Recent Events

On November 13th, Coalition for Peace Action co-sponsored the 43rd Annual Multifaith Service for Peace. An estimated 250 attended either in-person at Princeton University Chapel, or via livestream. Rabbi David Saperstein preached and faith leaders from a wide range of major world religions co-led the liturgy.

Following the Multifaith Service, the 43rd Annual Conference for Peace was held from 2:00 PM - 4:00 PM via Zoom.

Please click photo links below to view videos from the event. Medea Benjamin and Rabbi Saperstein joined us live; Bill McKibben's talk was pre-recorded, due to an unexpected change in his travel plans. You may see a few technical glitches, which were beyond our control.

Medea Benjamin

Buy Medea's 10th book, War in Ukraine, Making Sense of a Senseless Conflict by clicking the link below.

Rabbi David Saperstein

Bill McKibben

On Saturday, October 15th, 2022 TOGETHER (a project of the Coalition for Peace Action) hosted their 5th Annual Walk the Interfaith Talk event at Mercer County Park. 

TOGETHER's Jay Tyson gives opening remarks.

Attendees included Jewish, Christian, Muslim, Buddhist, Baha'is and Atheists, who took advantage of the beautiful weather and a good opportunity to meet new people and perspectives. Attendees were paired up and given time to walk the park's trails while gaining an understanding of each other's faith or no faith.

All were encouraged to bring light refreshment, and spend some extra time together afterwards. The annual event's mission is "Creating Connections ... Breaking Stereotypes ... Building Peace".

All photos courtesy of TOGETHER.

About 35 attended the Webinar on Peace in Our World, Peace in Our Streets co-sponsored by CFPA on Sunday, September 18. Click here to view a recording.

About 75 attended the Save Our Democracy Rally co-sponsored by CFPA on Saturday, September 17 in Princeton. See photos below, and click here to go to view a recording.

Photo by Robert Zurfluh

CFPA commemorated the 77th Anniversary of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki atomic bombings on Tuesday, August 9, in Princeton. Forty people were in attendance, and there were over 90 views of the event recording on Facebook Live. Due to the threat of thunderstorms, the event was changed from an outdoor gathering at Hinds Plaza to an indoor gathering inside Solley Theater at The Arts Council of Princeton, which was also a co-sponsor.

CFPA Board Vice-Chair and Advocacy Committee Co-Chair, Marc Tolo emceed. (Photo by David Kelly Crow.)

There was paper crane folding instruction, peace music by The Solidarity Singers of the NJ Industrial Union Council, and informative and motivating presentations from two world-class nuclear weapons experts.

The Solidarity Singers performed "Down by the Riverside", "Soon and Very Soon", "Rainbow Race", and other peace songs. (Photo by David Kelly Crow.)

Dr. Frank von Hippel is a senior research physicist and professor of public and international affairs emeritus with Princeton’s Program on Science & Global Security which he co-founded. Dr. von Hippel presented a thoughtful and informative overview of the entire nuclear weapons situation in "Remembering Nagasaki and Its Significance".

Dr. von Hippel discusses "Remembering Nagasaki and Its Significance". (Photo by David Kelly Crow.)

Dr. Rob Goldston is a Professor of Astrophysics at Princeton University. He received his B.A. in Physics from Harvard University, and his Ph.D. in Astrophysics from Princeton University. He serves on the board of the Council for a Livable World. Dr. Goldston presented an effective strategy of diplomacy in his "A Nuclear Tale of Two Cities".

Dr. Rob Goldston presents, "A Nuclear Tale of Two Cities". (Photo by CFPA.)

The event was also streamed live on Facebook. Click here to watch the Facebook Live recording!

On Sunday, August 7th, 2022, the Sacred Heart Peace Community, an affiliate of CFPA, held an observance of the 77th Anniversary of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Thirty were in attendance, including Fr. Michael Doyle, pastor of the parish.

Photo by Steve McGeady

Click here to see recording

Keynote Speaker

Rep. Tom Malinowski

At the Gathering, Carol K. Allen was honored with CFPA's
Lifetime Achievement in Peacemaking Award

The \Coalition for Peace Action (CFPA), spearheaded a Multifaith Prayer Gathering at 11 AM on Thursday, June 2 on the steps of the NJ State House Annex in Trenton. The focus was to express our deep sorrow and mourning for the many lives lost in recent mass shootings, and to seek God’s empowerment and guidance in determined action to stop that epidemic. 

