Donald Mosley is a co-founder of the Habitat for Humanity organization. [1] Mosley was a Peace Corps volunteer in Malaysia and a regional director in South Korea. [2] With a background in history, math, engineering and anthropology, he helped launch Habitat for Humanity in the 1970s. He has been on the international board of directors since 1995.
In 1984, as national chairman for the Fellowship of Reconciliation (FOR), he helped lead a delegation to Nicaragua during the war there between the Sandinistas and the Contras. [2] That experience impacted him to lead many such groups on dozens of trips to conflict zones in Central America, the Middle East and other parts of the world.
In 2003 he helped to launch the All Our Children campaign by which thousands of people in U.S. churches and mosques have provided medicine for Iraqi children.
Mosley is a writer and lectures in churches, universities and in other settings. He is author of books titled "With Our Own Eyes" [3] and "Faith Beyond Borders." [4]
He and his wife, Carolyn Mosley, are founding members of the Jubilee Partners community in Georgia, started in 1980, which has hosted about 4,000 refugees from more than 40 countries around the world. The main goal of the Jubilee Partners is to live as an intentional Christian service community and to extend hospitality to newly arrived refugees.
In 1989 Mosley received the Pfeffer Peace Prize, which is awarded each year to "honor those around the world working for peace and justice." [5] In 2005 he received the Pacem in Terris Peace and Freedom Award for exemplifying Christian ideals. [2] [6] It was named after a 1963 encyclical letter by Pope John XXIII that calls upon all people of good will to secure peace among all nations; Pacem in terris is Latin for 'Peace on Earth'.
Adolfo Pérez Esquivel is an Argentine activist, community organizer, painter, writer and sculptor. He was the recipient of the 1980 Nobel Peace Prize for his opposition to Argentina's last civil-military dictatorship (1976–1983), during which he was detained, tortured, and held without trial for 14 months. He also received, among other distinctions, the Pacem in Terris Award.
The Fellowship of Reconciliation is the name used by a number of religious nonviolent organizations, particularly in English-speaking countries. They are linked by affiliation to the International Fellowship of Reconciliation (IFOR).
Jean Vanier was a Canadian Catholic philosopher and theologian. In 1964, he founded L'Arche, an international federation of communities spread over 37 countries for people with developmental disabilities and those who assist them. In 1971, he co-founded Faith and Light with Marie-Hélène Mathieu, which also works for people with developmental disabilities, their families, and friends in over 80 countries. He continued to live as a member of the original L'Arche community in Trosly-Breuil, France, until his death.
Koinonia Farm is a Christian farming intentional community in Sumter County, Georgia.
Pacem in terris is a papal encyclical issued by Pope John XXIII on 11 April 1963, on the rights and obligations of people and their states, as well as proper interstate relations. It emphasizes human dignity and human equality in endorsing women's rights, nuclear nonproliferation and the United Nations
The Pacem in Terris Peace and Freedom Award is a Catholic peace award which has been given annually since 1964, in commemoration of the 1963 encyclical letter Pacem in terris of Pope John XXIII. It is awarded "to honor a person for their achievements in peace and justice, not only in their country but in the world", and has been granted to people of many different creeds.
Unity of humanity is one of the central teachings of the Baháʼí Faith. The Baháʼí teachings state that since all humans have been created in the image of God, God does not make any distinction between people regardless of race or colour. Thus, because all humans have been created equal, they all require equal opportunities and treatment. Thus the Baháʼí view promotes the unity of humanity, and that people's vision should be world-embracing and that people should love the whole world rather than just their nation. The teaching, however, does not equate unity with uniformity, but instead the Baháʼí writings advocate for the principle of unity in diversity where the variety in the human race is valued.
John Dear is an American Catholic priest, peace activist, lecturer, and author of 35 books on peace and nonviolence. He has spoken on peace around the world, organized hundreds of demonstrations against war, injustice and nuclear weapons and been arrested 85 times in acts of nonviolent civil disobedience against war, injustice, poverty, nuclear weapons and environmental destruction.
