The bishops and the bomb-nine responses A useful benchmark

...The question also requires docility before the facts and methods of various academic disciplines and an attentive readiness to read "the signs of the times'' and to hear the Word of the Lord...

...In the moral dialogue and in the planning of peace and disarmament groups, there has to be more thought given to two points in particular...

...My intention here is not so much to challenge the conclusion of no first use (nor to endorse it), but to register dissatisfaction with the way the argument is made...

...The point is not to achieve a theoretically correct position on the issue but to bring about a resolution or de-escalation or avoidance of potential nuclear conflict...

...Third, in the crucial third part of the statement, universal principles about use, threat, and possession of nuclear weapons are proposed with an implicit and understandable focus on U.S.-Soviet conflicts and with very little regard to the problems created by actual or potential nuclear proliferation...

...Second, as offered in its new context, the principle is too broad to be plausible...

...The document is so keen on total abolition as the ultimate goal that it gives little indication of what we can count as morally significant stages in arms control or of reasons why arms control agreements even at relatively high force levels might count as morally valuable...

...Given the relatively high level of public attention the bishops have received, many readers may regard the statement as indecisive and disappointing...

...Catholic bishops, is an incomplete, inconsistent, and therefore very useful document...

...If the most urgent task confronting the world is to avoid the actual use of nuclear weapons, then we are dealing with a practical demand which may or may not be met by ever more comprehensive denunciations of nuclear weapons, but which will certainly require a shrewd and effective political strategy...

...To contribute to that dialogue...

...Commonweal has solicited responses to the draft from nine Catholics representing a range of viewpoints and experience in confronting questions of peace and war...

...Clearly, this can be neither an absolute nor a trivial value...

...It rejects all first use of nuclear weapons and all use of them whatsoever against civilian populations or against military targets so close to concentrations of civilians that the latter populations would be devastated...

...The bishops, if they approve the document in something like its present form, will likely experience some efforts by the Reagan administration to sentence them to the periphery of public debate...

...THE EDITORS JOHN LANGAN A useful benchmark of Catholic thinking "GOD'S HOPE IN A TIME OF FEAR," the draft version of the pastoral letter on peace and war which is sched-uled for debate and possible approval at the November meeting of the U.S...

...and the moral importance of political order is in fact affirmed in a general way in the statement...

...The difficulties of bringing these three realms of discourse together to produce a unified statement are considerable, and it would be idle to pretend that the present document has surmounted them all...

...The tensions and inconsistencies within this document are an appropriate and honorable outcome for a committee struggling with a profound and complex problem in which such fundamental values as the sanctity of human life and the preservation of a free society are perceived to make incompatible demands...

...According to the draft, a narrow justification might be found by Christians for the retaliatory use of nuclear weapons against military targets where discrimination of civilian populations was possible...

...If the statement is adopted in something like its present form, it will provide all participants in the current arms debate with an important interpretation of the issues from a standpoint that is both Catholic and American...

...The three major realms of discourse are: the moral-religious, the technical-strategic, and the political...

...Careful attention to the linking of peace and disarmament issues to other concerns (the economy, the federal deficit, the security of Israel, unemployment) is necessary both for the building of a politically effective coalition and to avoid the isolation of groups that take peace issues seriously...

...So the statement exemplifies a valuable form of ecclesial learning as well as of teaching...

...The bishops found no justification for deterrence based on threats against cities and civilian populations...

...The unresolved character of this phase of the debate, in which the bishops propose a temporary toleration of a "marginally justifiable deterrent policy" is also, I would argue, an appropriate expression of the inconclusiveness of theological research and reflection on the issues and of the conflicting impulses of fear and generosity, of mistrust and yearning which sweep through popular discussion and through the American electorate...

...But this is a notion which needs to be brought more precisely and more critically into debates about whether and how to resist various Soviet threats...

...Since it would be very difficult to work through the complex scenarios and the diversity of views about the effects of nuclear weapons on international order, the best move may be to offer the principles and the arguments for them in a way which stresses their applicability to the case of U.S.-Soviet hostilities, which is, after all, the case of central interest to the American bishops as moral teachers...

...But what often gets neglected in moral denunciations of nuclear weapons is the question of the moral weight to be given to our preservation as a free political community and, secondarily to our government's freedom to act in our interest on specific issues...

...The document itself suggests various areas for further reflection and action and provides a model of how Catholics can make some headway on the issues without achieving complete theoretical agreement and without submerging differences of political judgment...

...In fact, at one point, the text even broadens this to include non-nuclear weapons, affirming that "there can be no place for weapons-especially modern weapons of mass destruction-in the world of peaceful reconciliation toward which we strive...

...The bishops are likely to go through a period which will test their determination to persist in speaking out in a politically sensitive area...

...It offers both realistic reflections and Utopian yearnings...

...At present, it is safe to say that moral theologians have not given to these issues a fraction of the care they have expended on contraception, and that church organizations have not shown the same concerted commitment to opposing nuclear weapons that they have shown against abortion...

...The statement provides a good example of the church's effort to make up its mind on a question for which there is no straightforward traditional answer but to which many elements of our theological tradition are relevant...

...The church itself needs both to teach and to learn in a broad and continuing debate involving all three realms of discourse...

