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Interfaith Iftar Dinner
The month of Ramadan is sacred for Muslims because their holy book, the Qur'an, was revealed in this month. The Iftar is a meal served every evening during Ramadan at sunset, breaking the daily fast. American Muslim Voice Foundation cordially invites the community to join them in this annual Interfaith Iftar. It will be an informative evening about the month of Ramadan and why Muslims around the globe fast during this month. You will also enjoy a delicious complimentary dinner. Please use this Eventbrite link to reserve a spot!
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Israeli-Palestinian Joint Memorial Day Ceremony
Join the largest Israeli-Palestinian peace event in history! The Joint Israeli-Palestinian Memorial Day Ceremony is hosted by Combatants for Peace and The Parents Circle–Families Forum, and we are proud that Multifaith Voices for Peace & Justice is an official sponsor again this year. The Ceremony takes place every year on the eve of Yom Hazikaron (Israeli Memorial Day). In Israeli mainstream culture, the ceremonies that are most often held to honor this day serve to reinforce cultural narratives of pain, victimhood, and hopelessness. Our Joint Memorial transforms this narrative by bringing Palestinians to the Memorial alongside Israelis. Joining together to mourn each other’s pain, we aim to challenge the status quo and set the foundation for a new reality based on mutual respect, dignity, and equality for all. CLICK HERE TO LEARN MORE ABOUT THE CEREMONY.
WE ACKNOWLEDGE each other’s humanity and every human’s right to security and freedom. WE ACKNOWLEDGE the oppressive system that fuels injustice, violence, and trauma. WE ACKNOWLEDGE our personal suffering, the suffering of our neighbors, and our part in this pain. WE ACKNOWLEDGE our shared vision of a land where the inherent dignity and equality of all is fully realized. WE ACKNOWLEDGE our power to transform, collectively heal, and unite to end the occupation.
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Make Nuclear Disarmament a Priority!ACTION ALERT: Sign a letter to Congress for Nuclear Disarmament!  MVPJ has been working for many years to support nuclear disarmament, a principle of peace and justice shared by all of our faith traditions. A new bill in Congress can move us another step forward! Sign a letter to Congress today, urging your Representative to become a co-sponsor of this bill! H. RES. 77 – “Embracing the goals and provisions of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons” – was introduced last month by Rep. Jim McGovern (D-MA). The bill calls on the Biden Administration to … • Make nuclear disarmament the centerpiece of the national security policy of the United States • Renounce the option of using nuclear weapons first • End the President’s sole authority to launch a nuclear attack • Take the nuclear weapons of the United States off hair-trigger alert • Cancel the plan to replace the nuclear arsenal of the United States with modernized, enhanced weapons.
Urge your Representative to become a co-sponsor of H.Res. 77 today! Click here to sign a letter to our local Representatives. (Many thanks to Peninsula Peace & Justice for setting up this easy way to express our support!) read more
Peaceful Presence Gatherings on 11th of Every Month
As we move through various COVID safety concerns, Peaceful Presence will sometimes be offered in-person, sometimes by Zoom, and sometimes hybrid (with both options - to join in person or via Zoom). Watch for updates!
Multifaith Voices for Peace and Justice coordinates “Peaceful Presence” gatherings, a monthly prayer service on the evening of the 11th of each month, offering a time of quiet multifaith prayers for peace and strength for the journey. All are welcome: those of all faith traditions and of no defined faith, those who are suffering at the hands of their own government, those who need a pause in the midst of intensive work on behalf of others, and all who would like to pray with others for the well-being of all. The prayer time will include elements from several religious traditions.
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Call for Nuclear Arms Control! TELL CONGRESS & THE PRESIDENT: Nuclear Weapons Must Never Be Used!
NEW RESOURCE: Read this 1/17/23 article by Frida Berrigan, "How to Avoid Nuclear Standoffs that Threaten the Entire World." While Berrigan does not avoid the dire consequences of any use of nuclear weapons, in her history and vision she offers hope. History: "Small, decentralized, broad-based activities added up to the survival of the species. ... It is not hyperbole to assert that these actions drove Reagan and Gorbachev to the negotiating table." Vision: "Anyone who cares about the future of life on this planet can be an antinuclear activist. ...
Russian President Vladimir Putin's threats to use nuclear weapons in the war against Ukraine are horrifying. While the threats deserve condemnation, more importantly, they require a steady response of de-escalation that pulls us back from the threat of nuclear warfare. TELL CONGRESS THAT MORE DIPLOMACY IS THE BEST WAY TO PROTECT HUMAN LIVES AND OUR ENVIRONMENT! WRITE: Join the Friends Committee on National Legislation (Quakers) letter campaign TODAY by clicking here! Easy pre-scripted letters to send to your Senators and Congressmember, or you can edit to personalize them before sending. As the Friends Committee on National Legislation reminds us: "Dialogue with Russia is not capitulation or appeasement. It is, in fact, the only sane response to the threat of nuclear brinksmanship. Congress has a moral responsibility to de-escalate tensions and prevent the use of nuclear weapons to preserve the environment and all humanity. In the face of nuclear threats, the world must work together deter disaster."
