• Preacher in Newtown: MLK's words of healing 'needed now'

    Jessica Hill / AP

    A young woman wears a green and white bow, the colors of Sandy Hook Elementary School, in her hair with the initials of the victims names during an interfaith a sermon at Newtown Congregational Church on Sunday.

     

    By Debbi Morello, The Associated Press

    A former leader of one of the nation's most prominent liberal Protestant churches told residents still grieving one of the deadliest school shootings in U.S. history that Martin Luther King Jr.'s words of healing and nonviolence "are needed now more than ever." 


    The Rev. James A. Forbes Jr., the first black minister to lead New York's historic Riverside Church, spoke Sunday night at the Newtown Congregational Church in a service honoring King and the elementary school shooting victims. 

    About 300 residents filled the church for the community worship service, called For the Healing of Newtown, on the eve of Martin Luther King Jr. Day. Forbes delivered a sermon calling for a transformation and healing of communities.

    "The saddest face I ever saw on Martin Luther King was at the funeral of the four little girls slain in Birmingham, Ala.," he said. "We ask today, as King did then, 'Lord, what can come out of this that will honor those lost in this tragedy?'" 

    Twenty Sandy Hook Elementary School first-graders and six school officials died in the Newtown shooting last month. The gunman who attacked them had killed his mother at home before going to the school and later committed suicide. 

    Forbes' message of transformation was delivered to the Newtown community a day before the federal holiday honoring King's legacy and a little more than a month after the Dec. 14 school shooting. 

    The senior minister of the Newtown Congregational Church, the Rev. Matt Crebbin, welcomed the congregation and spoke of the long journey ahead. 

    "Though we are all interconnected, our destiny lies in our ability to be one, as a community and as a nation," he said. "Tonight we gather to heal and mend hearts." 

    Slideshow: Martin Luther King Jr.

    See the civil rights leader in speeches and marches from Alabama to Washington.

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    As the congregation sang the hymn, "When Aimless Violence Takes Those We Love," many fought back tears and others simply wept.

    Forbes told the congregation his message would be one of hope and healing. 

    With great passion, he spoke of his experiences during the civil rights movement and the struggles and challenges along the way. But, he said, one way to get encouragement is to recognize when progress is made. 

    "As a community, overcoming a tragedy will take time, but progress will be made," he said. 

    Forbes said that King believed in the power of community and faith and the need for good to come from tragedy. He stepped down from the pulpit to be closer to the congregation as he raised his voice to finalize his message. 

    "We have seen that violence can strike anywhere," Forbes bellowed. "Yes, King talked about violence, but he also talked about transformation and healing in the wake of violence." 

    He then asked people in the church to consider something: "What if history records what happened in Newtown and that leads to a new America?" 

    "Maybe if we listen to the Spirit, we as a town will be able to stay out of the depths of despair," he said. "If we listen to the Spirit, there will emerge a beacon of light that can lead an entire nation." 

    Crebbin said this was a fitting time for Forbes, who was leader of the Riverside Church on Sept. 11, 2001, but retired in 2007, to visit Newtown, which is about 60 miles northeast of New York City. 

    "He's been able to share his insight about grief through his experience with 9/11," Crebbin said. "In the midst of the grieving, we can't try to fix the grief. We need to help with the grieving. It won't be the same life." 

    Everyone stood to sing "We Shall Overcome" as the service ended. Forbes, founder of the Healing of the Nations Foundation, walked down into the congregation to take the hands of those sitting across the aisle from each other and connected the crowd into one. 

    © 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

  • Gay student: Catholic school should relent on Matthew Shepard scholarship

    www.eychanerfoundation.org

    Keaton Fuller, a senior at Prince of Peace High School in Clinton, Iowa.

    By Sevil Omer, NBC News

    An openly gay student in Iowa says he hopes a Catholic bishop will reconsider and let a gay rights advocacy group present a $40,000 scholarship to him during his graduation ceremony.


    “Everybody at the school has always been very accepting and extremely encouraging toward me,” Keaton Fuller, a senior at Prince of Peace Catholic School in Clinton, Iowa, told msnbc.com. “That’s why the latest turn of events has been such a surprise -- I feel invalidated and unaccepted.”

