A Persistent Voice: Marian Franz and Conscientious Objection to Military Taxation. Edited by Tim Godshall, Steve Ratzlaff, & David R. Bassett. Cascadia Publishing House, with Peace Tax Foundation and Herald Press (2009), 211 pages. <http://www.cascadiapublishinghouse.com/apv/apv.htm>

In today's mail is the October, 2009 issue of More than a paycheck: News from the War Tax Resistance Movement--evidence that the movement led so well by Marian Franz for 23 years is alive and well. Newsletter editor Ruth Benn announces a War Tax Resisters Counselor's training for November in Cleveland. (nwtrecc@nwtrcc.org or call 1-800-269-7464) Marian would be pleased. Her work continues. (National War Tax Resistance Coordinating Committee is a companion organization to the National Campaign for a Peace Tax Fund.)

The book is in two parts. First, Godshall, Ratzlaff, and Bassett have gathered six (6- to 10-page) essays by historic peace church leaders. Ruth Benn (see above) says, "There are people who live below a taxable income so as to not pay for war. There are people who live outside the system, earning money off the books and adjusting their lives so as not to get pulled into a process that supports war. There are people who file and openly refuse to pay, risking Internal Revenue Service seizures of money and property. Many have had houses and cars taken and bank accounts wiped out, but they continue to refuse to pay for war voluntarily. These people are the arguments for the Religious Freedom Peace Tax Fund Bill" (page 38).

For the second part of this book, the editors chose 47 (out of a possible 70) columns that Marian Franz wrote for Peace Tax Fund literature. These so-accessible (mostly) two-pagers will strike you as uncannily current, even though first published from 1982 to 2005. They are eminently quotable in our current conversation about "paying for war while we pray for peace." For example, in "Where were you when I needed you?" Marian describes the agonized and pressured and conflicted life of a former Congressman whose vote against the Vietnam War would have been political suicide. He told a small group of peace tax fund folks, "You should have hung in there with me.... You should have urged me to live up to my own highest good."

(As we "speak" the U.S. Government is determining next steps in our war in Afghanistan.)

I dutifully read the six essays, all of them cogent and valuable, but could hardly wait to arrive at Marian's own words. Her joy pervades. At the 2005 war tax resistance strategy conference, "You all can go to whatever mission fields you want; give me the United States Congress!" In "Enemies: Foes today can be friends tomorrow" (1985), Marian tells about the German prisoners of war who were assigned to her parents' Central Kansas farm in the 1940s. After meals (where Marian's mother insisted--in perfect High German--that the prisoners eat at the table with the family) the group gathered around the piano to sing hymns and folksongs in English and German. Child-Marian came to understand that the real enemy is war-not people. These short essays are holy ground.

Marian also teaches. On pages 49 and 50 she explains the difference between the Human Rights Commission and the Commission on Human Rights. On page 127 she revisits Lt. Col. David Grossman's research on violence in United States culture: we are making killing seem normal. In the summer of 2000, she summarized the war tax resistance movements in 18 countries. She recalls the August 20, 1945 issue of Life magazine, picturing with horror and shock the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Here the unifying thread is: Lest we lose our conscience. She eloquently concludes: "Our own consciences--once tender and compelling--can without proper nurturing dissipate into a thin serum which, failing to fever us, actually inoculates us against the jolt of passion and compassion.... Conscience and humility are linked. Conscience dulled can decompose into a brittle self-righteousness" (page 88).

The Movement has become inter-faith and ecumenical. "The United Methodist Church," says Jaydee Hanson, UM General Board of Church and Society, "would not have a policy on the Peace Tax Fund if it were not for Marian's persistence."

I would have welcomed an index, and hope that succeeding editions will include one, making an important book yet more useful.

Muriel T. Stackley lives in Kansas City, KS. She is the author of a forthcoming chapbook (Wordsworth, 2009) titled War is a god that demands human sacrifice.