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Multifaith Letter to Pres Biden re Nuclear Danger
The multifaith letter states, in part: We affirm the view previously expressed by religious authorities that nuclear weapons are inherently immoral because of their horrific and indiscriminate effects on civilians and on the environment. and concludes: Mr. President, for the sake of the entire human family, we urge you to press for the resumption of arms control negotiations without further delay. Click here to download and read the entire letter. read more
Interfaith Statement to Meeting for Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons
"As faith communities from a diversity of traditions and located all over the world, we join together with one voice to mark this first Meeting of the States Parties to the Treaty on the Prohbition of Nuclear Weapons. We welcome this historic occasion and celebrate this milestone that moves us closer to a world without nuclear weapons." Multifaith Voices for Peace & Justice is honored to be an endorser of this statement along with religious communities of many traditions and from around the world. Click here to download statement and full list of endorsers. The Statement was read aloud at the opening of the Meeting. read more
ACT to End Gun Violence
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I LOVE Ukraine: An Interfaith Grassroots Campaign of Protest & Support
JOIN THE CAMPAIGN! SEND A MESSAGE TODAY! With the horrific and brutal assault on Ukraine unfolding, I love Ukraine is an initiative for good people of all ages everywhere to stand up and to speak out against this unspeakable inhumanity. Governments have spoken. Now it is time for individuals to add their voices.
We invite you to send an expression of protest to the Russian government and a message of support for Ukrainian children and citizens by email, regular mail, and social media. We hope that Expressions of Protest will flood the Russian Embassy with messages of protest. Join us in this global effort to demand an end to the brutal Russian assault. Sample messages and instructions are below. We hope that Expressions of Support will fill the inboxes and mailboxes of the Ukrainian Embassy and Consulates with messages of love. Sample messages and instructions are below. With the guidance of teachers and parents, children are especially encouraged to write their messages and to draw pictures for Ukrainian children who have been forced to flee or remain in harm’s way. Multifaith Voices for Peace and Justice is proud to join in this campaign with the Board of Rabbis for Northern California, other faith partners and people of goodwill around the world! See details and suggestions below. read more
Breaking the Silence: Remembering the Words of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
On April 4, 1967, Rev Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., at the Riverside Church in New York City, spoke out powerfully against the Vietnam War, and much else the plagues our country. His words, "A time comes when silence in betrayal, and that time has come for us," is the foundation for the mission of Multifaith Voices for Peace and Justice. King's historic speech still calls to us today to urgent action to eradicate racism, militarism and poverty. CLICK HERE for a youtube recording of a LOCAL READING OF KING'S SPEECH featuring peninsula and south bay faith and community leaders. Readers associated with MVPJ include Rev. Dean Koyama, Rabbi Sheldon Lewis, Rev. Dr. Debra Murray, Rabbi Amy Eilberg, Rev. Dr. Diana Gibson, and two members of Palo Alto Friends Meeting, Andrea Harman and Robin Severns. Multifaith Voices for Peace & Justice joined with the Women's International League for Peace & Freedom (San Jose and Peninsula Chapters), PACT, SiVIC, Peninsula Peace & Justice Center, San Jose Peace & Justice Center and others to produce this local reading of King's speech as part of the California Poor People's Campaign in preparation for the Poor People's Campaign visit to Los Angeles later this Spring. “A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift read more
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Events
Tuesday 11-Apr
Sunday 16-Apr Monday 24-Apr Thursday 11-May
Quote of the Month
“We ought to be willing to work for causes which will not be won now, but cannot be won in the future unless the goals are staked out now and worked energetically over a period of time. " …E. Raymond Wilson, Friends Committee on National Legislation's first executive secretary
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Interfaith Iftar Dinner
The Israeli-Palestinian Joint Memorial Day Ceremony
Monthly Multifaith Prayers for Peace and Justice
As people of faith, we must speak out! Nuclear weapons must never be used!
In response to the increasing risk of a nuclear disaster, Multifaith Voices for Peace & Justice's Steering Committee has endorsed a letter to President Biden with an urgent call for the resumption of arms control negotiation. The letter was issued on September 22 by some 29 distinguished and diverse faith leaders in the New York and Washington metropolitan areas. We join with them in imploring President Biden to, for the sake of our whole human family, make the resumption of arms control negotiation his highest priority.
Joint Interfaith Statement Welcoming the First Meeting of the States Parties to the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (June 22 2022)
SPEAK - PRAY - ACT to End Gun Violence 
I LOVE Ukraine: 
Breaking the Silence: An Intergenerational for Unity and Action