Kimberly Ann Bobo is an American religious and workers' rights activist, and current executive director of the Virginia Interfaith Center for Public Policy (VICPP), a non-partisan advocacy coalition based in Richmond, Virginia. Bobo is a nationally known promoter of social justice who leads VICPP's advocacy, outreach, and development work. She wrote a book on faith-based organizing entitled Lives Matter: A Handbook for Christian Organizing.
Arthur Simon is founder and former president of Bread for the World, a citizens' lobby on hunger, which he served for almost two decades. He was born in Eugene, Oregon.
Eileen Egan (1912–2000) was a journalist, Roman Catholic activist, and co-founder of the Catholic peace group, American PAX Association and its successor Pax Christi-USA, the American branch of International Pax Christi. Starting 1943 she remained an active member of Catholic Relief Services, and a longtime friend of Dorothy Day and Mother Teresa, whose biography she wrote, Such A Vision: Mother Teresa, the Spirit, and the Work, and marched with Martin Luther King Jr. at Selma. She first coined the term "seamless garment" to describe the unity of the teaching of the Roman Catholic Church on the premise that all human life is sacred and should be protected by law.
George Gilmary Higgins was an American labor activist known as the "labor priest". He was a moving force in the Roman Catholic church's support for Cesar Chavez and his union movement.
The Elders is an international non-governmental organisation of public figures noted as senior statesmen, peace activists and human rights advocates, who were brought together by Nelson Mandela in 2007. They describe themselves as "independent global leaders working together for peace, justice, human rights and a sustainable planet". The goal Mandela set for The Elders was to use their "almost 1,000 years of collective experience" to work on solutions for seemingly insurmountable problems such as climate change, HIV/AIDS, and poverty, as well as to "use their political independence to help resolve some of the world's most intractable conflicts".
Widad Akreyi is a Kurdish health expert and human rights activist. She has co-founded the human rights organization Defend International and is the author of several books about both health issues and human rights.
Hildegard Goss-Mayr is an Austrian nonviolent activist and Christian theologian.
Marvin Alfred Mottet was a 20th and 21st century Roman Catholic priest in the Diocese of Davenport in the US state of Iowa. He was a noted advocate of social justice causes.
Salim Gazal was a bishop in the Melkite Greek Catholic Church. He was the auxiliary bishop of the Patriarchate of Antioch from 2001 to 2005.
The International Pfeffer Peace Award or Pfeffer Peace Award is one of the three peace awards presented by the United States Fellowship of Reconciliation (FOR), along with the Martin Luther King Jr. Award and the Nyack Area Peace Award. Since 1989, it has been awarded annually to "individuals or organizations whose commitment to peace, justice, and reconciliation is recognized as extraordinary."
Rabbi Hanan Schlesinger, along with Ali Abu Awwad and Shaul Judelman, cofounded Roots/Shorashim/Judur, a joint Palestinian-Israeli grassroots peacemaking initiative dedicated to understanding nonviolence and transformation, where he currently remains director of international relations. An Orthodox rabbi, he also serves as the Executive Director and Community Rabbinic Scholar for the Jewish Studies Initiative of North Texas and as coordinator for Faiths in Conversation, a framework for Muslim-Jewish-Christian interfaith dialogue which he found in 2012. A biography regarding his speaking engagements writes, “In these two capacities, he (Schlesinger) teaches adult education classes on Judaism and spearheads interfaith projects throughout the greater Dallas area. He is also a member of the Rabbinical Council of America and the International Rabbinic Fellowship, as well as Beit Hillel. He is a Rabbis Without Borders Fellow, and was honored in 2013 and again in 2014 as the Memnosyne Institute Interfaith Scholar.
Inderjit Bhogal is a Kenyan English minister in the Methodist church and theologian. He was the first person from a minority ethnic background to be appointed President of the Methodist Conference, in 2000 - 2001, and a founder of City of Sanctuary (UK).