Religious leaders speak to nuclear concerns
5/19/1998 by United Methodist News Service
U.S. religious leaders, including several United Methodists, are calling for action in the wake of India's nuclear weapons testing and retaliatory threats by Pakistan to do the same.
A coalition of more than 200 leaders, representing millions of Christians and Jews, issued a statement May 18 calling on the U.S. Senate to ratify the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty before its August recess.
"The United States Senate has within its powers the capacity to take decisive action on some of the most fateful issues affecting the security of our nation and the peace of our planet," they said. "We urge the Senate to proceed swiftly."
United Methodists who signed the document included Bishop William Boyd Grove, Charleston, W.Va., ecumenical officer for the denomination; Howard Hallman, chairman of Methodists United for Peace with Justice; and the Rev. Thom White Wolf Fassett, top staff executive of the church's Washington-based Board of Church and Society.
Fassett issued his own statement May 18 calling all governments to ratify the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty and to work for full implementation of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.
"It is immoral to use God-given resources for human activities that are murderous and destructive and have caused the poverty and deaths of millions of people," he said.
United Methodists have long been involved in efforts to stop the development of nuclear weapons. Delegates to the 1996 General Conference in Denver recommended that the global Comprehensive Test Ban "be agreed upon, honored, and enforced," as a means of moving rapidly toward nuclear abolition. In a 1986 initiative titled "In Defense of Creation," the church's Council of Bishops called such weapons "demonic war-making and hunger-making systems."
Fassett discounts claims by the Indian government that the tests were necessary because of the "nuclear environment" in the area and that they were needed to reassure citizens that their national security interests were being protected.
"The development of more nuclear weapons actually contributes to further destabilization of the region and the world," Fassett said. "Therefore, the current declared nuclear nations must continue vigorously in good faith toward total nuclear disarmament."
Regarding the statement developed by the religious coalition, Fassett said the diversity of signers shows the wide support for the issue across the United States.
The Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty, which the United Nations approved in September 1996, would ban all test blasts of nuclear weapons worldwide. The Clinton Administration has signed the treaty and has called for Senate ratification this year. Overall, 149 nations have signed the agreement, and 13, including nuclear powers France and Britain, have ratified it.
The end of the Cold War has changed issues surrounding the nuclear threat, the coalition members said in their statement. However, they point to the retention of thousands of weapons, the dangers of proliferation and terrorism, and moral questions. Ratification would put into effect international verification systems and would fulfill previous commitments under the Limited Test Ban Treaty and the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.
The religious leaders said they are determined to interpret this issue as a "vital matter of religious conscience for our communities."
Another signer, the Rev. Joan Brown Campbell, top staff executive for the National Council of Churches, expressed sadness "that a nation like India, born under the committed nonviolent leadership of Mohandas K. Gandhi, should choose the way of nuclear weapons."
# # #
NOTE: Full text of Fassett's statement follows:
Nations Urged to Ratify the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty
This is a statement by Dr. Thom White Wolf Fassett, General Secretary of the General Board of Church and Society of the United Methodist Church.
Amid reports of Pakistan's possible retaliatory plans for a nuclear weapon testing, following India's recent test of nuclear weapons, the United States Senate and all nations urgently need to ratify the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty (CTBT). All nations must also continue to work toward implementation of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, which would move the world toward the goal of nuclear disarmament.
United Methodist Church policy states that as a means of moving more rapidly toward nuclear abolition, we recommend that the global Comprehensive Test Ban "be agreed upon, honored, and enforced." (Pg. 559, 1996 Book of Resolutions)
Claiming the nuclear tests were necessary based on the nuclear environment in its neighborhood, the Indian government further argued that the tests would provide reassurance to the people of India that their national security interests will be "promoted and protected." However, the development of more nuclear weapons actually contributes to further destabilization of the region and the world.
Therefore, the current declared nuclear weapons nations must continue vigorously in good faith toward total nuclear disarmament. As United Methodists, we confess the sin of allowing the development testing and use of these weapons to create, as the United Methodist bishops have called them, "demonic war-making and hunger-making systems." It is immoral to use God-given resources for human activities that are murderous and destructive and have caused the poverty and deaths of millions of people.
We call attention to a statement by U.S. religious leaders, signed by several United Methodists (including the General Board of Church and Society), which urges the U.S. Senate to act immediately to ratify the CTBT. The diversity of signers to this statement illustrates the wide support for this issue across the United States.
As people of faith, we urge all governments to ratify the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty and to work for full implementation of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.
(Only General Conference speaks for the entire denomination.)
# # #
Full text of the statement by the religious coalition follows:
A Statement by American Religious Leaders: Ratify the CTBT.
As persons entrusted by our diverse religious communities with special responsibilities to address the issues of justice and peace, we have joined in this appeal for Senate action to approve the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) before the August recess.
For more than 40 years, the nuclear arms race dominated the Cold War policies of the United States. Within our faith communities, those policies raised the profoundest questions about the sacredness of God's creation, our moral responsibilities, and our human destiny. With the end of the Cold War, the issues of the nuclear threat have changed, but the threat remains and the profound moral questions persist. The retention of thousands of nuclear weapons, combined with the threats of proliferation and terrorism, requires renewed attention to these issues. At the moral core of nuclear issues is the credibility of nuclear-weapon states in seeking to prevent the proliferation of nuclear weapons by or to other states or political groups.
We believe that ratification of the CTBT during 1998 is the most urgent and timely action that could contribute significantly toward reducing the nuclear danger. We are reminded that ratification of the CTBT would help fulfill U.S. commitments under the Limited Test Ban Treaty and the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, and is consistent with current U.S. law. In fact, the CTBT would make permanent internationally the current moratorium on nuclear testing which the U.S. already observes. The international verification regime of this treaty provides a means to effectively monitor such a permanent ban on testing and to restrict further proliferation of nuclear weapons technology. U.S. leadership on ratification of this treaty is critical.
The United States Senate has within its powers the capacity to take decisive action on some of the most fateful issues affecting the security of our nation and the peace of our planet. We urge the Senate to proceed swiftly this session to devote the most serious consideration to the honoring of our previous treaty commitments and to the merits of the CTBT. We earnestly hope our senators will then decide it is time to consent to the treaty's ratification.
We assure our senators of our determination to interpret this issue as a vital matter of religious conscience for our communities - and we pray for their own good health and wisdom.
Yours faithfully,
|
Back : News Archives 1998 Main
|
|
“We believe in God and in each other.”The people of The United Methodist Church
Still Have Questions?
If you have any questions Ask
InfoServ
Purchase a $20 buzzkill t-shirt and help save a life
Buy a t-shirt
|
Korean News