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07143 March 12, 2007
Giving witness in D.C.
Presbyterians and other Christans to rally against Iraq war
by Evan Silverstein
LOUISVILLE - Scores of Christians from around the country, including numerous Presbyterians, are expected to descend on Washington D.C. this week to demand an end to the war in Iraq.
The Christian Peace Witness for Iraq, to be held on Friday (March 16), will include worship, public prayer, and a candlelight vigil outside the White House that could land some demonstrators in jail.
More than 3,500 Protestants and Catholics, including clergy and other church leaders, have already registered for the one-day, nonviolent, anti-war witness. The event will begin with an ecumenical worship service at the Washington National Cathedral at 7 p.m.
The witness is partly the brainchild of Rick Ufford-Chase, executive director of the Presbyterian Peace Fellowship (PPF) and moderator of the 216th General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) in 2004.
The event is planned to coincide with the fourth anniversary of the United States-led invasion of Iraq, which was launched on March 20, 2003.
"We are trying to move Presbyterians to take definitive action to end the war," said Ufford-Chase, who is also convener of the national steering committee planning the witness. "Christians follow a God who insists that we always look for a way to love our enemy and build right relationships with one another."
Scheduled speakers at the National Cathedral will include the Rev. Jim Wallis, an activist, author and founder of Sojourners/Call to Renewal, a Washington-based progressive Christian network; and Celeste Zappala, a United Methodist peace activist whose 30-year-old foster son, Sgt. Sherwood Baker, was killed in Iraq in April 2004.
Also addressing the group will be Bernice Powell Jackson, president of the North American Conference of the World Council of Churches, and the Rev. Raphael Warnock, pastor of Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, GA.
Following worship, participants will march down Massachusetts Avenue in a peaceful candlelight procession about three miles to Lafayette Park, located directly across Pennsylvania Avenue from the White House.
Speakers, music and prayer will highlight a late-night, possibly all-night, witness and vigil there.
Some turning out could face possible arrest by participating in a candlelight vigil in front of the White House, where protesters are expected to chant prayers and sing church hymns while calling on President Bush and Congress for a clear plan to end the war in Iraq.
Ufford-Chase said 700 of the 3,500 people registered for the witness have indicated that they will take part in the "act of civil disobideance" at the White House.
"They will express their conviction that the teachings of Jesus call unequivocally for an end to the war," said Ufford-Chase, who also plans to face arrest by participating in the nonviolent action.
In support of the Washington D.C. witness, additional Christian and interfaith peace vigils opposing the war are set to take place in cities across the nation on March 16, complete with acts of civil disobedience, Ufford-Chase said.
The idea for the Christian witness spawned from recent discussions that Ufford-Chase had with four Presbyterian ministers who were arrested along with him while protesting the Iraq war in Washington D.C. last September.
"We wondered what we might do to invite other Presbyterians to take similar action," Ufford-Chase said.
He and the others brought together a range of peace fellowship groups with ties to mainline Catholic and Protestant denominations, such as the PPF, and other faith-based organizations to plan the witness.
The groups include the American Friends Service Committee; the Baptist Peace Fellowship of North America; the Catholic Peace Fellowship; Christian Alliance for Progress; the Disciples Peace Fellowship; and the Episcopal Peace Fellowship.
Workshops and nonviolent action training for civil disobedience participants will also be offered earlier in the day.
In addition to ending the war in Iraq, the Christian peace witness will implore President Bush and lawmakers to provide adequate financial support to veterans and active-duty soldiers and their families, a plan for rebuilding Iraq, and humanitarian aid for Iraqi families.
Also that the United States government treat all enemy combatants humanely and take decisive action to ensure that the use of torture against suspects is strictly banned, and for creation of a federal budget that puts priority on meeting basic human needs.
Other organizations backing the witness include the Maryknoll Office for Global Concerns; the Mennonite Church USA Peace and Justice Support Network; the Lutheran Peace Fellowship; and the United Church of Christ (Justice and Witness Ministries).
Visit the Web site for more information about the witness or to register for the event.
Editor's note: Eva Stimson, editor of Presbyterians Today magazine, will cover the worship and vigil on Friday and the Presbyterian gathering on Saturday. - Jerry L. Van Marter
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