We had a very nice gathering in Lewisburg, WV last night with Dances of Universal Peace, prayers for peace from eight world religious traditions, a reading of part of Senator Byrd’s address before the U.S. Senate last week urging a new plan to end the War, and at the end a candle light closing. Sponsorship came from the Quaker Meeting and the Nascent Unitarian Greenbrier Spiritual Community. Our greatest joy was that we Southern West Virginians could thank all three members of our Congressional delegation (Rockefeller, Byrd, and Rahall) for their at-least-implied, if not explicit support of the Declaration’s goals.
Tonight in Beckley, the Vigil will be sponsored by the Beckley Mosque and Interfaith FM 104.1. Our sadness will be that the Islamic students, who attend college here, will absent themselves out of fear that the INS will deport them if they participate. What has this Bush administration done to impoverish the freedoms and hospitality we have been able to show our foreign guests when in the past they have been visitors to our land? This is a very sad state of affairs indeed.
George Exoo Beckley WV