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Joint Interfaith Statement on the Entry into Force of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons

January 25, 2021 By Bob Kinsey

22 January 2021
As a wide coalition of faith-based communities from around the world, we speak with one voice
to reject the existential threat to humanity that nuclear weapons pose. We wholeheartedly
welcome the entry into force of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW), the
first international treaty to comprehensively ban nuclear weapons. The Treaty addresses the
disproportionate impact of nuclear weapons on women and indigenous peoples and the
importance of victim assistance and healing environmental harms in a groundbreaking way. We
congratulate, celebrate and appreciate the countries that have ratified and signed this important
Treaty, as well as all who have worked for nuclear disarmament and abolition for many decades.
As people of faith, we believe that the possession, development and threat to use nuclear
weapons is immoral. There are no safe hands for these weapons. The accidental or deliberate
detonation of a nuclear weapon would cause severe, long-lasting and far-reaching harm on all
aspects of our lives and our environment throughout the world. Further, these technologies are
part of structures and systems that bring about great suffering and destruction. We commit,
therefore, to the ethical and strategic necessity of working together for economic and social
justice, right relationship with the Earth, and accountability and restoration where there is
violence and harm. We rejoice at the possibilities of a new world that this Treaty ushers in. At a
time when the world desperately needs fresh hope, the TPNW inspires us to continue to work to
fully eliminate the threat of nuclear weapons, and to create conditions for peace, justice, and
well-being.
We recognize the legacy of the global hibakusha, survivors whose courage and perseverance
serve as our inspiration, guidance, and moral foundation in the quest for a world free from
nuclear weapons. This quest will continue until all nuclear weapons are eliminated from our
planet. We invite everyone, especially those in communities of faith, to join us in this work for
peace, justice, and respect for life—against which nuclear weapons stand in complete
opposition—in ways that are meaningful and authentic to your traditions and how you are
inspired to participate. We urge all States to join the growing community of States which have
rejected nuclear weapons and to sign and ratify the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear
Weapons, or work toward that end by joining the First Meeting of the States Parties planned to
take place this year.
At this historic moment, we must act decisively to strengthen the power of the TPNW upon its
entry into force, and to work for peace, cooperation, and common security.
2
Endorsing Organizations
Act Church of Sweden
All Africa Conference of Churches
The All Souls Nuclear Disarmament Task Force
Alliance of Baptists
American Baptist Churches, USA
American Friends Service Committee
Arkport Catholic Worker
Baltimore Nonviolence Center
Baptist Peace Fellowship of North America
Bruderhof
The Buddhist Council of New York
Casa Generalizia della Societa del Sacro Cuore
Casa Maria Catholic Worker
Catholic Committee of Appalachia
Charter for Compassion
Christian Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament
Christian Conference of Asia
Christian Council of Sweden
Christians for Peace Newcastle Australia
Church and Peace
Church Council of Greater Seattle
Church of Norway Council on Ecumenical and International Relations
The Church of Scotland
Church of Sweden Archbishop Emeritus
Church of Sweden Youth
Columban Center for Advocacy and Outreach
Comboni Missionary Sisters
Comisión de Ecología y Cuidado de la Creación de la Diócesis de Lurín, Lima Perú
Comisión General Justicia y Paz
Community of Christ
Community of Christ – British Isles
Congregation de NDC du Bon Pasteur à Madagascar
Congregation of Our Lady of Charity of the Good Shepherd (Global)
Congregation of Our Lady of Charity of the Good Shepherd, Latin America and the Caribbean
Congregation of Our Lady of the Good Shepherd, US Provinces
Congregation of St. Joseph
Congregation of the Mission
