August 9 White House Prayer Service

Opening Song: Peace, Salaam, Shalom
TODAY IS AUGUST, 9, THE 62ND ANNIVERSARY OF THE US NUCLEAR BOMBING OF NAGASAKI . -
Read Account of US bombing on Nagasaki. 

Shadow on the Rock by Dan Berrigan

At Hiroshima there's a museum and outside that museum there's a rock and on that rock there's a shadow.
That shadow is all that remains of the human being who stood there on August 6, 1945 when the nuclear age began.
In the most real sense of the word, that is the choice before us.
We shall either have end war and the nuclear arms race now in this generation, or we will become shadows on the rock.

Song : Song of A-Bomb victims -

Litany of Repentance
Response: Forgive us O God

For our nation's development and use of nuclear weapons, Forgive us O God
For the over 200,000 innocent people incinerated in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Forgive us O God
For the countless Japanese A-Bomb survivors who have suffered from the effects of nuclear radiation, Forgive us O God
For the countless people who have suffered and died from nuclear testing in the South Pacific, Forgive us O God
For workers in nuclear facilities who have been exposed to radiation,
For those those living downwind from nuclear facilities who have contracted cancer and other illnesses, Forgive us O God
For those prisoners and mentally retarded who were subjects of  nuclear radiation experiments, For the US-use of highly toxic radioactive depleted uranium weapons in Iraq, Yugoslavia, and Afghanistan which have claimed untold lives, Forgive us O God
For the millions who needlessly suffered and died --past and present--becuase of the money and resources that have been spent ion weapons and war instead of on alleviating poverty and preventable diseases, Forgive us O God
For desecrating the earth and endangering the ecosysystem with nuclear technology and other poisons, Forgive us O God
For placing our trust in the false security of weapons and mammon rather than in God,  Forgive us, O God.                                                                                

TODAY IS AUGUST 9, THE ANNIVERSARY OF THE MARTYRDOM OF FRANZ JAGERSTATTER and  SR. EDITH STEIN

Today, as we face a fascist power structure that is hell-bent on destroying everything in its wake in it's quest for empire and global domination, let us be filled with the same hope, courage and faithfulness of Franz Jagerstatter and Sr. Edith Stein, a Carmelite nun who died in Auschwitz on Aug. 9, 1942.

Let us now listen to an account of Franz Jagerstatter's witness in resistance to the Nazis.

Read Account of Franz Jagersttater's resistance to Nazism(not included here)
As we committ ourselves to deepen our resistance to the powers and principalities, let us be filled with hope and live out the following words:

Albert Camus: "What the world expects of Christians is that Christians should speak out, loud and clear, and that they should voice their condemnation in such a way that never a doubt, never the slightest doubt, could arise in the heart of the simplest person. They they should get away from abstraction and confront the blood-stained face history has taken on today." 

Dorothy Day (co-founder of the Catholic Worker): "The peace movement knows there's something fundamentally evil about this society. Kent state and the killing of the students. All the years of killing in Vietnam. All the murderous weapons sold throughout the world. All the endured violence of the Civil Rights struggles and the freedom rides and sit-ins. Through all this one comes to know the seriousness of the situation and to realize it's not going to be changed just by demonstrations. it's a question of risking one's life. it's a question of living one's life in drastically different ways ."

Martin Luther King, Jr.King: "These are revolutionary times. All over the globe men are revolting against old systems of exploitation and oppression and out of the wombs of a frail world new systems of justice and equality are being born. The shirtless and barefoot people of the land are rising up as never before. "The people who sat in darkness have seen a great light."  Our only hope today lies in our ability to recapture the revolutionary spirit and go out into a sometimes hostile world declaring eternal hostility to poverty, racism, and militarism... Now let us rededicate ourselves to the long and bitter -- but beautiful -- struggle for a new world. This is the callling of the sons [children]of God, and our brothers [and sisters] wait eagerly for our response. Shall we say the odds are too great? Shall we tell them the struggle is too hard? Will our message be that the forces of American life militate against their arrival as full men, [and women]and we send our deepest regrets? Or will there be another message, of longing, of hope, of solidarity with their yearnings, of commitment to their cause, whatever the cost? The choice is ours, and though we might prefer it otherwise we must choose in this crucial moment of human history."

