Nuclear War

A Call to End the Danger of Nuclear War

For People of Faith:

AN URGENT CALL -- End The Nuclear Danger

[9-14-02]

Your Endorsement is needed!

The executive committee of The Witherspoon Society has endorsed this Call.

Click here for an update on this effort.

As people of faith, we understand that God created the universe and everything in it. Our world is an astonishingly beautiful, rich, complex, tiny piece of that creation, teeming with life and "good, very good" in God's sight.

Since the nuclear age began in 1945 this glorious world has been faced with a fundamentally new kind of threat with the creation of weapons that can cause unimaginable destruction. Nuclear weapons can destroy not only the present, but with long-term radiation effects and the possibility of nuclear winter, they could destroy the future. Even when they are unused, the production and deployment of nuclear weapons causes significant environmental degradation, diverts massive resources from human need, and adds destabilizing fear to tense political situations.

Contemplating the use of nuclear weapons is an affront to God. Preparing to unleash such destructiveness runs against all the life-giving creativity that comes from God. As people of faith, we affirm life and all that nurtures it. We abhor nuclear weapons and the destruction they portend. As people of faith, we choose life (Deuteronomy 30:19).

An Urgent Call End the Nuclear Danger

A decade after the end of the Cold War, the peril of nuclear destruction is mounting. The great powers have refused to give up nuclear arms, other countries are producing them, and terrorists are trying to acquire them. Poorly guarded warheads and nuclear material in the former Soviet Union may fall into the hands of terrorists. The Bush administration is developing nuclear 'bunker busters' and threatening to use them against non-nuclear countries. The risk of nuclear war between India and Pakistan is grave. Despite the end of the Cold War, the United States plans to keep large numbers of nuclear weapons indefinitely. The latest U.S.-Russian treaty, which will cut deployed strategic warheads to 2200, leaves both nations facing "assured destruction" and lets them keep their total arsenals (active and inactive, strategic and tactical) at more than 10,000 warheads each.

The dangers posed by huge arsenals, threats of use, proliferation, and terrorism are linked: The nuclear powers' refusal to disarm fuels proliferation, and proliferation makes nuclear materials more accessible to terrorists. The events of September 11 brought home to Americans what it means to experience a catastrophic attack. Yet the horrifying losses that day were only a fraction of what any nation would suffer if a single nuclear weapon were used on a city. The drift towards catastrophe must be reversed. Safety from nuclear destruction must be our goal. We can reach it only by reducing and then eliminating nuclear arms under binding agreements. We therefore call on the United States and Russia to fulfill their commitments under the Nonproliferation Treaty and move together with the other nuclear powers, step by carefully inspected and verified step, to the abolition of nuclear weapons. As steps toward this goal, we call on the United States to:

	Renounce the first use of nuclear weapons.
	Permanently end the development, testing, and production of nuclear warheads .
	Seek agreement with Russia on the mutual and verified destruction of nuclear weapons withdrawn under treaties, and increase the resources available here and in the former Soviet Union to secure nuclear warheads and material and implement destruction.
	Strengthen nonproliferation efforts by ratifying the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty, finalizing a missile ban in North Korea, supporting UN inspections in Iraq, locating and reducing fissile material worldwide and negotiating a ban on its production.
	Take nuclear weapons off hair-trigger alert in concert with the other nuclear powers--the UK, France, Russia, China, India, Pakistan and Israel--in order to reduce the risk of accidental or unauthorized use.
	Initiate talks on further nuclear cuts, beginning with U.S. and Russian reductions to 1,000 warheads each.

Call initiated in June 2002 by David Cortright, Randy Forsberg, and Jonathan Schell

QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS ABOUT THE URGENT CALL

1. Why is this situation urgent?

People of faith and others have experienced the threat posed by nuclear weapons before. Now we are again in an urgent situation and several realities are contributing to it:

	The US Administration is now proposing "unwarned" preemptive military strikes, and names seven countries against which the US might initiate the first use of nuclear weapons. Though many of us share the government's worry about nuclear terrorism, building more nuclear weapons and deciding that we might use the weapons first increases rather than decreases the danger of nuclear terrorism.
	The Administration has proposed and is now seeking funds for new "useable" nuclear warheads, like the new "bunker buster". It is not only a dangerous weapon, but undermines the explicit commitments not to develop new nuclear weapons that the US made along with over 185 nations that are party to the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty. The Administration is planning to build new nuclear weapons for the next 50 years. New nuclear weapons make the world less, not more secure.
	There is an excess of 1200 metric tons of poorly secured nuclear weapons materials in Russia. The danger that these materials may get into the hands of terrorists is real and growing. After September 11, it is frightening.
	The US Administration has unilaterally withdrawn from the Anti-Ballistic Missile treaty in order to build the space defense system. What is defensive in one nation's eyes is often perceived as offensive in another nation's eyes. The US Senate also refused to ratify the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty. Nuclear weapons treaties, like the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty described above, make the nations of the world safer. ÿÿ India and Pakistan have come close to the brink of war over Kashmir three times since they initially tested nuclear weapons in 1998.

