763 - Peace & Life - July 24, 2026
- Jul 24
- 3 min read
Witnessing for Peace against the Nuclear Threat
The 81st anniversary of the US atomic bombings of Japan in August is a crucial time to demonstrate for peace and against nuclear weapons. Two peace events memorializing the bombing’s victims will be held in the greater Washington, DC, area.
First, a witness at the Pentagon (S. Fern St. and Army Navy Drive) will be held on August 6th, from 7 to 8 am. Contact Art Laffin (artlaffin@hotmail.com ) for details.
Second, our quarterly peace vigil will be held in Washington at 15th and E Streets NW (close to the White House) on August 8th from 10 to 11:30 am. Contact John Whitehead (jwwhiteh@yahoo.com ) for details.
Referendums Set for November
All deadlines have passed and we now know which measures made it to the ballot for November 3, 2026. Here are the ones we’re tracking on our Peace and Life Referendums website:
Abortion:
Idaho – a successful petition drive put a pro-abortion statute on the ballot to overturn the state’s abortion ban.
Missouri – the state legislature put on an amendment to the state constitution to overturn the pro-abortion amendment passed in 2024.
Nevada – they already voted overwhelmingly in 2024 for a pro-abortion constitutional amendment in a state where no abortion bans were ever contemplated. The rules state they have to vote on it twice before it goes into effect.
Virginia – the state legislature put a pro-abortion amendment on the ballot.
War:
This issue isn’t commonly related to referendums, but we track these two:
Arizona – turning policework into the war mindset, the measure seeks to define drug trafficking as terrorism and therefore use war tactics to counter it.
Massachusetts – a petition drive put a veto referendum about firearm regulations passed by the legislature on the ballot. We focus only on those that relate to preventing mass shootings, as a form of war.
Poverty:
Oklahoma – a successful petition drive for a rise in the minimum wage should have put this on the ballot in 2024, but government officials’ shenanigans delayed it until now.
Abortion, Poverty, Racism, War:
Colorado – one of the very few that connects several of our issues, a successful petition drive wants to overturn state legislation stopping federal overreach and instead have local authorities turn any undocumented immigrants (or those that can’t prove otherwise right away) accused of a violent crime over to ICE. This bypasses the court system that knows how to adjudicate these properly, in favor of an agency that doesn’t even try to.
Note: our main website was recently down for several days due to technical glitches, but is back up and running now. We apologize for the inconvenience.
Latest on the Blog
Jacqueline Abernathy notes how there’s media trying to pin all kinds of problems on abortion bans, and asks: Abortion Bans and Women’s Welfare: Are the Laws Really to Blame?
Quote of the Week
Luis Parrales
The Church’s resistance to war and its support for migrants stem from the same principles as its opposition to abortion.
The Atlantic, May 8, 2026
The idea that being anti-abortion, being against war, and being protective of immigrants all stem from similar principles is not new. In 1983, during the Cold War arms race, Cardinal Joseph Bernardin delivered a speech in which he popularized a phrase connecting these issues and several others: “a consistent ethic of life.” It has reverberated in the American Catholic consciousness ever since.
(Editor’s note: it has reverberated among many non-Catholics as well, as can be seen by the diversity within our network.)
