The following alert was prepared by the Justice and Peace office of the Conference of Major Superiors of Men (CMSM).

The U.S. government is moving toward an attack on Syria, but some members of Congress are asking hard questions or even stating opposition to military action.

Please encourage your representative and senators to oppose U.S. military action in Syria and support sustained diplomacy. Call your representative and senators today. Congressional switchboard: 202-224-3121.

Here are some points to make in your call:

  • I oppose U.S. military action in Syria.
  • The U.S. does need to act. I encourage the [senator/representative] to support increased diplomacy, the convening of an international summit of heads of state to negotiate a just peace, explore restorative justice responses, and pressure on Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and Turkey to reduce the arms to the resistance as a signal to Russia and Iran to reduce their arms to Assad.
  • Can you tell me about the [senator/representative]'s stance on stopping the violence in Syria?

See the response from a Catholic bishop in Aleppo

Read Pax Christi International's statement.

Read CMSM's letter to Secretary of State John Kerry.

The world community needs to act urgently to bring those responsible for using chemical weapons-and anyone who commits war crime-to a process of restorative justice. But U.S. military action will hurt more than help, increasing hostility, violence, and the risk of more chemical weapons attacks.

Instead, President Obama should engage diplomatically with all parties in the region and convene an emergency summit of heads of state, press the UN Security Council to ask the International Criminal Court to investigate all war crimes in Syria.

Members of Congress are paying attention. Already, Sen. Chris Murphy (CT) and more than 80 members of the House have spoken out against the rush to U.S. military action in Syria.

But we have also heard from members who are reluctant to question the president's preparations for war and are concerned about what their constituents might think if they oppose military action. Your phone calls to your representative's and senators' local offices right now could help encourage them to speak out. Please call today.

After you call, please consider taking one more step. Social media is an effective way to get a message to their offices quickly.

If you use Twitter, please look up the Twitter handles (http://www.tweetcongress.org) for your representative and senators and send them this message:

@[Your representative's handle]: Don't bomb #Syria. Instead nonviolence, emergency summit, restorative justice, and reduce arms flow bit.ly/16Rj6eV