Olive Branch Interfaith Peace Partnership

On Tuesday, January 20, 2009, a new President will be inaugurated and begin to work with a new Congress. The day before, Monday January 19, is Martin Luther King's Birthday.

The Olive Branch Interfaith Peace Partnership and The Tent of Abraham, Hagar, and Sarah have undertaken to initiate an effort to make this extraordinary confluence of dates into a moment of transformation.

We propose that on January 19-20, religious and ethical communities and congregations around the country take part in public actions intended to point America toward fulfilling Dr. King’s vision.

One such action is already under way. In Washington on January 19, the Olive Branch Interfaith Peace Partnership will hold a celebratory service and teaching at which Vincent Harding of Iliffe School of Theology, one of Dr. King's closets advisers; Rev. Michael Kinnamon, general secretary of the National Council of Churches; Dr. Sayyid Syeed, general secretary of the Islamic Society of North America; Sammie Moshenberg of the National Council of Jewish Women; Mubarak Awad of nonviolence International; and Rev. William G. Sinkford of the Unitarian Universalist Association are already scheduled to speak.

Beyond this event in Washington, we hope to involve major denominations and other communities of faith and ethics in a nationwide observance of this time of transformation. Specifics of how to do this will be decided by each community; we especially hope that these efforts will include:

1. Leading up to this moment in January, focusing congregational study on Dr. King's speech at Riverside Church on April 4, 1967, exactly one year before his death, in which he called for the transformation of America's role in the world and an end to the three dangers haunting American society: militarism, racism, and materialism. See Dr. King's speech at -- http://www.shalomctr.org/node/71

2. Publicly affirming a pledge, in which citizens as part of their religious congregations and bodies make themselves personally responsible to work for Rebirthing America toward the vision of MLK. (See a draft of the Pledge below, taken almost entirely from the text of Dr. King's Riverside speech .)

3. Carrying out a candle-light Night Watch the night of January 19. – Candles might be lit in houses of worship and then carried into public space, perhaps with different churches/ synagogues/ mosques/ temples meeting and walking together to public parks.