Friends,
We suspect you already know the punchline.
Today, as we in this nation file our taxes, more than half of the money we send in -- 53 cents of every dollar -- goes to financing war.
For a great, quick run-down on exactly what those war dollars fund, check out this video from Softbox Films, Tax Dollars at War:
(If you'd like to share this timely video with your friends, you can do so here.)
Help the funding of peace
 At the Fellowship of Reconciliation, we've been working to build peace in the United States and around the world since 1915.
Some of our current initiatives include a peace accompaniment program in Colombia, an arts delegation to Palestine and a peace delegation to Iran, fighting "open carry" gun laws in the United States, providing nonviolent direct action training ahead of the NATO and G-8 summits, supporting the Mexican campaign against the trafficking of guns from the United States, launching Militarism Watch to support activism with research, and taking action to free Syrian political prisoners.
We do a lot with the resources we have. We can do more with your tax-deductible Tax Day donation.
Perhaps you received a refund from the government this year, or perhaps you simply want to put some of your resources toward peace.
Make a donation of $5.30, $53, $530 or any amount and help us counteract that 53% of tax dollars financing war.
News from FOR's network of chapters and affiliates
Buddhist Peace Fellowship hosts socially-engaged leader on violence and nonviolence
 What do the precepts of non-killing and non-stealing mean in our world filled with global violence and consumerism? Ajahn Sulak Sivaraksa, Thailand’s 79-year-old leader of socially engaged Buddhism, spoke on this question at a Buddhist Peace Fellowship event on March 24 in Berkeley, California.
A founder of the International Network of Socially Engaged Buddhists and a recipient of the Niwano Peace Prize and the Right Livelihood Award, Aj. Sulak spoke directly about the need to examine structural violence and the distortions of media as essential practices for Buddhists living in today’s world.
Watch videos of Aj. Sulak at Turning Wheel Media.
Community of Living Traditions accepting interfaith fellows in the Hudson Valley, New York
 Are you interested in joining a multifaith community of Muslims, Christians, Jews, and spiritually oriented individuals who share a passion for peacemaking, food and environmental justice, undoing racism, and multifaith conflict transformation? The Community of Living Traditions offers a three-month to one-year interfaith fellowship residency program at the Stony Point Center in Stony Point, New York.
Join the Community of Living Traditions for an opportunity to:
- Live in a multifaith community dedicated to nonviolence
- Learn about the religious dimensions of nonviolence in Judaism, Islam, and Christianity
- Deepen your relationship to your own faith tradition while learning about other traditions
- Participate in organizing on-campus and off-campus workshops and activist campaigns
- Enjoy the experience of building friendships, developing your professional skills, and participating in a community that is changing the world
Learn more and apply online for the interfaith fellowship.
FOR Atlanta fights mass incarceration
 Georgia Supreme Court Chief Justice Carol W. Hunstein and Gov. Nathan Deal have asked the General Assembly to create a Criminal Justice Reform Council. It's a welcome opening.
At FOR Atlanta, we're making it our business to follow the work of the Reform Council, exploring ways to urge the council to be bold and to do more. For instance, having just endured the execution of Troy Davis, we're looking for ways to urge the council to take up the long overdue work of addressing the American Bar Association's assessment report on deficiencies in Georgia's use of the death penalty.
One of the report's recommendations: creating a database to conduct proportionality reviews and root out racial and other disparities in terms of which cases are selected to be charged as capital crimes and which result in a death sentence.
--Max Hess, FOR Atlanta
New England Peace Pagoda dedicates new temple
 "It means a lot to have a space that's dedicated to nonviolence," Mary Beth Campion said. "I feel it when I come here, that power."
On October 2, 2011, the New England Peace Pagoda held an Eye-Opening Ceremony to dedicate their new temple -- finally replacing the original temple that burned down in 1987.
The event featured peace prayers from Jewish, Christian, Muslim and Bahá'í traditions, a Cambodian blessing and flower dance, a Hindu temple dance and a Wampanoag prayer dance.
Situated on a hilltop in Leverett, Massachusetts, the Pagoda was the first in North America. There are more than 80 Peace Pagodas built worldwide by the founder of Nipponzan Myohoji, Most Venerable Nichidatsu Fujii. Fujii began the spiritual practice of walking, beating a prayer drum, and chanting Na Mu Myo Ho Ren Ge Kyo. The practice is continued by all Nipponzan Myohoji monks. The New England Peace Pagoda community has undertaken many walks, including calling for an end to U.S. wars in Central America and the abolition of nuclear weapons and nuclear power. Since September 11, 2001, the community "Walks for a New Spring" throughout the Northeast in midwinter to early spring in order to renounce war and violence and transform our culture to embrace life and community.
Read more about the history of the New England Peace Pagoda.
Western Washington FOR and Oregon FOR host 'Living the Dream of Justice and Peace: Occupy and Beyond' this summer
 The 54th annual northwest regional FOR conference in Seabeck, Washington, will take place from June 29 to July 2 this year -- one of the largest peace conferences in the Pacific Northwest. The conference includes numerous workshop options for those interested in current peace and justice concerns in our local communities, the nation and the world.
The conference will feature keynote addresses by Dr. Aaron Wolf, who negotiates water treaties with spiritual needs in mind, and the Rev. Lucas Johnson, FOR National Council member and International FOR delegate, currently teaching at Morehouse College in Atlanta.
Learn more about the conference and how to register.
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