WCC Calls for 'Nuclear-Free World'

Wednesday July 9 2014

The World Council of Churches (WCC) has called on member churches to work towards a world free of nuclear weapons and nuclear power.

In a statement, "Towards a Nuclear-Free World", the WCC Central Committee asks churches to deepen ethical and theological debates about civilian and military uses of nuclear energy and examine “the witness inherent in using nuclear electricity or in accepting protection from nuclear weapons.”

Changes in lifestyle and the adoption of cleaner, safer, renewable energy sources are recommended in the statement. Divestment is encouraged where businesses and banks are involved in the production of nuclear power plants or nuclear weapons. Churches are urged to listen to, support and advocate with the survivors of nuclear accidents, bombings and tests.

A special appeal is made to 31 governments in NATO and in Northeast Asia “which call for nuclear disarmament but depend on the nuclear forces of the United States”, to join in eliminating nuclear weapons, removing them from their regions and negotiating collective, non-nuclear security agreements instead.

The statement says nuclear weapons “cannot be reconciled with real peace”. It notes that “the overall trend among nuclear-armed states is to modernize rather than eliminate their nuclear arsenals”.

Nuclear power is the pathway to acquiring nuclear weapons, the statement says, while pointing out parallel health, humanitarian, environmental and security dangers in civilian and military uses of nuclear energy.

The WCC is a fellowship of 345 churches (including the Church of Scotland) from over 110 countries, representing over 500 million Christians.

Read the full statement here

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