19/03/2026
AN URGENT CALL FOR GLOBAL SOLIDARITY: RESIST EMPIRE AND WORK FOR JUST PEACE
People of Faith: Sign the unity statement now!
https://tinyurl.com/ResistEmpireNow
https://tinyurl.com/ResistEmpireNow
https://tinyurl.com/ResistEmpireNow
“For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against [Empire], the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world…”(Ephesians 6:12, NIV)
We are people of various faiths—Christians, Muslims, Jews, Buddhists, Hindus, and others. We envision a world of peace with justice that embraces equality and respect of life for all. We call on people of all faiths and convictions to resist and reject today’s empire which claims war is God’s will.
As we journey through Lent, Ramadan and our spiritual traditions, when we seek repentance and conversion of our world to the values of solidarity towards justice, peace, and reverence for all life, we are appalled with the escalation of violence and destruction in West Asia triggered by the unprovoked attacks of the United States and Zionist Israel on Iran, killing Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and targeting a girl’s elementary school, slaughtering 175 children and all of the teachers. In this dark hour, we are horrified by the continued unspeakable violence unleashed upon the people of Iran, and we stand united in our unwavering condemnation of these brutal acts.
The war has not only disrupted oil and gas shipments out of the Persian Gulf but has also increased the price of fuel worldwide causing a broad global economic and financial crisis impacting the great majority of the people immensely and hurting those who continue to struggle with grinding poverty. The shocks of war are most severely felt by people of the Global South who are already left vulnerable due to the neoliberal policies imposed on them by the empire.
Earlier this year, the United States also launched a bombing attack on Venezuela, killing more than 100 people and abducting the constitutionally elected president Nicolas Maduro and his spouse, Cilia Flores. Behind these terroristic bombings of both Iran and Venezuela is a morally disgusting ploy to plunder and control the oil and gas resources of these countries known to hold a substantial fraction of global oil reserves.
But not only Venezuela and Iran. After WW2 after the United States emerged as the most powerful nation it invaded, colonized, intervened, killed leaders, launched coups, installed puppet leaders in no fewer than 30 countries, mostly in Latin America, Asia, and Africa. The US is throwing the same threats of invasion at Mexico, Greenland, and Canada as part of its delusional imperialist subjugation.
GLOBAL MILITARISM AND INTER-IMPERIALIST RIVALRY
Amidst widening inequality, unemployment, expansion of trade blocks, and debt-driven development is the intensifying inter-imperialist rivalry. This manifests in the territorial rivalry as what we are witnessing in the ongoing proxy war of the United States in Ukraine against Russia, genocidal war in Gaza by the United States and Zionist Israel, warmongering of the United States against China and the imperialist domination in Latin America, Nigeria, Somalia, Syria, Yemen, and Iraq.
Together with rising imperialist rivalry, the rise of fascism, and ultranationalism is rampant worldwide, most prominently under the leadership of US President Donald Trump. His orders for massive crackdowns on migrants depicts the mistreatment of the poor and strangers specifically commanded in the Bible for protection.
Within this landscape, we are seeing intensifying wars of aggression and preparations for all-out war coupled with expanding military spending of imperialist countries. This escalation is not limited to the US Empire; Japan, one of the empire’s key allies, has entered a new phase of military production, and European powers have accelerated their rearmament. Military exercises are intensifying in different parts of the world, specifically in South East Asia, and the frequency of exercises in countries part of the United States First Island Chain strategy.
It is also in this context that we understand United States’ increased presence of their military forces in the Asia Pacific region, specifically the Philippines under the Enhanced Defence Cooperation Agreement and burgeoning military bases in different parts of the world, the storage of large weapons, permanent sailing of its naval forces in the seas, war exercises without let-up sparking global conflict.
Lastly, the US war machine which operates on a global scale is also the number one primary driver for climate crisis. As the single largest consumer of fossil fuels, surpassing even the consumption of industrialized countries, the US military-industrial complex stands as the world’s most prolific institutional polluter . Thus, while the empire spends billions of dollars on weapons of mass destruction, the global masses are facing the destruction of our planet on top of joblessness, inadequate health care, and lack of support for basic education.
WEAPONIZATION OF RELIGION AND WHERE TRUE FAITH LIES
As people of faith, we fiercely denounce the empire’s calculated perversion of faith to provide a moral veneer for its crimes. We condemn the rising tide of Islamophobia as an exploitation of theology to recast wars of aggression as “Holy War.” We are one with Pope Leo XIV in declaring that the propagation of Islamophobia damages the “spiritual, moral, and social fabric of societies at large, weakening the bond of trust and solidarity that humanity particularly needs in the current international context.”
The apocalyptic rhetoric invoking the “biblical end of times” as justification for imperialist wars is a chilling weaponization of faith to justify the unjustifiable. God’s name can never be used as an excuse for the absurd pursuit of war.
The true spirit of faith lies with the resistance of the peoples of the world. In the heart of today’s empire people of faith are organizing alongside other sectors of their community to resist the fascist crackdown on migrants and US-led wars of aggression. Our Jewish brothers and sisters are courageously fighting against Zionism rejecting faith’s weaponization in the ongoing genocide in Gaza. As the Psalmist says “defend the weak and the fatherless; uphold the cause of the poor and the oppressed.” (Psalm 82:3-4)
OUR CALL
We are people of various faiths who celebrate our common humanity and the universality of our spiritual heritage; who recognize that solidarity among people of all religions and convictions is necessary if we are to frustrate the powers of the empire and its wars of occupation and plunder.
We call for an end to violence done in the name of religion and an end to intolerance. We call on people of all faiths and convictions to reject all imperialist wars and to work in solidarity with one another on the following urgent calls:
1. An immediate end to the war in Iran
2. End imperialist intervention in Venezuela; bring home safely both President Maduro and Cilia Flores
3. An immediate end to the US-Israel genocidal war in Palestine
4. End the unilateral economic sanctions against Venezuela, Cuba, Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, and all countries asserting their independence
5. The permanent removal of US troops, bases, and military exercises in all parts of the world;
6. Respect the right to self-determination and exercise of sovereignty
7. Uphold human rights and international humanitarian law
8. Uphold the rights of migrants, minorities, women, children, and all vulnerable sectors of society
9. Build and strengthen the faith-based resistance against Empire
10. Pursue just and lasting peace
