Throughout the evening, renowned musicians and religious leaders from diverse traditions expressed their collective desire for peace in song and word.

"Thanks for coming to give peace a chance," David Crosby, Grammy Award winner, told the crowd at the cathedral, before he and Graham Nash launched into "Lay Me Down."

When people gather to pray for peace, "what you are praying for is an end to war," Washington Bishop John Bryson Chane, who was the evening's emcee, told the congregation. He said it was not an anti-war event, but a moment to call on nations to lay down all arms. "War," he said, "is the ultimate declaration of human failure. What we are saying is: 'Enough is enough.'"

Dalai Lama's work honored
The Pray for Peace concert was the culmination of three years' collaborative work between Nash, of Crosby, Stills and Nash, and Chane who dreamed in 2003 during a visit by the Dalai Lama that if His Holiness ever returned to Washington, they would stage a concert to lift up his continuing peace-seeking efforts. [The day of the concert President George Bush met with the Dalai Lama at the White House residence and the following day the spiritual leader received the Congressional Medal of Honor and was praised by Bush and Congressional leaders as a Tibetan hero.]

The famed tradition of Tibetan Buddhist chanting highlighted an interfaith prayer service preceding the concert that featured songs from Emily Saliers of Indigo Girls, Graham Nash, David Crosby, Keb' Mo', and Jackson Browne.

Before the service, Browne said he was singing in opposition to the war in Iraq and the proposed war in Iran. He said many people feel the Iraq war "has been a huge mistake."

To introduce the concert, Chane quoted Nash: "No person has the right to take another person's life in the name of God."

Chane said churches and religions should be instruments of peace, not war. "People of faith need to make their voices heard both within their temples, cathedrals, mosques and holy places, and beyond. They must take the lead in advocating for an end to violence."

The Very Rev. Samuel T. Lloyd III, the cathedral's dean said that peace is an urgent need throughout the world, whether on the streets of Washington, D.C., in Sudan's Darfur region or in war-torn Iraq. "Each of us is called to do what we can to create a more peaceful world within our own communities or across the globe."

Crosby was asked why they had chosen to perform in the cathedral instead of a larger venue. "This isn't about being big," he said. "This is about something very unusual. We need churches to stand up for us, and say stop the killing."

Music can transcend divisions
Music can be a form of prayer and both transcend regions and religions, the performers said. Keb' Mo' exhorted the crowd, in song, to "hand it over" and "get on your knees and pray."

Crosby's son, James Raymond, played keyboards, while he and Nash sang "Jesus of Rio" and a new Nash song, a musical prayer titled "In Your Name." Then Crosby picked up a guitar and they sang the heavenly "Guinnevere."

"I have a lot of trouble with organized religions," Crosby said before the concert, but revealed that his faith had been renewed by Chane. "He's got real courage, to say war is not the answer," he said. "I feel comfortable here."

Browne and Nash performed a haunting version of "Crow on the Cradle" and were joined by Crosby for "Lives in the Balance." Rep. John Hall (Democrat-New York), who once belonged to the Top 40 band Orleans, led the congregation with help from Nash, in a song: "We are all one tribe." And many of the night's entertainers gathered for the finale, "Teach Your Children."

Participants included Chief Stephen Adkins of the Chickahominy Tribe of Virginia; Sheik Ahmad Bahraini, Shia imam and director of the Islamic Education Center in Maryland; Gyumed Khensur Rinpoche and Lama Zopa Rimpoche, senior Tibetan monks; the Rev. Dr. Bernice Powell Jackson, regional president of the World Council of Churches; the Very Rev. Leonid Kishkovsky, moderator of Religions for Peace and director of external affairs for the Orthodox Church in America; Mohamed Magid, a Sunni imam and director of the All Dulles Area Muslim Society; Ruth Messinger, president of American Jewish World Service; Rabbi David Saperstein, director of the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism, and the Rev. Mpho Tutu, founder of the Tutu Center for Prayer and Pilgrimage and chair of the Global AIDS Alliance.