wfn.org | WCC NEWS: Nuclear disarmament: World leaders get church backing

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World Council of Churches - News Release

Contact: +41 22 791 6153 +41 79 507 6363 media@wcc-coe.org
For immediate release - 02/11/2009 12:22:10

WORLD LEADERS GET CHURCH BACKING ON NUCLEAR DISARMAMENT

>Jointly issued by WCC, CEC, NCCUSA and CCC

"Now is the time to continue the trend" toward nuclear disarmament, four  global, regional and national ecumenical organizations told leaders of the  North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), the European Union, the United  States and Russia. "The present opportunity must be transformed into  conclusive actions."

"The new striving to abolish nuclear weapons" is a sign able to "raise  hope in the world", stated leaders of four ecumenical groupings that  jointly represent nearly 200 churches in Europe and North America in a 28  October letter.

"We appeal to all nuclear-weapon states and states with nuclear weapons on  their soil to contribute to progress under the new political dynamic", the  ecumenical leaders added.

The letter was sent to US President Barack Obama and Russian President  Dmitry Medvedev, "as leaders of the states with more than 95 percent of  the world's nuclear weapons", as well as to NATO Secretary General Anders  Fogh Rasmussen, Swedish Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt (Presidency of  the European Union), and Secretary-General of the Council of the European  Union Javier Solana.

Signed by the general secretaries of the World Council of Churches, Samuel  Kobia, the Conference of European Churches, Colin Williams, the National  Council of the Churches of Christ in the USA, Michael Kinnamon, and the  Canadian Council of Churches, Karen Hamilton, the letter was meant to  encourage the world leaders addressed in it "to pursue this new course". 

The letter's signatories acknowledge a number of recent positive developmen ts in the field of nuclear disarmament which had as its protagonists the  United States, Russia, NATO and Germany. They also point out upcoming  opportunities like the new Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START)  follow-on agreement, the development of NATO's new Strategic Concept, and  the 2010 Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) Review Conference.

Full text of the joint letter by ecumenical organizations to world  leaders:
http://www.oikoumene.org/?id=7281

WCC Central Committee "Statement of hope in a year of opportunity: seeking  a nuclear-weapon-free world":
http://www.oikoumene.org/?id=7161

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.