Nuclear Weapons and the Christian: Disarmament or Learning to Live with Nuclear Armed Adversaries?

Abstract

A long Christian tradition has argued that the possession and coercive/physical use of nuclear weapons is morally indefensible and advocated nuclear disarmament. This article takes stock of what we now know about nuclear weapons and advocates a Christian responsibility to redirect initiatives from eliminating nuclear weapons to eliminating the hatred, fear and insecurity that creates a demand for them. It notes the small number of nuclear powers despite many states that could develop a nuclear capability and argues that the United States holds the most responsibility for their limited spread. It also notes that the tendency for nuclear weapons to provide otherwise elusive solutions to deeply pressing security challenges facing the nine nuclear powers means that these states will likely never eliminate them. The article advocates for the removal of the insecurity that generates the demand for nuclear weapons, and briefly illustrates how this might look like in contemporary North Korea.