    Bishop Martin Amos in Davenport, Iowa, overruled school officials last week, saying he would not allow the Des Moines-based Eychaner Foundation to present its Matthew Shepard Scholarship to Fuller because the group’s support of gay rights conflicts with church doctrine. Instead, a school staff member will present the scholarship at the assembly.

    Fuller, 18, said he was stunned: The bishop's decision comes after a Prince of Peace school official confirmed the award could be presented by an Eychaner scholarship committee member during the school's graduation ceremony on May 20. The Matthew Shepard Scholarship is given to students who are openly gay, lesbian, bisexual, or transgender.

    Attempts by msnbc.com to contact Amos or officials with the Diocese of Davenport were unsuccessful on Tuesday. A school official referred calls to Edward O'Neill, president of Prince of Peace's school board, who could not be reached for comment.

    “At some point, we hope they realize and agree for us to present the award because it is the right thing to do,” said Mike Bowser, a spokesman with the Eychaner Foundation.

    Iowa businessman and gay rights activist Rich Eychaner founded the activism group and has awarded more than 130 Matthew Shepard scholarships to graduating high school seniors who are gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender since 2000. It is named for the gay Wyoming college student killed in 1998.

    "The $40,000 scholarship to the University of Iowa was awarded to Keaton for his scholastic achievement and work reducing homophobia in his school and community as an openly gay student," Bowser said.

    Fuller said he is among 70 seniors graduating from Prince of Peace this spring. He plans to attend University of Iowa in the fall. He wants to study film. 

    For Fuller, being the lone openly gay student in a small Catholic high school has had its hardships. Yet, he said, he found solace among staff and students during those difficult times when he questioned his sexual orientation. He said teachers have always supported him, making sure he believed in himself.

    "The whole thing has put the teachers and staff in an awkward position," Fuller said.

    Watch the most-viewed videos on msnbc.com

    O'Neill, the school board president, said he was disappointed with the bishop's decision, according to local media reports. "We preach tolerance and acceptance but then we turn around and we don't practice what we preach," The Associated Press quoted O'Neill as saying. "If the bishop says we're not going to do it, I can voice my objection to it, but there's not a whole lot I can do."

    Fuller said he has been encouraged by his peers and community and will press on.

    "It is difficult to understand how, after I have spent 13 years at this school and worked hard during all of them, I would be made to feel that my accomplishments are less than everybody else’s," Fuller told msnbc.com Monday evening.

    "This whole ordeal has been incredibly hurtful, and I am even sadder that this will be one of my last experiences to remember my high school years by."

    Fuller released an open letter Monday calling on church officials to reverse its decision. An online petition drive launched on Change.org also had garnered 4,007 supporters as of Tuesday morning.

    In his letter, Fuller wrote: "This is a teachable moment for Prince of Peace to stand up against rejecting and invalidating the accomplishments of any student. Please help me by respectfully requesting that this decision be reversed. Share your thoughts about why all students deserve to be treated with respect and dignity at Prince of Peace."

    Follow Sevil Omer on Twitter and Facebook

    Fuller's mother, Patricia Fuller, said the last few weeks have been tough, but she was encouraged by her son's spirit and optimism.

    “He was saddened initially and felt invalidated,” Patricia Fuller told msnbc.com Monday evening. “But he is an incredibly courageous person. He is pushing this issue because he knows -- and we know -- there are other gay students out there in other schools who are suffering in silence and that matters to him.”

    “If he can have the courage to do this, then we can have the courage to support him. We support the respect and dignity of all people and we want to move that idea forward.”

    Have story ideas, send Sevil an email at sevil.omer@msnbc.com

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  • US offers 'safe passage' to Afghan Taliban leaders

    By Fakhar ur Rehman, NBC News, and Alastair Jamieson

    ISLAMABAD, Pakistan -- The United States and Afghanistan have agreed to "give safe passage" to representatives of the Afghan Taliban to help them to enter future peace talks, officials announced Friday.

    It may  represent a significant step forward towards the resumption of peace talks that were suspended in Qatar last month, and  comes just weeks ahead of a NATO summit in Chicago on the future of Afghanistan. 

    Speaking at a joint press conference with U.S. Special Envoy Marc Grossman and Pakistani Foreign Secretary Jalil Abbas Jilani,  Afghan Deputy Foreign Minister Javed Ludin said: "Time is short, peace is urgent."

