9th July, 2014
Churches around the world have been urged to join in the efforts of the World Council of Churches in advocating for a world without nuclear power or weapons.
In a statement issued this week, the WCC’s Central Committee urged its member churches to deepen "ethical and theological discussions about civilian and military uses of nuclear energy" and to call on governments to ban the use of nuclear weapons.
It calls on churches to promote changes in lifestyle and the adoption of renewable energy sources in place of nuclear power and encourages churches not to invest in "businesses and financial institutions involved in the production of nuclear weapons or nuclear power plants and related exports" as well as to support those who are the victims of nuclear accidents, bombings and tests.
The statement also recommends churches collaborate with groups such as the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons in advocating for their elimination and calls for the establishment of new "nuclear-weapon-free zones", particularly in Northeast Asia and the Middle East, and for steps to be taken to strengthen existing zones in Southeast Asia, the Pacific, Latin America and Africa "against any presence or threat from nuclear weapons".
In particular, the statement asks churches to urge the 31 states in NATO and Northeast Asia which have called for nuclear disarmament but currently depend on the nuclear weapons of the US to join in the campaign to eliminate them.
"As churches we must educate ourselves to choose life by turning from the blinding flash of nuclear warheads and the deadly glow of nuclear reactors to healthy sources of energy in the natural world within which we have our being – sun, wind, water and geo-thermal energy," the committee said in the statement.
The WCC’s Central Committee concluded its week long meeting in Geneva on Tuesday. Among other news from the meeting was the re-appointment of Rev Dr Olav Fykse Tveit to a second five year stint as general secretary of the WCC.
The WCC is a fellowship 345 churches and church denominations from around the world representing more than 500 million Christians in 110 countries and territories.
– DAVID ADAMS
