Subject: FaithfulAmerica E-Zine, April 2005

From: "FaithfulAmerica.org" <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 04 Apr 2005 12:05:41 -0700

Moving Forward: YOU Are the Voice
April 4, 2005

Dear David:

Today, April 4, marks the anniversary of the death of Martin Luther King, Jr. On Saturday, the world lost Pope John Paul II. Both leaders inspired us to put our faith into action to make a difference, and both leave a world where there is much to be done.

I am proud to share with you living proof that the progressive faith movement - this proud, hard-fought, spirit-driven, love-filled movement - is not only alive but powerfully at work in our nation. Simply reading the stories below will give you a taste of the vision and commitment that faithful folk are doing together.

Whether you are Catholic, Protestant, Buddhist, Hindu, Muslim, or find expression in ways that defy description, I encourage you to read this week's ezine with an eye toward plugging in. As you will read, there is no better time for your passions and energies to be put to use than right now. From TODAY'S service in New York that kicks off a national bus tour to next month's rally to help end the threat of nuclear annhialation, you, friend, are needed.

Yes, we have lost many great leaders, but we are moving forward. YOU are the voice of that movement, and we are proud of the difference your voice is making in this world.

Blessings to you as ever,

Vince Isner
FaithfulAmerica.org

In This Issue:

 New Freedom Ride Bus Tour Takes Moral Message to Nation (#new) 
 Sign the ONE Declaration to help end Gobal Poverty (#One) 
 An Evening of Music, Images & Hope - and YOU are Invited (#join) 
 Join the Jimmy Carter Work Project (#nail) 
 The End of Nuclear Weapons - Central Park Rally (#end) 

  New Freedom Ride Bus Tour Takes Moral Message to Nation

On April 4, dozens of progressive religious leaders and organizations will rise as one to begin a nationwide campaign for America's true moral mission, a mission of social justice, progressive values, and true freedom. We will go back to work building what the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King called the Beloved Community.

You are invited to become part of this historic effort. The gathering of this growing community of conscience at Riverside Church in New York City on April 4 marks only the first day of an historic nationwide campaign. A new "Freedom Ride," a barnstorming tour of American towns and cities, will take the message of social justice to Americans everywhere and building the Beloved Community from the ground up.

The Break The Silence bus tour will leave from New York on April 4 and visit Philadelphia, Washington, Pittsburgh, Cleveland, Columbus, Indianapolis, Chicago, St. Louis and Kansas City. Then it will head south to Memphis, Nashville and Atlanta, stopping for rallies along the way. It will provide a rolling forum for hundreds of thousands of caring Americans who want to speak out against the Iraq War and to advocate for economic, civil and social justice in our own land.

Already on board as co-sponsors are the National Council of Churches, United for Peace and Justice, Faith Voices for the Common Good, Progressive Christians United, the Clergy and Laity Network and many other organizations.

Join us on this nationwide campaign. We are truly overwhelmed at the level of support we have received from a diverse group of organizations and religious leaders. This marks a new beginning for America's community of conscience, and a new beginning for the nation. With your help, millions of Americans will once again here our voices of conscience.

Visit the following links online:

	 Contribute to this important event (http://www.drivedemocracy.org/breakthesilence/) 
	 See the full list of sponsors (Clergy and Laity Network) (http://www.clnnlc.org/) 
	
Who you can contact:
	Al Pennybacker
	Coordinator
	 [email-masked] (mailto:[email-masked]) 

"ONE" for All - Sign the ONE Declaration to help end Gobal Poverty

A diverse coalition of antipoverty groups, including Bread for the World and World Vision, and celebrities like Bono, lead singer of the rock group U2, and hundreds of thousands of individuals across the United States have come together as ONE to fight global AIDS, extreme poverty and hunger via the ONE Campaign.