    New blow to US-Afghan links? Congressional delegation meets Karzai foes

    "We need to find and encourage and create safe passage for peace talks," with the Afghan Taliban, he added.

    His comments came after the three countries held their sixth meeting aimed at political reconciliation in Afghanistan.

    A U.S. Embassy official confirmed to NBC News that the countries have agreed to allow and facilitate travel of the Afghan militants to participate in any future talks. The official said details of how it would work in practice have not been announced.

    U.S. sees Taliban talks suspension as tactical move

    Jilani announced the establishment of two new groups, one to represent the efforts of the three countries at the United Nations, and another responsible for "safe passage." "Safe passage will be to help bring Afghan Taliban in to peace talks," he told NBC News.

    Slideshow: Afghanistan: Nation at a crossroads

    Rahmat Gul / AP

    More than ten years after the beginning of the war, Afghanistan faces external pressure to reform as well as ongoing internal conflicts.

    Launch slideshow

    Talks were suspended last month amid a string of public setbacks that have scandalized and angered Afghans, notably U.S. soldiers' burning of copies of the Koran and the killing of 16 Afghan villagers for which a U.S. soldier is in custody.

    Dr Gareth Price, senior research fellow at Britain's Chatham House think thank, told msnbc.com the move could be seen as a "confidence-building measure".

    "The US has made clear it will remain in Afghanistan in some form - that's the stick, if you like, so maybe this is the carrot," he said.

    On Tuesday, White House sources told Reuters that President Barack Obama's administration may hand over a Taliban detainee at Guantanamo Bay prison directly to the Afghan government in order to help revive peace talks.

    As foreign forces prepare to exit Afghanistan, the White House had hoped to lay the groundwork for peace talks by sending five Taliban prisoners, some seen as among the most threatening detainees at Guantanamo, to Qatar to rejoin other Taliban members opening a political office there. 

    Sources: Scant evidence 'torture' aided war on terror, Senate probe finds

    While that plan has not been scotched entirely, several sources familiar with preliminary discussions within the U.S. government said the United States may instead, as an initial gesture meant to revive diplomacy, send one of those detainees directly to Afghan government custody. 

    The sources identified the detainee as a former Taliban regional governor named Khairullah Khairkhwa, who is seen by American officials as less dangerous than other senior Taliban detainees now held at the U.S. military prison in Cuba. 

    Karzai slams NATO over 18-hour Kabul gunbattle

    More than a year ago, the White House launched what began as a secretive diplomatic bid to coax the Taliban, the Islamist group that ruled Afghanistan until 2001, into peace talks. That campaign has become central to U.S. strategy as officials conclude the Afghan war will not end on the battlefield alone. 

    Five alleged members of the Taliban are being detained in Afghanistan after authorities discovered a huge amount of explosives in a truck. NBC's Lester Holt reports.

    It remains far from clear whether the Taliban would embrace sharing power in Afghanistan and whether the militants are cohesive enough to agree on a joint diplomatic approach. 

    But Washington's strategy, before the summit in Chicago, is to build on what officials see as military progress against the Taliban, and encouraging signs from the Afghan and Pakistani governments, to heap pressure on the Islamist group. 

    The Chicago summit is expected to further detail plans for the withdrawal of most of NATO's 130,000 troops there by the end of 2014 and set the course for future ties between Afghanistan and the West.

    After an 18-hour assault, the Taliban took responsibility for the destruction. NBC's Brian Williams reports.

    U.S. efforts to broker the talks were dealt a blow last month when the Taliban suspended its participation and appeared to reject even minimal restrictions for prisoner transfer. 

    'Deplorable': U.S. defense chief condemns urinating Marines video

    Meanwhile, President Obama has reviewed potential threats to the United States before next week's anniversary of the killing of Osama bin Laden, but there is no concrete evidence al-Qaida is plotting any revenge attacks, the White House said on Thursday. 

    U.S. Navy SEALs shot bin Laden last year in a raid on the al-Qaida leader's compound in Pakistan before dawn on May 2 local time, which was May 1 in the United States. The killing is touted by the Obama administration as one of its top national security accomplishments. 

