The Challenge of Peace

...It is the acid test of our commitment to our democratic values...

...It is of some value to keep raising in the realm of political debate truths which ground our involvement in the affairs of nations and peoples...

...It is important to recognize that Soviet policy is subject to the same moral judgment...

...There are political philosophies with understandings of morality so radically different from ours that even negotiations proceed from different premises, although identical terminology may be used by both sides...

...The moral issue, however, is not resolved by the design of weapons or the planned intention for use...

...But we do warn against the "hardness of heart" which can close us or others to the changes needed to make the future different from the past...

...But the fact of a massive distortion of resources in the face of crying human need creates a moral question...

...We say the political will to reorient resources to human needs and redirect industrial, scientific and technological capacity to meet those needs is part of the challenge of the nuclear age...

...strategic policy to target the Soviet civilian population as such or to use nuclear weapons deliberately for the purpose of destroying population centers...

...attacks on several "industrial targets" or politically significant targets in the United States could produce massive civilian casualties...

...Part of the process of thinking about the economics of disarmament includes the possibilities of conversion of defense industries to other purposes...

...Copyright © 1983 by the United States Catholic Conference, Washington, D.C...

...Peacemaking is not an optional commitment...

...will demand that we avoid the trap of a form of anti-Sovietism which fails to grasp the central danger of a superpower rivalry in which both the United States and the Soviet Union are the players, and fails to recognize the common interest both states have in never using nuclear weapons...

...government officials...

...The threats to the security and stability of an interdependent world are not all contained in missiles and bombers...

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...More weapons with greater destructive potential are produced every day...

...Today the possibilities for placing political and moral limits on nuclear war are so minimal that the moral task, like the medical, is prevention: As a people, we must refuse to legitimate the idea of nuclear war...

...These statements respond, in principle at least, to one moral criterion for assessing deterrence policy: the immunity of non-combatants from direct attack either by conventional or nuclear weapons...

...strategic nuclear targeting plan (SIOP—Single Integrated Operational Plan) has identified 60 "military" targets within the city of Moscow alone, and that 40,000 "military" targets for nuclear weapons have been identified in the whole of the Soviet Union...

...While any Judgment of proportionality is always open to differing evaluations, there are actions which can be decisively judged to be disproportionate...

...A narrow adherence exclusively to the principle of non-combatant immunity as a criterion for policy is an inadequate moral posture for it ignores some evil and unacceptable consequences...

...The content and context of our peacemaking is set not by some political agenda or ideological program, but by the teaching of his church...

...But it is much less clear how we can translate a no to nuclear war into personal and public choices which can move us in a new direction, toward a national policy and an international system which more adequately reflect the values and the vision of the kingdom of God...

...But it must not be delayed...

...Sensible and successful diplomacy...

...a second requirement is to ensure that the more sophisticated command and control systems do not become mere hair triggers for automatic launch on warning...

...Traditionally the church's moral teaching sought to prevent war and then to limit its consequences if it occurred...

...or the citizenry in whose defense the threat is made...

...In this light, any attempts to justify, for reasons of state, support of regimes that continue to violate human rights is all the more morally reprehensible in its hypocrisy...

...It also will require, we believe, the willingness to open ourselves to the providential care, power and word of God, which call us to recognize our common humanity and the bonds of mutual responsibility which exist in the international community in spite of political differences and nuclear arsenals...

...We are aware that the precise relationship between disarmament and development is neither easily demonstrated nor easily reoriented...

...In the words of our Hofy Father, we need a "moral about-face...

...The facts simply do not support the invidious comparisons made at times even in our own society between our way of life, in which most basic human rights are at least recognized even if they are not always adequately supported, and those totalitarian and tyrannical regimes in which such rights are either denied or systematically suppressed...

...To pretend that all evils in the world have been or are now being perpetrated by dictatorial regimes would be both dishonest and absurd...

...To believe we are condemned in the future only to what has been the past of U.S.Soviet relations is to underestimate both our human potential for creative diplomacy and God's action in our midst which can open the way to changes we could barely imagine...

...The number of civilians who would necessarily be killed by such strikes is horrendous...

...That determination requires highly technical judgments about hypothetical events...

...It is precisely this mix of political, psychological and technological uncertainty which has moved us in this letter to reinforce with moral prohibitions and prescriptions the prevailing political barrier against resort to nuclear weapons...

...Many say the possibilities are great if the political will is present...

...there are also consequences which must be assessed...

...This fact dramatizes the precar-iousness of our position, politically, morally and spiritually...

...Although we acknowledge the need for deterrent, not all forms of deterrence are morally acceptable...

...If future planning about conservation of and access to resources is relegated to a pure struggle of power, we shall simply guarantee conflict in the future...

...The large-scale use of [nuclear] weapons could trigger major and irreversible ecological and genetic changes whose limits cannot be predicted____ We live today, therefore, in the midst of a cosmic drama...

