From the Worldwide Faith News archives www.wfn.org


March 2 Interfaith Service, San Francisco, Links War, Poverty


From "Nat'l Council of Churches" <nccc_usa@ncccusa.org>
Date Thu, 27 Feb 2003 12:41:19 -0500

National Council of Churches
MEDIA ADVISORY
CONTACT: Simon Aronoff & Lisa Chen, Fenton Communications, 415-901-0111
Carol Fouke, National Council of Churches, 212-870-2252; news@ncccusa.org
On Sunday, call Simon (cell) 415-596-0696, or Parker Blackman (415) 990-4781

Faiths Join Together for Prayer Service at Grace Cathedral Against Unjust
War on Iraq and Americas Poor
Sunday, March 2 Event Occurs on Eve of NCCs Meeting with Russian President
Vladimir Putin

WHAT:	Interfaith prayer service
WHEN:	Sunday, March 2.  Service begins at 3 pm
WHERE:	Grace Cathedral, California St. @ Taylor, San Francisco
WHO:		Jonah Edelman, Executive Director, Stand for Children
Bob Edgar, General Secretary, National Council of Churches
Bishop Beverly Shamana, United Methodist San Francisco Area
Rabbi Stephen Pearce, Congregation Emanu-el
Omar Ahmad, National Board Chair, Council on American-Islamic Relations
Singer-songwriter Stephan Smith will perform anti-war song The Bell

SAN FRANCISCO, CA - The Bush administrations headlong rush to attack Iraq
would be an unjust war made even more egregious by President Bushs plan to
cut programs for children and families struggling with poverty at home,
according to a broad interfaith coalition of national and California-based
faith groups. More than 2,000 people will gather with national and regional
religious leaders from a broad array of faiths, including Muslim, Jewish,
Christian, Buddhist and Hindu, at Grace Cathedral this Sunday, March 2,
2003, for a prayer service calling for peaceful solutions to the conflict
with Iraq that will spare lives and refocus the administrations attention
and resources on the needs of American families at home.

Faith leaders critical of President Bushs foreign policy have turned to
another world power -global public opinion - to draw support for a peaceful
resolution. Sundays service occurs just one day before a National Council
of Churches (NCC) delegation departs for a three-day (March 3 - 5) visit to
Moscow to speak with Russian President Vladimir Putin about the prospect of
war on Iraq. The visit represents the last stop in a series of high-level
meetings that NCC delegations have had with top leaders of the U.N. Security
Council, including Chancellor Schroeder of Germany, Britains Prime Minister
Blair, as well as the Pope. The Bush administration has not yet replied to
the January 30 request for a meeting from 50 U.S. church leaders opposed to
war with Iraq.

Sundays event sponsors include the NCC; Working Assets, the socially
responsible long distance carrier; United Religions Initiative; San
Francisco Interfaith Council; Grace Cathedral, and California Council of
Churches/California Church IMPACT.  This event kicks off the NCC's second
annual "Poverty March," a month-long initiative led by faith communities to
overcome poverty. The nations most comprehensive ecumenical organization,
the NCC brings together 36 communions organized in 140,000 churches with 50
million members.

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