Religious Leaders Join White House Sit-In for Peace in Iraq
WASHINGTON – Religious leaders joined peace activists in front of the White House Thursday to call for the end of U.S. Iraq occupation and to kick-off the national week of “moral witness against the Iraq occupation.”
“Today is the first day of the Declaration of Peace Week of Action,” said Bishop Susan Morrison of the United Methodist Church. “We are standing in solidarity with our brothers and sisters who are participating in more than 350 actions this week all across the country. It is a wonderful and marvelous witness.”
Hundreds of individual actions across the nation over the next seven days will take place ranging from vigils and fasts to sit-ins and marches.
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The White House press conference and sit-in was part of the national Declaration of Peace (DOP) campaign which calls for a change in U.S. policy towards Iraq including the withdrawal of troops and a new comprehensive plan for peace. More than 500 groups are part of the campaign, including the Methodist Federation for Social Action, Presbyterian Peace Fellowship, Baptist Peace Fellowship of North America, and the Roman Catholic Conference of Women Religious.
Following the press conference that included speeches by veterans and peace activists, the crowd organized themselves into rows and marched to the White House’s west gate to ask the Declaration of Peace, signed by the speakers and those who support the campaign, to be delivered to President Bush.
A White House sit-in on the sidewalk outside the west gate followed when security guards refused to accept the declaration. DOP reported that 36 people were arrested, most likely for disorderly conduct.
