The G 6 Billion

Facebook Post Wednesday, September 9, 2009 at 11:50pm
From Our G 6 Billion Network

Dear faithful friends and advocates,

We, members of the interreligious community, united by spiritual integrity, offer a vision for our world. This vision is based on shared common good values across traditions, a vision of justice and peace for all persons.

Citizens of Pittsburgh have a rich history of acting with moral responsibility. This legacy has led us to assume a significant role in reshaping policies and social structures for the common good.

The organizing work of the G-6 billion (a group of individuals from the interreligious community in Pittsburgh) is to utilize this unique opportunity for prayer and education leading up to the G-20 meeting.

We recognize a global and local interreligious movement and welcome the challenge to present our common good values on critical issues facing the world and our communities.

Love: Love of neighbor is the bedrock of our conscience and beliefs, as are acts of compassion and a commitment to work for the common good.

Respect for Godís Creation: Respect for the entire web of life. All human beings, all created species, and the Earth and its flora and fauna are required for survival. Biodiversity and interspecies ethics have taught the need to recognize and legitimate the essential rights of all of Earth’s life forms.

Human dignity: All persons have inherent value and deserve to live in dignity, free from discrimination based on race, gender, class and age.

Truth: Truth-telling is essential for understanding and reconciliation. It is vital in discerning , debating, and enacting public policies that serve the common good.

Social Justice: With fairness and equality, we must ensure human and civil rights for all to be able to live lives of dignity. We must ensure that all people are provided protection from violence and aggression. We must work to protect the Earth, so that we may pass on a sustainable natural environment to future generations.

Peace: We must make a spiritual commitment to non-violent means of resolving conflict and to reducing all forms of violence and war.

Freedom: Ensuring freedom means we must work for reciprocal bonds among people. This includes freedom to dissent and refuse what is morally wrong and to work for change. Freedom also encompasses the freedom from fear and the freedom to hope.

We also recognize a global and local interreligious responsibility to actively address the issues of, and speak for those who are without power and without voice.

The cry of the earth and the cry of the poor are one. Poverty is the measure of the crisis. Poverty is the measure of the solution.

We invite you to join us on Sunday afternoon, September 20th , as we journey from the Smithfield United Church of Christ to the Convention Center. We will give witness to the financial crisis that has spread globally, imperiling the very survival, not only of developing countries, but also those in the developed world. We will hear from religious leaders as well as faithful Pittsburgh advocates.

We must seek peace.

We invite you to join us on Monday evening, September 21st, when we will remember the United Nations International Day of Peace. This day is a global 24 hour cease fire holiday and respite from the fear and insecurity that plague so many places, individuals, communities, nations and governments.

It highlights the efforts that are being made to end conflict and promote peace. The International Day of Peace can provide hope for citizens who must endure war and conflict. A cessation of hostilities would enable relief workers to reach civilians in need with food, water and medical supplies. It proves that worldwide peace is possible. This will be a time to ponder the high price we all pay because of conflict.

As members of the G 6 Billion, we recognize the shared values among the interreligious communities and the shared responsibility to act upon these values. We invite you to join us in taking on this responsibility and stand in solidarity with those without power and without voice. Let us mirror the peace the world so desperately needs.

Facebook Post Thursday, September 10, 2009 at 9:44 p.m.
Who is the G 6 Billion Group?

The G 6 Billion is an interreligious coalition called together to respond to the Pittsburgh meeting of the Group of 20 including the American Friends Service Committee, Pittsburgh Interfaith Impact Network, Pittsburgh Pax Christi, Association of Pittsburgh Priests, the Sayed Farooq Hussaini Islamic Interfaith Network, Peoples’ Summit, People’s Choices, Roots of Promise, Peoples March, Women’s Tent City, Thomas Merton Center.

We seek to include voices from the 6 billion+ who are not represented at the G-20 summit.

Please write to us at g6billion@gmail.com.