On August 6th, 1945, the United States dropped a nuclear bomb on the Japanese city of Hiroshima. Three days later, the U.S. dropped another bomb on Nagasaki. To this day, the United States remains the only country to have used nuclear weapons in any situation.
On this 74th anniversary of those bombings, Disciples Peace Fellowship calls on all people to reject the use of nuclear weapons. Let us confess that we have allowed nuclear disarmament to fade from our attention, as if the threat these weapons pose to all creation were no longer present. Let us lament with those still living with the wounds of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
We denounce the recent decision by the Trump Administration to withdraw from the 1987 Inter-range Nuclear Force Treaty.
We call upon all elected and military officials to bring full pressure to bear to restrain the Pentagon from developing and testing the sorts of weapons that were prohibited by this treaty. We further call upon them to support and strengthen New START, the only remaining bilateral nuclear arms agreement between the U.S. and Russia.
Let us join in fervent prayer that dialogue and diplomacy may yet lead us to a nuclear-free world. Let us work together for a just peace for all God’s creation.
