This letter and signatures were compiled by the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC) and sent through contacts at the White House Office of Public Engagement.

Dear President Biden,

As faith-based organizations, we watch the United States’ rapidly growing military budget with great concern. The country is sprinting towards a trillion-dollar budget for weapons and war —  propping up an expensive and harmful militarized foreign policy while people struggle to meet their basic needs. We cannot continue down this morally bankrupt path. We urge you to dramatically cut militarized spending in the Fiscal Year 2024 President’s Budget Request—  both to facilitate reinvestment in the wellbeing of our communities, and to curtail the harms of our militarized foreign policy.

People and organizations on both sides of the political aisle have argued that cuts to bloated and unaccountable Pentagon spending are possible and desirable —  to cut waste, to fight corruption, to reinvest in human wellbeing, and to challenge our militarized foreign policy. Your own National Security Strategy recognizes the importance of investment in our communities, saying that “the most impactful public investments are the ones we make in our people,” including affordable health and child care, job training, and education.  As the chorus of people and organizations questioning the United States’ absurd military budget grows, our faith groups write once again to make the moral case for cutting spending on weapons and war.

Our faiths lay out the moral imperatives of caring for the common good, building sustainable peace, and being good stewards of our resources. The current U.S. budget does not address the urgent threats facing our communities.  The budget’s emphasis on military strength is in direct opposition to these moral duties. The sky-high war budget siphons resources away from investments in healthcare, housing, and education. War spending crowds out investment in peacebuilding and diplomacy, resulting in the loss of critical opportunities for nonviolent conflict prevention and resolution. And the constant waste, fraud, and abuse at the Pentagon and by corporate war contractors siphons taxpayer dollars away from our communities and into the pockets of corporations.

As you prepare to release the President’s Budget Request for Fiscal Year 2024, our faith organizations urge you to cut spending on weapons and war, and to instead focus our national spending on human wellbeing. 

Sincerely,

National & International Faith-Based Organizations

• Adorers of the Blood of Christ, US Region JPIC Office 
• Adrian Dominican Sisters 
• Alliance of Baptists 
• American Friends Service Committee 
• Benedictine Oblate 
• Church of the Brethren, Office of Peacebuilding and Policy 
• Community Peacemaker Teams 
• Congregation of Our Lady of Charity of the Good Shepherd, U.S. Provinces 
• Fellowship of Reconciliation (FOR-USA) 
• Friends Committee on National Legislation 
• Grey Nuns of the Sacred Heart  
• Hindus for Human Rights 
• Intercommunity Peace & Justice Center 
• InterReligious Task Force on Central America  
• Leadership Team of the Felician Sisters of North America 
• Maryknoll Office for Global Concerns 
• Medical Mission Sisters - Justice Office 
• Mennonite Central Committee U.S.  
• Moravian Church Northern Province 
• National Advocacy Center of the Sisters of the Good Shepherd 
• National Council of Churches 
• NETWORK Lobby for Catholic Social Justice 
• Office of Peace, Justice, and Ecological Integrity, Sisters of Charity of Saint Elizabeth 
• Pax Christi USA 
• Presbyterian Church (USA)  
• Presbyterian Peace Fellowship 
• Presentation Sisters Union - USA Unit 
• School Sisters of Notre Dame 
• Sisters of Charity of Nazareth Congregational Leadership 
• Sisters of Charity of Nazareth Western Province Leadership 
• Sisters of Charity, BVM 
• Sisters of Mercy of the Americas Justice Team 
• Sisters of St. Francis of Assisi 
• Sisters of St. Francis of Philadelphia 
• Sisters of the Holy Cross 
• Society of Helpers 
• Sojourners 
• The United Methodist Church - General Board of Church and Society 
• U.S. Federation of the Sisters of St. Joseph 
• Unitarian Universalists for Social Justice 
• United Church of Christ, Justice and Local Church Ministries 

State & Local Faith-Based Organizations

• Benedictine Sisters of Chicago 
• Bristol Friends Meeting 
• Dominican Sisters of Houston 
• Dominican Sisters - Grand Rapids (MI)  
• Dominican Sisters in Committed Collaboration
• Franciscan Peace Center, Clinton, Iowa 
• Madison Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) 
• North Carolina Council of Churches 
• Northern Yearly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends 
• Partnership for Earth Spirituality 
• Pax Christi Metro DC-Baltimore 
• PECSC Committee, Berkeley Friends Church  
• Pennsylvania Council of Churches 
• Provincial Council Clerics of St. Viator 
• School Sisters of Notre Dame, Central Pacific Province  
• Sister of Francis Rochester MN 
• Sisters of St, Joseph of Carondelet Albany 
• Sisters of St. Joseph 
• Sisters of St. Joseph of Baden, PA 
• Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet, LA