Saturday, October 3, 2009

Below is an excerpt from "On Faith," an Internet feature sponsored by The Washington Post and Newsweek. Each week, more than 50 figures from the world of faith engage in a conversation about an aspect of religion. This week's question: Reacting in part to recent missile tests by Iran and North Korea, President Obama and a unanimous U.N. 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?

Nuclear disarmament is a clear moral imperative, and we should pray for it. I would argue that prayer is, in fact, more effective than U.N. Security Council resolutions, which amount to little more than a moralizing patina created by the corrosive dynamics of international politics. . . .

Although it can be argued that the threat of global nuclear annihilation has receded since the 1980s, weapons of mass destruction obviously remain a threat to global order. While some maintain that controlled nuclear proliferation actually ensures peace, it is difficult to imagine that inherently fallible human beings will refrain from using the weapons that they themselves have created and believe to be so necessary. In spite of the moralizing language of the U.N. resolution, the driving force behind the call to nuclear disarmament seems more pragmatic than ethical: The permanent members of the Security Council, who have claimed the right of nuclear deterrence for decades, cannot appear to be arbitrarily denying other nation-states a similar capability. Inevitably, the cause of nuclear disarmament becomes enmeshed in the very worldly concerns provoked by competition between nation-states.

For this reason, prayer is perhaps a more authentic response to nuclear disarmament because it directs human intention to a divine reality that provides the ultimate register of value.

-- Mathew N. Schmalz, professor of religious studies, College of the Holy Cross

The issue is that having nuclear weapons gives nations a sense of power, and everyone wants power. More specifically, there are nations that want to wrest power from the United States. Part of the posturing being done by North Korea and Iran is for that reason. They want the world to know that they are on their way up, and nobody, not even the big U.S. of A., will stop them.

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. Surely, God-loving and God-fearing people would think that to even think about decimating a populace would be morally wrong. Religious people are fond of saying that they should not be involved in politics, but the fact of the matter is that in matters of power and greed, the only variable that might make people stop and think is God. The God of love that we learned about in Sunday school still exists, and that God would not condone or endorse mass destruction of people.

-- Susan K. Smith, senior pastor, Advent United Church of Christ, Columbus, Ohio

Of course we should work toward abolishing nuclear weapons as fast as we responsibly can. "Responsibly" matters; i.e. we can't just throw them away and hope for the best. When you're deep in mud, you can't just get out clean in one step. There is a great deal of moral re-learning to do. But most of the world wants nuclear weapons because they're afraid, and the country most of them are afraid of is the United States. Most governments would like to spend all that silly money on education, medicine, etc. Let's encourage them to do so by scaling down our arsenals responsibly but as quickly as we can.

-- Nicholas T. Wright, Anglican bishop of Durham, England

To read the complete essays and more "On Faith" commentary, hosted by Jon Meacham and Sally Quinn, go to http://newsweek.washingtonpost.com/onfaith.