Olive Branch Interfaith Peace Partnership

"I should like to be able to love my country and still love justice. I don't want any greatness for it, particularly a greatness born of blood and falsehood. I want to keep it alive by keeping justice alive." --Albert Camus

"What"?!!!

"What are you going to Iran for?"

That is the response I get from friend, foe, and loved ones alike. The conversations take a more inquisitive turn when I say that I am leading a civilian diplomacy mission to Iran on the behalf of the Fellowship of Reconciliation. "What do you hope to accomplish?" they ask.

The need for real dialog, candid debate, and mutual respect among various faith traditions is central to bridging the widening gap between religions at home and aboard. The claim that peace sits at the center of the Abrahamic faiths begins by "walking together" in the quest for justice. For five years, a group of faithful folks have walked together in Philadelphia, PA. On May 18th, they will continue to make the road of hope, peace and justice by walking to a Christian Church, Unitarian gathering place, a mosque, and synagogue. Please join them. For more information go to: www.interfaithpeacewalk.org

Walk together children and don't you get weary.
There is a great camp meeting in the Promised Land
- Negro Spiritual

On April 9th, 1968, thousands gathered at Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, GA to bid farewell to the American prophet, Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. A teaming sea of folks from every hue and class came to bear witness to the non-violent preacher killed by an assassin's bullet. In our archives at the Fellowship of Reconciliation, we have the membership card of Dr. King.

Yes, Dr. King was a card carrying member of the Fellowship of Reconciliation. FOR supported the work of the civil rights movement. FOR staffer and organizer par excellence Bayard Rustin was dispatched to Montgomery in 1955 to assist in the development of a movement that would combine Gandhian Nonviolence and Black Social Protest. This combination was for Rustin like jazz.