But I thought lets bring focus to the real reason that brought us to sadly celebrate this anniversary with millions and millions of people. Now apologies to people of all faiths, I'm a UU and an atheist, that said, I believe my UU friends who protested this weekend would like the honesty I try to bring to this.
This is from an article, its short and there's a link and some the text has been deleted so that if you want the full story, follow the link. It was in the faiths section of the WP:
Christians Gather in D.C. to Protest War
By SARAH KARUSH
The Associated Press
Saturday, March 17, 2007; 9:53 AMWASHINGTON -- Thousands of Christians prayed for peace at an anti-war service Friday night at the Washington National Cathedral, kicking off a weekend of protests around the country to mark the fourth anniversary of the war in Iraq.
Afterward, participants marched with battery-operated faux candles through snow and wind toward the White House, where police began arresting protesters shortly before midnight. Protest guidelines require demonstrators to continue moving while on the White House sidewalk.
About 100 people crossed the street from Lafayette Park _ where thousands of protesters were gathered _ to demonstrate on the White House sidewalk late Friday. Police began cuffing them and putting them on buses to be taken for processing.
Fear said 222 people had been arrested by Saturday morning. The first 100 were charged with disobeying a lawful order, and the others with crossing a police line. All of them were fined $100.
John Pattison, 29, said he and his wife flew in from Portland, Ore., to attend his first anti-war rally. He said his opposition to the war had developed over time.
"Quite literally on the night that shock and awe commenced, my friend and I toasted the military might of the United States," Pattison said. "We were quite proud and thought we were doing the right thing."
He said the way the war had progressed and U.S. foreign policy since then had forced him to question his beliefs.
"A lot of the rhetoric that we hear coming from Christians has been dominated by the religious right and has been strong advocacy for the war," Pattison said. "That's just not the way I read my Gospel."
Celeste Zappala of Philadelphia recounted how she learned of the death of her son, Sgt. Sherwood Baker, who served in the National Guard. When a uniformed man came to her door asking if she was Baker's mother, she said yes.
"'Yes,' and then I fell to the ground and somewhere outside of myself I heard someone screaming and screaming," she said.
On Saturday morning, a coalition of protest groups has a permit for up to 30,000 people to march from the Vietnam Veterans Memorial across the Potomac River to the Pentagon. Smaller demonstrations are planned in cities across the country.
I'm trying to get a copy of Warnock's speech, but the premise was that American had lost its very soul by its continued participation in this war, that we needed a new "Faith Based Initiative" to stop this war, and that we DID need a "surge", a surge in nonviolence, a surge in peacemaking, a surge in standing firm for peace. It was so very moving, and the crowd hooted and hollered and rose to its feet in applause at the end. I'll post his speech if I can get a copy of it.