...The bishops & the bomb nine responses AFTER ONE YEAR of extensive consultations and discussion, the Committee on War and Peace established by the National Conference of Catholic Bishops has completed the first draft of a pastoral letter on moral problems posed by nuclear arms and on the church's peacemaking role in a nuclear age...

...The difficulties of achieving an assessment which is not distorted by ideological phobias or benevolent illusions are enormous...

...at most, such deterrence-a "moral evil'' -can be tolerated in order to prevent greater instability and possible catastrophe while efforts for genuine disarmament are underway...

...The draft has been circulated to the bishops and fully reported in the Catholic press...

...THE BISHOPS' STATEMENT makes a useful contribution to dialogue between people concerned with the development of nuclear strategy and people similarly concerned with moral and religious values, and it avoids any kind of imperialistic moralism...

...The statement also provides a useful benchmark of how far the Catholic discussion of the issues has moved over the last few years...

...They need to show both skill and perseverance in avoiding partisanship while at the same time dealing with dismissive comments and pressures to neutralize them...

...This has a certain tautological attractiveness to it...

...But the seriousness with which the statement has been prepared and the expressions of concern for the future in which it abounds should be seen as evidence that the church will make a continuing investment of its time and energy, its theological and educational resources, into the task of becoming, in Bishop Mahony's phrase, "a church of peace advocacy...

...After an analysis of the scriptural basis for a Christian commitment to peace and of the development of just-war theory, as well as of Christian pacifism, the bishops' draft addresses the problem of nuclear weapons and deterrence...

...The first has been raised by various conservative critics of earlier statements by American bishops...

...Obviously, one-sided moral estimates of the Soviet system and of American democracy can be misused to support a form of ideological holy war, and this should be avoided...

...The first is "a traditional principle of Catholic theology," which is invoked at a key point in the argument against first use of nuclear weapons...

...Am I morally obliged to fly to New York instead of driving because I have statistical evidence that flying is safer...

...It shows respect for heroic Christian pacifists and for valiant American warriors...

...The statement says: "When the welfare of people is involved spiritually and temporally, an obligation exists that the safest possible moral course be followed in a situation...

...But it needs to be complemented by a great deal more reflection on the intersection between moral and political considerations...

...We are not likely to have the time or the opportunity or the concrete imagination to do more than that...

...The other area where moral and political realms of discourse need to be brought together is the question of how the concern for peace and disarmament is to be grafted onto the main stalk of American political life...

...There are four problems with this appeal to principle...

...It denounces the spending of money on arms and recognizes that conventional arms may have to be increased if its views opposing the first use of nuclear weapons are adopted...

...It is more important to avoid doing the great evils that can be done with nuclear weapons than to eliminate entirely the danger and the fear of such things (though the latter is important and valuable...

...First, the principle is taken out of its context in traditional moral theology, where it is invoked to resolve uncertainties on matters of fact, especially in the administration of the sacraments...

...bishops in November...

...Moral justifications and criticisms of national security policy should be based both on general assessments of the dangers present in the international system and on a realistic assessment of the resources, policies, and intentions of the principal adversary, the Soviet Union...

...Fourth, it is not clear why the principle, if true and relevant, is not used more generally, for instance, against all use or production of nuclear weapons...

...Third, when there are two or more distinct dangers to be avoided, as for instance a devastating nuclear attack on a city and the loss of political self-determination, the principle can yield contradictory conclusions...

...A second point of difficulty is the assumption that the complete abolition of all nuclear weapons is the desirable objective of disarmament policy...

...All too often, they also reach different and conflicting conclusions, though this is more often the result of divisions within disciplines than of divisions among disciplines...

...FATHER JOHN LANGAN, S.J., is a moral theologian specializing in questions of international politics at the Woodstock Theological Center at Georgetown University...

...The safest possible course with regard to Scylla may take the ship right into Charybdis...

...but surely the key question is what is the best regime that we can establish under something like present conditions of human motivation and international order...

...One of the fundamental sources of difficulty in working out an answer to the question of what we should do with nuclear weapons is that there are at least three different realms of discourse that offer overlapping answers to what is still a single practical question...

...The committee is currently revising it in ' light of comments received from all quarters, and the revised version will be discussed and voted upon at the general meeting of U.S...

...It is the general failure of their statements to advert to the character of the adversary...

...It does not demand unilateral nuclear disarmament by the United States but recommends unilateral initiatives...

...The bishops reject immediate, unilateral nuclear disarmament, but insist that "a temporary toleration of some aspects of nuclear deterrence must not be confused with approval of such deterrence'' or with complacence about the status quo...

...These realms of discourse start with different assumptions, utilize different concepts, are employed by different experts, and are addressed to different audiences...

...The letter contains a variety of pastoral recommendations for the American church and groups within it, including young people, educators, those serving in the military, government, and defense industries, and Catholic peace activists...

...We honestly believe our conclusions flow from our moral and spiritual tradition,'' write the bishops, ' 'yet recognizing the complexity of the issues, we offer them as an invitation to moral direction, dialogue, and growth...

...Here especially the laity should lead on an ecumenical basis...

...It hovers between nuclear pacifism and a restatement of just-war theory for a nuclear age...

...The administration, while relieved that the bishops do not come out in total opposition to nuclear weapons, will be unhappy with the criticism of current deterrent policy and with the position against first use of nuclear weapons...

...There are three points that I find particularly troublesome...

...Numerous other aspects of the bishops' draft are described in the course of the responses that follow...