"The movement to abolish the death penalty needs the religious community
because the heart of religion is about compassion, human rights, and the
indivisible dignity of each human person made in the image of God."

-- Sister Helen Prejean, author of Dead Man Walking

Amnesty International’s annual National Weekend of Faith in Action (NWFA) on the Death Penalty will be held on October 21-23, 2005 throughout the United States.

The BPF Prison Program continues to be an enthusiastic supporter. We are inviting your sangha or chapter to sign up, and join the growing number of socially engaged dharma practitioners who are trying to end the death penalty in this country.

NWFA seeks to bring together two important approaches to social justice: grassroots human rights activism and faith-based community action. It is not a national conference or event; rather, it is a weekend of reflection on the First Precept and for taking appropriate action organized locally by faith communities all over the country.

Over the last few years dozens of dharma and BPF-related groups around the country have participated by:

• having people sign the “Declaration of the Preciousness of Life” (a paper to carry in one’s wallet, which says that if you are murdered, you don’t want the murderer to be executed).
  
  
• encouraging local dharma teachers to give dharma talks on ending the death penalty;
  
  
• showing relevant films in their sanghas;
  
  
• doing listening projects with people on all sides of the death penalty to find out whether supporters’ understandable needs for safety, security, and justice could be met in other ways;
  
  
• organizing teach-ins to inform people about the death penalty in their particular state, and what they can do about it;
  
  
• renewing commitments to support a moratorium (a time-out) on the death penalty in their own state;
  
  
• organizing letter-writing campaigns;
  
  
• hosting speakers (wrongfully convicted people who were freed from Death Rows, people who are knowledgeable about the death penalty);
  
  
• observing some moments of silence to remember all the victims of the death penalty (which includes many people beyond only those executed).

Resources for your sangha/chapter about Dharma and the Death Penalty are available on the BPF Prison Program pages of our web site. You can refer especially to articles posted under Advocacy and Education, and Death Penalty News.

To register with AmnestyUSA as a participant in the 2005 NWFA click here.

For more information, please check out BPF NWFA web info or AmnestyUSA NWFA info.