{"id":1229,"date":"2008-03-10T00:02:44","date_gmt":"2008-03-10T05:02:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.danielharper.org\/blog\/?p=1229"},"modified":"2008-03-09T21:52:22","modified_gmt":"2008-03-10T02:52:22","slug":"sad","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.danielharper.org\/blog\/?p=1229","title":{"rendered":"Sad"},"content":{"rendered":"

Forty-two people were arrested on Friday during the Christian Peace Witness for Iraq for doing civil disobedience to express their religious opposition to the war in Iraq, down from 222 arrests in last year’s action. (I had planned to attend although not commit civil disobedience — had to back out because of bronchitis.) Very little news coverage, probably because it’s a much smaller action. Both Christian Peace Witness for Iraq<\/a> and the related Olive Branch Interfaith Peace Partnership<\/a> are not particularly strong on organization — the sad truth is that spiritual progressives are not really doing much about the war in Iraq, except whining a little bit. Or if we do something, it’s like it is straight out of some 1960’s-era “Manual for Hippie Protests”. <\/p>\n

Sigh. Are we spiritual progressives really that ineffectual when it comes to affecting U.S. policy on the war? … actually, I’m not sure I want you to answer that question.<\/p>\n

More info on the Christian Peace Witness for Iraq 2008…. <\/p>\n

Blog aggregator for bloggers who participated in this year’s peace witness may be found here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Forget trying to follow the Twitter feed — it looks like they shut it down.<\/p>\n

News about local peace vigils here<\/a> — but not much is happening.<\/p>\n

No videos posted online at this writing (how sad!).<\/p>\n

Official press release from Olive Branch:<\/p>\n

PEACE ACTIVISTS WORSHIP, PRAY, GET ARRESTED<\/strong><\/p>\n

Forty-Two Arrested for Civil Disobedience in Hart Senate Office Building<\/em><\/p>\n

Washington, DC, March 7, 2008 — More than forty religious leaders and faith-based peace activists were arrested in the Hart Senate Office Building on Capitol Hill late Friday afternoon for their non-violent witness to end the war in Iraq. Hundreds of people assembled earlier in the afternoon for a public demonstration against the U.S. war and occupation of Iraq, and thousands of worshippers gathered at noon Friday for services calling for peace and an end to the war in Iraq.<\/p>\n

The arrests came at the end of a day of worship and prayer. Following noon-time services in ten different houses of worship in Washington, worshippers processed in the rain to Upper Senate Park for an interfaith witness near the U.S. Capitol. In the midst of a driving rain, leaders from Christian, Jewish, Muslim, Buddhist, and Unitarian traditions insisted that people of faith will be relentless in encouraging their political leaders to take bold, unequivocal action for peace.<\/p>\n

Multi-faith delegations from the Olive Branch Interfaith Peace Partnership, the organizing coalition of the afternoon\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s events, met with high level staffers from both Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s offices. The religious leaders expressed grave concern that there must be both a clear exit strategy from Iraq and a regional, multi-lateral effort at development and diplomacy to bring about genuine security.<\/p>\n

Participants from across faith boundaries are clearly united in expressing five core convictions:<\/p>\n