Swords into Plowshares

Stopping Torture, Congressional Visits, Executive Order

Volunteers are needed to organize local delegations to Congressional offices to ask our elected officials to encourage the next President to sign an Executive Order banning torture.

No2Torture, a grass roots Presbyterian group seeking to end the use of torture by the U.S., is working with the National Religious Campaign against Torture (NCRAT) to have the next President of our country ban torture by issuing an Executive Order. The 218th General Assembly (2008) of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) took action supporting this ban. Other General Assemblies have also addressed the issue of torture.

No2Torture and NRCAT are looking for individuals or groups who will organize delegations to visit the offices of their congress people on November 12 to urge that the Representatives and Senators join this effort for an Executive Order banning torture. Delegations might be recruited in congregations, presbyteries, ecumenical or interfaith groups, and in the local community.

Contact Carol Wickersham of No2Torture for more information. Resources for organizing the delegation and the visit will be provided.

NRCAT, in alliance with Evangelicals for Human Rights and the Center for Victims of Torture, have launched an effort that calls upon the President to issue an executive order banning torture based on six core principles embodied in a Declaration of Principles.  The groups are calling this effort the “Campaign to Ban Torture.”

Both Presidential candidates have made statements in favor of banning torture. What is needed is action: an Executive Order; Congressional action in the form of legislation; and hearings to determine responsibility for the torture that has occurred. (In 2006, the 217th General Assembly called Congress to convene an investigative body to inquire into whether any official or officer of the United States government bears direct or command responsibility for having ordered or participated in violations of law in the mistreatment of persons detained by government of the United States.)

HIV/AIDS Awareness Sunday

October 12 - Presbyterian HIV/AIDS Awareness Sunday is an opportunity each year for Presbyterians to reflect on the ways that HIV and AIDS affect individuals and our local communities, and to think about how we can respond to the global pandemic. Every Presbyterian has an important part to play in this observance, either through planning or participating in events in local congregations. Find out how you can observe Presbyterian HIV/AIDS Awareness Sunday.

The Presbyterian AIDS Network has additional resources for this day.

HIV/AIDS Awareness Sunday is also a time to make connections between peacemaking and AIDS. There is a flyer (PDF) and bulletin insert (PDF) that can help folks see those connections.

The Peacemaking Offering and the Presbyterian Hurricane Response

As congregations celebrate World Communion Sunday and receive the Peacemaking Offering, we are mindful of those in our communities who are in need of God’s healing and reconciling peace. Likewise, we are mindful of those who we may never see, yet whose lives are shaped by decisions we make each day.

This year in particular we are aware of individuals and communities devastated by the recent hurricanes, flooding and storms. The Presbyterian Church through Presbyterian Disaster Assistance is already at work in Texas, the Gulf Coast, Haiti and Cuba. The needs are great and the recovery will be enormous. Congregations are assembling clean up buckets, hygiene kits, and organizing work teams.

Churches can also choose to use a portion or all of the 25% of the Peacemaking Offering to be retained by the congregation and direct that as your church’s witness in response to the storms. Congregations can make contributions to Presbyterian Disaster Assistance and designating gifts to through DR000184. You can send your gifts through your normal presbytery channels.

Diego in Greensboro

The Rev. Diego Higuita-Arango, International Peacemaker from Colombia, will be in Greensboro, North Carolina this weekend. Check out where he will appear.

Stop the U.S.-India Nuclear Deal

President Bush’s Administration is encouraging Congress to pass a U.S. - India nuclear cooperation agreement. Because India’s civilian and military nuclear programs are not separated, the U.S. could be supplying India technology that directly allows India to produce weapons grade material. This is particularly possible because India has only agreed to have a portion of its nuclear reactors inspected.

At a time when efforts are being made to restrain Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons, the U.S. is setting up a double standard.  It is rewarding India, who has detonated nuclear devices and who did not sign on to the Non-Proliferation Treaty with nuclear technology, while pressuring and threatening Iran, who did sign on to the treaty, not to develop its nuclear capability.  Many other aspiring nuclear powers will take note if this inconsistency and behave accordingly. In addition, it could create further tension between India and Pakistan and offer nonnuclear states an incentive to withdraw from the nonproliferation treaty.

