Fred Wilcox presents profiles of members of the Plowshares Movement whose Christianity compels them to acts of civil disobedience against the military industrial complex.
Fred Wilcox's Uncommon Martyrs: The Plowshares Movement and the Catholic Left focuses on acts of civil disobedience committed by Christians at Strategic Air Command bases, missile sites, and submarine bases. Acts such as pouring blood over machines or hammering on the heads of missiles outraged many Americans.
According to Wilcox, author of Waiting for an Army to Die: The Tragedy of Agent Orange, the Catholic members of this movement founded by Philip and Daniel Berrigan are America's political and religious dissidents who deserve the same respect as has been accorded Andrei Sakharov, Lech Walesa, and Vaclav Havel. He profiles the peace activism of the Berrigan brothers, an elderly couple, an advocate for the homeless, and a Vietnam veteran. They have been willing to risk imprisonment for their belief that they have a God-given duty to oppose violence. Uncommon Martyrs challenges Christians to think about the high cost of commitment.