Interfaith Peace Working Group Statement in Support of UW Madison Student Protest

May 6, 2024

Love and compassion are central in the teaching of all major faiths—Jewish, Christian, Islamic, Buddhist, Hindu, Sikh—and in the lives of many agnostic and atheistic people and communities. These are values we all cherish as human beings and that bring us together and empower us to work to end war.

We, members of the Interfaith Peace Working Group, support the University of Wisconsin–Madison students’ opposition to the Israeli military campaign in Gaza. The students are responding to the immense human suffering of the people in Gaza, over 35,000 of whom have died since October 2023 due to bombings, shootings and deliberate prevention of access to food, clean water, housing and medical care. Two-thirds of the Gaza victims have been women and children.

In their protest gatherings and encampments, students are using non-violent tactics to call attention to what is happening in Gaza. They are brave; in speaking out, they face suspensions, expulsions and some face revocation of student visas. The students are not antisemitic; they exercise their right to free speech. It is possible to criticize the Israeli government’s brutal occupation of the West Bank and its genocidal campaign in Gaza while at the same time respecting Jewish identity and culture.

We applaud the UW-Madison administrators’ decision to remove the police presence at the student encampment. We ask that there be no punishment of any UW-Madison students, faculty or staff engaged in these protests: no arrest, suspension, ​​​​expulsion, academic discipline, loss of residential privileges or employment. We also ask the UW-Madison administration to continue its negotiations with students who are demanding an end to University investments in companies that profit from the ongoing violence in Gaza and the West Bank.

Students and administrators at the University of Minnesota, Northwestern, Rutgers and Brown have already come to agreements. In Minnesota, students agreed to take down their encampment and the University agreed to share information on its investments, to support the Palestinian student body and take no disciplinary action against students involved in the encampment.

By insisting that the U.S. government has the power to stop the Israeli government’s genocidal campaign in Gaza, the students are providing a model of civil engagement and activism for the rest of us. Accompaniment of those who are suffering is their motivating force.

OUR MISSION

The Interfaith Peace Working Group (IPWG) is made up of advocates from communities of faith and conscience committed to the struggle for justice, peace and the care of creation. The specific purposes of the IPWG are to:

1. Educate the public about the theory and practice of nonviolence and advocate for its use in the struggle for peace, justice and the care of creation.

2. Work for the demilitarization of our society by educating people about the negative effects of spending more than half of the nation’s discretionary funds on the military and advocating that a significant percentage of these military expenditures be used instead to fund projects addressing urgent human and environmental needs.

IPWG works in coalition with other groups on peace, justice and environmental issues, all of which we understand to be interrelated.

OUR HISTORY

The Interfaith Peace Working Group (IPWG) was founded in 2017 by a small group of people from several different faith traditions and communities of conscience who cared deeply about peace at home and in the world. They realized that many churches had been addressing racism, economic injustice and environmental issues. But few were focusing on the theory and practice of nonviolence as practiced by Gandhi and MLK Jr. and the effectiveness of nonviolent campaigns in promoting human rights, democracy, social and economic equality and protection of the environment around the world.

A related concern of IPWG was that few faith communities were addressing the increasing militarization of U.S. society. Massive defense spending on military equipment deployed by local police departments, the deployment of military forces on the US border with Mexico, the maintenance of 800 U.S. military installations around the world, new nuclear and other weapon systems and the funding of armed conflicts all over the world has been a threat to world peace. It has also deprived the US of the resources needed to address urgent human and environmental needs at home.

NEWSLETTER

IPWG publishes a quarterly newsletter containing:

• reflections on the role of nonviolence in the life and teaching of the world’s major faith communities

• reviews of educational and liturgical resources on nonviolence appropriate for use in local faith communities

• information about local, regional, and national nonviolence events and actions

• articles about policy issues and actions related to international peace and nonviolent action

• information about U.S. military expenditures and efforts to reduce it

IPWG’s newsletter is free, but donations to help cover the cost of producing it are welcome. You can subscribe to the newsletter using the form at the bottom of this page.

See past issues of the newsletter on the Resources page.

ALERTS

Occassionally, IPWG sends alerts on urgent and time-sensitive peace and nonviolence issues and actions. These alerts contain basic information about the issue and an invitation to participate in a particular action related to it. You can subscribe to receive alerts using the form at the bottom of this page.

SPEAKERS

IPWG can arrange speakers for local congregations who can speak about subjects, such as the role of nonviolence in Christianity, Judaism, Islam, or other faiths, the power of nonviolence as a tool in struggles for peace and justice, the military budget of the U.S. and its effects on our society, and the efforts to reduce U.S. military spending and transfer funds to civil projects.

There is no charge for these presentations, although donations to the IPWG are encouraged.

MEMBERSHIP

IPWG is a membership organization. We invite you to become a member by sending a membership contribution in an amount of your own choosing, but no less than $10.00. Write checks to Wisconsin Conference, UCC and write IPWG in the memo line. Your membership contribution will be used to support our work for peace and nonviolence.

WE MUST STOP SHOWERING THE MILITARY WITH MONEY—Farhad Manjoo, NYT Opinion

“You don’t have to be a pacifist to wonder if this imbalance between military and nonmilitary spending makes sense. When we face so many other major challenges—from climate disasters to political instability and insurrection—shouldn’t we ask whether it remains wise to keep handing the military what is effectively a blank check?”

BREAD NOT STONES 2022: REDIRECT MILITARY SPENDING— Pax Christi USA

“‘Is there anyone among you who, if your child asks for bread, will give a stone?’ (Mt 7:9)

Who would give a stone to a child asking for bread? And yet, too many people—especially children—do not have access to the resources they need to develop to their fullest human potential...The military budget continues to grow while our hungry children go unfed. The need for nonviolent solutions remains more urgent than ever.”

AVAILABLE PRESENTATIONS

JESUS’ UNREALISTIC CALL TO LOVE

BY DUANE BEACHEY

Duane Beachey is a retired Mennonite pastor, who most recently pastored two Presbyterian churches in the Appalachian region of Kentucky. He is author of two books: Faith in a Nuclear Age, Herald Press, 1983 and Reading the Bible As If Jesus Mattered, Cascadia Publishing, 2014. His theme in both books is that while Christians claim to follow Jesus, to a large degree they ignore Jesus’ nonviolent teachings like “Love your enemy!”

This presentation will look at the ways the church gets around this teaching of Jesus by pointing to the wars of Israel or quoting and misinterpreting Paul’s words in Romans 13, thereby canceling out Jesus’ teaching “love your enemy.” It will also look at how Jesus’ call to love and nonviolence relates to the nature of God.

If you would like to have Duane speak to your group, contact him here or use the contact form on the Contact Us page.