The Maryknoll Office for Global Concerns follows issues related to weapons of mass destruction with the help of our partners such as Friends Committee on National Legislation (FCNL). With respect to nuclear weapons, FCNL explains, "Although national security is widely perceived to depend on military strength, more weapons do not provide enduring security. Military expansion provokes fear and potential retaliation. Threats tend to increase the hostility and distrust that lead to war. We believe that nations must move toward comprehensive disarmament. We urge multilateral disarmament, supported by the conversion of military industries to the production of civilian goods and services, and the retraining of personnel toward that end. We also advocate that the United States take unilateral steps toward its own disarmament, believing that other nations will respond affirmatively to this example. The risks of disarmament are far smaller than the risks involved in the current course of weapons stockpiling and development."
“Nuclear weapons are the weapons of the weak party in a conflict,” FCNL says. “Today the United States has overwhelming conventional forces that can engage and kill any other conventional force or combination of forces. The other forces are the weak party, and they may resort to nuclear weapons to achieve a military balance. Therefore, U.S. national security depends upon implementing the Non-Proliferation Treaty, ratifying the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty, and making nuclear weapons unacceptable in any arsenal.”
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New START on nuclear weapons elimination
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Important Opportunities to support nuclear disarmament, April-May 2010
- Maryknoll and other Catholic organizations send letter to Obama on occasion of Nuclear Posture Review, March 2010
- Archbishop O'Brien reiterates church's opposition to nuclear weapons, July 2009
- PCUSA response to Archbishop O'Brien: Talk should re-energize church disarmament drive, July 2009
- Nuclear weapons: Call on Congress to reduce arsenals, July 2009
- Update on nuclear arms negotiations, July 2009
- Sign the appeal to President Obama for a nuclear weapon-free world (Nuclear Age Peace Foundation)
- Maryknoll signs on to letter to Congress in support of H.Res. 1045, the Global Security Priorities Resolution. H.Res. 1045 urges the president to take
steps to reduce the number of U.S. and Russian nuclear weapons.
- The links between nuclear power and nuclear weapons, a brief for the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (UK), April 2006
- Prayer for an end to nuclear weapons
Links:
- Pax Christi USA's campaign "A new moment for nuclear disarmament"
- Citizens for Global Solutions
- Faithful Security: The National Religious Partnership on the Nuclear Weapons Danger
- Beyond Nuclear
- Friends Committee on National Legislation links on nuclear weapons
- “An argument for nuclear abolition,” Friends Committee on National Legislation
- Pax Christi’s statement on the 2005 review of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty
- Abolition 2000, a network of over 2,000 organizations in more than 90 countries working for a global treaty to eliminate nuclear weapons