Congregation of the Sisters of St. Joseph of Peace
Congregations of St. Joseph
3
Council of Churches in the Netherlands
Daughters of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul USA
Disciples Peace Fellowship
Dominican Leadership Conference
Dominican Sisters of Hope
Dominican Sisters of Houston
Dominican Sisters of Sinsinawa
ECAR JUSTICE ET PAIX MADAGASCAR
Ecumenical Peace Institue
Episcopal Peace Fellowship
Fachgruppe Gerechtigkeit, Frieden unbd Bewahrung der Schöpfung der Evangelischmethodistischen Kirche in Deutschland
Fellowship of Reconciliation – USA
Franciscan Peace Center
Franciscan Sisters of the Sacred Heart
Friends Committee on National Legislation
Friends World Committee for Consultation (Quakers)
Global Ministries of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) and the United Church of Christ
Gonzaga Nuclear Peace Club
Good Shepherd Sisters
Green Hope Foundation
Grey Nuns of the Sacred Heart
Heiwa Peace and Reconciiation Foundation of New York
Holy Spirit Missionary Sisters, JPIC-USA
House of Peace
Institute of the Blessed Virgin Mary – Loreto Generalate
International Academy for Multicultural Cooperation
International Gurukula Community
International Presentation Association
InterReligious Task Force on Central America
Islamic Society of North America
Justice and Peace Scotland
Katarina församling in Svenska kyrkan
Kvekersamfunnet i Norge/the Religious Society of Friends in Norway
Lake City Catholic Worker Farm
Leadership Conference of Women Religious
Leadership Council of the IHM Sisters
The London Catholic Worker
Loretto Community
Loretto Peace Committee
4
Martha Justice Ministry
Mary’s House
Maryknoll Fathers and Brothers
Maryknoll Sisters of St. Dominic
Mennonite World Conference
Multifaith Voices for Peace & Justice
National Advocacy Center of the Sisters of the Good Shepherd
National Council of Churches
Nevada Desert Experience
Newman Hall Non Violent Committee
North Carolina Council of Churches
North Shore Coalition for Peace & Justice
Office of Peace, Justice, and Ecological Integrity/Sisters of Charity of Saint Elizabeth
On Earth Peace
The Open Door Community
Oregon Fellowship of Reconciliation
Pace e Bene and Campaign Nonviolence
Pacific Conference of Churches
Passionists International
Parliament of the World’s Religions
PAX
Pax Christi Aotearoa New Zealand
Pax Christi Castro Valley
Pax Christi Flanders
Pax Christi France
Pax Christi International
Pax Christi Ireland
Pax Christi Metro New York
Pax Christi Northern California
Pax Christi – Perú
Pax Christi USA
Peace Economy Project
PMU
Pooha-Bah Traditional Native American Healing Center
Precious Blood Missionaries Kansas City Province
Presbyterian Church (USA)
Presbyterian Peace Fellowship
Religieus Genootschap der Vrienden (Quakers)
The Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) in Sweden
Saint Peter Claver Catholic Worker
5
School Sisters of Notre Dame
School Sisters of Notre Dame, Central Pacific Province
Sisters of Bon Secours, USA
Sisters of Charity Federation
Sisters of Charity of Nazareth Congregational Leadership
Sisters of Charity of Nazareth Western Province Leadership
Sisters of Charity of Our Lady of Mercy
Sisters of Mercy of the Americas Justice Team
Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur
Sisters of Saint Anne, St. Marie Province
Sisters of Saint Francis
Sisters of St. Francis of Assisi
Sisters of St. Francis, Clinton, Iowa
Sisters of St. Francis, Sylvania OH
Sisters of St. Joseph of Baden, PA
Sisters of St. Joseph of Orange
Sisters of the Holy Cross
Sisters of the Humility of Mary
Sisters of the Presentation, Dubuque, IA
Sisters, Home Visitors of Mary
Social Justice Office Srs of St. Joseph-TOSF
Soka Gakkai International
SS. Francis and Therese Catholic Worker
Swedish Fellowship of Reconciliation
Thomas Berry Forum for Ecological Dialogue at Iona College
Tikkun/Network of Spiritual Progressives
United Church of Christ, Justice and Witness Ministries
The United Methodist Church – General Board of Church and Society
The United Reformed Church, United Kingdom
United Religions Initiative
The Uniting Church in Sweden / Equmeniakyrkan
Vereniging Kerk en Vrede
Veterans for Peace, Ch. 45
Viva House, Baltimore Catholic Worker
VIVAT International
Voices for a World Free of Nuclear Weapons
World Council of Churches
World Yoga Community