...Soviet behavior in some cases merits the adjective reprehensible, but the Soviet people and their leaders are human beings created in the image and likeness of God...

...Some of those dangers and common interests would exist in any world where two great powers, even relatively benign ones, competed for power, influence and security...

...An interdependent world requires an understanding that key policy questions today involve mutuality of interest...

...no to an arms race which robs the poor and the vulnerable...

...While these decisions have obvious military and political aspects, they involve fundamental moral choices...

...There is an urgent moral and political responsibility to use the "peace of a sort" we have as a framework to move toward an authentic peace through nuclear arms control, reductions and disarmament...

...This problem is unavoidable because of the way modern military faculties and production centers are so thoroughly interspersed with civilian living and working areas...

...We see with increasing clarity the political folly of a system which threatens mutual suicide, the psychological damage this does to ordinary people, especially the young, the economic distortion of priorities—billions readily spent for destructive instruments while pitched battles are waged daily in our legislatures over much smaller amounts for the homeless, the hungry and the helpless here and abroad...

...There are moral limits to deterrence policy as well as to policy regarding use...

...What are we saying...

...The economic dimension of the arms race is broader that we can assess here, but these issues we have raised are among the primary questions before the nation...

...A copy of the complete document may be ordered from the Office of Publishing Services, United States Catholic Conference, 1312 Massachusetts Avenue NW, Washington, D.C...

...The wider civil community...

...no to weapons of mass destruction...

...It is obvious that the use of any weapons which violate the principle of discrimination merits unequivocal condemnation...

...Consideration of concrete elements of nuclear deterrence policy...

...These possibilities pose a different moral question and are to be judged by a different moral criterion: the principle of proportionality...

...The NCCB committee has received a series of statements of clarification of policy from U.S...

...1.50 per copy plus 35* postage and handling...

...But we also know that making resources available is a first step...

...Any claim by any government that it is pursuing a morally acceptable policy of deterrence must be scrutinized with the greatest care...

...Such a refusal will require not only new ideas and new vision, but what the Gospel calls conversion of the heart____ To say no to nuclear war is both a necessary and a complex task...

...Modern warfare is not readily contained by good intentions or technological designs...

...This urging lias been based on a variety of reasons, but has emphasized particularly the high and terrible risks that either deliberate use or accidental detonation of nuclear weapons could quickly escalate to something utterly disproportionate to any acceptable moral purpose...

...To pretend that as a nation we have lived up to all our own ideals would be patently dishonest...

...policy involves an intention to strike civilian centers (directly targeting civilian populations) has been one of our factual concerns...

...It would be a perverted political policy or moral casuistry which tried to justify using a weapon which "indirectly" or "unintentionally" killed a million innocent people because they happened to live near a "militarily significant target...

...The religious community shares a specific perspective of faith and can be called to live out its implications...

...We are called to be peacemakers, not by some movement of the moment, but by our Lord Jesus...

...We are told that some weapons are designed for purely "counterforce" use against military forces and targets...

...But having said this, and admitting our own faults, it is imperative that we confront reality...

...cannot justify immoral means (the use of weapons which kill indiscriminately and threaten whole societies...

...strained our moral conception...

...As bishops we are concerned with issues which go beyond diplomatic requirements...

...nations on issues of war and peace...

...These norms do not exhaust the gospel vision, but they speak to critical questions affecting the welfare of the human community, the role of states in international relations and the limits of acceptable action by individuals and Excerpts taken from The Challenge of Peace: God's Promise and Our Response...

...From this law reason draws moral norms...

...All lights reserved...

...It is one thing to recognize that the people of the world do not want war...

...Even the "indirect effects" of initiating nuclear war are sufficient to make it an unjustifiable moral risk in any form...

...More and more nations are seeking to become nuclear powers...

...For all men and women find in the depth of their consciences a law written on the human heart by God...

...In an interdependent world the security of one nation is related to the security of all...

...Of primary importance in this process is the need to prevent the development and deployment of destabilizing weapons on either side...

...the quest for nuclear superiority must be rejected...

...The whole world must summon the moral courage and technical means to say no to nuclear conflict...

...Many contend that the use of one tactical nuclear weapon could produce panic, with completely unpredictable consequences...

...we possess a power which should never be used, but which might be used if we do not reverse our direction...

...We are advised, for example, that the U.S...

...If the protection of human rights and the promotion of human needs are left as orphans in the diplomatic arena, the stability we seek in increased armaments will eventually be threatened by rights denied and needs unmet in vast sectors of the globe...

...It is a very good reason for not negotiating blindly or naively...

...bishops' historic call for a "public moral dialogue" • For the first time it is possible to cause damage on such a catastrophic scale as to wipe out a large part of civilization and to endanger its very survival...

...Nevertheless, there must be no misunderstanding of our profound skepticism about the moral acceptability of any use of nuclear weapons...

