Congregational Participants

Come...

We come together from more than 36 diverse faith communities and traditions to put our convictions into action by saying NO to war and YES to peace and justice.

Gather...

...to call upon our government to cease its focus on war and to focus its energy and resources on peaceful and lawful resolution, negotiation, international cooperation, and the well-being of all creation.

...to call upon our government to defend civil liberties at home and strengthen the values that our nation holds: justice, tolerance, diversity, equality, liberty, and human dignity.

...to insist that war is a moral, ethical and religious issue involving matters of life and death for children, youth and adults who all share our common humanity.

As people of faith we are compelled in this critical time to commit our spirits, voices, hearts and actions to the cause of justice and peace on earth.

Act...

• We are committed to nonviolent action for peace and justice. We will walk and talk, pray and act in the manner of love, for God is love.
• We seek to win over our opponents in truth and love, never to humiliate or defeat them. Affirming that every human being has inherent worth and is a child of God, we refuse to hate or condemn any person or group of persons, even as we oppose and condemn forces and actions of violence and injustice.
• We pray, speak and act for the well-being of all people. Members of our own armed forces and the armed forces of all nations will be respected. It is in part on their behalf and for their safety that we say NO to war.
• We will stand in solidarity with individuals or groups whose civil rights are violated. We will not be silent.
• We ground ourselves in the core teachings and practices of peace and justice in our own faith tradition. From these sources we gain strength, wisdom, courage and compassion for all.
• We come from diverse faiths; therefore, our words and actions will be diverse. Our activities may range from meditation and prayer vigils to political action, and, if discerned necessary, include acts of civil disobedience. Each of us will participate according to our own conscience. We respect, celebrate and learn from this diversity.

We base all our thoughts and prayers, words and actions on the conviction that only love will overcome hatred, only justice will lead to peace, and as people of faith we are called to build a just and peaceful world.

Participating Congregations and Organizations:

• American Muslim Voice
• Beyt Tikkun Synagogue
• First Congregational Church (United Church of Christ) Palo Alto
• First Evangelical Lutheran Church Palo Alto
• First Presbyterian Church Palo Alto
• First United Methodist Church Palo Alto
• Holy Trinity Episcopal Menlo Park
• Network of Spiritual Progressives
• Palo Alto Friends Meeting
• St. Thomas Aquinas Parish, Palo Alto (Catholic)
• Unitarian Universalist Church of Palo Alto
• West Bay Chapter, Buddhist Peace Fellowship
  

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The State of The National Security State 2012: A Talk by Ray McGovern

MVPJ and the Peninsula Peace and Justice Center invite you to attend this event on Tuesday April 10th at 7:30pm.

The State of the National Security State 2012

A talk by Ray McGovern
Former CIA Intelligence Analyst
Founding Member, Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity

TUESDAY, APRIL 10, 7:30 PM
First Baptist Church, 305 N. California Avenue, Palo Alto
(Between Waverley and Bryant, one block off Oregon Expressway)
FREE and open to all. Contributions will be requested.
Wheelchair accessible.

Ray McGovern came to Washington in the early Sixties as an Army infantry/intelligence officer and then served as a CIA analyst from the administration of John F. Kennedy to that of George H. W. Bush. Ray's duties included chairing National Intelligence Estimates and preparing the President's Daily Brief. In January 2003, Ray helped create Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity (VIPS) to expose the way intelligence was being falsified to "justify" war on Iraq. His continues to be a leading voice to challenge the lies that lead us to war, spying on citizens, torture and indefinite detention.

Sponsored by the Peninsula Peace and Justice Center and Multifaith Voices for Peace and Justice

Mother of Mother's Day - Greeting Cards for Peace

In 1870 Mother's Day was instituted by Julia Ward Howe's Mother's Day Proclamation.  Ward called for
all women who have hearts
to join with the voice of a devastated earth
and say: Disarm!  Disarm!
Let women then solemnly take counsel with each other
as to the means whereby
the great human family can live in peace.

These all occasion cards make great Mother's Day Cards OR
a pack of 6 makes an awesome Mother's Day GIFT! 

Multifaith Voices for Peace and Justice commissioned the cards. They are being sold in many local congregations, or can be ordered online from our website (click "read more" below).  Art by Design Action, printed on recycled paper with soy inks by Inkworks Press, a worker-owned cooperative union shop, and distributed by Reach And Teach, a local peace and social justice learning company, the cards can be used to carry their profound message all year long.  (To sell them in your own community, email craig@reachandteach.com.)

Why not buy a few extra and send them as Mother's Day greetings to women such as our First Lady, Secretary of State, Senators, or local Congresswomen?