As people of faith and spiritual yearnings, we are called to pray and act for peace and justice. At times, our faiths compel us to speak truth to power.

This is the moment in which we must show the greatest possible resolve in rescuing the fundamental values of respect for life and dignity from those who offer empty promises leading to a downward spiral of militarism and domination. As Martin Luther King, Jr. said, “A time comes when silence is betrayal, and that time has come for us.”

January 19th, 2009

Rebirthing King, Rebirthing America

On Tuesday, January 20, 2009, a new President will be inaugurated and begin to work with a new Congress. The day before, Monday January 19, is Martin Luther King's Birthday. The Olive Branch Interfaith Peace Partnership is leading an effort to make this extraordinary confluence of dates into a moment of transformation.

In Washington on January 19, we will hold a celebratory service and teaching at which Vincent Harding of Iliffe School of Theology, one of Dr. King's closets advisers; Rev. Michael Kinnamon, general secretary of the National Council of Churches; Dr. Sayyid Syeed, general secretary of the Islamic Society of North America; Sammie Moshenberg of the National Council of Jewish Women; Mubarak Awad of nonviolence International; Rev. William G. Sinkford of the Unitarian Universalist Association; and many other leaders of broad religious and political backgrounds are scheduled to speak.

Below we share information about the event in Washington D.C., and resources for organizing an event in your own community. Wherever you are on Martin Luther King Day, we hope you will join us in this celebration of his challenge to us.

 


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