National Weekend of Faith in Action on the Death Penalty
What Is the National Weekend of Faith in Action?
Amnesty International USA's (AIUSA) National Weekend of Faith in Action on the Death Penalty (NWFA) is an annual initiative coordinated by the Program to Abolish the Death Penalty. Every October, the NWFA brings faith communities and human rights activists together to advance the common cause of social justice. The NWFA can be anything you want it to be in your community – it's not a national conference, it's a local solidarity event organized by people like you! We invite you to devote some time during the weekend of October 19-21 to an examination of the death penalty issue, using your own faith traditions and values as a starting point.
Launched in 1998, the NWFA was designed specifically to reach out to faith communities of color in order to support ongoing abolition efforts. Since then, it has attracted thousands of participants from throughout the country and from all faith traditions, who have taken this opportunity to examine the death penalty, participate in discussions, take action, and become involved in local efforts.
Local involvement in the NWFA takes many different forms and is based upon the needs and capacity of your community or group. Typical activities include hosting speakers, watching films, holding discussions, leading prayers, delivering sermons, organizing letter-writing campaigns, or distributing information on the death penalty. These activities have taken place on college and high school campuses, in churches, synagogues, mosques, temples, and sanghas, in public forums, and among interfaith groups of all sizes and affiliations.
Major faith traditions around the world – including Catholicism, the majority of Protestant denominations, Reform and Conservative Judaism, and Buddhism – have taken explicit positions against the death penalty. Even leaders of faith traditions that do not specifically oppose the practice, such as Orthodox Judaism and Islam, have expressed concerns about the random and biased way in which the death penalty is applied and administered.
Religious leaders and people of faith have played an essential role in advancing pivotal social justice issues in the United States. Continuing the spirit of that tradition, the NWFA encourages people of faith to explore issues and raise questions about a public policy that allows the government to make life and death decisions – decisions that have led to the executions of more than 1,000 people and the exonerations of more than 120.
AIUSA will provide your faith community/group with the ideas and resources you'll need to organize a faith-based activity or event on the death penalty and will help you connect with others who are working on this issue in your area.
How will you participate in the 2006 National
Weekend of Faith in Action?
Start planning today!