There can be no peace without justice
Religious leaders kneel in the Capitol Hill Rotunda to pray for a just and compassionate budget. —Photo by Matthew Dimick
Presbyterians have been neither silent nor gone unnoticed this week as Congress has continued its struggle with the debt ceiling and the possibility of budget cuts to programs that serve the poorest and most vulnerable of Americans. Prayers and prayer vigils to God and letters, phone calls, and emails to congressional representatives have all been acts of peacemaking. Our Stated Clerk Gradye Parsons, along with other religious leaders, met on Tuesday with Republican and Democratic Congressional leaders. You can read his full remarks. And then on Thursday, The Reverend J. Herbert Nelson, PC(USA) Director for Public Witness, took part in a public prayer in the Capitol Rotunda and was arrested with other religious leaders for civil disobedience. Nelson said this, “Now is the time for faith leaders and the faith community to take deliberate and forthright action to express disgust at the current situation and to demand a fair solution. We must be actively involved in this debate, both in Washington, D.C. and across the country.”
Let us each do something to join this non-violent movement of building peace through social justice. Now is the time. Peace be with us all.