wfn.org | WCC NEWS: Nuclear arms: US-Russia "lead by example"

["WCC Media" <Media@wcc-coe.org>]

World Council of Churches - News Release

Contact: +41 22 791 6153 +41 79 507 6363 media@wcc-coe.org
For immediate release - 07/07/2009 17:05:55

WCC ENCOURAGES US-RUSSIA "LEADING BY EXAMPLE" ON NUCLEAR DISARMAMENT

The United States' and Russia's public commitment to cut back their  stockpiles of strategic nuclear weapons "is an encouraging initiative and  a step forward on the difficult but essential journey that the world must  take to free itself from the spectre of self-destruction," the World  Council of Churches (WCC) general secretary Rev. Dr Samuel Kobia said in a  statement published 7 July.

US President Barack Obama and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev have  reached an outline agreement to reduce the numbers of deployed nuclear  warheads to below 1,700 on each side within seven years of a new treaty.

"We recognize the commitment of both the US and Russian leaders' joint  responsibility for nuclear arms control. We urge them to stand side by  side in that shared responsibility and make urgent and unambiguous  progress together. In fact, we believe that by doing so they will  gradually gain the moral authority needed to encourage other states in  eliminating these weapons of mass destruction," the WCC statement  continues.

Full text of the WCC general secretary's statement:
http://www.oikoumene.org/?id=6928

>Churches engaged for nuclear arms control:
>http://www.oikoumene.org/?id=3255

Additional information:Juan Michel,+41 22 791 6153 +41 79 507 6363media@wcc -coe.org

The World Council of Churches promotes Christian unity in faith, witness  and service for a just and peaceful world. An ecumenical fellowship of  churches founded in 1948, today the WCC brings together 349 Protestant,  Orthodox, Anglican and other churches representing more than 560 million  Christians in over 110 countries, and works cooperatively with the Roman  Catholic Church. The WCC general secretary is Rev. Dr Samuel Kobia, from  the Methodist Church in Kenya. Headquarters: Geneva, Switzerland.