CONCORD, New Hampshire - peace rally yesterday drew about 800 people, who marched down Loudon Road and gathered on the State House lawn to protest the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Hundreds of people from New Hampshire faith and peace communities march to the State House lawn where they listen to music and speakers. (Concord Monitor Photo/Preston Gannaway)

The rally was organized by several churches and peace groups from around the state. Many marchers carried signs such as "War Just Makes It Worse," or "Is the World Safer Now?"

"We're made to think that nonviolence is some sentimental gift," said keynote speaker Scott Schaefer-Duffy, co-director of the St. Francis and St. Theresa Catholic Worker House in Worcester, Mass. "Being nonviolent is strong, not weak," he said.

Turner Masland, of Concord, said he heard about the rally from friends and came to join in.

"I wish there were more people. I wish it was bigger," he said. "More of this needs to happen."

Neal Sharter, of Sanbornton, attended the rally with his wife and grown daughters after learning about it from New Hampshire Peace Action. He said his mother survived the Holocaust but lost her parents.

"I came into the world with a sense of the horrors of war, and I want it to stop," he said.

Bill Broadrick, of Warner, and a member of Wesley United Methodist Church, said he hopes the rally will force American leaders "to think a little more about what they're doing."

Laura Piscitello, a Unitarian Universalist from Dover, said more people are pushing for an end to the Iraq War. Even if they supported the mission to bring democracy to the Iraqis, "they want a plan. They want the soldiers to come home," she said.

The Rev. Gordon Crouch, pastor of the Hopkinton United Church of Christ, helped organize the event. He said was very happy with the turnout and with the growing ties between the state's faith communities and its peace activists.

"This is not the culmination," he said. "This is just the beginning."

© Copyright 2006 Associated Press

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