2. I am most worried about nuclear weapons getting into the hands of terrorists. Will the Urgent Call help?

The plan for the reduction and control of all nuclear weapons outlined in the Urgent Call is an essential step in preventing terrorists from acquiring nuclear weapons and their component parts. Honoring our treaty commitments and furthering the effectiveness of an international nonproliferation policy is the most effective comprehensive approach for ensuring that nuclear weapons and materials do not get into the hands of terrorists. If we maintain thousands of weapons and even build more, refuse to ratify the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty, fail to honor other existing nuclear weapons treaties, and do not secure the nuclear materials in Russia and all nuclear nations, the possibility of nuclear weapons and materials being used by terrorists is increased.

3. Didn't the treaty signed by presidents Putin and Bush solve the nuclear weapons problem?

On May 24 2002, presidents George W. Bush and Vladimir Putin signed a legally binding agreement on strategic (long-range) nuclear reductions in Moscow. The Moscow Treaty is a helpful step, but by no means solves the problem. The agreement requires each side to reduce its number of "operationally deployed strategic warheads" from today's 6,000 strategic warheads to no more than 2,200 by 2012, when the treaty will expire. Under the treaty each side would reduce its deployed strategic forces by removing nuclear warheads from missiles, bombers, and submarines, while allowing the retention of those vehicles.

The Treaty

	Does not require the dismantling of any warhead or nuclear delivery system. It does require that thousands of warheads be removed from active deployment, but these can be stored for rapid re-deployment. This means that by 2012 the actual number of nuclear weapons (including those in storage) will far exceed the stated goal of the Moscow Treaty.
	Does not provide additional security to the Russian arsenal that is already vulnerable.
	Does not include the more than 1,600 US tactical (short range) nuclear weapons or the thousands of Russian tactical weapons which are easier to transport and often more vulnerable to theft than other nuclear weapons. Theft or accident is particularly worrisome after September 11th and in Russia where thousands of tactical nuclear weapons are not subject to stringent controls or accounting procedures.

Can be reversed at either nation's discretion with only 90 days prior notice to the other party -- leaving serious doubts about how permanent the reductions will be and how effective the treaty will be at reducing the risks of nuclear war and nuclear proliferation.

4. Wasn't the nuclear threat diminished in the 1980s and 1990s?

In the 1980s the nuclear weapons issue was a matter of major concern. Two super powers were engaged in a dangerous and costly nuclear arms race. A major effort was undertaken to halt that race by calling for a bilateral, verifiable nuclear weapons freeze. In the immediate aftermath of the Cold War, thousands of nuclear warheads and launchers were destroyed.

But in the mid-1990s these reductions slowed and efforts to ban testing were set back by the US Senate's rejection of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT). By the beginning of the 21st century, about five thousand nuclear weapons remained on hair-trigger alert, poised to launch at a moment's notice. This presents a significant danger that nuclear war could begin by accident or miscalculation. Now a new trend calling for production of new "usable" nuclear weapons has emerged in the US government.

The post-Cold War gains are being overturned by plans to start the development, testing, production and proposed use of nuclear weapons. The dangers of nuclear weapons have grown in recent years. The Urgent Call provides a vehicle for people to express their concerns.

5. Why should people of faith care about nuclear weapons?

Most religions acknowledge that God alone is the creator of the whole universe and is the only source of ultimate security. Most faiths affirm that human beings have a responsibility to respond to God's gifts by worshipping God alone, caring for all of creation and meeting the needs of all human beings, especially the most vulnerable. We worship God faithfully when we protect God's creation from human destruction, acknowledge that we are only secure in God and not through nuclear weapons, and care for the well-being of all of God's people. Also the money used to purchase and maintain nuclear weapons could care for millions of children around the world now and protect the earth for future generations.

Many denominations and faith groups have resolutions on the nuclear danger. Recently the Chautauqua Appeal to the Religious Communities of America was issued and provides a recent theological and moral framework for reflection on the nuclear danger. Go to www.nrdi.org for copies of these statements.

6. What is this Urgent Call?

The Urgent Call is a new Internet-based initiative. It has been developed by three leaders of the Nuclear Weapons Freeze Movement of the 1980s to engage and educate a broad public about the growing danger that nuclear weapons will be used, and about practical steps to reduce that danger. The Urgent Call offers a means for Americans, including people of faith, to show that public concern is both deep and widely shared. By supporting a common view of what is wrong and what needs to be done, we can make a difference.

The goal of the Urgent Call is to make nuclear weapons a significant priority on the national agenda by 2004. To do that, 10 million endorsers are needed. The faith community could play a major role in reaching these goals.

In a vast, united outpouring of care and commitment, an active public can turn the tide of history. In just a decade, we saw the fall of the Berlin wall, the transformation of South Africa, and the reduction of the world's nuclear arsenals from about 70,000 warheads to about 35,000. It is time for another groundswell of public demand to reduce the nuclear danger, and move us closer to the day when we can end the danger for our children, grandchildren and generations to follow.

