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C. Jackson: Address to Peace Summit 2023, Session II-A
Written by Rev. Dr. Cynthia Jackson, district judge, Jersey City Municipal Court; pastor, Allen AME Church, New Jersey, USA
Wednesday, May 3, 2023
Address to Peace Summit 2023
May 2-5, 2023
Good afternoon. I am thankful for this opportunity to speak to you, such an august body on this afternoon. I am truly humbled to be on the same platform with Dr. Michael Jenkins, Dr. Franco Famularo, former Representative of the United States Congress Dan Burton and former Ambassador of the U.S. Callista Gingrich.
Once again, my name is Reverend Dr. Cynthia Jackson, senior pastor of the Allen AME Church in Newark, New Jersey in the U.S. I did not prepare for you an academic or a scholarly treatise on world peace for this occasion, although I could have.
What God placed on my heart to share with you is simply, when looking at the contemporary challenges to the global order [and moving] towards a world culture of peace, what peace would look like to me. One of the things I think each of us needs to do is take an introspective look at ourselves. We need to understand that the challenge of world peace before us is truly a massive one. If each of us tried to figure out what we could do individually, it could make a monumental difference in the lives of everyday, ordinary people.
One of the things that we can easily do is take the political spin out of all that we say and do. And, I am not singling out any particular religion. I am talking about all. We need to stop trying to pull people to either the left or the right and instead put more emphasis and focus on our commonalities instead of our differences. There is so much tension, hate, anger and animosity on each side of the political spectrum that it often inhibits the ability to have a civil conversation, when in fact, we could come together on so many things.
In that same vein, we need to stop trying so hard to convince each other that our respective religion is God's religion and that we are the only ones that are teaching things right. The reality is that there are so many religions—according to Google, over 4,000, and there's probably more than that. In addition to religions, there are traditions, customs and belief. But what is true for a lot of us who believe in God, regardless of what you might call God, is that we can all come together despite our religions, our traditions or our beliefs.
If you are one of the ones who believe in God, then you already know that it really is not about religion; it is all about relationship. We must stop focusing our angst on people who look different than we look or speak a different language than we speak. We have a bad habit of either not working or not liking or wanting to associate with people who are different from us. Don't you know that when we do that we are robbing ourselves of the rich diversity that makes up our countries and the world? I know that is not the objective of the Universal Peace Federation, which does an awesome job in bringing people together, but the reality is not everybody is in this room.
So, we have a message that we need to take out and share with the world. We need to shift the focus away from who you know to what you have the ability to do. We all need to learn to work together to eliminate poverty and issues like food insecurity. In a land flowing with opportunity, a land flowing with milk and honey, no one should be homeless or have to worry about where their next meal will come from. Additionally, books should not be banned because knowledge is power. Even if we do not like what it is about and that what it is about is true, we ought to be able to read it. Weapons of mass destruction should not be so readily available. We need to understand that we are not always in a race to the top, but are sometimes in a well-oiled fall to the bottom. My list could go on and on.
If you do not remember anything else, please remember that we have more in common than our differences. If we are cut, we all bleed red blood. We each have family, friends and loved ones and have a vested interest in this thing called life. If each of us—and that means all of us—started taking even the smallest steps, like something as simple as speaking to people in the same room, it would go a long way in achieving peace in our lifetime.
Peace and blessings to you all.
To go to the Peace Summit 2023 Schedule page, click here.