Perry Vandell, Arizona Republic - 1/6/2022

(Note: AFN was one of the approx. 60 organizations involved in organizing this “Peace at the Polls” event)

Roughly a couple hundred people gathered outside the Arizona State Capitol Thursday afternoon as part of a vigil to remember and condemn the Jan. 6 insurrection in Washington D.C. last year.

Non-profit organizers and faith leaders took to a temporary stage erected near the Capitol building on the anniversary of the insurrection, when a violent crowd stormed the historic U.S. building and sent lawmakers scrambling for shelter. The insurrection delayed Congress from certifying the presidential election of Democrat Joe Biden.

Dr. Warren Stewart, a senior pastor at the First Institutional Baptist Church in Phoenix, said people of faith must push back against those who sought out violence and conflict.

“For those who led an insurrection of violence on January the sixth, we counter with the resurrection of non-violence,” Stewart said. “For those who led an insurrection of division on January the sixth, we counter with the resurrection of the vision of democracy.”

Rev. Dr. Bill Lyons, Conference Minister of the Southwest Conference of the United Church of Christ, said “the attack on the Capitol was incited by a campaign of lies which called into question the integrity and security of U.S. elections and which invited individuals unhappy with the legal and valid election results to respond violently."

Lyons spoke also of the growing support for political violence.

“The purveyors of death, falsehood, despair, fear, hate and war between ourselves and nations will tell you they use election fearmongering, violent communication and the threat or perpetration of violence because it works,” Lyons said. “That’s on us — you and me. Because if you are neutral in situations of injustice, as Archbishop Desmond Tutu has said, you have chosen the side of the oppressor. There is no more room — no more room — for neutrality in the face of political violence.”

Mufti Didmar Faja, imām of the United Islamic Center of Arizona, spoke less of last year’s insurrection compared to other speakers, but rather stressed the importance of peace and understanding while celebrating America’s diversity.

“The only thing that can keep this country going — this society flourishing — it is the peace that needs to be among the people of this country,” he said.

[read the full article] [view captioned photos from event on AZCentral]