CC Image courtesy of gregwest98 on Flickr
WASHINGTON DC (December 9, 2019) Today, 32 faith-based organizations and 70 faith leaders delivered an open letter to all 2020 presidential candidates urging them to call for significant cuts to the nation’s military budget and a renewed investment in funding education, healthcare, and other vital domestic programs. Read the full letter and view signatories here: www.afsc.org/CutPentagon
“Though varied in practice and theology, all of our various faith traditions call us to honor the sacred dignity of each person and to attend to the needs of society’s most vulnerable people both in the United States and abroad,” reads the letter. “It is immoral to spend excessively on the weapons and conduct of war, especially at the cost of food for the hungry, healthcare for the sick, education for our children, and prevention of and recovery from violent conflict.”
Organizational signatories include representatives of many faith traditions, including Baptists, Mennonites, Reconstructionist Jews, Quakers, Presbyterians, Catholics, United Church of Christ, and Church of the Brethren. Individual faith leaders who signed on include rabbis, pastors, reverends, and others. They want military spending to be a priority issue in the presidential debates, and are also pressuring candidates who do advocate cuts to military spending to outline exactly how much they plan to cut.
The letter was signed by the American Friends Service Committee – a Quaker organization that was a co-recipient of the 1947 Nobel Peace Prize on behalf of Quakers everywhere.
“We believe that sustainable peace can only be achieved through shared security approaches that ensure mutual, long-term wellbeing,” explained Aura Kanegis, the director of the American Friends Service Committee’s Office of Public Policy and Advocacy. “The federal government's budget is a reflection of our values as a nation. We should be spending in a way that uplifts our communities and invests in nonviolent solutions to conflict.”
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The American Friends Service Committee is a Quaker organization that includes people of various faiths who are committed to social justice, peace and humanitarian service. Its work is based on the belief in the worth of every person and faith in the power of love to overcome violence and injustice.