Peace Pilgrimage Reaches Downing Street

Friday July 19 2013

The Church of Scotland has repeated its backing for the UK Justice and Peace Pilgrimage, which today reaches Downing Street.

The two-month long pilgrimage has travelled 750 miles from Iona, via the naval base at Faslane and Edinburgh, to Westminster. Today, the pilgrims will hand in a petition asking the Government to ‘stop plans to renew Trident and spend the money on education, the NHS and social welfare.’

The Very Rev Dr Alan McDonald, former Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland has joined the Pilgrimage for a few days. He said: “It seemed like an impossible dream when this little group of pilgrims left Iona on Pentecost Sunday, 19 May. It has been utterly inspiring to see the effect this peaceful walking can have in the unlikeliest places.

“I have joined the walk for the last three days and will be at the finish in Trafalgar Square on Saturday. How hopeful it is, that as the pilgrims arrive in the heart of London, suddenly everyone in the country seems to be talking about Trident. Who knows where this pilgrimage will lead next.”

Jill Saunderson is one of those who has walked every step of the Pilgrimage so far. By Saturday she will have walked around 750 miles.

She said: “From the day we left Iona, in all the communities we've walked through, the reception has been absolutely incredible. What is most exciting is that we will never know the debates about Trident that have started in these places once we've passed through. In the nine weeks, not one of the walkers has been ill, other than a few blisters.”

For more than 30 years the Church of Scotland has consistently condemned the existence and threat of nuclear weapons as sinful and an offence to God’s created order.

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