The Interfaith working group brings different religious and spiritual communities together to highlight the immorality of nuclear weapons and the responsibility of faith-based communities to work for peace, cooperative security and a nuclear-weapon-free world.
The Interfaith working group:
- organises prayer vigils at key international events – such as United Nations and NPT conferences – and helps facilitate interfaith presentations to these events;
- provides resources for faith based communities to reflect and act on the issue of nuclear disarmament;
- promotes faith-based statements on nuclear disarmament, such as A Nuclear-Weapon-Free World: Our Common Good, the international joint statement of religious leaders, mayors and parliamentarians, and Now is the Time, a joint statement of UK religious leaders;
- promotes key days for observance by faith-based communities including August 6 (Hiroshima Day), August 9 (Nagasaki Day), September 21 (International Day for Peace) and September 26 (International Day for the Total Elimination of Nuclear Weapons).
Resources:
- Nuclear Disarmament Resource Guide for Religious Leaders and Communities. Published by Religions for Peace. Also published in Arabic, French, German, Japanese and Spanish).
- Video: Prayer for a Nuclear-Weapon-Free World. Promoted by United Religions Initiative
- Other peace prayers. Compiled by Christian CND
Statements:
- A Nuclear-Weapon-Free World: Our Common Good, international joint statement of religious leaders, mayors and parliamentarians. Available in Arabic, English, French, German, Japanese, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish. Click here for the list of endorsers.
- Now is the Time, a joint statement of UK religious leaders.
- Interfaith statement on Humanitarian Impact of Nuclear Weapons, delivered to the Oslo Conference on the Humanitarian Consequences of Nuclear Weapons March 2013.
- Interfaith statement on nuclear weapons, delivered to the Vienna Conference on the Humanitarian Impact of Nuclear Weapons, December 2014
Note: A number of other faith-based statements on nuclear disarmament are included in the Nuclear Disarmament Resource Guide for Religious Leaders and Communities.
Group members:
Waheed Ahmad (International Peace and Harmony Forum of Lahore High Court Bar Association), Caroline Gilbert (Christian CND), Jonathan Granoff (Parliament of the World’s Religions), Mark Harrison (United Methodist General Board of Church and Society), Kimiaki Kawai (Soka Gakkai International), Kyoichi Sugino (Religions for Peace), Alyn Ware (Religions for Peace/PNND), Monica Willard (United Religions Initiative).
Contact alyn@pnnd.org