Bill Robinson
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To: Bill Robinson <[email protected]> From: "Howard W. Hallman" <[email protected]> Subject: Re: Canadian churches and abolition Cc: Bcc: X-Attachments: At 12:43 PM 11/16/98 -0500, Bill Robinson wrote: >Dear Howard - > >Project Ploughshares, which is a project of the Canadian Council of >Churches, is considering the feasibility of organizing some kind of >outreach project between Canadian church leaders and church leaders in >other countries on the subject of nuclear abolition.... December 1, 1998 Dear Bill, I've been hanging onto your communication of November 16 about getting the Canadian Council of Churches to reach out to other countries on nuclear abolition. Since my response is somewhat complex, I'm just getting around to replying. Basically it's a good idea. Because the Canadian government is questioning some of the cold war assumptions about nuclear deterrence and has led the way in land mines, it would be useful for Canadian religious bodies to provide similar world leadership within the religious community. As you may recall, I initiated an effort related to the 1998 session of the NPT Preparatory Committee in Geneva that (1) produced a statement to delegates from Dr. Konrad Raiser, general secretary of the World Council of Churches, and Godried Cardinal Danneels, president of Pax Christi International, (2) sponsored a reception for delegates co-hosted by Dr. Raiser and Cardinal Danneels, and (3) developed a presentation to delegates on spiritual and moral values. I'm sending separately the Raiser-Danneels statement with some endorsers. I can send you the presentation to delegates if you want it. As follow up, I developed some ideas on "Mobilizing the Religious Community for Nuclear Abolition." (I'm sending you a copy separately by e-mail.) I suggested that the world religious community should demand that all possessors of nuclear weapons should unconditionally renounce their use and threatened use. I put this into a "Nuclear Abolition Covenant" for nuclear weapon states to sign. I circulated my "mobilizing" proposal to persons who I had been in touch with for the NPT PrepCom, including Dwain Epps at the World Council of Churches. At Doug Roche's suggestion I wrote to Msgr. Darmuid Martin, secretary of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace at the Vatican, and also to Archbishop Martino, Holy See delegate to the UN. Dwain Epps assured me that nuclear abolition is on the WCC's active agenda, and the two Catholic leaders sent polite acknowledgements of my ideas. I receive some other favorable replies, but nothing sufficient to make me think I could build lots of support for this particular approach. However, the covenant idea might prove useful for your initiative. Short of such an absolute demand for nuclear abolition, you might consider a matter that is near at hand where you could be quite influential: the future of NATO's nuclear posture. This issue is coming into play because of NATO's nuclear policy review in anticipation of an upcoming 50th anniversary celebration. Therefore, the Canadian Council of Churches might mobilize similar bodies in other NATO nations to demand that NATO cease its commitment to nuclear deterrence and nuclear war-fighting. This would be a no-use policy, going far beyond the call for no-first-use, which some are advocating. (I believe that no-first-use, while a slight improvement, is morally wrong because it retains the right to use nuclear weapons as second strike.) 81112.03.txt[5/3/2017 1:54:19 PM] The statement could state unequivocally that NATO as an alliance should henceforth cease from using nuclear weapons as a deterrent or in potential war situations. Although uclear weapon states as individual entities -- the United States, the United Kingdom, and France -- would not be precluded from pursuing their separate policies on nuclear weapons, the statement could call upon them and other nuclear weapon states to de-alert their arsenals and separate warheads from delivery vehicles. The statement could call for the immediate withdrawal of all nuclear weapons based outside the homeland of nuclear weapon states. That means U.S. nuclear bombs now based in Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, Italy, Greece, and Turkey. It could also call for a nuclear weapons free zone in all of Europe outside the boundaries of the nuclear weapon states. Signers of this statement could include councils of churches and national denominations in all NATO countries. You might also bring in the Conference of European Churches, which included a call for "complete elimination of nuclear arms" in the Final Message of the Second European Ecumenical Assembly that met in Graz, Austria in June 1997. National conferences of Catholic bishops could also be invited to sign. It would be desirable to obtain parallel statements from the World Council of Churches and the Holy