before. … The only way we can break
through is through the churches.”
“Rarely have the world’s religions spoken
in unity as they did trying to prevent this pre-
emptive war,” she says. “The pope said war
is not valid anymore — the weapons are too
horrible.”
SPEAKERS COMING
All War is a Failure
Lucy McIver, clerk of the Eugene Friends
Meeting, says in her statement, “all war is a
failure — failure to believe and trust in the
goodness at the core of humankind. … We
support strenuous efforts through diplomacy
to secure international agreements and to
remove the domination of militarism in our
society. … For those who believe that this
war was the only way to bring about (peace-
ful) change, we remind them that diplomacy
EVOLUTION OF FAITH
T w o Ri v e rs I nt e rf ai t h M in is tr i es ( TR I M)
formed in the late 1980s in response to anti-
gay ballot measures sponsored by the Oregon
Citizens Alliance (OCA).
“The crux of it,” says Irwin Noparstak, “was
the liberal clergy and laity in town wanted to
take a position around social and political
actions to make it really clear that when things
come up that ‘religious people support’ that
there’s more than the right wing.
“What happened with TRIM,” adds
Noparstak, “is that about five years ago the
group became so diverse, so many new people
came into TRIM who were coming from faith-
based communities that are not political action
communities … It was hard for TRIM to take a
position about things, so we created a sub-
sidiary or affiliate group called Faith in Action.”
Today TRIM has about 200 members, and
Faith in Action has about 45 to 50 members,
says Noparstak.
IRWIN NOPARSTAK & JOAN BAYLISS
brought about the fall of apartheid and the
dismantling of the Berlin Wall.”
A Sikh member of the group, Siri Karur
Khalsa, says, “The world has gotten very
small. Humanity is interdependent not only
with each other but with this great earth that
nurtures us all. … We must set examples of
deep respect for all that our children can
emulate, or risk losing it all.”
Gregory Flint, senior pastor at First
Congregational Church, says part of the
challenge of peace is to step above “ideolo-
gy, opinion, patriotic speeches and counter-
ing dissent.” In his statement he calls for
“real religious reflection on the footprints
we’re leaving on this earth.”
“So,” he asks, “could we stop waving the
flag and put away the protest signs and real-
ly talk in reflective, engaging ways, without
the hubris of either self-righteous patriotism
or breast-beating protest?”
Muslims Under Attack
Tammam Adi, director of the Islamic
Cultural Center of Eugene, speaks out
against the continuing backlash against
Muslims at home and abroad.
“We are the ones under attack,” he says.
“Under the cover of an endless ‘war on ter-
ror’ and so-called ‘wars of liberation,’ pow-
erless Muslim communities here and over-
seas are being smeared, then persecuted, and
finally assaulted and subjugated … Right in
front of our eyes we are seeing the extermi-
nation of Islamic culture — our antiquities,
villages, orchards and homes — in Iraq,
Afghanistan and Palestine.”
Adi says that everywhere, including
Eugene, some religious groups are teaching
that “Islam is evil and needs to be eradicat-
ed. … We ask you to openly confront,
expose and condemn those with your com-
munities who are so viciously attacking
Islamic culture.”
“We Muslims are doing our part,” he says,
“in confronting those few of us who hate
others and call for violence. We continue to
struggle against denial, hesitation and fear.”
Choosing Love or Hate
SIRI KHAN OF SIKH DHARMA
Dan Bryant, senior minister at First
Christian Church, did not submit a statement
at the press conference, but has been an out-
spoken critic of U.S. foreign policy from the
pulpit, as well as a strong advocate for social
services funding. In his sermon the Sunday
following 9/11, he said:
“I fear that this dark side of our nation, if
we do not expose and expunge it, may well
control and consume us in our blind zeal to
find blame and to get revenge. In times such
as these we must not forget that we have a
choice, always, when we are victimized by
evil. And the choice is simply this: We can
respond from love or we can respond from
hate.”
Arun Toké of the group put his statement
on the web at www.skippingstones.org along
with the complete texts of others’ statements
and information about upcoming interfaith
meetings. Toké, a “born-again Unitarian
Universalist Hindu,” calls for “Sept. 11th to
be observed as a National Day of Interfaith,
Intercultural and International Dialogue. We
wish to put wings to nonviolence, under-
standing and cooperation between various
Two nationally prominent speakers will
be in Eugene next week to bring their
unique perspectives on religion, politics and
world peace. In addition, a series of lectures
are planned by Muslim students on campus.
R on Yo u ng , executive director of the U.S.
Interreligious Committee for Peace in the
Middle East, will be the keynote speaker at
a community forum at 7 pm Tuesday, May
20 at the Hilton Conference Center.
The topic of the forum is “In Search of a
Just Peace for Palestine and Israel — What
Can We Do?” Respondents will be Shaul
Cohen, associate professor of geography at
UO; Munir Katul, retired physician and
activist on Palestinian and Arab issues; and
Steve Goldberg, attorney and co-chair of the
National Lawyers’ Guild International
Committee. Moderator will be Karen
Kennedy, country specialist on Israel and
the occupied territories for Amnesty
International.
One focus of the forum will be on the
Bush Administration’s new “road map” for
peace in Israel and the region, says one of
the organizers, Dan Goldrich. “This forum is
designed to answer questions such as:
What are the major requisites of and obsta-
cles to a just peace? How do Americans best
organize to overcome those obstacles? And
how does American policy impact the lack
of peace?”
F at he r Ro y B ou r ge o is , M M, founder of the
SOA Watch movement and recently returned
from Iraq, will be in Eugene to speak at 7
pm Thursday, May 22 at 177 Lawrence Hall,
UO. His topic will be “The School of the
Americas and Iraq: Reflections on U.S.
Foreign Policy.”
Bourgeois, a Catholic priest, worked with
the poor in Bolivia for several years and
knew two of the nuns who were murdered
in El Salvador in the 1980s. He became
aware of the relationship of the SOA with
massacres, torture and assassination
throughout Latin America. He has been
arrested many times in nonviolent protests
against the SOA and has spent four years in
prison. For more information, visit
www.soawatch.org
The U O M us li m St ud e nt As so ci at io n is
presenting a series to talks and discussions
on “Justice: Islamic Perspectives on Peace
and War” beginning at 6 pm Monday, May
12 in McKenzie 240 C on campus. Speakers
will be Prof. Timothy Fianotti and Tamam
Adi.
From 5 to 8 pm Tuesday will be talks by
Ibrahim Hamide, Prof. Ibrahim Gassama,
David Fidanque and Guadalupe Quinn, also
in McKenzie 240 C.
Wednesday from 5 to 8 pm in Lawrence
177 will be a presentation on “Faces of
Shock and Awe,” and talks by Prof. Shaul
Cohen, Prof. Jane Cramer, Prof. Richard
Kraus, and Prof. Carl Bybee.
Thursday from 5 to 7:30 pm in Gerlinger
Lounge will be an Islamic Cultural
Reception, a talk by Prof. Timothy Gianotti
and a reading of a Rumi “Poem for Peace.”
segments of the human society, and to let it
fly all over the world.”
The last paragraph of the joint statement of
April 30 reads: “We issue this statement
because we are challenged to witness our
faith and we need to express our concerns
over religious intolerance, the use of unilat-
eral and preemptive military action, endless
war, misallocation of monies, and the serious
need to see that local social services are kept
functioning.”
So was the press conference successful?
“Thirty people showed up and it was a won-
derful event,” says Deutsch. “The no-shows
were the media, but it had great value for
everyone present.”
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MAY 15, 2003 13