In 1986 the United Methodist Council of Bishops, after nearly two years of prayerful and penitent study, adopted a pastoral letter and foundation document entitled In Defense of Creation: The Nuclear Crisis and a Just Peace.1 The bishops' statement was deeply rooted in biblical faith. They wrote:
"At the heart of the Old Testament is the testimony of shalom, that marvelous Hebrew word that means peace. But the peace that is shalom is not negative or one-dimensional. It is much more than the absence of war. Shalom is positive peace: harmony, wholeness, health, and well-being in all human relationships. It is the natural state of humanity as birthed by God. It is harmony between humanity and all of God's good creation. All of creation is interrelated. Every creature, every element, every force of nature participates in the whole of creation. If any person is denied shalom, all are thereby diminished...2"
"New Testament faith presupposes a radical break between the follies, or much so-called conventional wisdom about power and security, on the one hand, and the transcendent wisdom of shalom, on the other. Ultimately, New Testament faith is a message of hope about God's plan and purpose for human destiny. It is a redemptive vision that refuses to wallow in doom.3"
Based upon this faith, the bishops in their pastoral letter stated unequivocally that:
"...we say a clear and unconditional No to nuclear war and to any use of nuclear weapons. We conclude that nuclear deterrence is a position that cannot receive the church's blessing.4"
The implication is clear. If nuclear weapons cannot be legitimately used for either deterrence or war fighting, no nation should possess them. Accordingly, in the foundation document the bishops indicated:
"We support the earliest possible negotiation of phased but rapid reduction of nuclear arsenals, while calling upon all other nuclear weapon states to agree to parallel arms reductions, to the eventual goal of a mutual and verifiable dismantling of all nuclear armaments.5
In 1988, the United Methodist General Conference affirmed and supported the statements of the Council of Bishops contained in In Defense of Creation.6 Four years later, in a resolution entitled "Nuclear Disarmament: The Zero Option," the 1992 General Conference stated that "now is the time to exercise the zero option: to eliminate all nuclear weapons throughout the globe"7 and offered a series of concrete actions for achieving this goal.
Goals and Objectives
We reaffirm the goal of total abolition of all nuclear weapons throughout Earth and space. This can occur by achieving the following objectives:
-- Complete elimination of all nuclear weapons by all possessors.
-- Complete elimination of all delivery vehicles by all possessors.
-- Termination of all development, production, and testing of nuclear weapons by all nations and by all individuals and groups with nuclear ambition.
-- Prevention of all non-possessors from developing and otherwise acquiring nuclear weapons and their delivery vehicles.
These objectives should be achieved as soon as possible through a combination of international treaties and reciprocal national initiatives, carried out with adequate verification.
Progress and Prospects
The Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union, which dominated world politics for more than four decades, has ended. The Berlin Wall has fallen. Eastern Europe is free from Soviet control. The Warsaw pact has gone out of existence. The Soviet Union itself has dissolved. Most of the independent republics of the former USSR are committed to democracy and a free-market economy.
Yet remaining is a large portion of the huge nuclear arsenal accumulated by the United States, the Soviet Union, Great Britain, France, and China to apply the pernicious doctrine of mutually assured destruction. Moreover, Israel has developed a stockpile of nuclear weapons, India has attained capability to produce nuclear weapons, and Pakistan is seeking to do likewise. Elsewhere, other nations, such as North Korea, Iran, Iraq, and Libya, seem interested in acquiring nuclear weapons.
On the positive side, the United States and the Soviet Union before its collapse agreed to eliminate all intermediate-range nuclear forces (INF) and to commence curtailment of long-range forces through provisions of the first Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START I). Subsequently the United States and Russia have entered into START II to achieve further reductions. Belarus, Ukraine, and Kazakhstan have endorsed START II and committed themselves to eliminate all nuclear weapons left on their territories when the Soviet Union disbanded.
International treaties have created nuclear-weapon-free zones in South America, South Pacific, Antarctica, Seabed, and Outer Space. In 1995, the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) was extended indefinitely, committing signatories not in possession of nuclear weapons to refrain from acquiring them and committing signatories possessing nuclear weapons to "systematic and progressive efforts to reduce nuclear weapons globally, with the ultimate goal of eliminating those weapons." And efforts are underway by the possessor nations to negotiate, adopt, and carry out a Comprehensive Test Ban (CTB) Treaty.
These are worthy efforts in the right direction. However, they are not proceeding far enough or fast enough toward the goal of nuclear abolition.
Further Initiatives Required
As means of moving much more rapidly toward nuclear abolition, we recommend the following initiatives be undertaken:
-- A global Comprehensive Test Ban should be agreed upon, honored, and enforced.
-- All nations possessing nuclear weapons should make an unconditional pledge of no first use.
-- All nuclear-weapon-free zones should be respected and further zones established.
-- START II should be fully carried out as quickly as possible.
-- As a prelude to further reductions, all possessor nations should immediately and concurrently move to zero alert by deactivating their entire strategic arsenal through removal of warheads or other vital components from delivery vehicles with safe storage under international inspection.
-- As a companion measure, all possessor nations should withdraw all tactical nuclear weapons from active deployment and store them safely under international inspection.
-- As rapidly as possible, all deactivated strategic and tactical nuclear weapons and all delivery vehicles should be dismantled under international inspection in an agreed sequence that is balanced so that at no stage could any nation gain an advantage.
-- All fissionable material removed from nuclear weapons should be carefully safeguarded with continuous international inspection.
-- All nations capable of producing nuclear weapons should immediately cease all production of fissionable material, testing of nuclear warheads, and manufacture of all delivery vehicles, including missiles, bombers, submarines, surface ships, and all other means of delivery.
-- All nuclear weapons production facilities should be closed, except as they might be used to disassemble nuclear warheads and convert nuclear material to non-weapon use.
-- All nations on Earth should become signatories of the Non-Proliferation Treaty and faithfully observe its requirements. To assure universal compliance, the Treaty should be vigorously enforced with adequate financial and technical support to detect and halt covert nuclear activities.
-- All weapon-usable radioactive materials and nuclear facilities in all nations should be subject to international accounting, monitoring, and safeguards.-- An international system should be instituted to prevent the development, production, and deployment of ballistic missiles capable of attacking an adversary's homeland. All existing ballistic missiles with such capability should be eliminated.
-- All efforts to develop and deploy strategic anti-missile defense systems should be terminated as illusory, unnecessary, and wasteful.
Leadership for Study and Action
We call upon the Council of Bishops and the General Board of Church and Society to provide leadership, guidance, and educational material to United Methodists, congregations, and conferences in order to assist them in understanding and working for the goal and objectives of nuclear abolition.
Conclusion
We fervently believe that these recommendations will greatly enhance global security by eliminating the possibility of nuclear war. Furthermore, the resources of human talent, production capacity, and money released can become available to deal with urgent human problems around the globe. Nuclear abolition provides great hope for global peace and prosperity.
1. United Methodist Council of Bishops, In Defense of Creation: The Nuclear Crisis and a Just Peace. Nashville: Graded Press, 1986.
2. Op. cit., p. 24.
3. Op. cit. P. 28.
4. Op. cit. p. 92.
5. Op. cit. p. 76.
6. Book of Resolutions [to be completed]
7. The Book of Resolutions of The United Methodist Church, 1992, p. 601.
General Conference Webmaster: Susan Brumbaugh
PETS Creator: John Brawn
Petition Text: 21373-CS-NonDis-O
1996 United Methodist General Conference