| We can still stop this war, crowd proclaims at King Day celebration BY LINDA WORTHINGTON UMCONNECTION STAFF  An estimated 3,200 people filled the National Cathedral in Washington, D.C., Jan. 20, to pray for a peaceful resolution to the Iraq crisis. Afterward, nearly 1,000 worshippers marched down Massachusetts Avenue carrying War Is Not the Answer placards to take that message to the White House. Today we pray to God and plead with our national leaders to avoid the destructiveness of war and find a better way to resolve the very real threats involved in this conflict with Iraq, said the Rev. Jim Wallis, executive director of Sojourners, one of four keynote speakers. We believe that is possible, and we believe we can still stop this war before it starts. The Martin Luther King Jr. Pray & Act for Peace and Justice prayer service focused on the connection between war and poverty. Its theme was inspired by the words of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., who in his last Sunday sermon, delivered March 31, 1968, at the cathedral just four days before his assassination, challenged the country to find an alternative to war. In his introduction to the series of readings and meditations on peace, racism, poverty and global community, the Rev. Bob Edgar, general secretary of the National Council of Churches in the USA, a United Methodist and co-sponsor of the event, recalled hearing King in February 1968. Afterwards, he said, we walked arm in arm with Dr. King to the White House, much as we will do today. As you listen, hear how prophetic these words (of Kings) are for today, he said. It is no longer a choice, my friends, between violence and nonviolence. It is either nonviolence or nonexistence, and the alternative to disarmament ... The alternative to strengthening the United Nations and thereby disarming the whole world may well be a civilization plunged into the abyss of annihilation. Bishop Felton Edwin May, episcopal leader of the Baltimore-Washington Conference, read from Kings last sermon. No individual can live alone, no nation can live alone, and anyone who feels that he can live alone is sleeping through a revolution. We must all learn to live together as brothers. Or we will all perish together as fools. Immediately following the service, the church leaders, from more than 20 denominations, stepped into the frigid air and as the sun set over the nations capital, led marchers in a candlelight vigil for about two miles to the White House. As they passed Vice President Cheneys house (the former Naval Observatory), the group paused for prayer. They did the same at a statue of Gandhi, a few blocks further along, and at the Islamic Center before reaching Lafayette Square across from the White House. Mr. President, said Wallis in his earlier remarks, what we need from you is a faith-based initiative. It was the note that struck a chord with the audience. They applauded. | 
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