“If we want to step back from the brink of self-destruction, God will help us do so, but if we choose the other path, God will start over with the amoeba. Which shall it be for us?”
Thus writes Christian ethics professor David. P. Gunshee about the necessity of taking steps to prevent nuclear war.
Where to start? With the New START treaty, which awaits Senate approval, he writes.
“The treaty, called New START, would reduce Russian and American deployed nuclear weapons to 1,550 and delivery vehicles to 700 each,” Gunshee writes. “This would be a 33 percent reduction in the existing arsenals, which is worth achieving and celebrating even as we know that countless cities and millions of precious human beings could be destroyed by the use of even part of the remaining arsenals.”
The treaty has been signed by Russia and the U.S. The problem? A small number of Republican senators are holding up approval, arguing that it will not allow for modernization of U.S. nuclear weapons.
Such gridlock, according to Gunshee, represents a failure to face the terrible reality of nuclear weapons, with their potential to annihilate millions.
“It’s hard to think of a more profound symbol of human sinfulness,” he writes.
Gunshee’s impassioned plea in favor of New START is prophetic. Read more here.
Christians especially will appreciate his perspective, his belief in a God “who nudges us but does not compel us toward choices that are in our own best interests.”
