FOR-USA photo
Interfaith Peace Witness Leads to Arrest of 25 at Lockheed Martin Facility in King of Prussia
by Paul Magno, Isaiah Project
On April 18, 2025, I stood with 24 fellow activists in a powerful interfaith act of witness outside Lockheed Martin in King of Prussia, Pennsylvania. It was Good Friday—a day that, within Christian tradition, remembers Jesus’ death, and its embodiment of loving sacrifice, nonviolence, and the call to justice. Together, we gathered not just as individuals, but as a united front of people of conscience, representing a broad array of faith-based groups, to speak out against war and the machinery that fuels it.
Over two hundred people of faith and conscience gathered for the demonstration, organized by the Brandywine Peace Community, Red Letter Christians and the Fellowship of Reconciliation, which brought together voices from Christian, Jewish, Muslim, Buddhist, and Quaker communities—each bringing their own prayers, chants, and sacred presence. We marked the day with songs of peace, solemn reflection, and the tolling of bells as we moved in silent procession toward the entrance of the largest weapons manufacturer in the world.
Lockheed Martin is deeply enmeshed in global militarization, producing weapons used in conflicts from Ukraine to Yemen to Gaza. Our action specifically called attention to the company’s role in the ongoing humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza, where U.S.-supplied bombs, drones, and F-35 fighter jets have played a devastating role.
Crossing onto company property was a deliberate, nonviolent act of moral resistance. We did so not to break the law for its own sake, but to confront a deeper injustice—the normalization of war as business. The arrests that followed were expected. What mattered most was bearing public witness: a collective cry for peace, an urgent call to end the arms trade, and a plea for a just future.
This Good Friday action was not isolated. It was part of a growing wave of faith-based and grassroots resistance across the country, echoing the calls for a ceasefire in Gaza and a transformation of U.S. foreign policy. As people of faith, we believe our sacred texts compel us to speak out—and to act—when human life and dignity are under assault.
We left the Lockheed gates in handcuffs, but with our heads held high. Our hope is not in weapons, but in solidarity, compassion, and the courage of community. The work continues.
FOR-USA photo
from Ariel Gold, FOR-USA Executive Director
Over the weekend, on Good Friday, about two hundred of us gathered outside Lockheed Martin, the largest weapons manufacturer in the world in King of Prussia. After singing and praying, grounded in the words of Jesus, “what you do unto the least of these, you do to me,” and yearning for liberation, as the Passover holiday calls for us to, we crossed over the Merchant of Death’s property line.
Twenty-five peace activists, clergy, and lay faith leaders were arrested. Among them were FOR Organizing Associate Saoirse DeMott Grady, FOR Director of Operations and Community Engagement, Susan Smith, and FOR National Council member Paul Magno, and me. “No More War Profiteering, Stop Arming Israel,” we cried.