This is a new effort to rally people in the United States - ONE by ONE. Together, we stand as God's living presence to help others help themselves in an historic compact for compassion and justice for the most vulnerable people in our world. This campaign is joined by similar initiatives in several countries around the globe to work to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), a list of eight achievable commitments to address issues including AIDS, extreme poverty and hunger. The MDGs were approved by 189 countries, including the United States in 2000.

What to Do: Sign the ONE Campaign Declaration (see link below). By signing the declaration online you will be sending a signal to our nation's political leaders that we want to do more to respond to the emergency of AIDS, extreme poverty and hunger. We need a historic new compact, one that provides an additional 1 percent of the U.S. budget to help poor countries fight poverty while combating corruption. This will enable countries to vaccinate children, provide clean water and a future of hope.

Visit the following links online:

Learn more and Sign the ONE Declaration: http://www.bread.org/one.htm 

Who you can contact:
	Howard Salter 
	Bread for the World
	 [email-masked] (mailto:[email-masked]) 

  Join Us For a Memorable Evening of Music, Images, and Hope

You are invited to a very special benefit concert with legendary folk-singers Judy Collins, Noel Paul Stookey and Peter Yarrow of Peter, Paul & Mary for an evening of song to raise funds for the long rebuilding process in the tsunami-stricken communities in Southern Asia.

Below are details:

City: St. Louis, MO
Place: Anheuser-Busch Performance Hall at the Blanche M. Touhill Performing Arts Center.
One University Blvd on the campus of the University of Missouri in St. Louis, MO.
Date: Tuesday, April 12th
Time: 7:00 PM
Beneficiaries: Five groups, all engaged in tsunami rebuilding efforts:
Medical Mission Sisters (Catholic)
Islamic Relief Agency (Muslim)
The National Council of Churches (Christian Protestant)
American Jewish World Service (Jewish)
The UNFoundation (NGO)

There's more! You will also have the opportunity to meet the performers at a special donation rate. An after concert "Meet and Greet" and a "Dinner with the Performers" can be
purchased at specific donation levels.

Finally, if you donate a LOT of money (as in, say $500 or more) you can enjoy two tickets and a special pre-concert dinner for two with the performers! It's all to help rebuild the lives of our neighbors who have survived one of our century's worst disasters. Come be part of a night of music, hope, and love with three of America's most beloved artists!

Tickets will go quickly, so get yours early. Tickets can be purchased online at  www.touhill.org (http://www.touhill.org/)  or you can contact the ticket office at 314-516-4949; or toll free at 866-516-4949. Groups of 10 or more can purchase tickets at 20%. Please contact the ticket office and ask for "Group Sales". Full concert details and information on making an online donation are provided in an online announcement at
 http://concert.theeffortcontinues.org.

Visit the following links online:
	 Go HERE for Tickets and more information (http://concert.theeffortcontinues.org/) 
	 Download the Concert Poster and share with others (http://www.riceresources.com/concert/poster.pdf) 
Who you can contact:
	Mark Rice
	Webinar Resources
	 [email-masked] (mailto:[email-masked]) 
	314 830-3616

 Nail Down Your Spot: Help us build Habitat For Humanity's first Interfaith House

Only a few dozen spaces remain at one of this year's most rewarding summer projects! This year the Jimmy Carter Work Project is in the United States (Michigan to be precise) and we're inviting you to help build a dream-come-true home for a low-income family.

Bob Edgar of the National Council of Churches (FaithfulAmerica.org's parent organization) is leading a 100 person team that will construct what we're pretty sure will be the first ever habitat house built by a team of interfaith folks!

We're inviting you to write June 19-24 into your "experience something extraordinary" calendar. In the well loved words of Ecclesiastes, "For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven," If you're looking for a time to "build up", here it is. You will help build a dream home for a grateful family, build bridges between faiths, build lifelong friendships, build muscles you knew were there all along, AND we'll all have a great time in the process!

Fellow FaithfulAmericans will be there. Families will be there. Couples, classmates, room-mates and soul-mates will all be there. And President Carter will be there.

