In
the Spring of 2006, the Muslim-Christian Initiative
convened a design team comprising leaders in all three
faith communities. As WAND's Faith Communities Coordinator,
I served on the design team, contributing several
chapters and a series of supplemental study guides
to this project.
The
Muslim-Christian Study and Action Guide on
the Nuclear Weapons Danger invites ethical discourse
on this urgent issue by exploring each faith group's
perspective on nuclear weapons, in light of the
texts they hold to be sacred. We hope that your
community of faith will find a way to utilize this
important resource and build relationships between
Muslims and Christians.
You
may remember that August 6 marks the 62nd commemoration
of the U.S.
atomic bombing of Hiroshima. This is a time
when we remember that nuclear weapons pose one of
the greatest threats to God's good creation and
our one, shared earth. I hope that you
will join people of faith across the nation who
are calling for the elimination of nuclear weapons.
Below
is a short excerpt from the Muslim-Christian
Study and Action Guide on the Nuclear Weapons Danger.
This excerpt comes from the chapter entitled "Protestant
Perspectives":
Since the days of the Israelite prophet
Micah, in the 8th century BCE, we have not yet learned
to walk the earth with simple reverence and grace,
in fellowship with one another, as theologian Howard
Thurman once observed. We have unearthed the secret of the atom, and
yet we have not discovered the things that make
for peace. Micah predicted the absolute destruction
of his nation, unless it ceased violence and oppression.
Today we too find ourselves walking the dangerous
brink between life and death with thousands of nuclear
weapons on hair trigger alert and more nations developing
nuclear capacities. Micah’s prediction of destruction
remains terribly accurate. The purpose of his prophetic
message, however, was not to inspire fear, but to
call God's people to peace. Micah reminds us what
faithful living requires: to do justice, to love
mercy, and to walk humbly with our God (Micah 6:8).
He urges nation not to lift up sword against nation,
neither shall they learn war anymore (Micah 4:3b).
Perhaps the greatest task of our time is learning
to love neighbor, stranger, and enemy alike, so
that nuclear destruction is no longer a viable option
on God's earth.
The manufacture and use of nuclear
weapons is ultimately a spiritual failure. We have
not cultivated a national spirit that urges us to
reason with other nations, to seek reconciliation
even in the face of deep conflict, to beat our swords
into plowshares, and to use our resources to care
for the poor. For these reasons, our faith compels
us to speak out against the manufacture and use of
nuclear weapons.
