Rev. Bob Moore's talk on his transformation from militarist to peacemaker, and the role his faith played in that journey
Click here to listen to Rev. Moore's talk presented to Tenacre Foundation on 11/1/24. Length, counting Q and A, is about 1 hour.
Biography
BACKGROUND OF THE REV. ROBERT MOORE
The Rev. Robert Moore has served since 1981 as full-time Executive Director of the Princeton, NJ-based Coalition for Peace Action (CFPA), a regional organization dedicated to global abolition of nuclear weapons, a peace economy, and a halt to weapons trafficking. From 1988-2014, he also served as part-time Pastor of East Brunswick Congregational Church, and from 2014-2016 as part-time Co-Pastor of Christ Congregation in Princeton.
Prior to his current positions, Rev. Moore was for 3 and ½ years the National Secretary of Mobilization for Survival, a nationwide coalition of some 250 organizations working for disarmament and the conversion of resources from military purposes to urgent human needs. Previously, he served as Assistant Pastor to Luther Place Church in Washington DC.
Rev. Moore is an ordained minister in the United Church of Christ. He earned a Master of Divinity degree from Wittenberg University in 1976, and a Bachelor of Science in Engineering from Purdue University in 1972.
Since his fulltime peacemaking ministry began in 1978, Rev. Moore has played a leadership role in major activities in the US peace movement. He organized a nationally covered press conference at Three Mile Island the day after the March 1979 nuclear accident, with experts including a Nobel Laureate in Biology, a radiologist, and a physician. The next day, the Governor of Pennsylvania heeded the experts’ call to evacuate pregnant women and children.
He chaired the first meetings of the Organizing Committee for one of the largest demonstration in US history, when one million came to New York demanding a Freeze and Reduction of Nuclear Weapons on June 12, 1982. He was Steering Committee chair of the NJ Nuclear Weapons Freeze Referendum which in November 1982 received the support of 2/3 of New Jersey’s voters.
In 1993, Rev. Moore and CFPA’s Ceasefire NJ (CFNJ) Project played a major role in defeating the NRA’s attempt to rescind New Jersey’s Assault Weapons Ban. In 2017, CFNJ spearheaded bipartisan passage of a law to keep guns away from domestic abusers, and in early 2018 of a Ban on Bump Stocks. Both bills were signed into law by NJ Republican Governor Chris Christie. In 2018 and 2019, CFNJ worked closely with NJ Governor Phil Murphy and NJ Legislative leaders to pass 14 more gun safety laws.
In 1995, under Rev. Moore’s leadership, CFPA pioneered the first Peace Voter Campaign in the US, with distribution of tens of thousands of Peace Voter Guides. In 1996, CFPA did the first Peace Voter Signature Ads in newspapers in targeted races, which have since run in over 4 million newspapers in 40 targeted races. In 2000, CFPA did the first Candidate Briefings in the nation. These activities have become a model for peace groups across the country.
In 2005-2006, Rev. Moore co-organized the founding conference of the National Religious Campaign against Torture under CFPA’s umbrella. It subsequently spun off to become a major national interfaith group. In 2014-2015, he played a similar role in the founding conference of the Interfaith Network on Drone Warfare, a national effort that remains a Project of CFPA’s Peace Action Education Fund.
In addition to his other roles, Rev. Moore currently serves as Co-Moderator of Christ Congregation in Princeton, on the Board of the National Religious Campaign against Torture Action Fund, and as Treasurer of the Princeton Clergy Association. He Co-chairs the Education and Action Committee of the Just Peace Priority of the United Church of Christ (national). He serves on the Advisory Boards of The Gandhian Forum for Peace and Justice at William Paterson University; The Bayard Rustin Center for Social Justice; and the Network of Spiritual Progressives.
Rev. Moore contributed the preface and first chapter of the book Breaking Silence: Pastoral Approaches to Creating an Ethos of Peace (August 2004 from Pilgrim Process). He is also the author of numerous articles, op-eds, letters to the editor, etc. published in newspapers throughout the New York-New Jersey-Pennsylvania region.
Previously he served as Coordinator of Peacemaking Ministries at the Center of Continuing Education at Princeton Theological Seminary; President and Vice-President of the Princeton Clergy Association; Chairperson of the N.J. Nuclear Weapons Freeze Campaign and of the N.J. Disarmament Network; State Coordinator of NJ Peace Action; Coordinator of the N.J. Coalition Against War in Iraq; and on the Princeton Boro Affordable Housing Board.
Rev. Moore has received many honors in his personal and organizational capacities: Outstanding Ecumenical Ministry in New Jersey (1982 from N.J. Council of Churches); Visibility Award (1993 and 2002 from National Peace Action); Citizen Hero (1995 from the ACLU); Community Service Award (1998 from Community House, Princeton University); Peace Builder Award (1999 from Princeton Rotary Club); Gandhi, King, Ikeda Award (2003 from Martin Luther King International Chapel at Morehouse College); Distinguished Leadership Award (2003 from NJ Council of Churches); Outstanding Grassroots Organizer of the Year (2003 from National Peace Action); co-recipient of Humanitarian of the Year (2005 from National Conference for Community and Justice); Excellence in Membership Development, and in Student Organizing (2006 from National Peace Action); Quarter Century Award and Membership Growth Award (2008 from National Peace Action); the Evanoff-Schucter Award for Lifelong Commitment to Organizing (2008 from NJ Citizen Action); Peacemaker Award (2012 from Peace, Love, and Prosperity, International); Peace and Understanding Award (2014 from Peace Islands Institute); Interfaith Leadership Award (2016 from Institute for Islamic Studies; and in 2017 from Muslims for Peace); and Lifetime Service Award in 2024 from Christ Congregation in Princeton.
On September 8, 2021, the Princeton Municipal Council adopted a resolution in honor of Rev. Moore's 40th Anniversary as CFPA Executive Director, and declared that day "Rev. Robert Moore Day." The NJ General Assembly passed a resolution honoring Rev. Moore later that month; and US Representative Bonnie Watson Coleman put a salutation in the Congressional Record.
Rev. Moore has traveled widely in his various peacemaking ministry roles, including trips to Hiroshima and Nagaski, the former Soviet Union, Germany, Scandanavia, Greece, Holland, Canada, and Mexico. He and his wife, Mary Timberlake, have three children and four grandchildren, and reside in Princeton.
Last updated September, 2024
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