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Disarmament Quotes

A world free of the threat of nuclear weapons is necessarily a world devoid of nuclear weapons…. Nuclear weapons pose an intolerable threat to humanity and our habitat…. Others subscribe to Churchill’s assertion ‘Peace is the sturdy child of terror.’ For me, such a peace is a wretched offspring, a peace that condemns us to live under a dark cloud of perpetual anxiety, a peace that codifies mankind’s most murderous instincts….The beast must be chained, its soul expunged, its lair laid waste.

General Lee Butler Former Commander, Strategic Air Command, April 28, 1996

So far as I can see, the atomic bomb has deadened the finest feeling that has sustained for ages. There used to be so-called laws of war, which made it tolerable. Now we know the truth. War knows no law except that of might. The atomic bomb brought an empty victory but it resulted for the time being in destroying the soul of Japan. What has happened to the soul of the destroying nation is yet too early to see... 

Mahatma Gandhi from The Essential Gandhi, Louis Fisher, ed.

There are still thousands of warheads loaded on operational systems and standing on high states of alert on virtually hair-trigger posture. And you have to ask yourself: Why is that? Who is the enemy? What is the threat? 

U.S. General Lee Butler Former Commander in Chief, U.S. Strategic Air Command in 1991-92

We are prone to self-righteousness if we call ourselves peacemakers, and yet do not perceive how the peace issue cuts through all the economic and social issues that we often try to keep separate. If the race for nuclear arms is encouraged by our fear of losing the affluent ways of life that we have taken for granted, then we must see how our fears and desires have left so many other human beings naked and hungry.

Malsolm Warford "The Church's Role in a Nuclear Age

Now, understand, this matters to people everywhere. 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. 

Former President Barack Obama, April 5, 2009

It is my fervent goal and hope…that we will some day no longer have to rely on nuclear weapons to deter aggression and assure world peace. To that end the United States is now engaged in a serious and sustained effort to negotiate major reductions in levels of offensive nuclear weapons with the ultimate goal of eliminating these weapons from the face of the earth. 

Ronald Reagan, October 20, 1986

It is my firm belief that the infinite and uncontrollable fury of nuclear weapons should never be held in the hands of any mere mortal ever again, for any reason. 

Mikhail Gorbachev, 1995

[T]he use of this barbarous weapon at Hiroshima and Nagasaki was of no material assistance in our war against Japan. The Japanese were already defeated and ready to surrender. . . . [I]n being the first to use it, we . . . adopted an ethical standard common to the barbarians of the Dark Ages. I was not taught to make war in that fashion, and wars cannot be won by destroying women and children.

5-Star Admiral William D. Leahy Chief of Staff to President's Roosevelt and Truman, leader of Combined US-UK Chiefs of Staff during WWII

“Everything I did at Kings Bay was a result of my faith and my commitment to challenge the idols whose only purpose is to destroy human life on an unimaginable scale. I went to Kings Bay to use my body to refuse to bow down to these idols. I went to try to bring attention to the idolatry that it is requiring of our nation and its people. I went in a spirit of prayer and repentance. I went in hope that this witness might invite other people to reflect on the obscenity and on the idolatry that it is before God.”

Liz McAlister Kings Bay Protestor 2019

Elimination of nuclear weapons, so naive, so simplistic, and so idealistic as to be quixotic? Some may think so. But as human beings, citizens of nations with power to influence events in the world, can we be at peace with ourselves if we strive for less? I think not. 

Robert McNamara Former U.S. Secretary of Defense

Over the past 15 years, the goal of elimination of nuclear weapons has been so much on the back burner that it will take a true political breakthrough and a major intellectual effort to achieve success in this endeavor.

Mikhail Gorbachev, January 31, 2007

We seek the elimination one day of nuclear weapons from the face of the Earth. 

Ronald Reagan, Inaugural Address, January 21, 1985

We endorse setting the goal of a world free of nuclear weapons and working energetically on the actions required to achieve that goal ... 

George P. Shultz, William J. Perry, Henry A. Kissinger and Sam Nunn, January 4, 2007

Viewing Trinity Test July 16,1945: "Now we are all Sons of Bitches"

Kenneth Bainbridge Deputy Director

"Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed. This world in arms is not spending money alone. It is spending he sweat of its laborers, the genius of its scientists, the hopes of its children...This is not a way of life at all in any true sense. Under the cloud of war, it is humanity hanging on a cross of iron." --spoken to the American Society of Newspaper Editors 1953

Dwight Eisenhower US President 1953-1961

Through the release of atomic energy, our generation has brought into the world the most revolutionary force since prehistoric man's discovery of fire. This basic force of the universe cannot be fitted into the outmoded concept of narrow nationalisms. For there is no secret and there is no defense; there is no possibility of control except through the aroused understanding and insistence of the peoples of the world. We scientists recognise our inescapable responsibility to carry to our fellow citizens an understanding of atomic energy and its implication for society. In this lies our only security and our only hope - we believe that an informed citizenry will act for life and not for death. 

Albert Einstein, January 22, 1947

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