Margaret Mead: "Never doubt that a small group of thoughful committed citizens can change the world. Indeed it's the only thing that ever does." 

Remember Political Prisoners: We remember today all political prisoners, including Leonard Peltier and Mumia Abu-Jamal, Alice Gerard and other SOA Watch Prisoners, imprisoned nuclear resisters, including Helen Woodson, and all those who are resisting war today, including the Iraq Veterans Against the War.

Let us now listen to some inspiring words and stories of some of these Iraq veterans.

Excerpt from Camilo Mejia ( the first US soldier to serve a prison term for refusing to deploy to Iraq ):  "I realized that I was part of a war that I believed was immoral and criminal, a war of aggression, a war of imperial domination. I realized that acting upon my principles became incompatible with my role in the military, and I decided that I could not return to Iraq... By putting my weapon down, I chose to reassert myself as a human being. I have not deserted the military or been disloyal to the men and women of the military. I have not been disloyal to a country. I have only been loyal to my principles... When I turned myself in, with all my fears and doubts, it did it not only for myself. I did it for the people of Iraq, even for those who fired upon me-they were just on the other side of a battleground where war itself was the only enemy. I did it for the Iraqi children, who are victims of mines and depleted uranium. I did it for the thousands of unknown civilians killed in war. My time in prison is a small price compared to the price Iraqis and Americans have paid with their lives. Mine is a small price compared to the price Humanity has paid for war... I apologize to the Iraqi people. To them I say I am sorry for the curfews, for the raids, for the killings. May they find it in their hearts to forgive me... One of the reasons I did not refuse the war from the beginning was that I was afraid of losing my freedom. Today, as I sit behind bars I realize that there are many types of freedom, and that in spite of my confinement I remain free in many important ways. What good is freedom if we are afraid to follow our conscience? What good is freedom if we are not able to live with our own actions? I am confined to a prison but I feel, today more than ever, connected to all humanity. Behind these bars I sit a free man because I listened to a higher power, the voice of my conscience."

Anti-war Iraq Veterans Detained at Ft. Jackson:

On June 29, five members of Iraq Veterans Against the War (IVAW) were handcuffed and detained by police at Ft. Jackson after attempting to meet a fellow IVAW member who is stationed on the base for lunch. When asked why they were being held, the police answered that it was illegal for them to wear t-shirts that read, “Iraq Veterans Against the War.” The veterans were then hand-cuffed and taken to the military police station. They were later released. 

Iraq Veterans Arrested at Ft. Benning :

Lieutenant Ehren Watada -- ( Lt. Watada is currently facing charges on seven counts, including missing movement, contempt towards officials, and conduct unbecoming an officer and gentleman. If convicted, Lt. Watada faces over eight years in prison. Political charges of “contempt towards the president” have been dropped, but four years of prison are still possible for political speech critical of Iraq War. The trial date is not yet set).   

“The war in Iraq violates our democratic system of checks and balances. It usurps international treaties and conventions that by virtue of the Constitution become American law. The wholesale slaughter and mistreatment of the Iraqi people with only limited accountability is not only a terrible moral injustice, but a contradiction to the Army's own Law of Land Warfare. My participation would make me party to war crimes.”

“Normally, those in the military have allowed others to speak for them and act on their behalf. That time has come to an end. I have appealed to my commanders to see the larger issues of our actions. But justice has not been forthcoming. My oath of office is to protect and defend America's laws and its people. By refusing unlawful orders for an illegal war, I fulfill that oath today.”

