Sign the petition asking that peacemakers be freedFaithful America is hosting a petition to free the peacemakers in Iraq.
Al Jazeera has reported on the Faithful America campaign and the kidnappers have now extended the deadline -- the hope is that the petition will influence the kidnappers or people in governmental or non-governmental organizations that can help free the peacemakers.
Sign the petition asking that peacemakers be freed.Four members of the Christian Peacemaker Team (CPT) in Baghdad were taken last Sunday and are held in Iraq. Those responsible have cited Thursday as a pivotal day unless all prisoners in US and Iraqi detention centers are released. These four are in addition to others also taken hostage.
CPT is an ecumenical peacemaking agency associated with the Church of the Brethren, Mennonites and Quakers. Its members are deeply committed to non-violent peacemaking and are willing to put their lives on the line to make it happen.
The four workers are: Tom Fox, 54, Clearbrook, Virginia, Norman Kember, 74, London, James Loney, 41, Toronto, Canada, Harmeet Singh Sooden, 32, a Canadian. More information on them are found at the Christian Peacemaker Teams website: www.cpt.org.
We encourage you to sign on to the following interfaith open letter which has been initially signed by several religious leaders. This letter will be transmitted to Al Jazeera TV which is the likely media channel for reaching those responsible, each day this week with the list of signatories.
Sign the petition asking that peacemakers be freed.The Petition:
To those who are holding the Christian Peacemakers Team in Iraq, and to people everywhere of all Traditions of Faith and Peace:
We who write you affirm what all the traditions teach that trace their spiritual origin to Abraham: Judaism, Christianity, and Islam all teach explicitly that to kill even one human being - even more strongly one who is doing no harm, most especially one who is seeking peace and nurturing human bodies and communities -- is to destroy a world. All other religious traditions agree about the holiness of human lives.
This teaching applies to all innocent Iraqis and foreigners who have been killed or taken away in Iraq out of anger against the US occupation - and it applies with special clarity and strength to the members of the Christian Peacemakers Team who are being held in Iraq. Like us, they too opposed the US attack. They came to serve the Iraqi people. They came not only to urge peace but also to live peace.
We who have opposed the US invasion and occupation of Iraq call on all who live in Iraq to seek the release of these people into safety and freedom. And we call on all people of good will everywhere to join in this call.
No doubt, those who planned and executed the US invasion and occupation of Iraq will cite this action as evidence for the rightness of their action. We utterly reject this logic, and affirm that the war undertaken by the US has multiplied the violence it pretended to oppose.
We hold morally responsible for the lives of these Christian Peacemakers both those in Iraq who have taken them, and those who have brought about the deaths of thousands of Iraqis and Americans by pursuing this war.
Once again, we call for a swift end to the US occupation of Iraq and for peaceful action by the entire human community to assist Iraqis to achieve their own self-government. And we send our loving prayers to those who have become victims of their own loving commitment to peace, justice, and healing.
Sign the petition asking that peacemakers be freed.DU'ers: The Christian peacemakers teams do not carry Christian literature, or preach or try to convert anyone. They don't wear their Christianity on their sleeves - they try to live it, by working to help provide people food, clothing, healthcare, safety. The CPT'ers see what is really happening in Iraq and take their stories home to tell others the truth.
Sign the petition asking that peacemakers be freed.