Church and Society. I got to know Howard Maxwell. Bill Yolton and I just clicked. He is an amazing guy—knowledgeable, genuine, caring and with a tremendous work ethic. He has taught me a lot of what I know. After stretching that internship into three years, I went back and finished seminary and then worked in another inner-city church. But I soon realized that conscientious objection was my real calling, so I began work at the Central Committee for Conscientious Objectors in Philadelphia and have been working on conscientious objection ever since.
Over those years, what have you learned about conscience?
Originally my definition of conscientious objection was the same as current U.S. law, which requires a complete rejection of all war; Americans can’t currently object to a particular war. However, I have learned that conscience is much bigger than U.S. law says it is. Everyone has a conscience and everyone draws the line somewhere. Our culture wants to define conscientious objection as rare, as extremists—like the Amish. But that’s the wrong way to think about conscientious objection to war. In fact, most people have an aversion or objection to killing people. We need to see conscientious objection as the norm—and support for atrocities and illegal wars as the extreme. The church has been far too silent on this. We need to have more discussion in churches about whether it’s possible to take Jesus seriously and still support war. And, of course, there are many ways that all of us support war. It’s not just people in the military. But if you are in the military and are struggling about what you are asked to do in war, there is help available. Contact the Center on Conscience & War or the GI Rights Hotline at 800-379-2679 for free confidential help from trained civilian counselors.
Why roller-coasters?
They are fun! My father loved roller-coasters and they bring back memories of family trips to amusement parks. As a child, I would dream about roller-coasters and I tried to build roller-coasters with my toy trains. One of the reasons that we work for justice and peace is to create a world where people can enjoy life. And for many of us, roller coasters are an important part of enjoying life.
Bill Galvin with other members of the Presbyterian Peace Fellowship (PPF) at PPF's
breakfast at the Annual Vigil to Close the School of the Americas. From left to
right: Milton Mejia, former head of the Presbyterian Church in Colombia; his
wife and fellow minister Adelaida Jimenez (both fled Colombia after threats to
their lives); Jorge Montes-Clausen; and his wife LeAnn Clausen de Montes.
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