ANNOUNCEMENTS
Voices - Nuclear Prayer Day 2026
GLOBAL DAYS OF PRAYER AND ACTION
ONLINE EVENTS Presented August 8th, 9th 2026
August 9th - watch Nagasaki, Nuclear Prayer Day and interfaith Actions. Includes a new 30 minute film entitled, "The Nagasaki Bells: Ringing Out Peace for a Nuclear Weapons Fee World".
The Rt. Rev. William E. Swing, founding President of URI, shares the Nuclear Prayer that he wrote and that inspired Nuclear Prayer Day and Global Days of Actions, Aug 6-9. Our closing speakers share Interfaith actions and prayers to continue the call for peace and justice.
August 8th - Creating a World Free of Nuclear Weapons. Looking to the past and toward the future with hope and determination to affirm that lasting security is built not through fear but through wisdom, cooperation, justice and compassion.
NUCLEAR PRAYER DAY ONLINE EVENTS
Voices' and partners' programs August 5-9.
Participate during online events or see recordings available after program conclusion
August 7th, watch Remembering and Reflecting on History including The Missing Pages of History. Powerful and haunting stories about the devastation of nuclear war plus the enduring strength of human spirit.
August 6, watch Voices of the Next Generation, reaffirming commitment by youth. The Rt. Rev. William E. Swing presents the 2026 Mikhail Gorbachev–George Shultz Youth Award to Joel Naoki Christoph who explains his work exemplifying a new generation's commitment to a world free of nuclear weapons.
August 4, The Rt. Rev. William E. Swing is featured on Charter for Compassion's "With Compassion" series, The Urgency of Nuclear Disarmament and Interfaith Cooperation. Read the Substack article here. Watch the interview with Jennifer Nadel here.
July 24, Michael Ramos talks with "Love Your Neighbor" CC about Choosing Life in the shadow of Hiroshima.
VOICES YOUTH AWARD PRESENTED
August 2026
Joel Naoki Christoph receives award certificate from URI Executive Director Karen Volker
Joel reflects, "At school in Germany, I listened to survivors of atrocities who came to tell us what they had lived through. I never imagined I would one day know such people myself. Years later, I interpreted for Hibakusha, the survivors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, on the Peace Boat voyage. Putting their words into another language taught me how much they were entrusting to whoever was listening. That generation is leaving us while the weapons remain. This award belongs to them as much as to me. It strengthens my resolve to keep their testimony at the center of my own work."
Fresh works on the nuclear threat by Voices members and partners - click to read:
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Jonathan Granoff, President of the Global Security Institute "The Moral, Practical, Necessary Invigoration of Nuclear Sanity"
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Back From the Brink's new podcast series
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An Ordinary Insanity, (29 minutes) produced by Daniel Ellsberg and endorsed by Jonathan Granoff.
War and the Prospect of Nuclear War Call Us to Prayer and Action for the Sake of the World
On the heels of the Doomsday Clock being reset to 85 seconds before midnight and the expiration of the New START Treaty without a new deal agreed upon between the United States and Russia, the current war in Iran is alarming for many reasons, including for the risks for a growing, global nuclear arms race. In this article, Michael Ramos from Voices invites us to return to the roots of our deepest values and prayer to ground us for concerted and collective action toward a world free of nuclear weapons.
Pray with us for these two critical events in 2026:
The Doomsday Clock of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists moving closer to midnight, at 85 seconds; and, the expiration of the New START treaty regarding limiting and reducing nuclear weapons in the United States and Russia by mutual agreement. These two events are interconnected: we live in a moment where the roots of spirituality and prayer are needed more than ever to bring us to our collective senses and to proactively work for peace and toward the abolition of nuclear weapons.
This article from Global Issues in which our Voices member, Jonathan Granoff, is quoted, makes the connection and urges us to prayerful action.
VOICES - The BIG Question at the end of 2025
How to participate in the future of Voices
Review the Letter from the Rt. Rev. William E. Swing to the Voices faithful on an opportunity to support the future of Voices.
Voices presents its first Annual Report. Click to review the year in photos and memories.
IMAGINE A WORLD FREE OF NUCLEAR WEAPONS
Watch our Zoom from September 15th, 2025, where we are commemorating peace and the elimination of nuclear weapons with a live discussion. Our conversation featured Haneen Khalid, our 2025 Voices Youth Award winner, along with Ambassador Thomas Graham Jr., former senior U.S. diplomat; The Rt. Rev. William E. Swing, founder of Voices and United Religions Initiative; and Anna Ikeda, Representative to the UN of Soka Gakkai International
Voices for a World Free of Nuclear Weapons
Composed of dynamic voices from across the political, professional, spiritual, and geographical
spectra, united in a single purpose - to eliminate nuclear weapons once and for all.
