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	Participants in a civil disobedience action opposing the war in Iraq and torture kneel to pray before being arrested inside the Hart Senate Office Building in Washington, D.C., March 7. — Photo by Kirk Johnston/Presbyterian Peace Fellowship

“Even though the charge was unlawful assembly, the action that afternoon was praying without ceasing for the healing of our nation’s warmaking,” Shelly said.

Shelly told his congregation he intended to participate in civil disobedience in a letter he wrote on Martin Luther King Jr. Day weekend. The response was positive, and many offered prayers.

“When we were kneeling, and saw the 60 or 70 Capitol Police marching in, I felt that support,” Shelly said. “It gave me a sense of peace and calm.”

Jeff Miller, chief financial officer of Associated Mennonite Biblical Seminary in Elkhart, Ind., said prayer support also calmed him as he was arrested.

Miller had been active for peace but had not been arrested.

“I felt a nudging from God to take one more step in standing up for peace,” Miller said.

Miller, who lives in Goshen and attends Waterford Mennonite Church there, said conversations with his supervisor and one of his pastors, and taking part in an anointing service the Sunday before he went to Washington also affirmed his choice. As a financial officer, he is especially disturbed by the war’s cost in lives and dollars, he said.
“These numbers are mind-boggling,” he said.

Getting arrested on Capitol Hill in Washington made Miller more appreciative of the costs for people who witness for peace in nations with where governments repress dissent.

“As a white American who has lots of resources, to be held for five hours isn’t as risky as what people around the world have to endure,” Miller said.

Alicia Horst of Harrisonburg, Va., a social worker, also considered the risks people face in war.

“Part of the reason I felt led to do something like this is because my brother is in the military,” she said.

Her brother served in Iraq and opposes the war, she said.

Horst attended the peace witness considering civil disobedience and decided to participate after attending the nonviolence training that morning.

Horst lives in Peace House, an outreach of Virginia Mennonite Conference to James Madison University students (see article on page 8). House residents hold weekly community meals with JMU students. During the meal March 12, students talked with Horst about her arrest.

Civil disobedience also allowed her to communicate with people working in the Senate buildings, some of whom clapped for those being arrested. Horst also valued conversations with police, recognizing that it used police time and money to arrest them.

“We spend so many resources as a nation — I’m a taxpayer, and my taxes go to support this war,” she said. “This seems so minimal in comparison.”

This version of the article is extended from the print version.

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