Church Leaders Make Case for Nukes Abolition Amid N. Korea Tests

Wednesday, Jun. 3, 2009 Posted: 12:01:54PM HKT

A visitor looks at the mock North Korean Scud-B missile, left, and other South Korean missiles at the Korea War Memorial Museum in Seoul, South Korea, Saturday, May 30, 2009. North Korea threatened to retaliate if punitive U.N. sanctions are imposed for its latest nuclear test, and U.S. officials said there are new signs Pyongyang may be planning more long-range missile launches. (Photo: AP Images / Lee Jin-man)

Though seismologists are still unsure as to how large the blast was from last week's nuclear test in North Korea, analysts and church leaders agree that there is more than legitimate reason for concern.

"An explosion like this in a downtown area would be a horrible event,” geologist Paul Richards of Columbia University's Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory in Palisades, N.Y., told USA Today.

And adding to concerns is the increasing possibility that North Korea could send a nuclear device on a missile, especially as the communist regime pushes forward this week with preparations to test-fire more missiles – including one that U.S. military officials say is capable of striking the U.S.

“The World Council of Churches is deeply troubled by North Korea's nuclear test and profoundly concerned for the people of North Korea and surrounding countries,” stated the Rev. Dr. Samuel Kobia, the WCC’s general secretary.

But while the United Nations is working to expand sanctions against North Korea and enforce existing sanctions imposed after Pyongyang's first nuclear test in 2006, opponents of nuclear weapons are stressing that that unilateral disarmament is not the solution but a "multilateral, verifiable, and total elimination of nuclear weapons from the face of the earth” is.

“There is no place for nuclear arsenals in international affairs – whether by a country like North Korea or by the eight other self-appointed nuclear powers that would have others believe their security requires weapons of mass destruction,” said Kobia, whose church organization brings together 349 Protestant, Orthodox, Anglican and other churches representing more than 560 million Christians in over 110 countries.

Tyler Wigg-Stevenson, a Baptist minister who founded the Two Futures Project to educate and mobilize Christians on the issue of nuclear weapons, would likely agree.

“A two-tiered world of nuclear haves and have-nots will eventually lead to uncontrollable proliferation and an undeterrable terrorist bomb which would not only cause mass casualties but catastrophic economic effects that would leave no corner of the planet untouched,” said Stevens during a recent teleconference for his faith-based coalition.

"We must eliminate these weapons, and we can eliminate these weapons," he added.

Though calls for nuclear disarmament have typically come from more liberal Christian groups, such as the WCC, an increasing number of evangelicals have more recently joined in chorus over the issue, asserting it as an issue as deserving of attention as abortion or poverty.

“As Christians who believe in the profound value of life, we should be at the front of the line calling for the elimination of these weapons,” said Lynn Hybels, co-founder of Willow Creek Community Church in South Barrington, Ill., during the Two Futures Project teleconference in April.

“To me it’s part of a consistent epic of life,” she added.

Aside from Hybels and her husband, megachurch leader Bill Hybels, the Two Futures Project has received endorsements from a number of highly-respected Christian leaders, including Chuck Colson, founder of Prison Fellowship; Leith Anderson, president of the National Association of Evangelicals; Richard Cizik, senior fellow at the U.N. Foundation; Andy Crouch, senior editor of Christianity Today International; and the Rev. Dr. John Stott, one of the principal authors of the Lausanne Covenant in 1974.

Pages: 1 | 2 |

Eric Young
Christian Post Reporter