An Open Letter to the Human Family
A Plea for the Sake of Us All
from Voices for a World Free of Nuclear Weapons
Voices For a World Free of Nuclear Weapons Cooperation Circle is a URI (United Religions Initiative) affiliate, a small group of diplomats, senior governmental officials, lawyers, clergy, scientists, and others (see the roster below). They meet each month to address the world’s nuclear threat and wrote this letter to URI groups in 102 countries and to the rest of the human family. The letter commemorates August 6, 2017, the 72nd anniversary of the Atomic Bombing of Hiroshima.
On September 21, 2017, millions of people the world over will be celebrating the International Day of Peace. It is a perfect opportunity for you to raise your voice at an event, in social media, by joining a group, or simply sharing with your friends your commitment to ending the nuclear threat we all face.
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Photo: URI
This summer, two events of nuclear significance happened. First, North Korea successfully launched an intercontinental ballistic missile that demonstrated greater reach and sophistication, signaling that, soon, it will have the capacity to drop nuclear weapons on the United States, Japan, South Korea, China and Russia. Second, at the United Nations, 122 nations of the world voted “never under any circumstances to develop, test, produce, manufacture, otherwise acquire, possess or stockpile nuclear weapons or other nuclear explosive devises.”
On the one hand, the expansion of the nuclear threat to the world, awakening the apocalyptic vision of Earth’s demise as a livable planet! On the other hand, the majority of nations of this world, proclaiming that the solution to this world’s nuclear problem is the elimination of the weapons. These two approaches are captured in the brief comments by the United States Ambassador to the United Nations, Nikki Haley. She said, “There is nothing I want more for my family than a world free of nuclear weapons. But we have to be realistic.”
When all is said and done, is planet Earth going to be a mass grave dug by “realists,” or is Earth going to be a Garden of Eden tilled by parents who figure out how to destroy the final threat?
When the time comes that the next nuclear weapon is detonated on human beings, the hands of political leaders and rogue agents will reach for weapons that can respond and can annihilate most of life on earth. Even now, small terrorist groups urgently desire to start the conflagration.
The hands of Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump now rest atop most of the world’s nuclear arsenal. But the hands of Kim Jong Un are also raised. Other hands in other countries, as well, are poised atop extermination buttons waiting to unleash a chain reaction of self-destruction in the name of security.
Post-nuclear Earth – Photo: CGI, YouTube
When that time comes, babies won’t matter, religion won’t matter, families won’t matter, beauty, ingenuity and historic perspective won’t matter. Nothing will be sacred. Darkness will cover the Earth just as a few finger prints will cover a few buttons.
What time is it right now? A few of us URI people who regularly watch the escalation of the nuclear threat, think that the world is at precarious moment now. Therefore, we are reaching out to any human being who might care and to our URI family exhorting each URI individual and cooperation circle to raise your voice. “Speak now or forever hold your peace,” is an often repeated phrase and it critically applies to this moment.
To fortify you with thought and soul, please go to www.thenuclearprayer.org to read our Call to Conscience statement and view our Nuclear Prayer video. Please don’t wait until you are well versed on the NPT or the CTBT or First Strike or all of the other specialized issues, before raising your voice. What the world needs now is to hear from the people of faiths and tribes and humanitarian efforts about the life or death issue concerning planet Earth and its nuclear threat. Voice your concern to a friend, a relative, a politician, a religious leader, a neighbor. Move the needle before some hand pushes a button! Good people of URI, speak! And speak to us because we can amplify your voice. Just send your email to bswing@uri.org.
Thank you for your consideration,
Members of the Voices for a World Free of Nuclear Weapons Cooperation Circle
Mary Lou Anderson, international peace activist and business owner
Peter Carpenter, businessman and nonprofit leader
Ambassador James E. Goodby, former Ambassador to Finland; served as Vice Chairman of the U.S. Delegation to the Strategic Nuclear Arms Negotiations with the U.S.S.R. Bipartisan Security Group Expert
Ambassador Thomas Graham, Jr, former senior-level diplomat; Executive Chairman of the Board of Lightbridge
Jonathan Granoff, President, Global Security Institute
Mussie Hailu (Ethiopia), URI Regional Director for Africa and Representative at the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa; Chair of the Interfaith Peace-building Initiative CC in Addis Ababa
Professor David T. Ives, International Steering Committee member, Middle Powers Initiative; Executive Director of the Albert Schweitzer Institute, Quinnipiac University, Connecticut
Dr. Abraham Karickam (India), URI South Zone Coordinator for India
The Honorable Secretary William J. Perry, former Secretary of Defense under President Bill Clinton; Senior Fellow at Stanford’s Hoover Institution
Hiro Sakurai, Soka Gokkai International representative to the United Nations
The Honorable Secretary George P. Shultz, former Secretary of State and Chairman of the President’s Economic Policy Advisory Board under President Ronald Reagan
Rev. Tyler Wigg Stevenson, Board of Directors, Global Security Institute; Founder and Director, Two Futures Projects
The Rt. Rev. William E. Swing, President and Founder, United Religions Initiative; retired Episcopal Bishop of California
Dr. William F. Vendley, Secretary General of Religions for Peace
Monica Willard, URI Representative at the United Nations
Header Photo: Rennett Stowe, C.c. 2.0