The Nuclear threat is still here. With more advanced technology, the recent nuclear warhead offers smaller size but powerful in impact. The technology has become more destructive since the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. These nuclear warheads exist in several states. United States is building more nuclear force and capacity. In fact, the development of nuclear weapons is part of the Big Beautiful Bill amounting to $US2 Billion which has been passed into law. What does it mean for United States and the world?
What is our moral obligation in terms of the nuclear threat to our planet, people, and peace? Nuclear is not a solution to create peace but it creates fear, destruction, and waste. It is a threat to creating a lasting peace. The production of nuclear weapons is already causing harm to our environment, evidently seen in Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) in Los Alamos, New Mexico. It shows how the taxpayers' money is used since the production of the nuclear weapons. The resources have been dedicated to nuclear waste management, maintenance of the nuclear waste dumping site facility as well as health care for those who are impacted by these radioactive chemicals during nuclear production, the waste management, and the surrounding neighborhood's radioactive contamination. Apart from having a long-lasting radioactive waste in our environment, the lives that can be taken away if not most part of planet if this nuclear weapon is used by any countries still a threat. It is believe that the nuclear weapons of today are more than 200-250 times more powerful than what was used in Japan. Hiroshima and Nagasaki were chosen as strategic during the World War II that killed about 40% of the population in Hiroshima and 31% of the population in Nagasaki. The strategy of the current government only shows its violence and perpetuity of war with its colonial and domination mentality. It does not show any guarantee to stop the support for non-proliferation of nuclear weapons but otherwise.
US Armed Air Forces dropped the Nuclear Bomb in two cities of Japan. The Southwest part of United States which is New Mexico was bombed first as a testing site. Other sites were bombed as a sacrifice cities or areas for testing where people's and the voices of creation were not considered, such as Algeria, Bikini Atoll in Marshall Islands, Nevada, Christmas Island, etc. This is not to mention the after-effects of the bombing if nuclear is to be used for any security forces. As learned from Japan's bombing, the towns affected by the radioactive force of the bomb which includes skin cancer, leukemia, blood, heart, and thyroid diseases, etc. We have more reason to say that nuclear weapon has no place in our world because of its destructive nature and environmental harm. How would anyone favor supporting something that is destructive versus something that is life-giving or forgiving?
Important Facts to Remember on Hiroshima and Nagasaki Bombing:
- 140,000 people perished from direct Hiroshima bombing on August 6, 1945 at 8:15am, with 70% of the buildings burned and 90% of the nurses and doctors killed or injured.
- 70,000 people perished from direct Nagasaki bombing on August 9, 1945 at 11:02am
- 38,000 children died from these bombings.
How is Texas connected to nuclear weapons? Pantex Nuclear Weapons Facility is the only place for assembly of nuclear weapons, located in the High Plains of Texas Panhandle. The Department of Energy is responsible for its operations while the Texas Tech (TT) owned part of the land and the DOE only leased part of the land from TT.
How do we reflect on morality and ethics of nuclear weapon production and nuclear energy? The supporters of nuclear see this nuclear expansion as deterrence. On the other hand, the mere production of such results into accumulation of radioactive waste occupying space in our land where resources are more important to be used in life-giving and life-saving programs. How are you involved in nuclear technology? Are you a producer, or consumer or expectator? All of these have a relationship to the nuclear production whether direct or indirectly.
At the start of the letter of Pope Francis Laudato Si' in article 3, it primarily states his work for peace that it is evident that we are in nuclear crisis. Given this crisis, we are facing an environmental degradation calling all Catholics and all people of goodwill to take actions. Furthermore, Pope Francis spoke of his opposition to wrong ideology. Articles on Laudato Si' about nuclear harm to Creation are listed below from articles 57 and 104.
- "It is foreseeable that, once certain resources have been depleted, the scene will be set for new wars, albeit under the guise of noble claims. War always does grave harm to the environment and to the cultural riches of peoples, risks which are magnified when one considers nuclear arms and biological weapons. “Despite the international agreements which prohibit chemical, bacteriological and biological warfare, the fact is that laboratory research continues to develop new offensive weapons capable of altering the balance of nature”. Politics must pay greater attention to foreseeing new conflicts and addressing the causes which can lead to them..." (LS 57)
- "Yet it must also be recognized that nuclear energy, biotechnology, information technology, knowledge of our DNA, and many other abilities which we have acquired, have given us tremendous power.. Never has humanity had such power over itself, yet nothing ensures that it will be used wisely, particularly when we consider how it is currently being used. We need but think of the nuclear bombs dropped in the middle of the twentieth century, or the array of technology which Nazism, Communism and other totalitarian regimes have employed to kill millions of people, to say nothing of the increasingly deadly arsenal of weapons available for modern warfare. In whose hands does all this power lie, or will it eventually end up? It is extremely risky for a small part of humanity to have it." (LS 104)
Amidst the enormity of the issue, the solution always comes down to who are supporting and funding its production. How do we end the source of evil and dispel the wrong reason for its continuing business in this world? The true power lies in our ability to stand for something right not for our own selfish desires rooted in fear but the common good of the people and society rooted in love. The evil of producing something that is harmful can be defeated by something that is enormously good which lies in the heart of every human, that is love. This is the hope that we carry in our soul from one generation to the next generation.
By remembering the people who had been incinerated in the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, let us be mindful that within the fabric of every human being is our humanity. We are one human family with an ability to feel for those who have lost their loved ones and impacted more than 90% of the city of Hiroshima, who suffered the effects of the radioactive chemicals due to Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombing. We are capable of goodness amidst the evil that seems to perpetuate in wars. We have the power to end evil because we always have a choice to do good and resist what is evil. One's silence and complacency during the act of one's evil is also a deliberate choice of choosing to favor evil and not good.
We have a choice and a power to make a world that is free from nuclear threats through prayer, call to action with legislators, advocacies, and joining various peace and green movements.
Pope Saint John Paul II taught us:
Peace is not a utopia, nor an inaccessible ideal, nor an unrealizable dream.
War is not an inevitable calamity.
Peace is possible.
And because it is possible, peace is our duty: our grave duty, our supreme responsibility.
Certainly peace is difficult;
certainly it demands much good will, wisdom, and tenacity.
Peace, entrusted to the responsibility of men and women, remains even then a gift of God.”
Let us pray,
Christ, who is Lord and Prince of Peace,
May your peace reign in our hearts and in the hearts of all people,
that we may work for a culture of life, a culture of trust, and a culture of peace,
so that we never again experience the “incandescent burst of nuclear war” that the world saw in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, which left behind only shadows and silence where life was once abundant.
May your mercy be upon us as we solemnly remember all whose lives have felt the tragic imprint of nuclear weapons.
We pray through the same Christ our Lord.
Amen.
Forum on Nuclear Hosted by Pax Christi and Laudato Si': here with Cooper Christiancy of Texans Ending Nuclear Dangers (TEND).
Other Prayer, Reflection and Gathering Opportunities
Commemorating the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki with in-person and via video-conferencing
Call to Action
Recommended Book: "People of the Lie" by Scott M. Peck
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