Photo by Mark Coplan
from the Ecumenical Peace Institute and Livermore Conversion Project
Faith-based Resistance to Nuclear Weapons
On Good Friday, April 19, around 70 people concerned about the continuing development of nuclear weapons gathered outside the Livermore Nuclear Weapons Laboratory in California. Rev. Will McGarvey, the pastor of Community Presbyterian Church in Pittsburg, spoke on the subject “Keeping Faith in the Face of Empire” at the early morning interfaith prayer service. Afterwards, the group walked about one-third of a mile to the lab’s West Gate, pausing along the way to meditate on the sufferings of the people represented at the Stations of the Cross of Empire. At the gate, there was a circle dance led by Dances for Universal Peace. Twenty-three activists were then arrested for blocking the gate.
At Livermore Lab, where new nuclear weapons continue to be designed, their nonviolent witness demonstrated their determination to protect the planet from the dangers of nuclear war and from the impending threat of climate disaster.
People of faith have gathered at Livermore Lab on Good Friday for over 35 years to call for an end to these weapons. The witness was sponsored by Ecumenical Peace Institute/CALC and the Livermore Conversion Project.
Photo by Mark Coplan
Photo by Mark Coplan