7. Is the Urgent Call just for people of faith?

No, the Urgent Call is a vehicle for all Americans to use to express their commitments to creating a world that is not threatened by nuclear weapons. It is a tool that helps all of us talk to our family and friends, describe our commitments to the media, and share our concerns with our federal legislators.

8. What can you as a person of faith do to protect creation and the next generations of God's children from the threat of nuclear weapons?

	Help the Urgent Call reach its goals by endorsing the Urgent Call and ask your friends and family and members of your congregation to do so as well.
	Ask your congregation and judicatory (regional body of your denomination and faith group) to study the issues and to endorse the Urgent Call. Endorsements from congregations and judicatories are very important.
	Work with others in your denomination or faith group to respond to the threat of nuclear weapons.
	Work on an interfaith basis with people in your community and state. You may hear from your state's interfaith or ecumenical agency on this issue.
	Share your concerns with your federal legislators. Information on pending legislation will be sent to you.

9. What kind of help exists for people of faith who want to respond to the threat of nuclear weapons?

The Nuclear Reduction/Disarmament Initiative (NR/DI) is a national interfaith organization that helps people of faith study (a video, study packet and other materials are available) and take action on the threats posed by nuclear weapons. It is located at The Churches'' Center for Theology and Public Policy at Wesley Theological Seminary in Washington, DC. Go to the NR/DI web site ( www.nrdi.org) to read and print a pdf version of "For People of Faith: An Urgent Call" and to find other information and study materials on these issues. There are links on the web site to denominations, faith-based organizations and other organizations that can help you study and take action.

The Urgent Call also has a very important web site at www.urgentcall.org. It lists individual and group signers of the Urgent Call by state, gives the current status of congressional initiatives, and describes the current activities of the Urgent Call campaign. You can also endorse the Urgent Call on its website.

CONSIDER ENDORSING THE URGENT CALL TODAY

For people of faith there are two ways of endorsing the Urgent Call. Go on line to www.nrdi.org to register as an endorser. If you do not have a computer, please mail the attached form to the Nuclear Reduction/Disarmament Initiative at The Churches Center for Theology and Public Policy at Wesley Seminary in Washington, DC at the address listed below. The phone is 202-885-8648.

Please consider making copies of the form and asking your friends, and members of your congregation to endorse it. You can also download a pdf version of this document from the NR/DI web site. Also ask the governing body of your congregation and your judicatory (the regional body of your denomination or faith group like diocese, synods etc.) to endorse it as well. Together we can make a difference!

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AN ENDORSEMENT OF THE URGENT CALL TO END THE NUCLEAR DANGER

Date____________________________

Name___________________________________

Organization (work or affiliation) ________________________

Title _______________________________________________

Address ____________________________________________

City/State/Zip _______________________________________

E-mail ___________________ Web site ________________

Phone __________________ Fax: ________________

Denomination or faith group ____________________________

If the governing body of your congregation or your judicatory also endorse, please give the name of the congregation or judicatory and its address, phone, fax, email and web site here:

Please also give the name of a contact person. Please also consider asking all members of your congregation and judicatory to endorse as well.

Additional copies of this document "For People of Faith: An Urgent Call" are available from the Nuclear Reduction/Disarmament Initiative. Donations are appreciated. Checks can be made out to NR/DI.

Please mail or fax the completed endorsement and requests for this form to:
Nuclear Reduction/Disarmament Initiative
Churches Center for Theology and Public Policy
Wesley Theological Seminary
4500 Massachusetts Ave. NW
Washington, DC 20016-5690.
Phone -- 202-885-8648
Fax -- 202-885-8559
Email -- nrdi@wesleysem.edu
Web site www.nrdi.org

URGENT CALL - END THE NUCLEAR DANGER - an update

[9-28-02]

We recently posted an Urgent Call to End the Nuclear Danger, which is being circulated by the Churches' Center for Theology and Public Policy. Our friends in the Presbyterian Peace Fellowship recently received an update from the Center, encouraging them to seek more endorsements from individuals, congregations and presbyteries. The Witherspoon Society Executive Committee has endorsed this call, and we encourage others to do the same ... most easily on-line, through the Center's web site.

"We would deeply appreciate your help in encouraging as many individual Presbyterians, congregations and presbyteries [as possible] to endorse the Urgent Call. People can endorse the Urgent Call online. You can go to our website (www.nrdi.org) and click on the button for endorsing this Urgent Call which appears right after the Urgent Call. . . . We will be posting a list of religious leaders on our web site soon. It would be great to include members of the national committee of the Presbyterian Peace Fellowship.

"The Nuclear Reduction/Disarmament Initiative began to promote the religious version of the Urgent Call in August. The Peace Fellowship was one of the first groups contacted. We will be contacting the other peace fellowships soon."