The Houston Peace & Justice Center is signing on to a statement proposed by Fellowship of Reconciliation-USA, CODEPINK, and the National Council of Elders. It calls for a Christmas Truce in the Ukraine war. The hope is this might “pave the way for negotiations to reach a lasting security agreement to end the bloodshed”, as Code Pink puts it. Here’s the statement, and we encourage other organizations to sign on, too:
As people of faith and conscience, believing in the sanctity of all life on this planet, we call for a Christmas Truce in Ukraine. In the spirit of the truce that occurred in 1914 during the First World War, we urge our government to take a leadership role in bringing the war in Ukraine to an end through supporting calls for a ceasefire and negotiated settlement, before the conflict results in a nuclear war that could devastate the world’s ecosystems and annihilate all of God’s creation.
More information, and a link for leaders of faith-based organizations to sign on to the statement, is at https://www.peaceinukraine.org/christmas_truce_in_ukraine_religious_leaders. So if you are with such an organization, please ask if they would sign on, too, at the link near the top of that web page.
Please contact your representatives in Congress (no matter what party), and the White House, and encourage them to support this proposal, too.
Read the Code Pink web page about the proposed Christmas Truce
Leaders of faith organizations who wish to sign on can do so here: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSe5UKB1EoxgPCREbejj0gvu60xRXMK-Nyo3Ju-dj8EJqUYZ-g/viewform
Also see History.com’s article about the 1914 Christmas truce during WW II and Wikipedia’s article on the 1914 Christmas truce
John McCutcheon also wrote a song about the 1914 truce called “Christmas in the Trenches“. It’s been recorded by a number of other musicians.