Source: The Boston Globe

On January 28, 2003 The Boston Globe reported that "at the Capitol in Washington, amid all the pomp and circumstance that Congress can muster, President Bush is expected to lay out his case tonight for a possible war... At the same time, at Boston's storied Trinity Church, leaders of many of the state's religious traditions will be gathering in their full liturgical finery to make their own case, for peace... Bishop M. Thomas Shaw, leader of the Episcopal Diocese of Massachusetts, [organized] tonight's religious event, at which Buddhists, Christians, Hindus, Jews, Muslims, and Sikhs plan to pray together against war. Asked whether he shouldn't be watching the president on TV tonight, Shaw said, 'I'm going to be right where I should be, in church, surrounded by the support of the faith community...' Some religious leaders acknowledge disappointment that they seem unable, even in one of the most religious nations on earth, to more directly affect public policy. They are speaking out with something approaching a rare interfaith unity, and yet wonder if they are being heard. Among the sponsors of tonight's event is Bishop Susan W. Hassinger, who heads the New England Conference of the United Methodist Church, which is President Bush's denomination."