Faith leaders from across a wide spectrum (see list under photo) joined to offer brief prayers on that theme. NBC TV News Channel 10 based in Philadelphia covered the event. The "active prayer" promoted was to support a package of eight new gun safety bills to make New Jersey’s already strict laws even stronger that is being advocated by Gov. Murphy’s office. NJ residents are urged to click here to email your NJ State legislators in support of the package, it only takes one minute!

Click here to see recording

Speakers pictured above,  along with a few attendees, included:

Pastor Denise Carrell, Christ Congregation, Princeton
The Rev. Joseph Ciccone, retired lead pastor, St. Joseph Mission Church, Cliffside Park
Imam Safwan Eid, Muslim Center of Greater Princeton
Rabbi Arnold Gluck, Temple Beth-El, Hillsborough
The Rev. Carol Haag, Retired Unitarian Universalist Minister
The Rev. Karen Hernendez-Granzen, Pastor, Westminster Presbyterian Church, Hamilton
The Rev. Jack Johnson, Coordinator, NJ Coalition of Religious Leaders
Pastor Amir Khan, New Beginnings Ministry, Camden
James King, Executive Director, NJ Catholic Conference
The Rev. Robert Moore, Executive Director, Coalition for Peace Action
Bishop Joseph Ravenell, Samaritan Baptist Church
The Rev. Jose Rodriguez, Pastor, Pentecostal Assembly of God, Trenton

This April 24 webinar was attended by about 75 and co-sponsored by the Coalition for Peace Action & the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Princeton. See below for Recording and speaker bios.

Click here to see YouTube recording

Primary Speakers Professor Neta Crawford and Professor Alan Robock

Professor Neta Crawford is a professor of Political Science and currently chairs Boston University's Department of Political Science. Her teaching focuses on international relations theory, international ethics, and normative change. Crawford received the Distinguished Scholar award from the International Ethics section of the International Studies Association in 2018. See more...

Professor Alan Robock is a Distinguished Professor of climate science in the Department of Environmental Sciences at Rutgers University, where he is co-director of the Rutgers Impact Studies of Climate Intervention (RISCI) lab and co-leader of the Geoengineering Model Intercomparison Project (GeoMIP). He graduated from the University of Wisconsin, Madison, in 1970 with a B.A. in Meteorology, and from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology with an S.M. in 1974 and Ph.D. in 1977, both in Meteorology. See more...

If you'd like to see Alan Robock's website click here and/or talk on Nuclear Winter for Earth Day click here

Introductory Reflection by Robert Harris

Robert Harris has a Ph.D. in Environmental Sciences and Engineering from Harvard University. During the Carter Administration, he was a member of President Carter’s Council on Environmental Quality where he assisted the Administration in developing policies to protect the public health and the environment from hazardous wastes, including the site at Love Canal.

After a faculty position at Princeton University, he co-founded a consulting company that helped industry and the government clean up contaminated sites, including  Department of Defense sites such as the Rocky Mountain Arsenal in Colorado and the dioxin contamination of the Passaic River in New Jersey from the manufacture of Agent Orange that was used to defoliate the jungles in Vietnam.

CFPA's Webinar on the above topic on Sunday afternoon, March 27 was attended by about 75 people. Click here to see a YouTube Video, and click here to see front page coverage in the March 30 Town Topics. See further background below.

When Putin announced, in the context of the current Ukraine War, that he was putting his nuclear weapons on high alert, it highlighted for many their worst fear: that it could escalate into a nuclear war. A good overview of that very real danger was in this article in the March 17 New York Times. One of the first sources cited regarding how real this danger is, and the unthinkable consequences, was this Princeton University Study. 

A March 22 NY Times article, The Smaller Bombs That Could Turn Ukraine Into a Nuclear War Zone, also cited the Study. Dr. Zia Mian, one of the collaborators on that study, has agreed to speak at the CFPA Webinar below. He will be joined by Dr. Stewart Prager. See photos and bios below.

        Dr. Zia Mian                     Dr. Stewart Prager

CFPA Director Rev. Bob Moore gave a virtual talk for Georgian Court University on March 24, 2022. Click photo below to see recording.

CFPA Executive Director Rev. Bob Moore and its Ceasefire NJ Project Legislative Director, Dolores Phillips (both on right), were in a delegation of gun safety leaders that met with the new NJ Senate President, Nicholas Scutari (center) urging support for a new package of 8 gun safety bills on March 21 in Trenton.

