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Wednesday, July 26 2023 @ 12:17 pm
Views: 381
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 Join with people around the world on August 6 for this
NUCLEAR PRAYER DAY
On August 6, 1945, at 8:15 AM, the first atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima, Japan. Since then, the potential for nuclear catastrophe has grown to an unimaginable scale. United Religions Initiative (URI), the Parliament of the World's Religions and other organizations are hosting a world-wide NUCLEAR PRAYER DAY, inviting you, your congregation, and all religions and walks of life to pray on this day. There is one live-stream event featuring Bishop William E. Swing and others with prayers, reflections and actions steps for a world free of nuclear weapons. Two Zoom events are planned with space for discussion, reflection and community. Local gatherings are being hosted around the globe. Click here to visit the URI site with more information. Voices for a World Free of Nuclear Weapons (a part of URI) has composed a multifaith prayer that you can use - individually, in small groups, and as a communities of worship. “The Beginning and the End are in your hands, O Creator of the Universe.
And in our hands you have placed the fate of this planet.
We, who are tested by having both creative and destructive power in our free will, turn to you in sober fear and in intoxicating hope. We ask for your guidance and to share in your imagination in our deliberations about the use of nuclear force. Help us to lift the fog of atomic darkness that hovers so pervasively over our Earth, Your Earth, so that soon all eyes may see life magnified by your pure light. Bless all of us who wait today for your Presence and who dedicate ourselves to achieve your intended peace and rightful equilibrium on Earth. In the Name of all that is holy and all that is hoped. Amen.” When a former Secretary of State, a former Secretary of Defense, several United States Ambassadors, a famous physicist, and a few friends pray each month for the elimination of nuclear weapons, it raises lots of questions. What do they know that everyone needs to know? Why are they praying? What is their prayer? Click here to watch a short video in response to these questions, and to hear the words of this most urgent prayer! |
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Friday, July 07 2023 @ 05:40 am
Views: 324
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The film "Oppenheimer" will premier at local theaters beginning Wednesday, July 19. MVPJ joins Physicians for Social Responsibility, Ploughshares Fund, Back from the Brink and other organizations in encouraging this "teachable moment" for us all to grapple with the reality of nuclear weapons. Director Christopher Nolan and an all-star cast will shine their Hollywood spotlight on “the father of the atomic bomb,” in this, Nolan’s latest film. During World War II, J. Robert Oppenheimer directed the super-secret Manhattan Project that created the three atomic bombs that ushered in the Nuclear Era. Watch the trailer on youtube here. Click here to find the theater schedules. Read more about it on this webpage for the Physicians for Social Responsibility. And here is a fascinating interview with Christopher Nolan, the director, in this month's issue of Wired. |
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Saturday, June 10 2023 @ 10:35 pm
Views: 337
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|  Join the $20K Matching Campaign for the Amah Mutsun Land Trust Land Acquisition Fund by June 19th
MVPJ is pleased to invite participation in the $20K matching campaign of our local ally and partner SURJ (Showing Up for Racial Justice of Sacred Heart Community Service) to contribute to the Land Trust Land Acquisition Fund of our local indigenous Amah Mutsun Tribal Band to enable them to buy back land they consider to be sacred when it goes up for sale. To participate in the match campaign up to $20,000, individuals may pledge or contribute before June 19 through this link. This link takes you to an online form provided by SURJ (Showing Up for Racial Justice of Sacred Heart). Click in the OneTime box to direct your gift to take advantage of the SURJ match for the Amah Mutsun Land Trust fund. (If you would prefer to donate by check, please direct the check to Sacred Heart Community Service (care of Jen Myhre, SURJ) at 1381 S. First St., San Jose, CA 95110, with a note that the gift is for the Amah Mutsun Land Trust Land Acquisition Fund.) Many of us are looking for ways to act on our frequent words of land acknowledgement. This is one way that MVPJ invites you to consider doing just that. To learn more about the Amah Mutsun Land Trust Land Acquisition Fund, click here. |
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Sunday, May 07 2023 @ 12:12 am
Views: 430
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 Nuclear Weaponse and Prophetic Protest: A screening of the documentary will take place earlier that afternoon, 2-3:30pm also in SCU's St. Clare Room. The panel will include:
Helen Young, filmmaker of "The Nuns, the Priests and the Bombs," and Emmy award-winning broadcast journalist; Jackie Cabasso, nuclear disarmament advocate, international speaker and expert, and Executive Director of the Western States Legal Foundation;
Plowshares faith-based activists featured in the film; and
moderator Tony Cortese, Director of Ignatian Spirituality at Santa Clara University.
Both events are free and open to the public.
(There is a fee for on-campus parking, however Caltrain stops right across the street from the University, so consider that as a good option!)
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Monday, May 01 2023 @ 07:02 pm
Views: 439
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Join the Friends Committee on National Legislation (FCNL) and urge your Representative to repeal the 2002 Iraq War Authorization! Twenty years after the U.S. invaded Iraq, a bipartisan group of senators has voted to repeal the law that sent us into that devastating war! CLICK HERE TO TAKE ACTION through the FCNL website! The 2002 Authorization for Use of Military Force Against Iraq (2002 Iraq AUMF) authorized war against Saddam Hussein’s Iraqi regime. It is unnecessary for ongoing military operations, but as long as it remains on the books, it is vulnerable to abuse by this or any future president. Most notably, the 2002 Iraq AUMF was used in January 2020 to justify the assassination of Iranian major general Qassem Soleimani—an act unauthorized by Congress that nearly plunged the United States into war. The Senate has acted, now it’s up to the House. Urge your representatives to vote to repeal the 2002 Iraq AUMF! CLICK HERE TO TAKE ACTION today! |
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Monday, April 17 2023 @ 11:53 pm
Views: 785
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 The Israeli-Palestinian Joint Memorial Day Ceremony
"WE ACKNOWLEDGE..."
