Olive Branch Interfaith Peace Partnership

The need for real dialog, candid debate, and mutual respect among various faith traditions is central to bridging the widening gap between religions at home and aboard. The claim that peace sits at the center of the Abrahamic faiths begins by "walking together" in the quest for justice. For five years, a group of faithful folks have walked together in Philadelphia, PA. On May 18th, they will continue to make the road of hope, peace and justice by walking to a Christian Church, Unitarian gathering place, a mosque, and synagogue. Please join them. For more information go to: www.interfaithpeacewalk.org

Walk together children and don't you get weary.
There is a great camp meeting in the Promised Land
- Negro Spiritual

Join us for Spiritual Activism Training May 23-26

Spend Memorial Day Weekend in DC meeting other spiritual progressives and learning skills and strategies to shift our culture from domination and control to open-heartedness and generosity!

More at: http://www.spiritualprogressives.org/article.php?story=20080227150951162

To see a 4 minute video I did on the Global Marshall Plan, please visit: http://www.youtube.com/nspdavid

On April 9th, 1968, thousands gathered at Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, GA to bid farewell to the American prophet, Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. A teaming sea of folks from every hue and class came to bear witness to the non-violent preacher killed by an assassin's bullet. In our archives at the Fellowship of Reconciliation, we have the membership card of Dr. King.

Yes, Dr. King was a card carrying member of the Fellowship of Reconciliation. FOR supported the work of the civil rights movement. FOR staffer and organizer par excellence Bayard Rustin was dispatched to Montgomery in 1955 to assist in the development of a movement that would combine Gandhian Nonviolence and Black Social Protest. This combination was for Rustin like jazz.

Dear Interfaith Peace Witness supporter,

Thank you for your engagement with last week’s Interfaith Peace Witness – whether in body and/or in spirit! Even as the skies wept upon us, the event as a whole was deeply moving and for many people among the most powerful public demonstrations in which they have ever participated.

Each person seems to have a particular highlight that was important to him or her, such as the workshops, religious services, the prayerful tone of the civil disobedience, meetings with the offices of Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, and the powerful speakers during our rainy and spirit-filled main event. Hearing from those who have "touched the wounds of this war" was compelling for all of us. If you’d like to be reminded of the power of the event, please click here to see some photos.

Of course an event like this costs money. All of our speakers came because they felt called to be with us. We offered no honorariums, but we do need to pay their travel expenses. Most houses of worship shared their space without charge, but there are still rental fees for the stage and sound system at Upper Senate Park. All told, we still need to raise about $10,000 to pay our bills. Will you make a one-time special donation to support this effort? We ask that you give at a level of personal significance. Some will be able to give more, but we hope that each person will give something. Click here to donate online right now!

Below please find a brief report from a member of the Network of Spiritual Progressives about last week's events.

The rally was powerful from beginning to end, with all the speakers and then the prayer circle, first outside and ultimately inside the Hart Senate Building. I've participated in several peace rallies but this was the first one I felt really reached some of the key people that need to hear our pleas, our songs and prayers.

Here are some photos from last Thursday and Friday. Most are by me, but other folks can tag their pictures OBIPP in Flickr to be added to thhis slideshow. You can also browse the images here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/tags/obipp/

Here are some articles about last week's events in DC:

• South Bend Tribune: Local peace witnesses headed to Washington
  
• Examiner.com: Baltimoreans go to D.C. to call for end to Iraq war
  
• Richmond Times-Dispatch: Activists fighting for peace
  
• Tennesseean: Vigil calls for prayers to end war in Iraq

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

PEACE ACTIVISTS WORSHIP, PRAY, GET ARRESTED

Forty-Two Arrested for Civil Disobedience in Hart Senate Office Building

Washington, DC, March 7, 2008 -- More than forty religious leaders and faith-based peace activists were arrested in the Hart Senate Office Building on Capitol Hill late Friday afternoon for their non-violent witness to end the war in Iraq. Hundreds of people assembled earlier in the afternoon for a public demonstration against the U.S. war and occupation of Iraq, and thousands of worshippers gathered at noon Friday for services calling for peace and an end to the war in Iraq.

Following is the final program for the event that will begin shortly in Upper Senate Park, near the U.S.Capitol.

2:15 - Musical call to intention

Sharon Abreu & Mike Hurwicz, One Common Unity/HawaH, Native Deen, and Mary Shapiro

2:30 - Why we are here

Welcoming Invocation - Rev. Dr. Michael Kinnamon

Rabbi Michael Namath
Reverend James Forbes
Asma Mirza
Father Loius Vitale (letter from prison read by Father Joe Nangle)

3:00 - Lifting up our spirits to the work and its success

Leading through prayer and comment - Rev. Diana Gibson and David Hart

Messages from: Dr. Sayyid Syeed, Rev. Bill Sinkford, Rev. Bob Edgar, Sammie Moshenberg, Chris Montone, Anas (Andy) Shallal, Pundit Sharma

3:30 - Parting belssings

Commissioning a delegation - a ritual of bread and lamps

Rabbi Arthur Waskow, Samina Faheem Sundas, Rev. Sam Nixon, Bishop Roy Sano, Rick Ufford-Chase

4:00 - Musical closure and send off

Sharon Abreu & Mike Hurwicz, One Common Unity/HawaH, Native Deen, and Mary Shapiro

This morning I attended a training on nonviolent civil disobedience and got to know a few dozen of the hundreds of other people here for today's Interfaith Peace Witness. It looks like there is a group of about 50 or more who are planning to get arrested this afternoon. I've decided not to join in them in that act, which leaves me all the more impressed with their sacrifice. I will take as many pictures as I can of the action and will post them at http://flickr.com/photos/forpeace

If you want to post your own updates from Washington, DC or your own peace witnesses wherever you are, check out http://olivebranchinterfaith.org/community-updates and follow the instructions there.