See, preferably by Pope John Paul II (for they are unlikely to sign on a group statement.) I think many European church bodies are ready for something like this. Peace activists within religious denominations could be mobilized to bring their leaders into this effort. A NATO-oriented statement would have to be carefully worded so that those who believe NATO should cease to exist would be willing to sign. Also, it might have to finesse (or ignore) the issue of NATO expansion. You might also consider going beyond Europe and North America to gain endorsements from councils of churches in nations that are ordinarily allied with the United States, such as members of the British Commonwealth (especially Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa) and Japan. We got a sprinkling of such signers in a couple of weeks for the Raiser-Danneels statement. Many more are possible, especially if the Canadian Council of Churches approaches its counterparts. A listing of councils of churches is found in World Council of Churches Yearbook. I can offer you some further contacts if you are interested. I can also help in getting support from the National Council of Churches in the U.S. and heads of U.S. denominations. This is a lot of rambling, but I hope that some of my ideas are useful. If I can help further, please get in touch with me. Shalom, Howard 81112.03.txt[5/3/2017 1:54:19 PM] To: Bill Robinson <[email protected]> From: "Howard W. Hallman" <[email protected]> Subject: Raiser-Danneels statement Cc: Bcc: X-Attachments: Dear Bill, Here is the Raiser-Danneels statement addressed to delegates of the 1998 session of the NPT Preparatory Committee. Shalom, Howard ### ACT NOW FOR NUCLEAR ABOLITION A Statement Addressed to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) Preparatory Committee The time has come to rid planet Earth of nuclear weapons -- all of them, everywhere. The Nuclear Non- Proliferation Treaty (NPT) Preparatory Committee has a remarkable opportunity at its upcoming meeting to set the course resolutely for the achievement of this goal. Nuclear weapons, whether used or threatened, are grossly evil and morally wrong. As an instrument of mass destruction, nuclear weapons slaughter the innocent and ravage the environment. This was quite apparent in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The same result would probably occur in any further use, and indeed would be worse because of the increased destructive power of modern nuclear weapons. When used as an instrument of deterrence, nuclear weapons hold innocent people hostage for political and military purposes. Therefore, the doctrine of nuclear deterrence is morally corrupt. It loses sight of the inviolable connection between means and end by failing to recognize that just ends cannot be achieved through wrongful means. During the past 50 years the production and testing of nuclear weapons has proven grievously harmful to individuals and the environment in the vicinity of mining operations, processing plants, production facilities, and test sites. Numerous locales are burdened with lingering radioactivity and deadly waste products that will take decades to clean up. Some sites may never be restored to safe occupancy. Psalm 24 teaches, "The earth is the Lord's and the fulness thereof, the world and those who dwell therein." The First Book of Moses, also known as Genesis, indicates that God made Earth available to humankind to till and keep, that is, to use for mutual benefit and to preserve. Because production and use of nuclear weapons causes grave harm to Earth and its inhabitants, we as good stewards of God's Earth have an obligation to rid the world of this perilous threat. Numerous religious bodies have condemned nuclear weapons and have called for their abolition. Thus, the Sixth Assembly of the World Council of Churches in 1983 stated: "We believe that the time has come when the churches must unequivocally declare that the production and deployment as well as the use of nuclear weapons are a crime against humanity and that such activities must be condemned on ethical and theological grounds. Furthermore, we appeal for the institution of a universal covenant to this effect so that nuclear weapons and warfare are delegitimized and condemn as violations of international law." Speaking for the Holy See before the First Committee of the United Nations General Assembly on October 15, 1997, Archbishop Renato Martino stated: "Nuclear weapons are incompatible with the peace we seek for the 21st 81112.04.txt[5/3/2017 1:54:19 PM] century. They cannot be justified. They deserve condemnation. The preservation of the Non-Proliferation Treaty demands an unequivocal commitment to their abolition....This is a moral challenge, a legal challenge and a political challenge. That multiple-based challenge must be met by the application of our humanity." In principle the nations of Earth agree on the need to eliminate nuclear weapons.