Please help spread the word about this event. I would love to be able to attend, but I have to work. You know how hard it is to "put food on your family" in this economy, right? Anyway, the Schiavo media circus served the dual function of distracting Americans from important issues that effect
more than one person, and allowing opportunistic Republicans to cast themselves as representing the "culture of life".
From the Clergy and Laity Network United for Justice web site
A Community of Conscience is gathering across our country! In a witness to the nation it will convene at the Riverside Church in New York City, on April 4, 2005. The date reclaims the great antiwar sermon by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., "Beyond Vietnam: A Time to Break Silence!"
For too long, attacks on freedom and justice by religious voices from the right have gone effectively unanswered. Greed, fear and imperialism have been endorsed.
Service and Rally
April 4, Riverside Church, New York City
On Monday, April 4, at The Riverside Church in New York City, as theBeyond Iraq, Riverside Church, April 4, 2005 climax of initiatives across the country, an open gathering will come together in a service and rally of public witness. First proposed by Rabbi Arthur Waskow on behalf of Clergy and Laity Network, it has now been embraced by an inclusive body of co-sponsors.
Led by interfaith leaders, antiwar and social justice voices, young and old, it will claim for our time the faith and courage voiced in Dr. King's prophetic sermon. It was delivered from the pulpit of Riverside Church on April 4, 1967. Insert "Iraq," change a few words, and his antiwar heritage and social justice commitments speak strikingly to our day. This service marks a new beginning in the public witness of A Community of Conscience, including progressive religious and ethical communities.
April 4, Schedule of Events
The April 4th event will begin at 7 pm with service in the Church and concludes at 8 pm with a rally in the street and the Break the Silence Bus Tour send off. A press release of the event can be downloaded here.
Speakers will include Rev. Dr. James Forbes, Senior Minster, Riverside Church; Cindy Sheehan, Gold Star Families For Peace, Rev. Jesse Jackson, Rainbow Push Coalition, Honorable Jane Campbell, Mayor of Cleveland; Rabbi Arthur Waskow, Shalom Center, Sister Joan Chittister, Catholic OSB, Dr. Tarunjit Singh Butalia, Secretary General of the World Sikh Council, Imam Feisel Rauf among dozens more from the inclusive religious coalition.