...Although reasons exist which move some to condemn reliance on nuclear weapons for deterrence, we have not reached this conclusion for the reasons outlined in this letter...

...Who is involved in the threat each superpower makes: government officials...

...It is a requirement of our faith...

...a third is the need to prevent the proliferation of nuclear weapons in the international system...

...Fundamentally, we are saying that the decisions about nuclear weapons are among the most pressing moral questions of our age...

...Essentially these statements declare that it is not U.S...

...Progress toward a world freed of dependence on nuclear deterrence must be carefully carried out...

...We live with nuclear weapons knowing that we cannot afford one serious mistake...

...It is not sufficient, for example, to contend that "our" side has plans for "limited" or "discriminate" use...

...Insofar as this is true, however, it makes the promotion of human rights in our foreign policy, as well as our domestic policy, all the more important...

...In our consultations, administration officials readily admitted that while they hoped any nuclear exchange could be kept limited, they were prepared to retaliate in a massive way if necessary...

...Specifically, it is not morally acceptable to intend to kill the innocent as part of a strategy of deterring nuclear war...

...or military personnel...

...We fear that our world and nation are headed In the wrong direction...

...This complex question has always produced a variety of responses, official and unofficial in character...

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...We cannot consider it adequate as a long-term basis for peace...

...In our quest for more and more security we fear we are actually becoming less and less secure...

...We do not intend to foster illusory ideas that the road ahead in superpower relations will be devoid of tension or that peace will be easily achieved...

...Some have urged us to condemn all aspects of nuclear deterrence...

...leads us to a strictly conditioned moral acceptance of nuclear deterrence...

...Our support ¦¦¦¦¦i !¦ ram ¦¦¦¦¦¦ for enhanced command and control facilities, for major reductions in strategic and tactical nuclear forces, and for a "no first use" policy (as set forth in this letter) is meant to be seen as a complement to our desire to draw a moral line against nuclear war...

...The psychological climate of the world is such that mention of the term "nuclear" generates uneasiness...

...The conviction, rooted in Catholic ecclesiology, that both the community of the faithful and the civil community should be addressed on peace and war has produced two complementary but distinct styles of teaching...

...If the arms race in all its dimensions is not reversed, resources will not be available for the human needs so evident in many parts of the globe and in our own country as well...

...policies of wise use would also have to follow...

...The need to rethink the deterrence policy of our nation, to make the revisions necessary to reduce the possibility of nuclear war and to move toward a more stable system of national and international security will demand a substantial intellectual, political and moral effort...

...What previously had been defined as a safe and stable system of deterrence is today viewed with political and moral skepticism____ The political paradox of deterrence has...

...If the monetary and trading systems are not governed tiy sensitivity to mutual needs, they can be destroyed...

...These statements do not address or resolve another very troublesome moral problem, namely, that an attack on military targets or militarily significant industrial targets could involve "indirect" (i.e., unintended) but massive civilian casualties...

...May it possess what it may never use...

...The question of whether U.S...

...If nuclear deterrence is our goal, "sufficiency" to deter is an adequate strategy...

...It is aggravated if one side deliberately positions military targets in the midst of a civilian population...

...and no to the moral danger of a nuclear age which places before humankind indefensible choices of constant terror or surrender...

...May a nation threaten what it may never do...

...When we consider how and what we pay for defense today, we need a broader view than the equation of arms with security...

...We believe-it is necessary for the sake of prevention to build a barrier against the concept of nuclear war as a viable strategy for defense____ Therefore, a serious moral obligation exists to develop non-nuclear defensive strategies as rapidly as possible...

...We are prepared and eager to participate in our country in the ongoing public debate on moral grounds...

...Hence, we cannot be satisfied that the assertion of an intention not to strike civilians directly or even tne most honest effort to implement that intention by itself constitutes a "moral policy" for the use of nuclear weapons...

...This is no reason for not negotiating...

...The diplomatic requirement for addressing the U.S.-Soviet relationship is not romantic idealism about Soviet intentions and capabilities, but solid realism which recognizes that everyone will lose in a nuclear exchange...

...although it does not share the same vision of faith, is equally bound by certain key moral principles...

...In simple terms, we are saying that good ends (defending one's country, protecting freedom, etc...

...Diplomatic dialogue usually sees the other as a potential or real adversary...

...It is quite another thing to attribute the same good motives to regimes or political systems that have consistently demonstrated precisely the opposite in their behavior...

...Those whose livelihood is dependent upon industries which can be reoriented should rightfully expect assistance in making the transition to new forms of employment...

...They also agreed that once any substantial numbers of weapons were used, the civilian casually levels would quickly become truly catastrophic and that even with attacks limited to "military" targets the number of deaths in a substantial exchange would be almost indistinguishable from what might occur if civilian centers had been deliberately and directly struck...