There will be only 100 places on the NCC team. Don't miss this life-changing opportunity to work with others who share your passion for ending the scandal of poverty housing. Participants in previous NCC teams have come away with new friendships, a deepened awareness of poverty issues, and a rich spiritual experience. Habitat calls it "the theology of the hammer."

Team members are responsible for their own transportation costs and a $750 registration fee to cover on-site food and lodging, and they are encouraged to make a donation toward construction costs.

EMAIL US to reserve your place. Just click here:  [email-masked] (mailto:[email-masked]) . Be sure to include your name and address, and put something like "sign me up" in the subject line.

We'll email you the application form. Once you return it, you are "locked in" and part of the team.

If you can't participate in person, please consider a contribution toward the cost of lumber, paint and nails to support the Interfaith team's contribution to the 2005 Jimmy Carter Work Project.

Click HERE to contribute to materials ( http://faithfulamerica.kintera.org/timetobuild (http://faithfulamerica.kintera.org/timetobuild) ).

Note that the registration deadline for Interfaith team members is Friday, April 15, 2005. If you have been looking for a way to build, share, contribute, and grow, there's no better place than this year's Jimmy Carter Work Project. Nail down your spot now!

Visit the following links online:
	 Sign up for a spot on the team! (mailto:[email-masked]) 
	 Consider a donation for building materials (http://faithfulamerica.kintera.org/timetobuild) 
	
Who you can contact:
	Vicki Manning
	NCC
	 [email-masked] (mailto:[email-masked]) 

End of Nuclear Weapons Could Begin at Central Park!

The future of nuclear weapons could be decided this year. For the entire month of May, world leaders will meet at the United Nations to review the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT). President Bush has signaled that he wants to back-out of agreements made in the Treaty to begin "good faith" negotiations for the total abolition of nuclear weapons. Instead, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld is asking for funds to research new nuclear "bunker busters" and smaller more usable mini-nukes.

Our continued reliance on these Cold War weapons sends a dangerous message that their possession is the quickest way to gain international respect. As each new nation tries to join the nuclear club, it brings fresh opportunities for a global conflagration involving U.S. bombing raids and ever more shorn bodies. It invites a future of retribution from terrorists fueled by demonstrations of U.S. domination. We can not bomb our way out of proliferation. Force will not save us from the terrorism of nuclear weapons; only faith can.

In this 60th Anniversary year of the first atomic bombings, the Mayors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki are organizing a world-wide campaign of mayors demanding that the U.S. and all other nuclear weapons states begin negotiations this year to eliminate nuclear weapons by 2020. They are bringing a delegation of mayors from around the world to a massive demonstration in New York City's Central Park on May 1st, the day before the NPT conference begins.

We need your help to send a unified message that people of faith intend to fulfill their promises of "good faith".

* Plan to join thousands of people from around the world in a march past the United Nations and a rally in Central Park on Sunday, May 1st!

* Ask your mayor to join the Mayors for Peace Emergency Campaign to Eliminate Nuclear Weapons. Tell your Mayor you'd like him to join the delegation of Mayors going to the UN in May:  http://www.abolitionnow.org/mayors.html (http://www.abolitionnow.org/mayors.html) 

* Sign on to the "Open Letter to President Bush from Communities of Faith" asking that the U.S. lead the world in negotiating an agreement to eliminate nuclear weapons under strict and effective international controls. Learn more by visiting  AbolitionNow.org (http://www.abolitionnow.org/) .

Visit the following links online:
	 Visit AbolitionNow.org (www.abolitionnow.org) 
	 Read about the May 1st Central Park Rally (http://www.abolitionnow.org/may1-ny.html) 
Who you can contact:
	Chris Cooper
	Director of Communications
	 [email-masked] (mailto:[email-masked]) 
	(212) 726-9161

Faithful America.org
110 Maryland Avenue NE, Suite 108 . Washington, DC 20002
tel: 202.544.2350 . fax: 202.543.1297	

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