Posted by Robert Weir, district leader for the DoP campaign in Michigan’s 6th Congressional District

This past Sunday, April 15, 2007, the Rev. Marty Newman of Unity of Kalamazoo Church spoke about peace, drawing her inspiration from the Prayer of St. Francis, particularly the opening line, “Lord, make me an instrument of your peace.”

To her congregants, she spoke of the need for a Department of Peace and Nonviolence within our nation, devoting eight minutes of her 24-minute ministry to the DoP. She told of the history of the Department of Peace campaign, which began in the 1790s, was prevalent from the 1930s through the 1960s, and is growing in strength due to an influx of citizen lobbyists in the 2000s.

Interestingly, the Department of Peace campaign in this decade was not motivated primarily by international warfare. Rather, Dennis Kucinich first introduced the legislation prior to September 11, 2001, because of homeland violence within our country, as indicated by these statistics:

• Domestic violence is the single greatest cause of injury to women.
• In the U.S., youth homicide rates are more than 10 times that of other industrialized nations.
• One in three high school students in the U.S. say they have been in a physical fight in the past year, and one in eight of those students required medical attention for their injuries.
• A World Health Organization report in 2004 estimated that the cost of interpersonal violence in the U.S., excluding war-related costs, at $300 billion a year.

Rev. Marty cited these statistics, and others, to demonstrate just how violent the United States has become and why we must alter our consciousness to embrace the power and benefit of “peace through understanding” that comes from dialogue and discussion.

After Rev. Marty’s 11:00 service, campaign member Larry Higgins and I tabled in the church foyer, talking with persons and accepting donations for the campaign. Twenty-four persons added their names and contact information to our roster of interested members.

Over 80 persons in SW Michigan have joined the campaign in the last two months. Our roster now numbers 230, nearly 200 of whom receive these e-mail postings.

And, a year ago, this campaign didn’t exist in SW Michigan! This campaign is definitely growing and gaining momentum. We are changing the energy and the consciousness of our nation. And this is so necessary, as evidenced by the violence on the Virginia Tech campus this week.

We need people like the Rev. Marty Newman speaking of peace from the pulpit. We need you and me speaking of peace on street corners and grocery stores, in business offices and schools, in communities and civic organizations, in our homes and among our families.

Peace is a subject of faith, regardless of religious denomination. Peace is a right of life, regardless of race, age, gender, nationality, etc. Peace is what we must BE if we are to have peace in our world.

So, we must speak peace. We must raise the consciousness of peace. We must make peace a major part of our personal and national dialogue. We must be instruments of peace, adding our breath to the music and the message of peace.

Please do that—for everyone. Thank you.