"We are badly off course in efforts to honor the plea of the hibakusha -- the survivors of the 1945 atomic bombings -- and end the nuclear threat." -Kazumi Matsui, Mayor of Hiroshima

As people from diverse faiths, we have all been taught the intrinsic value of each human life, and the preciousness of all creation. And so it is we are all called - compelled - to speak out against the horrific destruction and death caused by nuclear weapons. We cannot ignore the stories of suffering and loss wrought upon our siblings in Japan 75 years ago, and we must do all within our power to end the threat of nuclear weapons.

See our August web calendar for a multitude of opportunities from August 2-9 to hear the voices of survivors, to pray for peace and the transformation of hearts and minds that allow us to continue to even contemplate such devastation, to discuss actions that will help lead our government and our world back on track for nuclear disarmament.

MVPJ is honored to join 189 faith-based communities around the world in endorsing this Joint Interfaith Statement on the 75th Anniversary of the Atomic Bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

Read a survivor's call for for a world without nuclear weapons.  Michiko Kodama, who was seven years old living in Hiroshima on August 6, 1945, wrote this account of the day and how it has affected her and her family since. Thank you to the American Friends Service Committee for posting her 2015 story, "Weapons of the Devil."