The Peace Proclamation

Jahan Stanizai, a strong advocate for peace and non-violence, always challenged all of us with the fundamental question, Is Humanity Ready For Peace? As the President of the Culver City Area Interfaith Alliance, the subject of peace, of respect, of non-violence, of service, was always on the table for discussion. 

A major distinction between peace walkers and peace 'talkers' is that the former tend to act on what they say. The idea of a peace proclamation came about after members of the Culver City Area Interfaith Alliance came back from the Council for a Parliament of the World’s Religions that was held in Melbourne, Australia. Several members of the Alliance, from different faiths, came together over a period of 6 months to write the document you see on this page.

The “Peace Wakers’ Urgent Call for Global Action and Personal Pledge” was signed on July 4th, 2010 on the steps of Culver City Hall, and Reverend Doris Davis, former CCAIA President, literally walked across the continental USA asking people to sign this Peace Pledge.

We offer this pledge to you.

Read the document, sign it, and print a copy as your allegiance to Peace. (For a printer-friendly copy of the Peace Pledge click here and then drag and print the document.)

PS: we would like to keep track of your signatures and keep a record of all those who made a commitment to stand for peace. Please email your name to doriswdavis@earthlink.net.

Congratulations on stepping into a world where your commitment to peace can be felt!

The following members and associates of the Culver City Area Interfaith Alliance were instrumental in creating this declaration, first published on July 4, 2010:

Jahan Stanizai -- Muslim, President of the

Culver City Area Interfaith Alliance (2008-2013)

Lucy Bailey -- Christian Science

Penny Choy -- Methodist 

Sura Dasa -- Hare Krsna

Rev. Doris Davis -- Interfaith minister / Unity

Rev. Stephen Longfellow Fiske

Interfaith Unity and Diversity minister

Jennifer Glaser -- Christian Science

Rabbi Yehuda Grundman -- Jewish

Thomas M. Hedberg, Ph.D., LMFT Interfaith Chaplain

Sister Mary Jensch – Roman Catholic

Simran Kaur Khalsa – Sikh Dharma of L.A. 

Karen Macedonio -- Kabbalah student

Anthony Manousos -- Quaker

Mariam Nahapetyan Armenian Orthodox

Rev. Paul Nugent -- The Aetherius Society

Gene Rothman -- Jewish

THE PEACE WALKERS’ URGENT CALL FOR GLOBAL ACTION AND PERSONAL PLEDGE was inspired by – and emanates from – the Divine Consciousness flowing through us, and the spiritual ideals and writings of countless thinkers, leaders, peacemakers and traditions, but most notably: 

(In Alphabetic Order) 

Siddhartha Gautama Buddha, Deepak Chopra, A Course in Miracles, John Donne, Dwight D. Eisenhower, St. Francis of Assisi, Mohandas K. Gandhi, Thich Nhat Hahn, Dag Hammarskjold, Rabbi Hillel, Interfaith Communities United for Justice and Peace, Thomas Jefferson, Jesus of Nazareth, Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan, Martin Luther King, Jr., Hans Kung, Mother Theresa, A.J. Muste, Native American Traditions, Osho, Quaker Tradition, Jalaluddin Rumi, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Unity and Diversity World Council. 

PEACE WALKERS’ 

URGENT CALL FOR GLOBAL ACTION AND PERSONAL PLEDGE


 “There is no way to peace -- peace is the way."  

                                 --A.J. Muste 1885-1967


WE, the undersigned, as persons of spiritual conviction, hereby declare to all world leaders and international citizens of good will and conscience that all wars are categorically unjustifiable and obsolete -- destroying lives, shattering the collective human psyche, and immorally and recklessly squandering so much of the world’s common wealth.

WE further declare the following propositions as imperatives that we can and must embrace for the good of all humanity at this time of unprecedented global challenge, namely, that:

1.  PEACE IS A POWERFUL CHOICE.  It is a personal pledge:  “I take the vow of peace in my thoughts, my speech, and my actions.”  Whenever conflict arises I have the power to choose the way of peace, and renounce violence of every kind. 

2.  PEACE IS TRANSFORMATIVE.  When faced with the choice between love and fear, peace chooses love.  This principle has practical consequences in all spheres of our lives.  It is the process whereby the peaceful wayfarer becomes the peaceful way-shower.

3.  PEACE IS LIBERATING.  Each person is born with the unalienable rights of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.  The path of peace guarantees these rights and affirms freedom of speech, freedom of worship, freedom from fear and freedom from want, inspiring us to speak truth to power.

4.  PEACE IS COURAGEOUS.  Pursuing peace is neither pacifism nor appeasement.  Non-violent resistance is a force more powerful than violence.  By declaring an end to war as categorically unjustifiable and obsolete, each of us is challenged to become a spiritual warrior in the cause of peace.

5.  PEACE IS ETHICAL.  A global ethic of peace and justice already exists in all major faith traditions. “The Golden Rule”, simply stated, is “Treat others as you would have them treat you.”  When this rule is practiced and applied, it heals.

6.  PEACE IS HOLISTIC.  It acknowledges that no person is an island entire and sufficient unto oneself.  We are inter-dependent upon one another; therefore what hurts one hurts all, and what benefits one benefits all.

7.  PEACE IS NATURAL.  There is nothing more orderly, more lovely or more mysterious than the natural law of the Universe; for out of the pool of silent harmony and light flows unlimited peace, creativity and abundance of which we are each a part, and a child of the Mother Earth who nurtures us all.

8.  PEACE IS PRAYERFUL.  We each become an instrument of peace by connecting with a greater universal authority, called by many names, or no name.  Meditation and prayer are communion with the All in All.  Peace seeks reconciliation; it both gives and receives forgiveness.

9.  PEACE IS UNITY.  We are one family of mankind, one race of people, without strangers or enemies.  When we perceive ourselves in this way we build a culture of peace based upon good and beneficial interactions on all levels of human endeavor.

10. PEACE IS DIVERSITY.  Peace is unbiased.  It abides equally with all, in all, and as all, honoring all paths and origins.  Just as the ocean accepts all rivers, so peace welcomes us all. 

11. PEACE IS PRACTICAL.  Peace requires wise stewardship of the planet’s precious resources for ecologically sustainable uses in shared humanitarian causes.

12. PEACE IS ACHIEVABLE. The desire for peace will bring peace and the beginning of endless possibilities. The seed of peace dwells within us all, awaiting the birth of a new paradigm that transforms violence by nurturing loving kindness.

13. PEACE IS A SACRED TRUST.  It is not for ourselves alone that we pursue peace, but as an essential legacy unto all generations.  Our planet cries out for a livable future with each of us serving as responsible co-creators.  Our children deserve no less.

THEREFORE,

I ______________________________________________                  name

on this ____ day of ____________________, ________.            #                      month                             year

hereby pledge to walk in peace, and count myself among “the men and women of a generation to whom the chance is given to build in time a world of peace.”