Members of Desert Lenten Experience hold a prayer vigil during the Easter period of 1982 at the entrance to the Nevada Test Site
As a Christian pastor and teacher, I strongly oppose nuclear weapons and the threats to use nuclear weapons. I also denounce the types of conservative Christian theologies that, since the dawn of the nuclear age, have not only predicted an imminent nuclear holocaust but have actually desired and promoted it.
This type of conservative Christian nuclear theology is manifestly insulting to God, as it promotes contempt for what God has created. It has been rejected over and over by countless believers, religious leaders, and whole religious organizations. They have proclaimed a resounding “NO!” to nuclearism in all its forms, both religious and secular.
In Genesis 1: 31 it is written that God looked on the creation and called it “very good.”
Conservative Christianity ignores this sacred text, and ignores the teachings of Jesus of Nazareth in order to lust after nuclear conflagration. The script for this theology goes like this: this world is sinful and fallen and must be destroyed in order to bring about the apocalypse and the return of Christ.
From screeds like Hal Lindsey’s The Late Great Planet Earth to the recent statement by Robert Jeffress, the Texas Evangelical who just issued a statement that says, in part, “In the case of North Korea, God has given Trump authority to take out Kim Jong Un,” this kind of conservative Christian evangelicalism has fed an actual longing for catastrophic violence on earth.
This craving for violence is evident in Jeffress’ statement. Should the U.S. actually “take out” the leader of a nuclear armed nation, this can provoke nuclear war, draw in China and perhaps other nations, and potentially bring about a nuclear winter that will end life on earth.
This type of “end times” theology is also actively opposed to the core teachings of Jesus of Nazareth and his love for this world and the people in it. Jeffress actually admits, “A Christian writer asked me, ‘Don’t you want the president to embody the Sermon on the Mount?’ … I said, absolutely not.”
And I say, and countless Christian leaders have said over and over,
Absolutely YES.
Faith opposition to nuclear weapons has been crucial in preventing nuclear war since these weapons were used for the only time at the end of World War II.
There has been tremendous theological and ethical clarity about the insult of the nuclear threat to God’s will and God’s creation. Today it is clear we need to once again not only promote this ethical lucidity but use every one of the nonviolent tools we have to reject nuclear threat and we need to employ all of our religious resources to support this sacred work.
We need to articulate over and over what Cardinal Joseph Bernardin expressed in his 1983 Commencement Address at Notre Dame University:
Because the nuclear issue is not simply political but also a profoundly moral and religious question, the Church must be a participant in the process of protecting the world and its people from the specter of nuclear destruction.
There is no more commonly held religious conviction, across the world’s faith traditions, than care of the creation and the rejection of nuclear weapons as a threat to all life. We make this abundantly clear in “Interfaith Just Peacemaking: Jewish, Christian, and Muslim Perspectives on the New Paradigm of Peace and War.”
For me as a Christian pastor and teacher, Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount and its teachings are central to the Christian faith. Jesus taught, “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the children of God.” (Matt. 5:9) For those of other faiths, there are also core teachings that call for the protection of God’s creation and the imperative to pursue the work of peacemaking.
We must take a stand, again, against nuclear weapons. Where we need to concentrate our faith voices today, indeed, right this minute, is on preventing a nuclear first-strike that will draw the world into nuclear war.
I call on all people of faith and all people of humanist values to join with me in contacting the members of the United States Congress and demanding that they pass legislation to take away Donald Trump’s ability to launch a nuclear first strike.
Half a million people have already signed a petition supporting a bill reintroduced in May of this year by Senator Ed Markey and Representative Ted Lieu that would require a declaration of war by Congress before the president could launch an unprovoked nuclear attack. The president would still retain the power to launch a nuclear attack if a foreign nation attacked first.
This is a moral and political imperative, and it has become a moral and political emergency in recent days.
Take action now. Call, fax and write your members of Congress and call on them to pass this crucial legislation.
For God’s sake, for your children and grandchildren’s sake and for the sake of the whole planet, we must not delay.