The Soviet Union is gone. The nuclear weapons aren't. Some say that reducing our nuclear arsenal is too risky. But how risky is the status quo? The answer is - nobody knows! Congress can call for a scientific assessment. Ask them to do it. Ask them today!

Many spiritual communities are hosting memorial events to mark this day. Below is a listing of a few local programs. Resources from diverse faith perspectives are posted at the end of this article.

From Fear to Friendship: To honor 9/11 victims, their families and first responders
Sunday, September 11, 4:30-8:30pm
Muslim Community Association, 3003 Scott Blvd., Santa Clara, 95054 
The program will include dinner and discussion, children's event and candle-lighting.  Speakers include the Rev. James Lawson, Imam Alaeddin Elbakri, Supervisor Dave Cortese, and others.  Presented by American Muslim Voice, Muslim Community Association, and the Northern California Islamic Council.  Free.  RSVP required to info@norcalcouncil.org.  Multifaith Voices for Peace & Justice is pleased to be a cosponsor.  Click here for more information.

9/11: Mark the Moment and Make a Promise for Peace
Sunday, September 11, 5pm
Chapel of Trinity Episcopal Church, 330 Ravenswood Ave., Menlo Park
Everyone of every age is invited to this simple service of remembrance, reconciliation and promise.  The liturgy will come from a movement to pray for peace especially within the household of Abraham, Hagar and Sarah (the ancestors of Judaism, Christinity and Islam).  We will conclude our time by gathering around the Peace Pole and making a promise to love and respect one another and together build a path to peace.

Don't miss BUDRUS

Sunday, August 7, 6:30pm
Sunnyvale Presbyterian Church
728 Fremont Ave., Sunnyvale

Screened at the SF Jewish Film Festival, BUDRUS is an award winning documentary about a Palestinian community organizer who unites local Fatah and Hamas members along with Israeli supporters in an unarmed movement to save his village from destruction by Israel's Separation Barrier.  Success eludes them until his 15-year-old daughter launches a women's contingent that quickly moves to the front lines.

Struggling side by side, father and daughter unleash an inspiring yet little-known movement in the Occupied Palestinaian Territories that is still gaining ground today.  In an action-filled film chronicling this movement from its infancy, Budrus sines a light on people who choose nonviolence to confront a threat.

Mark the 66th anniversary of the US atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

The Forgotten Bomb:  Everything Depends on Remembering
Wednesday, August 3, 6:30pm
The Fellowship of Humanity, 390 27th Street, Oakland
Potluck at 6:30pm, film screening at 7:30pm followed by Q&A with Forgotten Bomb director, Stuart Overbey

From Hiroshima to Fukushima to Livermore:
Confronting the Two-Headed Dragon of Nuclear Weapons and Nuclear Power
Saturday, August 6, 6-9am
Livermore Lab*
Gather at Bill Payne Park, Vasco Rd. and Patterson Pass Rd. in Livermore.  Expect fantastic vegetarian food, music, renowed speakers and more.  (*Livermore is one of the two labs responsible for designing every warhead in the US nuclear arsenal.)

Mark the 8th anniversary of the U.S. war in Iraq - a war that continues in its destructive violence on the ground, as well as in the physical, emotional, moral and spiritual suffering inflicted on the Iraqi people, U.S. military personnel, and families of fallen soldiers.  According to Iraq Body Count, there were 4,036 Iraqi civilian deaths by violence in 2010. Also in 2010, sixty U.S. military were killed in Iraq.  For the second year in a row, the U.S. military has lost more troops to suicide than it has to combat in Iraq and Afghanistan. Coalition deaths in Afghanistan for 2010 were 711. The war goes on...

Camilo Mejia, the first U.S. veteran of the Iraq war to publicly refuse further service, will speak in Palo Alto on Sunday, March 20, 4pm at the Unitarian Universalist Church in Palo Alto, 505 E. Charleston Road.  The panel responding to Mejia will include:
Karen Meredith - Gold Star Mother whose son 1Lt. Ken Ballard was killed while serving in Iraq;
Ben Daniel - Presbyterian minister and writer of faith-based social and political commentary; and
Paul George - director of the Peninsula Peace and Justice Center.

"I was afraid of waking up one morning to realize my humanity had abandoned me. ... By putting my weapon down, I chose to reassert myself as a human being. ... Refusing and resisting this war was my moral duty."  -- Camilo Mejia

Sunday, March 20, 4pm
Unitarian Universalist Church of Palo Alto Main Hall
505 E. Charleston Ave., Palo Alto

Click "read more" to learn more about Camilo Mejia, see how to order his book, and download flyers.

After more than 7 years in the military and 8 months serving in Iraq, Camilo Mejia applied for Conscientious Objector status and was denied.  Convicted and imprisoned by the U.S. military, Mejia was declared a Prisoner of Conscience by Amnesty International. In 2005, while still behind bars, he wrote "Regaining my Humanity" in which he concludes with words that speak urgently to us today:

To those who are still quiet, to those who continue to betray their conscience, to those who are not calling evil more clearly by its name, to those of us who are still not doing enough to refuse and resist, I say "come forward." I say "free your minds." Let us, collectively, free our minds, soften our hearts, comfort the wounded, put down our weapons, and reassert ourselves as human beings by putting an end to war.

Join us on the 8th anniversary of the war in Iraq to
reassert ourselves as human beings by putting an end to war!
The War Goes On: Featuring Camilo Mejia
Sunday, March 20, 4pm
Unitarian Universalist Church, 505 E. Charleston Ave., Palo Alto
Click here for more information.

Easy download of flyers and inserts for:
The War Goes On - Featuring Camilo Mejia
Marking the 8th anniversary of the U.S. war in Iraq
Sunday, March 20, 4pm
Unitarian Universalist Church, 505 E. Charleston, Palo Alto

Full size PDF flyer with white crosses and photo of Mejia

Full size PDF flyer with photo of Mejia holding a "Give peace a chance" sign

Half page PDF flyer to use for inserts, etc.

This conference, the first of its kind, will explore newly emerging VA research on moral injury and examine effective strategies, theologies and practices in religious communities that can help veterans heal from moral injury and support their families.

Friday's keynote lecture will be given by Dr. Shira Maguen, clinician at San Francisco VA Medical Center and clinical professor at UCSF in the Department of Psychiatry.  A panel of veterans speaking will include Camilo Mejia and Tyler Boudreau and be moderated by Rev. Herman Keizer, U.S. Army Colonel (ret.).  Rabbi Steven Jacobs, Imam Ustadh Abdullah ben Hamid Ali, and Rev. Lizette Larson-Miller will be among the religious leaders presenting faith-based resources to assist in healing moral injury.  On Saturday the keynote speaker will be Rev. Kent Drescher, Ph.D., who has 18 years of clinical experience in treating military veterans, and is co-author of "An Exploration of the Viability and Usefulness of the Construct of Moral Injury in War Veterans."  

The conference, to be held in Berkeley, begins Friday at 12Noon and concludes Saturday at 5pm.