World Refugee Day

Now when they had departed, behold,( an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, "Rise, take the child and his mother, and flee to Egypt, and remain there until I tell you, for Herod is about to search for the child, to destroy him." And he rose and took the child and his mother by night and departed to Egypt and remained there until the death of Herod. (Matthew 2:13-15)

World Refugee Day, observed June 20 each year, is dedicated to raising awareness of the situation of refugees throughout the world.

Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service

United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees

World Refugee Day - UN

World Refugee Day - Wikipedia

TUESDAY, JUNE 01, 2010

Torture Awareness Month

National and Washington State Religious Campaign Against Torture.

The suggested June action is as follows:

(1) Please try to have a table for action set up for every Sunday in June, publicizing it with something like "Torture Is A Moral Issue"

(2) On the table, have an adequate supply of postcards (provided by the National Religious Campaign Against Torture--how many do you need ?)
The message on the card is a request for the International Committee of the Red Cross to be given permission to have access to all prisoners held by USA forces in any country.

(3) Also on the table have a petition to be signed, urging Attorney General Eric Holder to move ahead in appointing a Commission of Inquiry about who ordered/authorized USA forces to use torture and include the option of a prosecutor if crimes have been committed.

(4) Try to arrange the showing of a 20 minute DVD "Ending US-Sponsored Torture Forever." (The DVD is free from NRCAT)

National Religious Campaign Against Torture - http://www.nrcat.org/

Interfaith Council for Peace & Justice

Amnesty International

Torture Awareness

National Religious Campaign Against Torture - Wikipedia

The Origins of Mother's Day

It has been 140 years since Mother's Day first came into being, yet few people know that it was originally conceived as a day for mothers to protest injustice and war. Over the years the activist observance of this holiday became squelched by its commercialization by flower and card companies that turned it into billion-dollar industry. There has been a recent movement to return Mother's Day to its original meaning.

read more:

The Original Anti-War Mother's Day

Soap to Ploughshares: How to return Mother's Day to its original meaning.

CODEPINK Observes Mother's Day With Protest

Mothers' Day Proclamation: Julia Ward Howe, Boston, 1870

Mother’s Day for Peace: A Dramatic Reading of Julia Ward Howe’s Mother’s Day Proclamation

Mother's Day Proclamation

Original Mother's Day a war protest

Mothers Acting Up

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Conscientious Objectors' Day - May 15th

A conscientious objector (CO) is an “individual who has claimed the right to refuse to perform military service" on the grounds of freedom of thought, conscience, or religion.

Many conscientious objectors can find themselves in a very difficult situation, especially in times of war. One of the initial motivations for the formation of a Lutheran peace movement in the US was the need to support those resisting the draft through conscientious objection to military solutions to conflict. Lutheran Peace Fellowship has a long history of supporting conscientious objectors and traces its roots to this movement dating back to 1940.

for more information:

Conscientious objector - From Wikipedia

Youth and the Military

Soldiers of Conscience
film on moral challenges of military service.
Watch clips on Youtube

International Conscientious Objector Day May 15

History of Conscientious Objectors' Day

St. Martin of Tours Feast Day