The World Owes You Its Gratitude: Progress toward Nuclear Abolition
by Preston Davis
Throughout the month of May 2010, the difficult Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) five-year review was held at the United Nations. Negotiations during the previous review, in 2005, fizzled, as governments were unable to bridge the gap between those states that maintain nuclear weapons and those that do not — particularly under pressure from a neoconservative-influenced Bush administration.
This year, progress was seen during the sensitive talks. Under the watch of thousands of peacemakers — who rallied in New York City and presented five millions signed nuclear abolition petitions during the NPT review conference — modest results were achieved by the U.N. member states. One hundred eighty-nine nations — including the five U.N. Security Council members, which are all nuclear weapon states, as well as Iran — reaffirmed their commitment to nuclear disarmament.
Regrettably, that deadline was set for 2025 — and many obstacles stand in the way of it becoming reality. The prophetic voices that mobilized for nuclear abolition declared that justice delayed remains justice (and peace) denied. There is still great work for the peace community to see abolition in our lifetime.
Shoots of Hope
The vision of a nuclear weapons-free world is a daunting — and to some, quixotic — order. But there are shoots of hope that make this vision seem feasible.
On April 5, 2009, on a visit to Prague, President Barack Obama said:
“One nuclear weapon exploded in one city — be it New York or Moscow, Islamabad or Mumbai, Tokyo or Tel Aviv, Paris or Prague — could kill hundreds of thousands of people. And no matter where it happens, there is no end to what the consequences might be — for our global safety, our security, our society, our economy, to our ultimate survival.”
One year later, President Obama signed the START Treaty with Russian President Medvedev to commit to long-term nuclear weapons reductions for the world’s two largest nuclear weapons holders. Still, the general public rarely engages this intimidating topic. With 23,000 nuclear warheads around the globe, many people think abolition is a distant achievement at best, if not impossible.
Despite such apathy, hope is not lost. People remain conscious and speak their truths. A remarkable number of the hibakusha — survivors of the 1956 atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki — are still living. That’s why Obama’s declaration in Prague was so important. With the encouragement of his words, and the stories of those who have experienced the devastation of nuclear bombing and testing, more than 15,000 peace activists converged on New York City from Friday, April 30 through Sunday, May 2.
The weekend pulsated with activity. 800 people from 30 nations attended an overflow International Conference for a Nuclear-free, Peaceful, Just and Sustainable World at the historic Riverside Church. U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon keynoted the conference, commending participants by saying, “We will rid the world of nuclear weapons. And when we do, it will be because of people like you. The world owes you its gratitude.”
On May 2nd, a mass rally in Manhattan’s Times Square led to a march to the U.N., where a vibrant and informative festival was held. Some 2,000 Japanese citizens attended, including more than 100 hibakusha, as well as one thousand Europeans and hundreds of other internationals. The variety of nations, cultures, and religious backgrounds merged together in a unified purpose.
An interfaith appeal
The Fellowship of Reconciliation (FOR) was involved at many levels in the NPT review process, especially during the peace mobilization weekend. On that Sunday morning, in partnership with Religions for Peace, the United Religions Initiative, and Pax Christi, FOR sponsored an Interfaith Convocation reverencing the weekend’s mission — “Disarm Now! For Peace and Human Needs” — in the form of worship. A range of faith traditions united in opposition to that which rises up against the sacredness of life.
The 20th-century Roman Catholic theologian Karl Rahner judged that a worship service is not something separate from the rest of life; rather, it is a moment that recognizes and reflects on the sacredness of life — all life. He wrote, “[W]hat is initiated [in worship] is not something which does not exist anywhere else in the world, but something which is there brought to manifestation at a conscious level and celebrated in a cultic enactment—”
Rahner said the liturgy in a worship service pays tribute, indeed celebrates, the liturgy of the world — the poetic, mysterious presence of God in the midst of the world. That understanding of worship helps contextualize the May 2nd Interfaith Convocation held in the U.N. Church Center’s chapel. Over 400 people squeezed into the balmy worship space to — as PBS’s “Religion & Ethics Newsweekly” put it — “pray for the end of nuclear weapons.”
