Nuclear weapons remain a threat to all of Earth’s creatures

by Joseph Nangle, OFM
Pax Christi USA 2023 Teacher of Peace

This week the world remembers once again the dark days of August 6 and August 9, 1945 when the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Japan were obliterated by two atomic bombs. As those two crimes against humanity fade into history (next year will mark 80 years since those dates), the insane logic of “ending World War II by murdering some 70,000* civilians” must never be forgotten. Otherwise, as the famous words of philosopher George Santayana put it, “Those who forget history are condemned to repeat it.”

The 2023 film “Oppenheimer” did much to focus attention once again not only on the destructive power of these weapons, but in one chilling scene, the real possibility that even the scientists – or especially they – knew that losing total control over chain reaction with unimaginable results was possible.

Edward Teller, that apostle of nuclear weapons, raised that possibility in 1943 but reportedly pushed scientists to crunch the numbers in order to draw the conclusion that planetary immolation was “unlikely.” On the other hand, in 1947 Oppenheimer and Albert Einstein coined the metaphor of the Doomsday Clock, an ongoing warning of how close the world was to a nuclear holocaust.

Nevertheless, the warnings led not to disarmament but exactly in the opposite direction. The Soviet Union exploded its first atomic bomb in 1949, Great Britain in 1952, France in 1960, and the People’s Republic of China in 1964. Now Pakistan, India, Israel and North Korea have also developed nuclear weapons. Iran is on the verge of developing its own nuclear stockpile since then-President Trump pulled the United States out of the historic and successful US-Iran Nuclear Deal.

Without any claim to expertise in geopolitics, it remains important to think about this reality of our times – another example of “not looking away” – especially as people of faith. We have a word to say in this regard together with multitudes of good-willed people around the globe who share this fraught moment in human history.

Reflecting then on this ominous global reality, the warning of the Doomsday Clock (currently 90 seconds to midnight) comes into focus. For example, India and Pakistan have fought four wars against one another since 1947. Fortunately, both sides have agreed to exchange each other’s nuclear capacity on a yearly basis. But the possibility of a “nuclear accident” is always present. North Korea has served warnings that its nuclear reach is growing. As an isolated country with an unstable head of state, it remains as a threat to cross the threshold and unleash these weapons.

The existence of Israel’s nuclear capabilities presents the most worrisome scenario today. It possesses not only the “big bombs” but of even more immediate concern tactical (battlefield) nuclear weapons. At present Israel is waging wars on at least three fronts: in Gaza, on the West Bank, and most dangerous of all against Hezbollah/Iran in the north. With the current conflict heating up there and the increasing exchange of attacks, there is real fear of an ever-expanding war in that region and beyond.

In this context, the head of a significant faction in the Israeli parliament, Avigdor Liberman, said recently: “We cannot stop the Iranian nuclear program conventionally; we will have to us all the capabilities at our disposal.” Who is to say that an increasingly cornered Israeli government would not be capable of lashing out with its “ultimate weapon” in a desperate act of self-defense?

It was noted above that people of faith and all people of good will have a crucial word to say in the face of this dire moment in human history. Pope Francis has consistently repeated that prophetic cry from his heart begun on his visit to Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 2017 where he declared: “The use of atomic energy for purposes of war is immoral. AS IS THE POSSESSION OF ATOMIC WEAPONS.”

*According to Britannica, on August 6, 1945 “70,000 [people in Hiroshima] were killed immediately, and by the end of the year the death toll had surpassed 100,000. [On August 9, 1945 in Nagasaki,] 39,000 persons were killed and 25,000 injured.” This does not take into consideration the thousands of persons who died of radiation exposure and other injuries in the years after the war.

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Joe Nangle OFM is a Pax Christi USA Ambassador of Peace and the 2023 Pax Christi USA Teacher of Peace. As a member of the Assisi Community in Washington, D.C., he is dedicated to simple living and social change. Joe also serves as the Pastoral Associate for the Latino community at Our Lady Queen of Peace, Arlington, Virginia.