What is the link between anxiety about death and Russian President Vladimir Putin's decision to invade Ukraine? A Seattle-based organization is hosting a webinar Friday to discuss the connection.

The Ernest Becker Foundation seeks to advance understanding of its namesake's Pulitzer Prize-winning book "The Denial of Death." Friday's webinar starts at 10 a.m.

Sheldon Solomon, professor of psychology at Skidmore College and a panelist for the webinar, said Becker's ideas about terror-management theory put forth that humans manage their fear of death by embracing cultural worldviews to give life meaning.

Solomon explained it convinces us we are eligible for immortality, sometimes literally with ideas of heaven or afterlives.

"Or symbolically, just the idea that you may not be here forever, but some indication of your existence will persist nonetheless," Solomon remarked. "Maybe by having kids or amassing a great fortune or being part of a great state or nation."

Solomon argued whether we are aware of it or not, we are highly motivated to maintain faith in our cultural beliefs since they give value to our lives as individuals, and will respond defensively and reflexively when our cultural beliefs or self-esteem is threatened.

Enter Vladimir Putin. Solomon noted Putin has been motivated since his days as a KGB agent when the Soviet Union collapsed, to bring back the golden age of the U.S.S.R., thus giving him a path toward symbolic immortality.

He emphasized Putin is an example of a toxic leader who might experience overwhelming waves of death anxiety.

"The superficial veneer of self-confidence is really a mask for massive insecurity," Solomon contended. "A sense of always possibly being humiliated that in turn fosters, whether he's aware of it or not, a constant sense of self-loathing."

Michael McPhearson, executive director of South Seattle Emerald, is hosting the webinar. He is also a Gulf War veteran and member of Veterans for Peace.

"Death anxiety goes a long way at least in helping provide some understanding of why we put up with this terrible thing that we call war," McPhearson stated.

Solomon believes the pandemic has been a pervasive reminder of our mortality and could be fueling the rise of authoritarianism around the globe, as people cling tighter to their beliefs. But he added a better understanding of death anxiety could play a role in ratcheting down these forces.

"One way -- and it may be the only way -- that we can overcome those very destructive tendencies is to go to great lengths to remind ourselves that as human beings, we have a whole lot more in common than we are different," Solomon concluded.

As global conflicts and natural disasters escalate, groups like the Nonviolent Peaceforce, which works to protect civilians in conflict zones, faces severe funding challenges. The Trump administration's cancellation of nearly 90% of funding for USAID programs has sent shockwaves through the humanitarian sector.

The funding cuts also reverberate in the Sunshine State, home to more than 120 registered international relief organizations - among the highest concentrations in the country - including Miami-based World Relief and Coconut Creek's Food for the Poor.

The group Nonviolent Peaceforce said its Myanmar program is among the casualties.

Megan Rodgers, U.S. policy and advocacy manager for Nonviolent Peaceforce, said the timing couldn't be worse, as Myanmar grapples with the aftermath of devastating earthquakes.

"The stop-work order from the Trump administration in January, followed by cancellation of nearly 90% of all USAID programs, has definitely hit the sector really significantly. At a time when humanitarian needs have really never been higher, the funding available for those needs is really significantly contracting," she contended.

Despite partial 2025 funding restored after January's initial cuts, Nonviolent Peaceforce said critical gaps remain - from wars in Gaza, Sudan and Ukraine to climate-driven disasters displacing millions. Rogers added they are now racing to protect 2026 budgets through the House subcommittee overseeing foreign aid, chaired by Florida Republican Mario Diaz-Balart.

Rodgers warned that merging USAID with the State Department, as proposed in a Trump administration memo, could slow critical aid responses. But she pointed to hope in South Sudan, where women from rival communities work together to protect children from violence.

"So, that's an example of community organizing that has actually protected a lot of children from abduction, from violence. Because women are stepping up and saying that they don't want to be part of this violence and they want to protect themselves from it - so, stepping away from that cyclical process of violence," she continued.

As congressional budget negotiations unfold, peacekeeping groups stress that the stakes extend far beyond politics - and that millions of lives hang in the balance.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has ties with a controversial church based in Idaho and critics said the church's Christian nationalist views could guide his role in the Trump administration.

Hegseth is part of a church in Tennessee associated with the Communion of Reformed Evangelical Churches, founded by Doug Wilson in Moscow, Idaho, in the 1970s. The church holds extreme beliefs, including that the United States should follow biblical law.

Julie Ingersoll, professor of religious studies at the University of North Florida, has studied Christian Reconstructionists like Wilson. She said Hegseth's church is not like a megachurch in which you walk in and think of yourself as a member.

"That's just not how this kind of a church system works," Ingersoll explained. "In order to join, you have to attest to believing the same things and in order to remain a member you have to continue to believe those things."

Ingersoll added membership is strict and if people's beliefs change, they can be brought before the church courts on heresy charges. Wilson began his movement in part because he found a lack of sufficient Christian school options for his daughter. Hegseth has expressed similar views for his children.

The Communion of Reformed Evangelical Churches has congregations in almost every state and holds other extreme views, such as criminalization of people in the LGBTQ+ community. They are also deeply patriarchal, which Ingersoll noted is a label the church itself uses, with some arguing women should not have the right to vote.

Ingersoll pointed out Hegseth backtracked during his confirmation hearing on whether women should serve in the military.

"He kind of switched it in a soft way to not believing that women should be in combat," Ingersoll recounted. "That gives a flexibility to allow people to hear what he's saying and go, 'Oh, yeah. Maybe that's not a terrible thing.'"

In 2020, Hegseth published a book which mischaracterized the Islamic faith and positioned Muslims as historic enemies of the West. Ingersoll stressed the belief also flows from the church to which he belongs.

"For him, Islam and all other world religions and all other ideological systems, all isms, flow out of original sin in the Garden of Eden because they're all based in this idea that humans can reason apart from God," Ingersoll explained.


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Gov. Mike DeWine's recently released biennial budget keeps funding for domestic violence services at $20 million, maintaining the same level as the previous budget cycle.

Lisa DeGeeter, senior director for policy and prevention for the Ohio Domestic Violence Network, said while it prevents cuts, it falls short of addressing the growing demands they have seen over the past three years for crisis services.

"If five people showed up at the door, there was space for four and one was turned away," DeGeeter pointed out. "Two years ago, that number became one in three. Last year, it was nearly one out of every two. It was about 45% were turned away."

The Ohio Domestic Violence Network requested double the current funding to keep up with rising demand. While the level funding avoids cuts, federal reductions could mean fewer available services. She stressed shelters and crisis programs are already struggling to meet the need.

Some Ohio cities are adopting new approaches to combat domestic violence. Cleveland, for example, has implemented a fatality review and lethality risk-assessment program aimed at preventing homicides.

"If the offender has access to a weapon, if they've made threats, histories of mental health issues, there are things that law enforcement officers can screen for," DeGeeter noted. "Targeting those kinds of things so that additional services can get out to folks who are at greater risk."

DeGeeter added advocates plan to ask for the level funding to remain as the state Legislature reviews the budget. They argued without sufficient resources, more survivors may be left without the support they need to escape dangerous situations.