CONTACT: Tom Waldron: 410-323-5966; cell: 410-350-6637
Deb Milcarek: 410-433-2012; cell: 410-404-8320

EDITORS NOTE: Clergy are available for interviews after the press conference. Event will feature tribute to slain American military and Iraqi civilians, using boots and shoes.

WHAT: Press conference by ministers and historian Taylor Branch to support peace march on Washington

WHEN: Wednesday, Feb. 21st, 10:30 a.m.

WHERE: City Temple Baptist Church, 317 Dolphin St., at the corner of Eutaw Pl.

A diverse group of Christian leaders from the Baltimore area will gather Feb. 21st to call for an end to the war in Iraq and urge Marylanders to take part in a major anti-war demonstration in Washington next month.

The wide-ranging assemblage of clergy include prominent African American pastors, a representative of the Catholic Archdiocese of Baltimore and the state leaders of several mainline Protestant denominations, including Presbyterians, Episcopalians, Methodists, the United Church of Christ and Lutherans. (See partial listing of participating clergy on page 2.) The assembled clergy represent hundreds of thousands of Marylanders and will call on their congregations and others to join next month’s demonstration.

Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Taylor Branch, who has written extensively about the Civil Rights movement, will serve as moderator of the event.

In their call for peace, the pastors will express their support both for American military in Iraq and for the Iraqi people. To underscore the human cost of the war, clergy will display military combat boots and shoes, collected by the American Friends Service Committee, with the names of Maryland troops and Iraqis killed in the war.

“In 2004, the Presbyterian Church (USA) declared that “the Iraq war is unwise, immoral, and illegal.” The time has come to confess our mistakes and wrong doing and withdraw our troops,” said Rev. Dr. Peter K. Nord, Executive Presbyter of the Presbytery of Baltimore. “We are grateful for the sacrifice of so many who have lost their lives or been injured and mourn with their families. The Jesus we follow prays for peace and so do we. I am troubled that our Commander in Chief neither shares this prayer nor listens to his people.”

The event is notable for crossing racial and denominational lines to pull together Christian leaders opposed to the war.

“I have not seen this kind of broad-based ecumenical support for a cause since the Civil Rights movement 40 years ago,” said Rev. Marion Bascom, a retired Baltimore minister who was active in the Civil Rights struggle. “This is an unprecedented coming together of ministers of all denominations to lead the way toward ending the bloodshed in Iraq.”

The press conference in Baltimore will highlight a March 16th event in Washington, which will include an evening worship service at the National Cathedral followed by a march to the White House, where demonstrators will hold a candlelight vigil. The worship service and demonstration are sponsored by Christian Peace Witness for Iraq (www.christianpeacewitness.org).

Among those clergy who will take part in the Feb. 21st press conference:

Rev. Jamal Bryant, Empowerment Temple

Rev. Dr. William Calhoun, Trinity Baptist Church

Rev. Dr. John Deckenbach, Conference Minister for the Mid-Atlantic Conference of the United Church of Christ

Bishop Gerard Knocke, Maryland-Delaware Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America

The Most Rev. Denis J. Madden, Auxiliary Bishop of Baltimore

Bishop Douglas Miles, Koinonia Baptist Church

Rev. Dr. Peter Nord, Presbytery Executive, Presbytery of Baltimore

W. Clinton Pettus, Regional Director, American Friends Service Committee (Quaker)

Bishop John Rabb, Episcopal Diocese of Maryland

Bishop John Schol, Baltimore Washington Conference of the United Methodist Church

Rev. Andrew Foster Connors, Brown Memorial Park Avenue Presbyterian Church

Rev. Marion Bascom