This is a critical time for the U.S. to take leadership in the international community for reducing nuclear arsenals — including our own. Nuclear weapons are a threat to our national security, and to global security. This dangerous deal with India would do the exact opposite: violating international agreements and increasing India's capacity to produce new nuclear weapons.

Please contact your Representative and ask him/her to oppose the U.S.-India Nuclear deal.

The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) has always stood firmly behind the Non-Proliferation Treaty.  Since 1946 Presbyterian Assemblies called for international disarmament and arms control measures (PDF) as a path toward long-term security. 

NOTE: This posting is based on an article in the September 22, 2008 issue of "Witness in Washington Weekly" (PDF) by the Presbyterian Washington Office.

Pray for India

Join in prayer for the Christian community in India on September 25, 2008. If you are in Washington, DC and are able, join a Peace Rally / Prayer Vigil from 2:00 pm to 5:00 pm on Lafayette Square.

Those in other places can join in prayer wherever we happen to be. Pray for the Christians. Pray for those who resort to violence. Pray for peace to prevail.

The Momentum Builds - International Day of Peace

My colleagues at the Presbyterian United Nations Office forwarded me a letter from the folks at the United Nations who are working on the International Day of Peace - Sunday, 21 September! A couple interesting things:

CNN’s iReport, a news-oriented kind of youtube, just launched a special page for the International Day of Peace! Just get registered and put your calls for world leaders and personal peace stories in videos, photos and texts online to everyone to see. We would love to know about what YOU think of peace and do for peace! And if you are lucky your story may appear on CNN.

The TXT 4 PEACE campaign is getting bigger and bigger. Several hundred messages have come in so far!

Please keep sending your text messages to world leaders with the word ‘PEACE’ and then your message to 69866! The goal is 10.000 text messages by Sunday, 21 September! Help spread the word.

By sending a message you give permission to the United Nations to publish it in any media.

Respond to the Cry of the Poor

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

Because we are called by Christ to respond to the cry of the poor, we invite you to take action with us by joining in an important new churchwide initiative, which we pray will make a difference in the lives of those who are suffering in the wake of the global food crisis.

Starting this October, Presbyterians will be encouraged on a monthly basis to adopt the ancient spiritual practice of fasting, beginning on Friday evening, and ending with Communion on a Sunday morning, where the Sacrament is regularly observed.   The year-long cycle of prayer and fasting – or the partaking of simple meals – will end October 16, 2009, on World Food Day. Interpretive materials for each month will be available.

Won’t you join us as we stand in solidarity with the poor and the hungry, discerning – with God’s help – faithful responses and meaningful coordinated actions to lift up our worldwide community through this global crisis?

Faithfully yours,
The Rev. Bruce Reyes-Chow                      
Moderator of the 218th General Assembly   

Elder Linda Bryant Valentine                              
Executive Director, General Assembly Council   

The Rev. Gradye Parsons 
Stated Clerk of the General Assembly

A Peace Vigil--In Iran

The Fellowship of Reconciliation reports that the Tehran Peace Museum and the Society for Chemical Weapons Victims Support are planning a candlelight vigil at 19:00 local time (10:30 EST) on September 21 to commemorate the UN-designated International Day of Peace. The organized event is a historic first in Iran, where tensions with the United States are causing serious anxiety.

This presents a unique opportunity to vigil or pray with Iranians during our observances of the International Day of Peace.

Other ideas include:

• urge your Representative to oppose legislation (H. Con. Res. 362) that in effect calls for a blockade of Iran
• invite Iranians in your community to participate in events on the International Day of Peace
• announce the Tehran ceremony at your International Day of Peace events
• sending a message of support now to the lead international organizer in Tehran, Dr. Shahriar Khateri, at khateri@scwvs.org

Texting for Peace

Send a text for peace.

The United Nations Department of Public Information invites folks in the United States to send a text for peace to help raise visibility to the International Day of Peace - September 21.

Cell phone users are urged to compose a 160-character message on peace beginning with the word “PEACE” and to send the message to number 69866.

The UN Department of Public Information will gather the messages, publish them online, and deliver them to world leaders gathered at the UN General Assembly on 23 September.

The UN General Assembly established the Day in 1981, for “commemorating and strengthening the ideals of peace…”. Twenty years later, the General Assembly declared 21 September as the date to observe annually a “day of global ceasefire and non-violence.”