Buddhists, Shintos, Jews, Muslims, Indigenous Spiritual practitioners, adherents to a range of Christian traditions, and others lifted up prayers, chants, songs, and special readings. Many of the Buddhist participants had walked from distant points throughout the U.S. east coast, some for more than two months. Japanese Roman Catholic Archbishop Joseph Mitsuaki Takami, a survivor of the 1945 atomic bombing, traveled from Nagasaki. He brought a scorched piece of a statue of the Virgin Mary from a cathedral destroyed in the attack; it sat hauntingly on the altar during the ceremony. Rev. Michael Kinnamon, general secretary of the National Council of Churches, opened the ceremony with a brief, rousing statement. “War is against the will of God,” he repeated, each time more resonant than before. The Most Rev. Katharine Jefferts Schori, presiding bishop of the Episcopal Church and a scientist by training, spoke of God’s will for life and that nuclear weapons are exclusively a tool of death. I was honored to participate in the liturgy by reading a prayer for reason.
In celebratory fashion, the Interfaith Convocation played a part in the prophetic arc of the weekend. The service, emceed by FOR Executive Director Mark Johnson, centered on the theme of justice seeking. The multitudes gathered recognized that corporate prayer and spiritual reflection bolster that cause. Worship is not separate from the pursuit of justice, nor is it its weak ally. It is, when enacted sincerely, a moment of deep reflection on the manifestation and implementation of justice. According to Rahner, it is a moment of consciousness celebrated in cultic enactment.
This is what set the service apart from the rest of the weekend, and made it transcendent experience for many participants. The Convocation provided a sense of awareness and presence, rooted in hope and liberation. In that deep reflection something extra is found, some divine depth. That’s because, while it is a continuation of the pursuit of justice, it is also the moment that puts that pursuit before the ultimate — the ultimate that proclaims life in the face of that which threatens to take the breath of life.
The variety of reflections of the ultimate — calling forth the reality of God, Yahweh, Grace, Peace, and Dharma in our lives — lent an iridescent yet solidaristic voice to the proclamation for the end of weapons of mass destruction. Sarah Schindler, a member of FOR’s National Council, said, “It was inspiring to see so many different faith traditions. Each approached nuclear proliferation from a different perspectives, but the different perspectives and approaches witnessed to the futility of nuclear weapons.”
Going Forward
Throughout that same weekend the mainline news media provided coverage of global, fear-inspiring stories: an attempted bombing in Times Square, the egregious Arizona immigration law, a massive coal mine explosion in Massey, West Virginia, the British Petroleum oil spill, and riots in Greece over the debt crisis. But the thousands who spoke and marched in New York City drew barely a nod. PBS’s “Religion and Ethics Newsweekly” covered the Interfaith Convocation, and some other independent media caught wind of the NPT march and rally. The lack of major media coverage speaks volumes.
We know the cost. Hindsight is not an option. Sixty-five years after Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Robert Oppenheimer choked back tears and said, “We knew the world would not be the same.” The former technical director of the Manhattan Project, which developed the atomic bomb, Oppenheimer paraphrased the Bhagavad Gita in saying, “Vishnu is trying to persuade the Prince that he should do his duty and to impress him takes on his multi-armed form and says, ”˜Now, I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds.’ I suppose we all thought that one way or another.”
For religious communities that believe in a divine force within the midst of humanity, nuclear weapons will remain the most looming and prodigious threat to God’s creation. That awareness permeated the Interfaith Convocation, pinpointing the force of the weekend. May it be a mandate for perseverance.
Preston Davis concluded a year-long internship at FOR in May 2010. A native of Charlotte, North Carolina, Davis is a M.Div. candidate at Union Theological Seminary in New York City.
