In 1976, Jesuit Father Richard McSorley wrote, “Until we squarely face the question of our consent to use nuclear weapons, any hope of large scale improvement of public morality is doomed to failure.” Some 35 years have passed since Fr. McSorley’s comments. Hiroshima and Nagasaki clearly were humanities moral nadir. These attacks, designed to take out entire cities, every living thing, trees, plants, cats and dogs, women and children, the old and the infants, Shintos, Buddhists, Christians, Jews, Muslims, everything, truly has created a morally lost planet. The God of death was reinstated, resplendent and shining, with a celebration of violence unlike any other, supplanting and perverting the message of Jesus, Mohamed, Buddha and the Torah, the Koran and the New Testament along with a host of other prophets and faith traditions. Man proudly proclaimed his ability to destroy whatever God might create.
In 1965 Tom Lehrer derisively reflected on the nuclear arms race in his song, “Who’s Next?”. One refrain went:
“Egypt's gonna get one too, just to use on you know who. Israel's getting tense, wants one in self-defense. The Lord's our shepherd it says in the Psalm, but just in case- WE GOTTA GET A BOMB!”
By then the arms race had grown tremendously and world governments were thoroughly complicit with the development and deployment of nuclear weapons. From there it was easy to consent to the use of nuclear power and the false promises of the nuclear industry touting, safe, clean and inexpensive energy. Most of us very much wanted to believe that something good could come from this demon’s child.
Sadly nothing could have been further from the truth as Fukushima and Chernobyl clearly illustrate. Nuclear power has proven itself with alarming consistently to be dangerous, dirty and expensive and no one knows how to contain nuclear waste, long term. Even so the recognition of environmental violence/degradation is still sadly absent or ignored and the continued misinformation provided by the nuclear industry has allowed for the unprecedented nuclear environmental destruction and degradation world wide.
Meanwhile the public shrugs and waits complacently for the next cloud of radiation to poison the land and their children while the government continues to subsidize the nuclear industry. New reports now show increased levels of radioactive iodine in milk found in Philadelphia and little Rock Arkansas from the Fukushima disaster.
In 1998, Fr. Frank Cordaro, a participant in the Gods of Metal plowshares action at Andrews Air Force Base spoke about hammering and pouring blood on a B-52 bomber. One of his more humorous reflections was, "Any Church that has more moral clarity on the uses of condoms than it does on the possession of nuclear weapons is seriously unbalanced." How true his words have proven to be not only for Catholics but for all of Christianity.
Recently Fr. John Deer wrote, “We have trailed so far behind Jesus that most Christians and Catholics can scarcely conceive of loving their enemies or putting down the sword. Instead they vote for war, pay taxes for war and prayerfully send their young off to kill.” As I write millions of gallons of radioactive water are being poured into the Pacific Ocean. No one knows what effect it may have but we are assured over and over again the effects will be minimal much like we are assured, an event like this will never happen here. The nuclear sword once seen only as atomic weapons keeps mutating. First in fire and air, now in earth and water, nuclear waste and cancer is often found very close to home.
In another of his songs, “Pollution”, Tom Lehrer wrote, “fish gotta swim and birds gotta fly but they don’t last long if they try. Pollution . . .” Desperately I am trying to find some humor in all of this, hoping to counter my despair. And while I may not know whether to laugh or cry, like the prophets old, one thing I am certain of is, “God will not be mocked.” Finally the question “Who’s Next?“ has taken on a new and sinister meaning. It is time for us to make some hard choices. Let us hope we choose the God of life.
Post Script: The editor who requested this article and declined to print it wrote;
"What I was looking for is in the two graphs about nuclear power’s false promise and later about the radioactive water, but otherwise your focus on nuclear weapons is less compelling at a time when the world is shaken by the catastrophe in Japan. We all have opinions, but I wonder if you really believe that the world’s reaction is a shrug."
My response was, "If you have any evidence the public isn't shrugging, that there is a strong reaction, Indian Point will actually close, West Valley will be cleaned up in a timely manner, that our policies might actually change, I would love to hear. In another few weeks we will be hearing how Iran is developing nuclear weapons from processing nuclear fuel for its power plants after the propaganda machine and the powers that be decide our fear quotient isn't high enough. Nuclear power and weapons are deeply interconnected." I had hoped this might create a discussion. It did not.
John Amidon is presently protesting nuclear weapons and power at the Nevada National Security Site (formerly the Nevada Test Site) for Easter 2011 remembering the words of the late Archbishop Raymond Hunthausen of Seattle, "Our nuclear war preparations are the global crucifixion of Jesus."
This article is dedicated to : Sr. Anne Montgomery, Fr. Bill Bischel, Susan Crane, 67, Lynne Greenwald, and Fr. Steve Kelly who on All Souls night, November 2, 2009, entered into the Kitsap-Bangor Navy Base outside of Tacoma Washington to protest the hundreds of nuclear warheads and the eight Trident submarines based there.