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Join Hands on January 11th - Stand Firm Against Guantanamo Bay!From our friends at BARCAT (Bay Area Religious Campaign Against Torture) and Code Pink:
When: January 11, 2012 at Noon Where: Meet at the Federal Building, on 7th Street, by 12 Noon Why: To mark the 10th anniversary of unlawful counterterrorism detentions at Guantanamo and call for an end to indefinite detention and unfair trials Transportation: Closest BART/Muni station is Civic Center We and the other groups want to gather 171 people--representing the number of detainees still remaining at Guantanamo--to form a "human chain" linking the Federal Building and the Ninth Circuit Court, which are across the street from each other at Seventh and Mission streets in San Francisco. This event coincides with an action on the same day in Washington, D.C., when the National Religious Campaign Against Torture, along with a number of other partnering organizations, will attempt a 2,000-person human chain stretching from the White House to the Capitol! The San Francisco event will include a rally with speakers calling attention to the continuing detention and abuse occurring at Guantanamo. Many participants in the chain will wear orange jumpsuits, others will dress in orange or black. This part of the event will be a "witness;" solemn and silent. President Obama is likely to sign the National Defense Authorization bill which contains provisions to make it unlikely that the 171 people currently in Guantanamo will ever be released, regardless of their guilt or innocence This is unconstitutional and unAmerican. The groups sponsoring the Bay Area Guantanamo action include:
 
Holiday Gift Idea: MVPJ's All Occasion Greeting Cards for Peace
These All-Occasion Greeting Cards make lovely holiday gifts and are easy to order online!
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Here Is Something You Can Do About Nuclear Weapons!
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Conscience in War
In our founding commitments, MVPJ states that we "insist that war is a moral, ethical and religious issue involving matters of life and death for children, youth and adults who share our common humanity," and, "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 are proud to partner with other organizations to support the discernment and struggles of conscience which our soldiers face, and to pray, speak and act for their healing and well-being. read more
Remembering a Dear Friend and Colleague - John Butcher
JOIN IN HONORING JOHN'S LIFE on Sunday, September 4, at 11am at the Pescadero Community Church, 363 Stage Road, in Pescadero. A potluck will follow the service. We celebrate his amazing life and we shall miss him dearly. Our thoughts and prayers are with John's wife, Grace, and the entire family. We also hold in our hearts the people of the Pescadero Community Church where John preached for the last few years. The following is a write-up about John from the Episcopal Diocese of California.read more
The Vision of Reykjavik: Steps Toward A World Free of Nuclear Weapons
The purpose of this class is to recover the Vision of Reykjavik - the vision of a world free of nuclear weapons. We will do this by (a) refreshing our memories about nuclear weapons and their history, (b) bringing us up to date on how nuclear proliferation and the emergence of terrorist groups is changing the equation, and (c) addressing the commonly voiced objections to trying to do anything. The main thrust will be in providing the information needed for thinking about the issue, and identifying the things that each of us can do to help reduce the nuclear risk. Click here to download a poster for the event (and post it somewhere!!). Click here to read more for more details. read more
Congressional Hearings Unfairly Target IslamMultifaith Voices for Peace & Justice (MVPJ) objects to the presumption of guilt implicit in Congressional hearings under the title "The Radicalization of Muslim communities in America" being convened by Rep. Peter King (R, NY). Since no religious community can claim exemption from the human tendency to resort to radical violence, it is unfair and very likely unconstitutional for a Congressman to single out Muslims for investigation. MVPJ stands with those who protest the biased McCarthy-like opinions expressed by Sen. King. We are sure that a truthful investigation would reveal that American Muslims are as dismayed and frightened by religion-based violence as American Christians, if not more so. Working, praying, serving and marching with our Muslim sisters and brothers for the past 8 years, in MVPJ there is no longer an "us" or "them", but only one people, one race, one human family. Together we must show the rest of our nation and world that the friendship and trust we share cannot be divided. read more
Afghan Call to Listen
In this noise of militarized mania, read more
Unity NOT DivisionRev. Diana Gibson, one of MVPJ's leaders, and a large group of faith leaders from the Bay Area gathered yesterday for a press conference, urging unity instead of division, in light of plans for a Florida pastor to make September 11th a day to burn the Koran. At the end of the report, you will have heard about a rally in San Jose on Friday September 10th. We encourage you to attend that event.
The Words of Children Living with War
We thank the Rebuilding Alliance (and especially intern Bryce Druzin) for bringing us many of these messages from partner organizations like Other Voice - Sderat, Al Basma Club for the Disabled in Gaza, the Rachel Corrie Sports Initiative and the UNRWA School for Girls in Gaza, and the children at the Al Aqaba Kindergarten in the West Bank. Other messages from children were gathered through personal interviews by Deborah Ellis, an author whose award-winning work includes the Breadwinner trilogy, novels that portray the life of a young Afghan girl, pretending to be a boy so that she can feed her family. In Ellis' Three Wishes, Off to War, and Children of War, she brings us directly into the daily lives, hopes, dreams and fears of Palestinian, Israeli, and Iraqi children, plus she shares the voices of American and Canadian children whose parents are stationed in Kuwait, Iraq and Afghanistan. We encourage you to read these words and if you'd like to respond, please submit a comment. We will gather those comments and as possible and appropriate, share them with the children. These and more were shared during a public worship service on March 21st at 2pm at Lytton Plaza in Palo Alto California. The gathering was hosted by the Palo Alto Friends Meeting and Multifaith Voices for Peace and Justice. Together, we heard their words, prayed for peace, and committed ourselves to continuing our work to bring about a world where children won't have to be afraid to sleep at night or face the terrors of trying to live through another day at war. Click each of the links to read the words of children at war. If you'd like to post a general comment about the event, these messages from children, or the work we are doing at Multifaith Voices for Peace and Justice, use the comment link below.| post a comment | comments (23)
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Quote of the Week
My heart is open to all the winds... Wherever God's caravans turn, the religion of love shall be my religion. And my faith. - Ibn 'Arabi, 13th Century Sufi traveler & mystic
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On Wednesday, January 11, 2012 at noon, the Bay Area Religious Campaign Against Torture is partnering with several other Bay Area groups for an event to mark the tenth anniversary of the first prisoners arriving at Guantanamo Prison.
Our nation has now been at war for almost a decade. As our soldiers consider re-deployment or combat veterans return to rebuild their lives in light of their experiences in war, we are increasingly aware of the crisis of conscience some soldiers wrestle with and the moral injury some have experieced in combat.
The steering committee of MVPJ celebrates the life of Father John Beverley Butcher, a man who brought love and laughter to every gathering, a deep commitment to social justice to all of his work, a passion for life that was contagious, and a level of determination to achieve even the most difficult of challenges. 
You are invited to a series of classes taught by MVPJ Steering Committee member Richard Duda.
The Afghan Youth Peace Volunteers recently wrote:
The following are the words of children compiled by members of the steering committee of Multifaith Voices for Peace and Justice. They come from children in Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iraq, Jordan, Israel, Palestine and Canada. All of these children are living in the midst of war. Some of these messages from children arrived within the last 72 hours. 