wfn.org | Kinnamon: need to eliminate nukes is still urgent

["Philip Jenks" <pjenks@ncccusa.org>]

>The need to eliminate nuclear weapons
>is as urgent as ever, Kinnamon says

New York, June 4, 2009 - The general secretary of the National Council  of Churches today affirmed President Obama's promise in Cairo "to seek a  world in which no nations hold nuclear weapons."

The Rev. Dr. Michael Kinnamon also welcomed the President's call "to  seek a new beginning between the United States and Muslims around the  world." (See www.ncccusa.org/news/090604muslims.html)

Noting that neither the NCC nor the World Council of Churches has issued  a major statement on nuclear weapons in more than two decades, Kinnamon  said he was renewing his personal commitment to work for the elimination  of nuclear weapons, "and I pledge to raise this call, with urgency,  within the NCC community."

The NCC's last resolution on nuclear weapons, passed by the Governing  Board in November 1977 during the Carter Administration, called for a  halt in the production of nuclear weapons "toward the ultimate goal of  eliminating nuclear weapons from the arsenals of all nations which have  them or could produce them." The resolution also called upon the U.S. to  halt production of fissionable material for weapons.

The end of the Cold War in the early 1990s shifted interest away from  these concerns and few recent ecumenical statements have mentioned  nuclear weapons at all. But Iran's program to develop nuclear-powered  energy, and North Korea's test of a nuclear bomb, have raised new  concerns.

"President Obama today addressed the specter of a nuclear arms race in  the Middle East and called it 'a hugely dangerous path," Kinnamon said.  "But we also know that the problems are much deeper than that. At least  nine nations have nuclear arsenals: the U.S., Russia, Britain, France,  China, India, Pakistan, North Korea and -- though it has not been  officially acknowledged -- Israel."

In addition, there are widespread fears that fissionable material or  weapons formerly under control of Soviet satellite states are not  adequately secured, and may be attainable by terrorist organizations,  Kinnamon said.

He noted that a bill has been introduced in the House of Representatives  by Rep. James McGovern (D-Mass.) to recognize the need to address the  threat of international terrorism and protect the global security of the  U.S. by reducing the number and accessibility of nuclear weapons and  preventing their proliferation.

The bill, called the "Global Security Priorities Resolution," would  direct a portion of the resulting savings to child survival, hunger and  universal education. It calls on the President to move toward these  goals.

"The bill is certainly a step in the right direction," Kinnamon said,  "and it prompts us to reevaluate our standards of national safety. The  old arguments that nuclear weapons are necessary for national security  ring hollow," he said.

"Both political parties tend to think of security in terms of unilateral  defense," Kinnamon said. "But people of faith begin with the truth of  human inter-dependence -- which teaches us that security is never won  through weapons and walls but through attentiveness to the injustice  that affects other children of God."

Assuring justice, he said, is the way to assure  the security of  nations. "So long as there are nuclear weapons in the world, no one's  safety can ever be assured."

NCC News contact:  Philip E. Jenks, 212-870-2228 (office),  646-853-4212 (cell) , pjenks@ncccusa.org

>Philip E. Jenks
>Media Relations Specialist
>National Council of Churches USA
>475 Riverside Drive, Room 850
>New York, NY 10115
>212-870-2228 (Office)
>646-853-4212 (cell)
>www.ncccusa.org
>