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THE QUESTION
Is Nuclear Disarmamenta Moral Imperative?
Reacting in part to recent missile tests by Iran and North Korea, President Obama and a unanimous UN Security Council last week endorsed a sweeping strategy to halt the spread of nuclear weapons and ultimately eliminate them. Is nuclear disarmament a pro-life issue? Is support for nuclear disarmament a moral imperative? Should we pray for nuclear disarmament?
Posted by
Sally Quinn and Jon Meacham on September 29, 2009 2:56 AM
FROM THE PANEL
Weapons of Mass Demonization
Perhaps this is the new parable of engagement--a Global Zero moment that will put the genie of nuclear weapons back in the bottle for good.
Posted by Katharine Henderson, on October 5, 2009 8:25 AM
Disarmament Begins With Ourselves
Nuclear disarmament is a human issue that transcends religion, and even transcends squabbles between religious and nonreligious people.
Posted by Greg M. Epstein, on October 2, 2009 4:43 PM
The Nuclear Sword Is Not In Vain
Millions are now alive because of the United States nuclear weaponry and millions more are free. The United States has not borne the nuclear sword in vain.
Posted by John Mark Reynolds, on October 1, 2009 1:24 PM
A 'Grave Threat'
I applaud the President's commitment to reduce the spread of nuclear weapons and to seek a world free from them. There is also, however, a moral imperative to prevent violent regimes, such as Iran, from developing--and proliferating--nuclear weapons.
Posted by Charles "Chuck" Colson, on September 30, 2009 3:19 PM
Peace or Destruction: An Imminent Choice
All of our current political priorities should be focused on finding a path away from nuclear war. The threat will not go away by pretending it is not serious.
Posted by Ramdas Lamb, on September 30, 2009 2:13 PM
Nuclear Arms Are Frightening, But Not Sinful
The entire arc of human existence has been one in which we take on greater and greater power, both the power to heal and the power to destroy, the power to nurture life and the power to destroy it. In fact, it seems that the two capacities have always gone hand in hand, and it doesn't seem wise to step back from that empowerment.
Posted by Brad Hirschfield, on September 29, 2009 5:29 PM
A Seamless Garment
Nuclear disarmament is a clear moral imperative and we should pray for it. I would argue that prayer is in fact more effective than UN Security Council resolutions that amount to nothing more than a moralizing patina created by the corrosive dynamics of international politics.
Posted by Mathew N. Schmalz, on September 29, 2009 3:22 PM
God's Will and Nuclear Arms
This issue of nuclear weapons, though, is about so much more than power. It is, in fact, a pro-life and a religious issue. The detonation of a single nuclear weapon would devastate an entire populace. Surely, people who believe in God believe in the sanctity of life.
Posted by Susan K. Smith, on September 29, 2009 12:42 PM
Our Children and Theirs
As a Hindu, the Divine in me instructs me to see the Divine in them and think that the democracies of Great Britain, America, France and India, well, they love their children. But does a godless despot in North Korea, a proliferating regime in Pakistan, an extremist, ideological lunatic in Iran love their children too? Do they love our children?
Posted by Aseem Shukla, on September 29, 2009 10:39 AM
Abolition of Nukes Supremely Admirable
One fully expects the usual anti-Obama cabal inevitably to be critical of his efforts for a nuclear-free world, partly, if not wholly, for other reasons.
Posted by Gardner Calvin Taylor, on September 29, 2009 9:18 AM
Avoiding Armageddon
I don't think it matters whether we pray for nuclear disarmament or for nuclear war. There is no there there. Our actions, not our empty words or prayers, are what matter.
Posted by Herb Silverman, on September 28, 2009 7:11 PM
Nuclear Heresy
In a Christian sense, nuclear weapons represent the ultimate heresy because their capacity for world-annihilation is a repudiation of the goodness of creation, and the goodness of God as creator. This strikes at the core of Christian faith in God as Creator.
Posted by Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite, on September 28, 2009 6:54 PM
Disarm, but Carefully
There is a great deal of moral re-learning to do. But most of the world want nuclear weapons because they're afraid, and the country most of them are afraid of is the U.S.
Posted by Nicholas T. Wright, on September 28, 2009 4:40 PM
Nuclear Arms: The Ultimate Anti-Life Issue
Somehow, I don't think praying will get the job done here (although if I were a religious believer, arms control would certainly be on my wish list when I spoke with my higher power). Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is presumably praying for another result.
Posted by Susan Jacoby, on September 28, 2009 2:10 PM
Save & Share:
edbyronadams: An absence of nuclear weapons might give some tyrant the idea that he could profit from conventional warfare....
kert1: First off, I think we need to move this topic out of the "moral" waters. It really is more political than anything. Nuclear technology is ...
