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Nuclear Weapons: A Persistent Burden It’s summer, so a somewhat abbreviated newsletter this time, enough to remind everyone of the August anniversary we commemorate each year─the birth of nuclear weapons and their first use on human populations. With the demise of the “cold war,” nuclear weapons have faded from public attention. But they certainly have not gone away. Although the circumstances for their reemergence cannot be predicted, unless they are abolished they surely will return, at least as great a menace to future generations as they ever were to our own. What is most remarkable is the air of normalcy that has grown up around nuclear weapons. People seem simply to have gotten used to them. This passivity is part of what Thomas Merton called “the progressive deadening of conscience.” Embracing the tortured logic used to justify continued possession of the Bomb has diminished our spiritual sensibilities. We seem unable to feel moral outrage, to utter any meaningful protest. Both are appropriate. It is not that we have lost our fear of what these weapons could do to us. Rather, we seem implicitly to consider it acceptable that these instruments of unlimited atrocity might someday be used on others─if a judgment is made that our “national interest” is sufficiently threatened. Consider: should that moment ever come, we will already have used our opportunity to say “no.” When we give our approval for possession of these weapons, we also hand over to anonymous others the power to decide whether, when, and how they might someday be used in our name. Government actions are important, of course, but nothing matters more than what individuals do about this mortal threat which, unless overcome, promises to become a permanent condition of existence. That’s intolerable. Nuclear weapons have been the principal concern of Catholic Peace Fellowship for years. The reason: these instruments of indiscriminate destruction represent violence in its most extreme form. Their use would be so much at variance with the gospel’s central call to nonviolence─as reflected in the life and example of Jesus─that their very existence must be challenged. To fail to confront them, to tolerate their possession weakens our capacity to recognize and confront violence in its many other forms. The linkage between these things is both symbolic and real. The official reason given by our government for possession of these weapons has always been that they are solely for deterrence─to discourage others from ever using similar weapons. But it is no secret that, in fact, nuclear weapons are at the very center of U.S. military strategy, and are planned to remain there for the indefinite future. Plans to use them “if necessary” have been declared, thousands of people have been trained to do it─immediately, without questioning─and the relentless quest for ever more destructive weapons continues. On the hopeful side, our government, along with all the other nuclear armed nations, is committed by treaty obligations to totally dismantle all its nuclear weapons, “down to zero.” Additionally, an agreement to permanently ban all nuclear weapons testing worldwide is supposedly nearing completion in Geneva. If it happens, that would be a major accomplishment. But ultimate hope continues to reside in “people power,” ordinary citizens like ourselves. Abolition 2000 is a campaign to mobilize public opinion, worldwide, to demand that nuclear weapons nations make good on their long-standing promise to rid the earth of nuclear weapons. Specifically, the campaign aims to have these countries establish, by the end of the century, a timetable which would govern the actual abolition process. (More about this in subsequent newsletters.) All of us know this as an important issue, but most of our time is, of course, spent on other close-in aspects of our lives. So it is good for us to gather occasionally to reflect, refresh our spirits, and renew our commitment to remain engaged in some way. Sunday August 4 is one opportunity to do that. It has become a Catholic Peace Fellowship tradition, at this time of year, to memorialize the atomic bombings of 1945. It’s a way of reminding ourselves that if the “never again” pledge on the Hiroshima plaque is to have meaning, we must continue the effort to rid the earth of this plague. Tom O’Rourke Tom wrote this article 10 years ago and his wisdom is enduring. |