• The Baltimore Peacebuilders

    A project of Central Maryland Ecumenical Council

Baltimore Peacebuilders come together as people of faith who are committed to active nonviolence as a transforming way of life and as a means of radical change to bring about justice and the Beloved Community.  We network, teach and promote nonviolence in action to achieve this vision.

OUR VISION: To be an incubator of the Beloved Community as the framework for the future we can build together.

OUR MISSION: To use the principles and practices of nonviolence to foster trusting and transformative relationships and build social and economic equity.

OUR WORK:

  • We offer training in the principles and practices of Kingian nonviolence through public presentations, a speaker’s bureau, and workshops.
  • We support learning the will and skills to engage in courageous conversations across differences that lie beneath conflicts.
  • We seek to foster networks of people engaged in nonviolent activism in Baltimore and to nurture relationships with peacebuilding allies in the Baltimore area and beyond.

About Kingian Nonviolence

MLK’s Final Marching Orders

Six Principles of Kingian Nonviolence

  1. Nonviolence is a way of life for courageous people
  2. The Beloved Community is the framework for the future
  3. Attack forces of evil not persons doing evil
  4. Accept suffering without retaliation for the sake of the cause to achieve a goal
  5. Avoid internal violence of the spirit as well as external physical violence
  6. The Universe is on the side of justice

Six Steps of Kingian Nonviolence

  1. Information Gathering
  2. Education
  3. Personal Commitment
  4. Discussion/Negotiation
  5. Direct Action
  6. Reconciliation

In December 2021, in partnership with the Baltimore Peacebuilders, CMEC sponsored a webinar with Kazu Haga, author of Healing Resistance.

Kingian Nonviolence Training

INTRODUCTION TO KINGIAN NONVIOLENCE (one-hour, online)
 Whether the conflicts you want to transform are personal or global, conflict plays by the same rules.   Kingian Nonviolence is a philosophy and methodology that provides the knowledge, skills, and motivation necessary for people to pursue peaceful strategies for solving personal and community problems. This approach is critical if the epidemic of violence is to be eradicated.  Although Nonviolence is often mistaken for being simply the absence of violence, this session introduces Nonviolence as a systematic framework of both conceptual principles and pragmatic strategies to reduce violence and promote positive peace at the personal, community, national, and global levels.  If you have an organization that would be interested in this training email us at baltimorepeacebuilders@gmail.com
KINGIAN NONVIOLENCE FOR CONFLICT RECONCILIATION
This is the legacy 16-hour, two-day workshop (if conducted in person), or 16 hours over four 4-hour workshops (online), led by certified KNV trainers.  This transformative workshop provides participants with a deeper dive into the philosophy and methodology of Kingian Nonviolence for conflict reconciliation.  While the philosophy developed out of the teachings of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., the practices of Kingian Nonviolence evolved throughout the early era of the Freedom Movement.  Through role plays, small group work, mini-lectures, videos, readings, and other activities, this highly interactive workshop explores topics such as the myths of nonviolence, definitions of violence, types, and levels of conflict, approaching conflict using the principles and steps of Kingian nonviolence, and powerful lessons for today from the practices forged by men, women, and children in the history of the Civil Rights Movement. If you are interested in this workshop email us at baltimorepeacebuilders@gmail.com

baltimorepeacebuilders@gmail.com

Suppose you had the revolution you are talking and dreaming about. Suppose your side had won, and you had the kind of society that you wanted. How would you live, you personally, in that society? Start living that way now.

~ Paul Goodman