The Hiroshima/Nagasaki Accord
This historic occasion – the 75th Anniversary of the Atomic Bombings of Hiroshima – marks the first time that four of the world’s prominent international interfaith/intercultural organizations have joined together to make a common statement on any subject. Leaders of the Charter for Compassion, the Parliament of the World’s Religions, Religions for Peace and the United Religions Initiative, together, now feel compelled to speak out, as one, for nuclear abolition. Today, we focus on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, in order to remember, in sorrow, what happened on August 6, and 9 in 1945 and, to rage against the vastly greater sorrow if our present-day weapons are unleashed in fury on this planet, and to present a challenge to the human family, especially the young, to take action now to bring hope and sanity in the midst of our mutually-assured destruction.
August 6, 1945, was the first day in human history when one country targeted an atomic bomb on the people of another country. On August 6, 2020, we now live in a world where nine countries have over 14,000 such bombs, and many of these weapons are aimed at specific peoples around the world. Ready to launch! We now live at a time when we can reasonably imagine the entire world, in the 21st century, looking like Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945. The Hibakusha in theses cities whisper over the years to tell us what these bombs are built to achieve, i.e. unimaginable suffering and extermination. So, it is indeed critical for the world to pause and look backwards 75 years. And to look forward to a time when the threat of nuclear weapons will have been, not only contained but, eliminated.
What was at stake, with the bombs in 1945, was the fate of two cities, Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and the outcome of a world war. What is at stake with today’s nuclear arsenal – 75 years later – is the fate of all plants, animals, and human beings on planet Earth. The whole world has become the enemy and the target in a silent war of nuclear proliferation by nine countries.
In 1945, those two bombs were officially judged, by one nation, to be morally legitimate in the service of a higher purpose, i.e. ending a war. Once that moral threshold was crossed, eight other nations created their own rationale for such weapons possession and began building their own nuclear weapons. Now, among the most powerful nations, the prevailing morality is dominated by nuclear weapons manufacturers and politicians with nuclear arsenals. So strong is their hold on modern thinking that in countries with nuclear weapons, generations of young people exist who believe that they are safe and have no need to make choices or raise their voices concerning matters of nuclear weapons.
Yet, if today’s nuclear weapons actually hit their intended targets, no one will be around to judge us for what we allowed to happen. No one, except the Author of Life, or a cloud of moral remorse hovering over the scarred and sacred cinders of Earth’s former communities. We must judge for ourselves now, today, if there is going to be a tomorrow. We have to declare that the possession of nuclear weapons is morally illegitimate. We must move from proliferation to abolition for the sake of a sustainable Earth.
In 1945, the issues were seen in terms of war and peace. Today, there is only one nuclear weapons issue, i.e. the life of this Earth’s environment. We can keep it alive, or we can destroy it with the weapons of nine nations. We have maximized our capacity for self-delusion and self-destruction, and all life is at risk. Therefore, we must now move beyond the 1945 thinking that weds nuclear weapons to national security. Today, our bombs do not bring national security for one moment in time; they bring international insecurity for all time.
In 2020, how are we to “judge for ourselves” and reverse our dash toward nuclear annihilation?
- If you are young, demand urgent governmental action before these weapons rob you and your children of a future;
- If you are a diplomat, keep pounding away on the fulfillment of legal commitments, already contained in Treaties in force, that call for the reduction and elimination of the threat posed by these weapons;
- If you are a religious leader: pray, preach, prophesy to stop the nuclear end of the world;
- If you are not informed on these matters, become educated, subscribe to a nuclear newsletter and wake up;
- If you are a politician, join parliamentarians and leaders world-wide who are working to stop the modernization and expansion of the capacity of nuclear weapons in quality and quantity. And advance policies and legislation that reduces the threat of the use of the weapons, stops their spread and leads to their elimination;
- If you are a citizen, join a nuclear weapons abolition group, march in the streets, write letters, pray fervently, and demand that institutions stop investing in the nuclear weapon industry.
- If you are a scientist, don’t be used by politicians who champion nuclear stockpiles, find solidarity in your ranks and reach across national boundaries to scientists in other countries.
