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Commemorating the 10th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, a panel discussion will be held on Sunday September 11th by the Interfaith Communities United for Justice and Peace (ICUJP). The goal of the event is to discuss the effects of “US War-Making” over the past ten year and what people can do to help “repair communities here and abroad.” The ICUJP was founded just one week after the terrorist attacks, as a way for people of various faiths to organize responses to war. The group has continued to meet every Friday since 2001. At this Sunday’s event, sponsored by KPFK, ICUJP will also honor one of its founders, Rev. Dr. George Regas the rector emeritus of All Saints Church in Pasadena, one of the most progressive religious institutions in Southern California. As a rector of the church for 28 years Regas was a vocal opponent of the Vietnam War, the arms race, and the Gulf war. He also initiated many progressive programs in the church such as: an AIDS service center and a medical program for uninsured children. He was outspoken in his opposition to the Iraq war, stating in a sermon less then a month after the attacks, “[r]eligious communities must stop blessing war…The building of a just world needs brilliance in diplomacy and leadership equal to our wizardry in warfare.” In 2004, Regas gave a sermon titled, “If Jesus debated Senator Kerry and President Bush,” a fictional dialogue between these three characters, where Jesus addresses President Bush thus: “Mr. President, your doctrine of preemptive war is a failed doctrine. Forcibly changing the regime of an enemy that posed no imminent threat has led to disaster.” This sermon led to an investigation by the IRS into the church’s tax exempt status over whether it was a political endorsement. After two years of investigation by the IRS the case was dropped with little explanation. All Saints Church, where Sunday’s anniversary event is to be held, continues to speak out against war and for justice. In an article in the Pasadena Weekly this week, Rev Regas said, “[i]f we are to have any hope, there must be a massive act of conscience that says: Stop the wars; use our resources to heal and unite the human family.”

GUEST: Rev. George Regas, Rector Emeritus of All Saints Church in Pasadena, one of the founders of Interfaith Communities United for Justice and Peace (ICUJP)

The Urgency of 9/11/11: Challenging U.S. War Making is an event happening on Sunday, September 11, 2011 – 7 PM, All Saints Church, 132 N. Euclid Avenue, Pasadena, California, 91101

Register for the event online here: www.icujp.org.

Download the poster here: http://www.icujp.org/images/20110815_urgency_thm.jpg