Uniting for Peace: The Impact of Nuclear Prayer Day Amid Global Tensions
- voices272
- Sep 12
- 2 min read
We wanted to share our deepest appreciation to all of you for your support toward this year’s Nuclear Prayer Day (NPD) marking the 80th commemoration of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Thank you so much!
We are still receiving reports from our friends from around the world, but we wanted to share some highlights to show our success and impact this year.
This year’s Nuclear Prayer Day had 38 official partners in total, and many more organizations honoring NPD.
Our Zoom programs on August 6 (shown twice) had over 100 people in attendance in total, and more people watching on Facebook.
There was a ceremony in San Francisco where the Voices Youth Award was presented in person to Haneen Khalid. See the coverage in KTVU Fox.
We had monthly programs starting in March, covering different topics including women's voices, environment, authors, moral call and nuclear testing. The events featured amazing speakers, engaged some of our partners and were attended by hundreds of individuals in total. Recordings are available at: https://www.voices-uri.org/nuclear-prayer-day (scroll to the bottom of the page).
We received a statement of endorsement from His All-Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew (also posted on the URI website).
We had some amazing social media presence thanks to our NPD committee volunteers. We also received great support from the United Religions Initiative, whose staff created many posts for Instagram the last 6 days, boosting our engagement. Check out this beautiful video led by Eric Roux, URI Global Council Chair.
Our NPD calendar featured 31 events, many organized by others. An interfaith Nuclear Prayer Day vigil was coordinated in Washington, D.C. Our partners in Hawaii organized a series of events with the mayor’s office and other organizations. Our partners in Japan held a ceremony at the Hiroshima Memorial Park.
Local churches also held commemorations and added prayers to regularly scheduled services.
Our UN partners meditated together at the United Nations Meditation Room.
All of these would not have been possible without your support and dedication, so we are very grateful.
Please share with us about your activities and initiatives around Nuclear Prayer Day. We also welcome any insights of how to expand this initiative further next year.
Thank you, once again!
With deep gratitude,
Monica Willard and Anna Ikeda
2025 NPD Co-chairs
PRAYER FOR IMMEDIATE REFLECTION AND WISDOM
Our prayers for a world free of nuclear weapons should continue even after Nuclear Prayer Day. In view of the crisis in Poland, with Russia sending drones to Poland and threatening Finland, let us pray that the situation not escalate into a nuclear war. Please spare us from the ultimate catastrophe, and allow wiser heads to find a peaceful solution. Amen.
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