Ambassador Thomas Pickering  keynoted CFPA's Annual Membership Renewal Gathering on Sunday, March 20 on Zoom, about 75 people attended. The title of his talk was Diplomacy: Our Best Tool to Solve Problems and Prevent War. Click here to see a recording of his talk.

Director of Coalition for Peace Action-Pennsylvania Office, Ed Aguilar, speaks at Peace in Ukraine Rally held at People's Plaza, Independence Mall

The “Rally for Peace in Ukraine” with about 200 attendees was at People’s Plaza on Independence Mall. Co-sponsors of the rally included the Pennsylvania office of the Coalition for Peace Action, Granny Peace Brigade, Code Pink, Physicians for Social Responsibility, the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom, and the Brandywine Peace Community. They too condemned the Russian invasion, called for an immediate ceasefire, for Russia to withdraw its army from Ukraine and engage with Ukraine and the United States in serious negotiations.
Please click here for the full Philadelphia Inquirer article.

Photo Credit, Tom Gralish, Philadelphia Inquirer Staff Photographer 
For more photos, please click here to view the Facebook Album.

The Coalition for Peace Action sponsored a Princeton Vigil in support of intensifying diplomacy and immediately ending the war in Ukraine on Thursday, March 3.  Over 200 attended! The vigil began in Palmer Square and moved across the street for a closing Rally emceed by CFPA Executive Direcor, the Rev. Bob Moore, where several Ukranian-Americans spoke and chants for peace were led.  The event ended with the lighting of candles and singing This Little Light of Mine as a symbol of support and solidarity with the Ukrainian people. 
Click to view the photo album on our Facebook page. 

The Coalition for Peace Action hosted a webinar on the unfair election ballots in New Jersey.   New Jersey’s primary election ballots are uniquely and intentionally confusing, breaking all rules of good ballot design and causing voter disenfranchisement through gerrymandering of the ballot. Our presenter was Yael Niv, president of the Good Government Coalition of New Jersey, a non-partisan grassroots organization promoting participatory democracy in New Jersey since 2017.

Please click here to view the recording.

The Coalition for Peace Action held a Love to Afghanistan Vigil in Princeton on Valentine's Day urging the unfreezing of $3.5 billion in Afgahanistan Central Bank funds so they can get liquidity for their economy and feed millions, including over 1 millioin under the agef of 5, on the verge of starvation.  A dozen demonstrators gathered despite the frigid tempartures. Click here to read an article in the February 16 edition of Town Topics.  News 12 NJ was also present and interviewed our Executive Director, Rev. Bob Moore.  Click here to watch the interview. 

CFPA's February 6, 2022 webinar with Col. Lawrence Wilkerson speaking about peaceful alternatives in the Russia-Ukraine-NATO crisis was quite successful with about 85 participants!

Click here to view the recording.

CFPA co-sponsored on Sunday, January 23 a webinar on Think Globally, Act Locally to Prevent Climate Catastrophe: Beyond the Glasgow Climate Summit. It went very well and had over 75 attendees.
Click here to view the recording.

On Monday, January 17, the MLK federal Holiday, CFPA co-sponsored the Annual Martin Luther King Multfaith Service. Due to the COVID surge, it was again online  The Rev. Dr. David Latimore, Director of Princeton Theological Seminary’s Betsey Stockton Center for Black Church Studies, preached.  CFPA Executive Director Rev. Bob Moore chaired the Planning Committee and presided at the Service.

Over 200 units attended; we estimate 1/4 had at least two people, for total attendance of 250.  The service received highly laudatory feedback. Click here to view the YouTube Recording. A free-will offering was received to be split between the United Negro College Fund and CFPA.  If you wish to make a tax deductible contribution, click here or postal mail a check to Peace Action Education Fund (PAEF) and send it to 40 Witherspoon St., Princeton, NJ 08542.

Photo by Michael Mancuso, NJ.com

On the anniversary of the violent insurrection at the US Capital that attempted to overthrow the outcome of the 2020 Election, CFPA Executive Director, the Rev. Bob Moore and Laura Zurfluh of Indivisble Cranbury co-led a Rally and Candlelight Vigil for Democracy on January 6 in Princeton.  An estimated 250 attended in person with another 280 virtually, for a total of over 500!.  Despite freezing temperatures, the crowd  listened to the impressive group of speakers (see below) and joined in a closing song, This Little Light of Mine, while holding battery powered candles. 

