What good is a CPT prayer vigil or other symbolic public witness?
We believe in the power of prayer to transform lives and structures. A prayer vigil or other public witness brings the search for truth into the public place. A prayer vigil or public witness simply tries to connect the word of God with the search for truth in a symbolic way. We believe Jesus witnessed publically in a prophetic critique of the social, political, religious and economic structures of his time. In this tradition of Jesus – a tradition carried on by Gandhi, Martin Luther King, Jr., Badshah Khan, and many, many others – CPT organizes and encourages nonviolent public witness, sometimes called “nonviolent direct action,” as a method of social transformation towards an envisioned Reign of God. We believe we must take our Christian faith from the pews to the public space. Public witness is an intentional way of offering our peace perspective to the wider community.
