About the work of Presbyterians on nuclear disarmament
Presbyterians began calling for the nondevelopment of nuclear weapons in 1946 at the very first general assembly following the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings. Further actions underscored this witness against nuclear war even as the US and the USSR raced toward mutual assured destruction, with eventually over 50,000 nuclear warheads targeted at one another's population centers.
In the late 1970s, PPF member John Conner was elected GA moderator on a peacemaking platform, which helped to usher in the new Peacemaking Program and nurtured the growing movement of peacemaking across the church in the late 70s and early 1980s.
By then, the US and the USSR had began to pivot toward a new type of nuclear weapon, extremely accurate counterforce weapons targeted at each other's nuclear weapons. This placed each side on a hair trigger, use-it-or-lose-it status. Based on warnings from scientists and nuclear weapons experts, a movement began in the United States in the late 70s for a bilateral US-USSR nuclear weapons Freeze, articulated by weapons expert Randall Forsberg. The Freeze called for halting any further testing, production or deployment of nuclear weapons, warheads and delivery vehicles by both sides. This was a verifiable first step toward future disarmament and preventing nuclear war and the further spread of nuclear weapons.
After an initial meeting with peace and religious groups in the fall of 1980, a member of the Presbyterian Peace Fellowship stepped forward and said to Randall Forsberg, "We're in." Immediately PPF went work building support for the mutual US-USSR nuclear weapons Freeze Campaign. The spirit of peacemaking was moving across the church from coast to coast.
In 1980, PPF member Robert Davidson ran for GA moderator on a platform of the then United Presbyterian Church becoming the first mainstream denomination to endorse the bilateral nuclear weapons Freeze. He was elected and used his moderatorial sermon time to invite Randall Forsberg to fly to Houston to address the entire assembly. Imagine.... changing a GA agenda to prevent nuclear war! With the help of PPF, the Presbyterians voted overwhelmingly to endorse the Freeze, which made the front page of the New York Times. In a short time, many other denominations and spiritual leaders all over the world followed our example.
Ronald Reagan worked against the bilateral nuclear Freeze and quipped, "Don't worry, Americans cannot stay focused on a single idea for very long." He was right, but people all over the world stayed focused on preventing nuclear just long enough for a new leader in the USSR, Mikhail Gorbachev, to comprehend that an American president would have political and moral support to slow down the nuclear arms race if the US and USSR could take mutual steps. And that is what happened, leading US administrations to work mutually with the USSR and Russia to end nuclear weapons testing and to begin to dismantle much of the mutual stockpiles of warheads.
Instead of a Freeze, today the US nuclear arsenal is receiving an enormous infusion of tax dollars to create a new generation of weapons that can destroy thousands of Hiroshimas and Nagasakis, whether by design or by accident. The Presbyterian Peace Fellowship remains committed to a Christian witness against the development and threat to use these weapons of mass destruction. Would Jesus ask any less of us?
Lord, in your mercy, continue to hold back the use of these weapons and keep us ever focused on protecting your people and your creation.
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