Along with Ms. Zurfluh and Rev. Moore, speeches were given by New Jersey Senator -Elect Andrew Zwicker; Princton Municipal Council Member David Cohen ; the Rev. Lukata Mjumbe, pastor of WItherspoon Presbyterian Church; and Afsheen Shamsi, a Pakistani American who is President of the Princeton Democratic Organization.  See photos of each below. Statements from US Representative Bonnie Watson Coleman, and Senators Cory Booker and Bob Menendez, were also read.

Besides CFPA and Indivisible Cranbury, co-sponsors included RepresentUS, Princeton Community Democratic Organization, and Our Revolution-Mercer County.

Click to see a 58 minute Facebook Livestream recording of the event.

        
                                The Rev. Bob Moore                                                    Laura Zurfluh                    Councilman David Cohen

    
Senator-Elect Andrew Zwicker                Pastor Lukata Mjumbe                        Afsheen Shamsi, Princeton Community 
                                                                                                                                                                           Democratic Organization

 

The Celebration closed with a toast by CFPA board leaders, Bob, and his wife, Mary, to 40 years of Peacemaking!

On Sunday Novemebr 14 over 250 people attended CFPA's 42nd Annual Conference and Multifaith Service for Peace.  Another 100 attended by viewing either or both recordings below subsequently, for a total of 350!

Speakers included Sister Simone Campbell, best known for her Nuns on the Bus project, Prof. Rob Goldston, professor of Astrophysics, and Associated Faculty with the Program on Science and Global Security at Princeton University, and Richard Moody, former fighter pilot and Top Gun instructor who has transformed to an ardent peace activist and Quaker. 

This event had 34 co-sponsers, see list under the link below.

Click here to see YouTube Video of the Multifaith Service.

Due to a technical glitch, the Conference Recording below starts ten minutes before the Conference begins. So when viewing, please click the red button at the bottom left and pull it to the ten minute mark to view the 90 minute Zoom Conference.

Click here to see YouTube Video of the Conference for Peace. 

Co-sponsors for the Annual Conference and Multifaith Service for Peace: 

American Sikh Council 
ANEW Way Ministries
Artists4Earth.com
Baha'is of Princeton
Board of Church and Society, Greater NJ Conference, United Methodist Church
Brandywine Peace Community
Chicago Area Peace Action
Grace United Church of Christ, Flemington, NJ
Islamic Society of Central Jersey
Mobilizing Our Students for Action to Build Interfaith Community
Monmouth Center for World Religions and Ethical Thought
Muslim Center of Greater Princeton, West Windsor, NJ
Nakashima Foundation for Peace
Nassau Presbyterian Church, Princeton
National Peace Action
New Brunswick Monthly Meeting, Religious Society of Friends (Quakers)
Peace Action Maine
People's Organization for Progress, Newark
Physicians for Social Responsibility, Pennsylvania
Presbyterian Church of Lawrenceville
Princeton Monthly Meeting, Religious Society of Friends (Quakers)
Princeton Clergy Association
Princeton University Chapel
Protestant Community Church, Medford Lakes, NJ
St. Paul Lutheran Church, East Windsor
Social Justice and Witness Task Force, NJ Association of the United Church of Christ
The Ribbon International
Trenton Friends Meeting, Peace and Social Concerns Committee
Trinity Church, Princeton
United Nations Association, Bucks County
United Nations Association, Greater Philadelphia
Unitarian Universalist Church at Washington Crossing
Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Princeton
Unitarian Universalists for a Just Economic Community
United Church of Christ, Justice and Local Church Ministries
Westminster Presbyterian Church, Trenton

On September 28, 2021, the Rev. Bob Moore received an official copy of an NJ General Assembly Resolution, initiated by Assemblyman Andrew Zwicker, to recognize Rev. Moore's 40th anniversary as the Executive Director of CFPA. See below, and click here for enlarged version.

On Sept. 19, 2021, a group of 60-70 participants joined a webinar featuring former non-proliferation diplomat Ambassador Thomas Graham, and Erin Hunt of Mines Action Canada, as they and others covered topics from No First Use to the climate catastrophe to the lessons to be learned from 20 years in Afghanistan. See video below!