Momentum for nuclear disarmament growing
TORONTO, ON—Leaders from a wide range of Canadian churches are sending a letter to Canadian prime minister Stephen Harper urging him to personally endorse a "vision of the world without nuclear weapons" and to "publicly and prominently [recommit] Canada to the energetic pursuit of the early elimination of nuclear weapons."
The June 25 letter from the Canadian Council of Churches carries the signatures of leaders from Anglican, evangelical, Free Church, Eastern and Oriental Orthodox, mainline Protestant, Eastern Catholic and Roman Catholic traditions.
"It's important for us to speak together on all the critical issues facing humanity—including nuclear disarmament," says Mardi Tindal, moderator of the United Church of Canada. "We act with integrity as faith leaders when we commit ourselves to acting with heart, mind and deeds for the sake of God's whole earth."
Longtime peace activist Ernie Regehr, co-founder of Project Ploughshares, is the primary author of the letter. "We are called to love our enemies, and we are convinced that this cannot be accomplished through the build-up of nuclear arsenals," it states.
Theologically, the churches anchor their call for the elimination of nuclear weapons in "our certain knowledge that the Earth is God's at all that is in it is under God's love and judgment. We know that God has placed before us and all people in all generations the choice between life and death, desiring for all people not only life but the abundant life of peace with justice."
According to Project Ploughshares executive director John Siebert, "there's new wind in the international discussions on nuclear disarmament." He notes that U.S. president Barak Obama and Russian president Dmitry Medvedev have made agreements to small cuts in their arsenals.
However, he adds, "the churches have not spoken collectively on this issue since the early 1980s when we were at the height of the Cold War. Significant reductions took place after the Cold War in nuclear arsenals, but approximately 23,000 still exist and can destroy the world many times over. It is a primary threat to all life, not just human life."
Siebert argues that the churches in Canada "are all nuclear pacifists in that nuclear weapons cannot be used under any just war rationality in terms of proportionality and other arguments." Leaders of several Baptist conventions as well as the Canadian heads of The Salvation Army, the Christian Reformed Church in North America and the Mennonite Church in Canada signed the letter.
Canada is currently in an odd situation, says Siebert. "For decades our politicians pushed very hard on this and were at odds with the United States. Today, however, the U.S. has set a goal of zero—total nuclear disarmament—and Canada is virtually silent. Our prime minister has yet to publicly affirm Canada's support for nuclear disarmament.
"The letter is addressed to the prime minister personally," says Siebert. "It's not a pure public policy document; it's an appeal to conscience and to faith. The earth is the Lord's. We have no business destroying it or keeping the means of destroying it."
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