SCCAC E-Newsletter

South Carolina Christian Action Council Statement Opposing the Complex 2030 Plan and Any Additional Production of Nuclear Weapons

Religious communities in America have long advocated for a world free of nuclear weapons. The teachings of the Bible, the Qur'an and other sacred texts are clear that as people of faith, we must be committed to the task of peacemaking. Jesus told his followers, "Blessed are the peacemakers for they shall be called children of God" (Matthew 5:9). Psalm 34 calls us to "seek peace and pursue it." The Qur'an equates killing a single person unjustly with killing all humanity and saving a single life with saving the life of all humanity (5:32). Guided by texts such as these, we cannot envision a situation in which we could support the indiscriminate destruction of human life from the use of a nuclear weapon.

While we come from separate religious traditions, we speak with one voice to say that we oppose the construction of a new nuclear weapons complex or the production of any additional nuclear weapons. The production of nuclear weapons brings with it a legacy of health problems and environmental degradation, borne in large part by the poorest of the poor. The renewal of the nuclear weapons complex as described in the Complex 2030 plan would add to the devastation that these communities are already experiencing.

The impact of the Complex 2030 plan and any additional production of nuclear weapons would be felt internationally. The underlying premise of international efforts to stop the spread of weapons of mass destruction is that the U.S. and other nuclear weapons states will also work to reduce their own stockpiles. The U.S. cannot call on other nations to stop the production of new nuclear weapons while American scientists are spending billions to develop a new generation of deadly nuclear bombs. Given that the U.S. arsenal of nuclear weapons has the destructive power to unleash an estimated 50,000 times the devastation of Hiroshima and Nagasaki combined, the U.S. should be working to reduce its stockpile of nuclear bombs, not devising new ways to spend billions of taxpayer dollars to build new weapons.

--Adopted by the Board in May 2007

We have extended our deadline for adding signatures to this statement. If you will work to get a petition signed within your faith community or at work or in your neighborhood or college dormitory or campus click here. Petitions are due October 2, 2007.

Want to talk about it? See the article below about the upcoming public meeting on the moral and ethical questions of using nuclear weapons and consequences of making these weapons.