Rev. Lennox Yearwood, Jr. Targetted by Air Force :
(Excerpts of Rev. Yearwood's "Letter to America")

Many of you know me as a reverend, an activist, an architect of Hip Hop politics and a freedom fighter, but I am also an Officer in the United States Air Force Reserve. I have long been in the struggle for peace and freedom and I serve proudly as a leader of faith. I joined the military as part of the "poor peoples draft" - to help pay for my education. In May 2000 I was commissioned as an Officer in the U.S. Air Force Reserve and was accepted into the Chaplain Candidates program. In 2002 I graduated from Howard University School of Divinity, Magna Cum Laude. I was ordained a Reverend and Elder in the Church of God in Christ shortly after my graduation and today I remain in good standing in the Church. In May 2003 I completed the Chaplain Candidates program, but I decided not to pursue a career as a Chaplain in the Air Force. I have been in the Air Force Reserve Individual Reserve program ever since.

On March 26th of this year I received notification from the Air Force that they are taking action to honorably discharge me on the basis of "behavior clearly inconsistent with the interest of national security." Ironically, this letter arrived six days after I announced the launching of a national "Make Hip Hop Not War" Tour at a press conference on Capitol Hill.

-Litany of the Cloud of Witnesses

-Song: Do Not be Overcome by Evil

TODAY WE LIVE IN A EMPIRE WHICH THREATENS ALL LIFE ON EARTH From the conquest of the Americas to Nagasaki to Iraq, colonial and imperial forces of domination has caused untold suffereng and death for the peoples of the world. The U.S. government's use of unrelenting military violence in Iraq and Afghanistan has resulted in the devastation of these two nations, the death of hundreds of thousands of civilians, countless people physically and emotionally maimed for life, the deaths of over 3,300 US soldiers and untold environmental destruction.       Violence and killing have become the norm in our society. As Phil Berrigan put it: "War is America's #1 business and we are a violent, killer people." Moreover, the nuclear peril and the global climate crisis now threaten to bring the human venture to an end. Today we live in an empire that threatens all life on earth.

Let us pray together this Litany of Repentance and Conversion Response: We remember you

For the countless native peoples who were systematically killed during the European conquest of the Americas, we pray
For the millions of Africans who were kidnapped and killed by white colonizers during the slave trade, we pray
For all those who are dehumanized, deemed expendable and condemned to the cross of exploitation, oppression, racism and US warmaking, we pray
For the poor and all victims who continue to suffer and die because of US greed and empire, we pray
For the victims of Katrina who were displaced and killed because of government neglect and failure by state officials to have an adequate evacuation plan in place, especially for the poor, we pray
For all who have died as a result of US warmaking in Iraq and Afghanistan, we pray
For the four Guantanamo priosners who have died and the closing of the Guantanamo military prison, we pray
For all prisoners, from death row to Guantanamo, who are victimized by a system based on vengeance and retribution rather than on restorative justice and healing, we pray
Response: O God Help Us to be Your Peacemakers
That we recognize that all of life is interconnected, simplify our life-style, share our resources and do all we can to protect the earth and save our planet, we pray
That we disarm our hearts of fear and violence, we pray
That we disarm all weapons and abolish war, we pray
That we repent for and end the sin of US warmaking in Iraq, we pray That we repent for and end the sin of US warmaking in Afghanistan, we pray
That we repent for and end the sin of the US practice of torture, we pray
That we close Guantanamo and all other secret torture centers, we pray That the U.S. withdraw all economic and military aid from Israel because of its illegal and immoral occupation of the West Bank and Gaza, we pray
That we commit our lives to resisting Empire and the tripple evils of racism, materialism and militarism, as we strive to create the beloved community, where all life is held sacred and the rights of all people are respected and upheld, we pray
That we seek to be the change we want to see in the world and convert our lives to the way of nonviolence, we pray --

Song: Vine and Fig Tree