wfn.org | BPFNA Board responds to nuclear testing

[bpfna@primeline.com (Baptist Peace Fellowship)]

June 9, 1998
For more information contact:
Ken Sehested, Executive Director, or David Teague, Associate Editor
Phone: 828/456-1881
Fax: 828/456-1883
Internet: bpfna@primeline.com

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

The Board of Directors of the Baptist Peace Fellowship of North America has
released a
statement condemning the recent detonation of nuclear devices in India and
Pakistan.

The statement, which was approved during a May 28-30 board meeting in
Granville, Ohio,
urged these two countries to cease all actions leading to the development
and deployment of
nuclear weapons, and acknowledged that this current round of weapons
testing continued
a madness that has engulfed the world for more than half a century.

"Inappropriately, much attention has been directed toward India and
Pakistan while massive
nuclear arsenals remain in several nations, most notably the United States
and Russia," the state-
ment read. "The events in India and Pakistan only reinforce the need for
the United States and
Russia to take the lead in bringing about the rapid destruction of all
nuclear stockpiles. Clearly, the
nuclear arms race can only be brought to an end by the bold moves of the
two nations that initiated
and sustained it."

The statement expressed sadness that India and Pakistan had repeated the
history of superpower nations who have diverted funds and scientific
expertise to the nuclear arms race and away from other much needed
projects.

"We firmly believe that God calls us to a more faithful use of our
resources," the statement read. "While calling on all the nations of the
world to turn from this nuclear nightmare, the Baptist Peace Fellowship of
North America also pledges to re-commit ourselves to education and advocacy
against nuclear weapons until the danger no longer exists. We call upon our
Baptist communities, and all people of faith, to pray for peace, to work
for justice, and to actively advocate against political and military
policies that allow for the threat of mass destruction upon humanity and
the rest of creation.

In other news, four new members were added to the board of directors. They are:

*Lisa Harris, of Hayesville, North Carolina. Harris, a native of New
Jersey, is a recent graduate of Duke Divinity School and was ordained as a
minister in May by St. Paul Baptist Church in Montclair, New Jersey. She is
presently serving as ministry resource associate at Hinton Rural Life
Center, a United Methodist mission agency that works with small membership
and rural congregations in nine southeastern states.

*Jane Medema, of San Francisco, California. Medema is a Baptist minister,
educator and theologian. She attends Delores Street Baptist Church.

*Jack Smith, of Decatur, Georgia. A long-time member of the BPFNA advisory
board and of Oakhurst Baptist Church in Decatur, Smith has been with the
Division of Reproductive Health for the Centers for Disease Control for 32
years.

*Ashlee Wiest-Laird, of Cambridge, Massachusetts. A Baptist minister,
Wiest-Laird is a former regional leader of Baptist Peacemakers of
Massachusetts.

# # #
Founded in 1984, the BPFNA is a network linking Baptists involved in
justice and peace issues throughout North America. Its board of directors
is composed of members affiliated with 12 Baptist conventions and five
racial/ethnic groups in Canada, the U.S., Puerto Rico and Mexico. The
organization has no official sponsorship of any convention. Its primary
purpose is to encourage greater Baptist involvement-at local, national and
international levels-in justice and peace concerns and to help clarify
understanding of such involvement as essential to Christian discipleship.