Religious Leaders, Peace Activists Pray, Chant, Sing for Nuclear Disarmament

May 2, 2010

Author: Lynette Wilson

Source: Episcopal Life Online

http://www.episcopalchurch.org/79425_121958_ENG_HTM.htm

Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori was among religious leaders and activists gathered in New York May 2 at the Church Center for the United Nations for "For Peace and Human Needs Disarm Now!" -- an interfaith convocation for the abolition of nuclear weapons.

"It's a very important witness by many, many faith communities from around the globe to the difficulty and the problem of nuclear weapons," said Jefferts Schori, when asked about the convocation's importance. "People have gathered here in advance of the U.N. meetings this coming week to express their concern and to call for an end to the possibility of nuclear war."

Other faith leaders participating in the standing-room-only interfaith convocation in advance of the May 3-28 U.N. Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty conference included the Rev. Michael Kinnamon, general secretary of theNational Council of Churches; Roman Catholic Archbishop of Nagasaki Joseph Mitsuaki Takami, a survivor of the 1945 atomic bombing of Nagasaki, Japan; Haruko Yaguchi, coordinator of Japanese Religionists for Peace; and Swami Parameshananda, international representative of Bharat Sevashram Sangha.