No God, no Mantra? You'd flunk Army's 'spiritual fitness' test

Excerpted from article in USA TODAY, Jan 13, 2011

You don't pray or meditate. You're among the "Nones" -- folks who claim no religion, and maybe you shrug off spirituality, too.

So you might flunk the five spiritual questions on the U.S. Army's current well-being assessment survey for soldiers. Already, one church-state watchdog, Michael "Mikey" Weinstein is having a constitutional fit over their inclusion in a battery of questions to measure a soldier's resilience. Is he or she fit to fight for inner peace?

One self-described "Foxhole Atheist", Justin Griffith, a sergeant at Fort Bragg, N.C., checked out 100% un-spiritual. When he submitted the computerized survey, the auto-response came back:

generationOn, our Child Welfare beneficiary for Q1, partnered with the PS 57 James Weldon Johnson School in East Harlem on Martin Luther King Day to engage youth and family volunteers in a day of service that bridges social, economic and cultural differences and illuminates the actions that all people can take to help create King’s "beloved community."

Over 500 youth and family volunteers attended the event at PS 57, including New York City Schools Chancellor Cathie Black, who spoke to the young volunteers about the importance of helping others and giving back.

Over 21 project and activity stations were set up throughout the school with 39 nonprofit partners participating as volunteer leaders. More than 26,000 items were created and donated back to the community.

With service learning and volunteer action at its core, generationOn is a global youth service movement mobilizing children to solve real world problems through community service. 

Learn more about generationOn

Pictured: NP field team in Mundri, Sudan

After a Comprehensive Peace Agreement ended Sudan's generation-long North-South civil war in 2005, citizens remained polarized along political and tribal lines.  Resource shortages and human displacement have long contributed to conflict throughout the region, and arms are abundant. As a January 2011 referendum on southern independence approached, the governments of Sudan and semi-autonomous South Sudan maneuvered for partisan advantage.

For two years prior to the referendum in South Sudan, FBB's current Peace beneficiary Nonviolent Peaceforce worked with local partners to build Sudanese-led violence prevention teams. These teams act as adjuncts to traditional dispute settlement and peacebuilding activities in districts where the risk of election-related violence is especially high.

In addition to providing a proactive presence and protective accompaniment for vulnerable civilians, trained civilian peacekeepers from Nonviolent Peaceforce work with local groups to foster dialogue among parties in conflict. 

Approaching the referendum

While it had been clear for a long time that the south of Sudan would vote overwhelmingly for secession, mixed messages had been coming from the Khartoum-based northern government of Omar Hassan al-Bashir. On December 19, al-Bashir announced that, in the event of southern secession, the north would adopt an Islamic constitution, adding that “at that time there will be no time to speak of diversity of culture and ethnicity.”