Washington D.C., May 6, 2016 / 03:36 am (CNA/EWTN News).- A coalition of scientists and faith leaders has called on President Barack Obama to take “meaningful” steps to reduce the threat of “nuclear catastrophe” in light of his likely upcoming trip to Japan.
“Nuclear weapons remain a real and urgent threat to humanity and our planet. If there is even a limited nuclear exchange, millions – if not billions – of people could perish; large swaths of the planet could be contaminated; and the global economy could collapse,” a May 4 letter stated.
The statement was released by Bishop Oscar Cantú, chairman of the U.S. Bishops' committee on International Justice and Peace; Ken Kimmell, president of the Union of Concerned Scientists; Leith Anderson, president of the National Association of Evangelicals; and Gabriel Salguero, president of the National Latino Evangelical Coalition.
The group cited President Obama’s 2009 Prague address, during which he said the United States had a responsibility to lead the world in reducing nuclear arms.
Now is the time, they urged, for Obama “to take meaningful, practical nuclear risk-reduction steps” during his expected visit to Hiroshima for the G7 summit later this month.
“Heightened tensions between the United States and Russia, and the growing risk of nuclear use worldwide, are all the more reason for the president to take these meaningful steps to strengthen national and international security,” the letter said.
Instead of adding to the number of nuclear weapons in the world, the group suggested that Obama end his proposal to spend upwards of $1 trillion on modernizing the U.S.’s nuclear weapons arsenal over the next several years.
Such a proposal is “inconsistent with the vision the president outlined in the Prague speech” and could “lead to a dangerous and costly arms race,” they said.
“Spending money we don't have on weapons we don't need won't make us safer.”
Rather, they suggested that the U.S. reduce its nuclear weapons store by a third – a level that the Pentagon “agrees is adequate to maintain security.”
Russia and the U.S. should also take the hundreds of nuclear weapons they have ready for action off of “hair-trigger” status, a practice that “makes the risk of an accidental, mistaken or unauthorized launch unacceptably high.”
“Faith and science leaders understand human frailty,” they stated. “Over the last several decades, there have been numerous near misses when human or technical errors – combined with a short amount of time in which to respond – increased the risk of a nuclear catastrophe.”
In their view, carrying out these steps would help the U.S. fulfill its obligations to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, which was adopted by the National Security Council in September 2009.
“As faith and science leaders, we stand ready to support these steps toward a safer world. We call on all Americans to join us,” they said.
Throughout the world, nine countries – Pakistan, India, Israel, North Korea, China, the United Kingdom, France, the United States, and Russia – are known or suspected to have nuclear weapons, while 30 others have the technology to acquire them quickly, according to the Council on Foreign Relations.
Photo credit: Romanova Natali via www.shutterstock.com.
Article Archive
Scientists and faith leaders agree: It's time to scale back nuclear arms
Related Articles • More Articles
Attendees lay flowers at the Tsitsernakaberd Armenian Genocide Memorial in Yerevan to mark the 109th anniversary of World War I-era mass killings on April 24, 2024. / Credit: KAREN MINASYAN/AFP via Getty ImagesWashington, D.C. Newsroom, Apr 26, 2024 / 18:00 pm (CNA).As historians and human-rights activists mark the 109th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide this week, some are warning that Armenia is once again facing another existential threat.Speaking on "EWTN News Nightly" on Wednesday, Simone Rizkallah, an Armenian activist with the Philos Project, said that "this feels less like a remembrance and more like a truly historical event that we are in the midst of."The Armenian Genocide was carried out by Ottoman Turks in 1915 and resulted in the deaths of some 1.5 million Armenian Christians, according to historians. Though recognized as a genocide by the U.S. and more than 30 other countries, Turkey denies that characterization.The massacre took place over a hundred ...
null / Orhan Cam/ShutterstockWashington, D.C. Newsroom, Apr 26, 2024 / 12:30 pm (CNA).The addition of "gender identity" in the Biden administration's interpretation of anti-discrimination rules could jeopardize state laws that restrict women's sports and women's locker rooms to only women, according to legal scholars.Late last week, President Joe Biden's Department of Education redefined the prohibition on sex discrimination in education, enshrined in the 1972 Title IX provisions, to include discrimination based on a person's "gender identity." The new guidelines prohibit any policy and practice that "prevents a person from participating in an education program or activity consistent with their gender identity."Although the new guidelines do not clearly explain how the mandate would be enforced, experts at the legal advocacy group Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) and the conservative Heritage Foundation told CNA that it could force educational institutions to allow men who...
Cardinal Rainer Maria Woelki of Cologne attends a German Synodal Way assembly on March 9, 2023. / Credit: Synodaler Weg/Maximilian von LachnerCNA Newsroom, Apr 26, 2024 / 13:57 pm (CNA).Four German bishops on Wednesday distanced themselves from the controversial Synodal Way's plans for a permanent body to oversee the Church in Germany, instead appealing for unity with the universal Church. The four bishops are the same who have previously blocked funding for this body: Cardinal Rainer Maria Woelki of Cologne and three prelates from Bavaria: Gregor Maria Hanke, OSB, of Eichstätt; Stefan Oster, SDB, of Passau; and Rudolf Voderholzer of Regensburg.In a joint statement, the prelates confirmed on April 24 that they would not be parties to a committee charged with setting up a German "Synodal Council, as this would conflict with the sacramental constitution of the Church."The four bishops also rejected the view that the German Bishops' Conference could legally establish a "synod...