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Interfaith convergence stokes energy for nonviolent change
by Ken Butigan
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to help support this event
Southern Nevada's Interfaith
Council is organizing a celebration of Active
Nonviolence, with the generous help of Nevada Desert
Experience and Pace e Bene Nonviolence Service.
The event was the brainchild of Peter Ediger (1932-2012),
poet, peace-maker, and veteran of many nonviolent
campaigns and embraced by the Interfaith Council,
who renamed it in Peter's honor after his
death. We are honored to bring this
celebration to life!
Peter co-founded Nevada Desert Experience in 1984
and Pace
e Bene Nonviolence Service in 1989. Peter most
recently worked with Pace e Bene and with Family
Promise, a local organization that assisted
homeless familes. For many years he was actively
involved with Nevada Desert Experience, and served
as a member of the core group of the Las
Vegas Catholic Worker.
Vibrant movements for dignity and social justice
are emerging in faith communities throughout the
world. The celebration honors the spirit of active
nonviolence with presenters who are life-long peace
workers, authors and scholars.
Vincent
Harding is
chairperson of the Veterans
of Hope Project: A Center for the Study of
Religion and Democratic Renewal. He was the
academic adviser for Public Broadcasting's famous Eyes
on the Prize documentary about the civil rights
movement, was friends with Martin Luther King,
Jr. and is credited with drafting King's famous
speech, “Why I
Oppose the War in Vietnam.”
Kathy Kelly is founder of Voices
for Creative Nonviolence, based in Chicago.
Members of Voices led over 70
delegations to Iraq to challenge the economic sanctions
and were present in Baghdad in resistance to the
2003 U.S. military invasion. Since 2009, Voices has
led five delegations to Afghanistan and two to
Pakistan to listen to and learn from nonviolent
grassroots movements and to raise awareness about
the impacts of U.S. militarism in the region. Kathy
is joining us after retunring from a recent Afghanistan
trip.
Mary Litell OSF will facilitate
an exercise to help participants discern why they
consider some actions violent or nonviolent. Mary
is a trainer with Pace
e Bene Nonviolence Service and
also with Capacitar
International which helps trauma-stricken
refugees learn practical coping techniques.
Joining
the program for the evening panel, Nonviolence
in Action, will be Rae Abileah,
a co-director of CODEPINK
Women for Peace and a founding member of Young,
Jewish and Proud as well as Ahmed Younis,
Co-author of American
Blackness: Reflective Thoughts by Men of Faith (Roman & Littlefield,
Fall 2012) and from 2008 to 2012, Senior Analyst
for the Gallup Center for Muslim Studies.
A capella music by members
of the St. James the Apostle Catholic
Church Gospel Choir under the direction
of Susan Briare will stir our souls.
We're
asking you to support this continuation of Ediger’s
work to lift up “Faith,
Hope and Love as alternatives to Cynicism, Despair
and Fear." We
are raising funds now to make this a successful
community event that will attract a broad audience
of inter-faith participants.
Peter Ediger (1932-2012)
