Iran

A broad coalition of Christian and ecumenical faith organizations is calling on Congress to oppose any supplemental appropriations that would fund a war with Iran. In a joint letter signed by communions, ministries, and organizations representing multiple traditions, faith leaders warn that approving billions in additional military funding would prolong an unauthorized and dangerous conflict while placing civilians and U.S. service members at greater risk.

As the U.S. and Israeli war against Iran escalates, we continue to mourn the lives lost and destroyed each day by this violence.

Pamela Minden, a Wisconsin-based activist for the Friends Committee on National Legislation (a pacifist Quaker group) also wants a broader focus on opposing wars and bloodshed beyond faultlines related to Trump. “I think people work really hard not to let Trump be front and center,” said Minden, who leads FCNL Wisconsin advocacy efforts. “That’s his wish. That we will be distracted.”

Washington, D.C. – We are deeply disappointed that Congress failed to pass a War Powers Resolution to stop President Trump’s illegal and immoral war on Iran. The House of Representatives voted 219 to 212 to reject a War Powers Resolution which would have withdrawn U.S. forces from hostilities against Iran. This follows a vote from the Senate 53-47 to reject a parallel resolution.

FCNL is firm in our opposition to the dangerous, illegal, and immoral war that the Trump administration has launched on Iran. This clear-eyed opposition to war has marked our work since our founding over eighty years ago.  

As a Quaker organization, we act as part of a long tradition of letting our lives and actions speak for peace and against war.  

Washington, D.C. – The Friends Committee on National Legislation (FCNL) strongly condemns the U.S. and Israeli strikes on Iran and the dangerous pursuit of a war of regime change.

In what may be the first time in history, a group of American Christian, Muslim and Jewish religious leaders have joined hands with Iranian Muslim religious leaders in a statement to call on their governments to negotiate with mutual respect to end the animosity between their countries and move to a genuine peace.

group of U.S. and Iranian religious leaders recently made a joint call for their respective governments, civil society organizations and other faith communities to avoid war and instead choose diplomacy, human rights and peace. The call could not be more urgent.

On September 24, I joined other peace colleagues for a meeting with President Mahmoud Pezeshkian of Iran. It was the fourth year I represented FCNL in a meeting with the Iranian President on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York and my second time meeting with President Pezeshkian, who was elected in 2024 after the more hardline President Ebrahim Raisi died in a helicopter crash.

This week, the catastrophic suffering of Palestinians in Gaza reached “new depths” as mass starvation takes a heart-wrenching toll.