from Pax Christi New Jersey
Yesterday (August 18) during what was called a “major policy speech” Senator Menendez announced that he would not only vote against the P5+1 nuclear deal with Iran he would also vote in favor of any veto override. While we are not surprised by Senator Menendez’s announcement, we are disappointed.
The leadership and the membership of Pax Christi New Jersey would like to respond to the senator that his past opposition to the war in Iraq is not a justification of his current rejection of diplomacy with Iran and the opportunity to build on a nuclear-free Middle East.
We agree with the Vatican and its 2014 statement on nuclear weapons entitled Nuclear Disarmament: Time for Abolition, which stated “Now is the time to affirm not only the immorality of the use of nuclear weapons, but the immorality of their possession, thereby clearing the road to nuclear abolition.” We believe that this agreement will set us on a path to not only curb Iran’s development of a nuclear weapon but also serve as an important step toward nuclear non-proliferation and ultimately nuclear abolition.
Pax Christi New Jersey sides with Pope Francis, the Vatican, the Committee on International Justice and Peace of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, and numerous other Catholic clergy, women religious and lay leaders in its belief that this agreement will foster greater dialogue and help create a more peaceful world.
In this month in which we marked the 70th anniversary of the first use of nuclear weapons in war in the bombing of Hiroshima we all the more moved to action and we will continue, along with our members and allies, to lobby our legislators to support this historic deal with Iran.