Monday, April 24, 2023
10:30am (Pacific Time)
Hosted by Combatants for Peace and The Parents Circle Families Forum
REGISTER HERE! 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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Saturday, April 15 2023 @ 01:30 am
Views: 557
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 Join the multifaith call for a
national day of prayer and contemplation,
this Mother's Day,
to stop gun violence!
Faith leaders, congregations or organizations, and individual members or parishioners are urged to sign on to this letter asking President Biden to make this Mother's Day, May 14, a national day of prayer to end gun violence. Since Saturday, April 15, at least 255 people have already died in the United States due to guns. These tragic deaths affect every community.
The letter states in part,
We appeal to you to declare this Mother’s Day, Sunday, May 14, 2023,
to be a national day of repentance, mourning, prayer, and reflection
to address the culture of gun violence
that is staining our collective soul.
SIGN TODAY!
Faith leaders and congregations or organizations can use this link.
Individual parishioners and members may use this link. The letter is already signed by more than 400 clergy and lay people, including Dr. Cornel West, Rabbi Jill Jacobs, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Imam Dr. Talib Shareef, Dr. Tarunjit Singh Butalia, Rev. Dr. Susan Frederick Gray, Dr. Daisy Khan, Rev. Walter Brueggemann, Sr. Maria Orlandini and many others from diverse faith traditions — including the heads of national denominations and global religious organizations — have already signed this urgent call. SIGN TODAY!
Faith leaders and congregations or organizations can use this link.
Individual parishioners and members may use this link.
Every voice is needed in this call! Let us join together to address the war taking place in our own schools, places of worship, grocery stores, nighculbs, and more. The gun violence epidemic, intertwined with the racist white "Christian" nationalist movement, is a scourge on our communities and a blaspheme of the divine!
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Saturday, February 18 2023 @ 07:21 pm
Views: 792
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 MVPJ is partnering with SURJ (Showing Up for Racial Justice) @ Sacred Heart to offer a TEACH-IN.
CLICK HERE TO REGISTER!
Reimagining Public Safety TEACH IN
Monday, February 27, 7-8:30pm via Zoom Our first teach-in will be on Reimagining Public Safety - about the CARE FIRST Campaign - which is working for community driven alternatives to policing and incarceration. So much to learn! So many opportunities to work for racial justice! The TEACH-IN will give us good background on historical and current connections between the work of racial justice and the desperate need to reimagine our understanding and methods of public safety for all! Right now the focus of CARE FIRST is on establishing a direct line to TRUST, an alternative to 911 to provide accessible, transparent, non-police crisis response in Santa Clara County. TRUST is designed to send the right responder for the situation. The TRUST program is a new 24/7 non-police crisis response program for urgent mental health and substance use situations. Join us in this first SURJ/MVPJ TEACH-IN!
Registration Required.
CLICK HERE TO REGISTER! Help spread the word and invite others by sharing our Facebook Event Page and following the event on Instagram.
Use this png flyer to spread the word and this PDF 1/2 sheet flyer for printing. This Reimagining Public Safety Teach-in is hosted by MVPJ and SURJ, and cosponsored by:
Action Council of the Unitarian Universalist Church of Palo Alto;
American Muslim Voice;
Anti-Racism Impact Team of Congregation Etz Chayim;
Bend the Arc: Jewish Action South Bay;
First Presbyterian Church of Palo Alto;
Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Los Gatos; and
Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Redwood City. |
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Saturday, January 28 2023 @ 07:22 pm
Views: 813
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 George Lakey
talks about his most recent book,
Dancing with History: a life for peace and justice
Click here to watch the video of this event. Quaker activist and master storyteller George Lakey shared vignettes from his life at the center of history-making events as one of the world’s most effective practitioners and teachers of nonviolent resistance. |
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Thursday, December 22 2022 @ 01:57 am
Views: 463
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 As people of faith and conscience,
believing in the sanctity of all life on this planet,
we call for a
CHRISTMAS TRUCE IN UKRAINE.
Inspired by the miraculous Christmas truce of 1914, faith leaders of many diverse traditions petition the Biden administration to push for negotiations. "In the spirit of the truce that occurred in 1914 during the First World War, we urge our government to take a leadership role in bringing the war in Ukraine to an end through supporting calls for a ceasefire and negotiated settlement, before the conflict results in a nuclear war that could devastate the world's ecosystems and annihilate all of God's creation."
Signers include Rabbi Arthur Waskow, Jewish Renewal movement; Bishop Demetrios of Mokissos, Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America; Imam Johari Abdul-Malik, The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR); Valarie Kaur, Sikh leader and founder of Revolutionary Love Project; Thay Phap An, Plum Village Buddhist community; Bishop William J. Barber II, Repairers of the Breach and Poor People's Campaign; Rev. Grayland Scott Hagler, Fellowship of Reconciliation; Dr. Zoharah Simmons, National Council of Elders; Mary Novak, Executive Director of NETWORK Lovvy for Catholic Social Justice.
Click here for a full list of signers. If you are a faith leader, add your name here. |
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