Who We Are
We are a theologically progressive organization dedicated to serving the Pacific Asian American community with all of its diverse range of religious backgrounds, beliefs, and practices. Founded by the Reverend Paul M. Nagano, who helped launch the Japanese Evangelical Missionary Society (JEMS) in 1950, the Council for Pacific Asian Theology (CPAT) strives to pursue a vision of a harmonious future built on spiritual pluralism.
Get Connected
We’d love to hear from you! Ask us all your theological questions, meet our board members, or start a conversation with us.
Our Purpose
So many wars in Europe have been wars of religion — Christians and Muslims, and Protestants and Catholics. All people of conscience condemn the militarism of Western religions — Crusades, colonialism, Spanish Inquisition, persecution of European Jews, demonization of Hawaiian religion, and the forced conversion of too many Indigenous Australian and Indigenous American adults and school children. The Franciscan Missions of Coastal California headed by Junípero Serra was especially long-term and cruel. CPAT expresses the Compassionate Christ by which all can flourish in peace as individuals and as harmonious communities of nations.
Some Core Values of CPAT
Reform Police Brutality
Black Lives Matter. No choke holds, forbid no-knock entries, no quasi police immunity, nat’l database so convicted police cannot be hired in the next city, no shootings without body cameras, no rubber bullets, no political donations by police unions, no private prisons, social worker specialists to replace police dealing with homeless and mentally ill, no bicycle stops escalating to pointless killings.
PRotect Mother Earth
Our only Space Ship. Keep the oil in the ground. Stop Minnesota portion of Enbridge Line 3, Biden fail to stop. Protect the Arctic Sanctuary from oil and gas drilling. Protect National Parks and Monuments (Biden reverses Trump opening Bear Ears and Grand Staircase Escalante to oil drilling, fracking, and mining).
Gender Equality
Equality for LBGTQ (Supreme Court ruled LBGTQ cannot be fired from work for gender identity. Biden renews LBGTQ in military). Equal pay for equal work.
America’s Original Sins
Stealing land from Native Americans by betraying treaties and by genocide. National economy built on 400 years of Black slave labor and Jim Crow. Trans-continental railway built on blood, sweat, and tears of Chinese laborers.
Racial Equality
No White Supremacy. No racial profiling by police stop-and-search (vs. Afro-Americans). No infiltration of mosques by FBI, CIA, Homeland Security. No mass incarceration of Afro-Americans through unfair drug laws (rehabilitation instead of mass incarceration, fix drug laws).
Freedom of Religion
Freedom for Uyghur Muslims in Xinjian Province. Freedom for Tibetans in religion and politics. Freedom for Rohingyas in Rakhine Province in Myanmar. Freedom for Myanmar citizens from military dictatorship.
Religions Waging Peace
Instead of war. Preemptive strikes as crimes against humanity (Iraq invasion). Nuclear Weapons, Biological Weapons, Chemical Weapons, Neutron Bombs as Crimes Against Humanity. Disarmament of Nuclear Weapons (No More Hiroshima-Nagasaki). Religions networking for social justice in major cities (Jews, Muslims, Christians. Buddhists, and Hindus Together).
Priority of the Poor
Safety nets for the poor and vulnerable, Social Security, Medicare, food stamps, food banks, health insurance for all, $15 minimum wage, subsidized child care.
Vaccines
Israel must provide Coronavirus vaccines to Palestinians in Gaza Strip. Rich Western nations must share supply of vaccines with African nations, Pacific Islanders, and Palestinians in Gaza.
Other Core Values
- Citizenship for DACA (Biden stopped DACA deportation)
- Big Pharma: Drug prices negotiated down.
- Ghost Guns Destroyed
- No Separation of Children from Refugee Parents on Southern Border
- GITMO: Close Guantanamo Detention Center
- Free Assange as Whistle Blower