UNITE IN PRAYER TO STOP ATROCITIES IN DARFUR

Salt Lake Tribune,UTAH
Dec 9 2006

This weekend more than 1,000 faith communities and organizations
across the nation will unite for a "weekend of prayer for Darfur."

The Save Darfur Coalition is organizing the event to help raise
awareness of the worsening humanitarian crisis.

"When faith communities join together towards a common goal, it sends
a message that transcends not just faith but all of humanity," said
David Rubenstein, executive director of the Save Darfur Coalition.

Rev. Dr. Bob Edgar, general secretary of the National Council of
Churches of Christ said, "I’m reminded of an African proverb, ‘If
you want to walk fast, walk alone; if you want to walk far, walk
together.’ This weekend we’re going to walk far together and we’re
going to walk urgently together in prayer, hoping for the violence
to stop."

Darfur, Sudan, has been since 2003 the setting of the world’s most
recent genocide. According to Africa Action, a U.S.-based advocacy
and activism organization, more than 450,000 people have died and 2.5
million have been displaced. But as the human catastrophe intensifies,
our attention remains divided, and not enough is being done to end
the violence.

Conflict began when rebel groups accused the Arab-dominated government
of discriminating against black Africans in the region, reports the UN
Chronicle. When fighting erupted, Janjaweed, the government-supported
Arab militias, began committing widespread atrocities against ethnic
Africans. The Sudanese government restricted humanitarian workers
from accessing the affected regions.

Non-Arab residents of Darfur continue to be subjected to horrendous
abuses including brutal killings of babies, mass rapes and burning
of homes and religious buildings.

In the 20th century we witnessed ethnic cleansing and the ongoing
impunity for crimes against humanity in Armenia, Cambodia, Bosnia
and Rwanda and during the Holocaust. Whether Darfur is comparable is
not for me to judge, but the crisis is clearly a violation of human
rights that should offend the sensibilities of every person of faith.

"If there’s one issue that we’re united on, it’s the issue of trying
to stop this horrible genocide in Darfur," said Rabbi Gutow, executive
director of the Jewish Council for Public Affairs. "We are all opening
our hearts and our lips to try to bring God into this discussion and
into this work."

The Hebrew scriptures in Proverbs 24:11-12 instruct us to take action:
"Rescue those being led away to death; hold back those staggering
toward slaughter. If you say, ‘But we knew nothing about this,’
does not he who weighs the heart perceive it? Does not he who guards
your life know it? Will he not repay each person according to what
he has done?"

Tomorrow our church will celebrate the four African nations represented
in our congregation. We will pause and pray for the people of Darfur. I
implore every Christian to join us in prayer.

— * COREY J. HODGES writes about current events and ideas
from a moral perspective. Hodges, the senior pastor of the New
Pilgrim Baptist Church in Taylorsville, welcomes comments at
coreyjhodges@ comcast.net. You may also comment by e-mailing
religioneditor@sltrib.com.

* For more information about the Save Darfur Coalition, go to