    Osama bin Laden's widow, kids leave Pakistan

    "At this time, we have no credible information that terrorist organizations, including al-Qaida, are plotting attacks in the United States to coincide with the anniversary of bin Laden's death," White House press secretary Jay Carney said on Thursday. 

    Slideshow: After the raid: Inside bin Laden's compound

    Farooq Naeem / AFP - Getty Images

    U.S. forces found and killed the al-Qaida leader in the affluent Pakistani town of Abbottabad, where he had been living in a large compound.

    Launch slideshow

    That assessment was echoed in an FBI and Department of Homeland Security intelligence bulletin issued on Wednesday to state and local law enforcement agencies. 

    The bulletin said U.S. agencies "have not detected signs of homeland plotting by these groups in the intervening months." 

    Abbottabad: One year after bin Laden

    Despite the lack of evidence of a threat, the bulletin cautioned that al-Qaida "probably would view a homeland attack on this anniversary as a symbolic victory that would help reassert the group's global relevance following the major leadership losses and operation setbacks it has suffered over the past year." 

    Reuters contributed to this report.

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  • Looking for a little peace? Look to Maine, not Louisiana

    /

    Arricka Nowland, left, and Brian Lessels cross country ski on a snow covered street during a storm on March 1 in Portland, Maine. The northeasternmost state ranked No.1 in terms of "peacefulness" according to the U.S. Peace Index.

    By Kari Huus, msnbc.com

    In the pursuit of peace, the crashing Atlantic waves hold more promise than the bayou.

    A new study ranking American states and cities for "peacefulness" puts Louisiana on the bottom of the heap,  while Maine, tucked away in the northeast corner of the country, is rated No. 1.

    The 2012 U.S. Peace Index, produced by the Institute for Economics and Peace, a nonprofit nonpartisan research organization with offices in Sydney Australia, New York and Washington, D.C., considered five factors in its rankings: the number of homicides, number of violent crimes, the incarceration rate, number of police department employees and the availability of small arms.  


    Kari Huus


    Follow Kari Huus on Twitter and Facebook.


    It also offers an assessment of the benefits of peace, and the costs generated by violence.

    In Maine, violence and violence containment cost taxpayers roughly $1,300 per person in 2011, the study said, compared to the average of $3,260 across the country.

    If all the states had the same level of peacefulness as Maine, the total savings to the country would surpass $274 billion, according to the report.

    "What is absolutely clear from the index," said Steve Killelea, founder and CEO of the institute, "is that peaceful states perform better across a range of economic, health, education and community factors. They have higher high school graduation rates, lower poverty, better access to basic services, higher labor force participation rates, higher life expectancy and less single parented families. Even social capital – like volunteerism, civic engagement, trust, and group membership — is higher in more peaceful states."

    IEP, which also does a global peace index each year, showed that the most peaceful metropolitan area was Cambridge-Newton-Framingham in Massachusetts, while Detroit-Livonia-Dearborn in Michigan was the most violent, followed by New Orleans-Metairie-Kenner in Louisiana.

    Some rankings have remained consistent — including that of Louisiana, which has been 50th among the states for two decades, according to the study.

    Interactive map of 2012 state rankings

    But Wyoming, which saw declines in homicides and violent crimes, climbed to 17th most peaceful, up from 23rd in 1995. Arizona plummeted into the bottom five least peaceful because of rising murder rates.

    The report showed encouraging trends — with homicide rates across the nation falling by 50 percent since 1991, and a reduction in violent crime rates in 42 states during the same period.

    "What the USPI shows is that over the past 20 years, America has become substantially more peaceful, witnessing a significant reduction in direct violence," said Killelea.

    Experts attribute the decline in violence to a range of factors, said Killelea, including better policing, an aging population, rising socioeconomic standards and the use of private security, to name a few.

    But the homicide rate in the United States remains much higher than in countries that are similar in socioeconomic terms, he said.

    This difference appears to be related to the availability of guns in the United States, said Killelea. He noted that while the rate of violence in the United States is about 30 percent higher than in Canada, the homicide rate in the United States is about 400 percent higher.

    "We’re not making any moral judgments on this," said Killelea. "But the availability of guns is associated with higher levels of homicide."

    And even with declines in violence, its costs to the United States remain high, he said.

    "To highlight the size of the problem, if all of the people who were incarcerated were contained in one city it would be the fourth-largest in the U.S.," he said.

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