- If you are an environmentalist, recognize that nuclear weapons are the immediate and ultimate climate change for all time.
- If you are a nation armed with nuclear weapons, join with other nuclear nations to establish a joint enterprise committed to working for the elimination of nuclear weapons.
We need to give birth to children who are not the targets of nuclear weapons. Let us prove the resiliency of the human spirit. Let us learn from Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and arise, now, from our nuclear darkness.
The Hiroshima/Nagasaki Accord Endorsers
Council for a Livable World; Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation – John Tierney, Executive Director
Global Security Institute – Jonathan Granoff, President
Lightbridge Corporation – Ambassador Thomas Graham Jr., Chairman
Mayors for Peace
Disarmament and Security Centre – New Zealand – Dr. Kate Dewes ONZM
International Peace Bureau – Lisa Clark, Co-President
Ploughshares Fund – Joe Cirincione, President
Nuclear Watch New Mexico – Jay Coghlan, Executive Director
Peace Action – Paul Kawika Martin, Senior Director, Policy and Political Affairs
Center for Earth Ethics at Union Theological Seminary – Karenna Gore Founder and Director American Renewable Energy Institute – Chip Comins Chairman and CEO
Atomic Reporters – Peter Rickwood, Founder
Earth Day Network: México – Tiahoga Ruge, Regional Director
World Beyond War – David Swanson Journalist and Antiwar Activist
NSquare – Erika Gregory, Managing Director
Interfaith Power and Light – Rev. Susan Hendershot President
Union for Reform Judaism
Chishty Foundation – Haji Syed Salman Chishty, Chairman
Sufi Ruhaniat International – Pir Shabda Kahn
Tri-Faith Initiative – Wendy Goldberg, Executive Director
International Youth Alliance for Peace – Thirukumar Premakumar, Founder and President, Sri Lanka Veterans for Peace Golden Rule Project – Helen Jaccard, Executive Director
May Peace Prevail on Earth International – Fumi Johns Stewart, Executive Director
The Shift Network – Philip M. Hellmich, Global Peace Ambassador
Goi Peace Foundation – Hiroo Saionji, President, Masami Miyazaki, Executive Director
Project Ploughshares – Cesar Jaramillo, Executive Director
Heiwa Peace and Reconciliation Foundation of New York – Rev. Dr. TK Nakagaki, President and Founder, Hiroshima Peace Ambassador, Nagasaki Peace Correspondent
Church Council of Greater Seattle – John Ramos, Executive Director
Global Consciousness Project – Dr. Roger Nelson, Director
Tanenbaum – Rev. Mark E. Fowler, CEO
Middle Powers Initiative – Tarja Cronberg, Chair
Friends Committee on National Legislation – Diane Randall, General Secretary
One Billion Youth for Peace – Abraham Karickam, Founder
Green Hope Foundation – Kehkashan Basu Founder, and President
Unity Earth – Ben Bowler, Executive Director
Living Peace Projects – Brigitte van Baren Chair, Co-Founder
The Global Sunrise Project – Kasha and Marla Slavner
One Life Alliance – Kia Scherr, President
MasterPeace – Aart Bos, CEO
A Common Word Among the Youth (ACWAY) – Rawaad Mahyub, Executive Director
Pathways to Peace (PTP) – Tezikiah Gabriel, Executive Director
Soka Gakkai International
Committee of Religious NGOs at the UN – Hiro Sakurai, President
Sérgio Duarte – Ambassador, President of Pugwash
Bruce Knotts – President and CEO: NGO Committee on Disarmament, Peace and Security; and Director of the Unitarian Universalist Office at the United Nations
Daryl G. Kimball – Executive Director, Arms Control Association
Bruce Blair – Co- founder, Global Zero
Ken Kimmell – President, Union of Concerned Scientists
Lieutenant-General (ret) the Honourable Roméo Dallaire
Dr. Mary-Wynne Ashford – International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War, Winner 1985 Noble Peace Prize
Dr. Hans Blix – former Director General, International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)
Michael Krepon – Co-Founder and Distinguished Fellow The Stimson Center
Richard Rhodes – Pulitzer Prize-winning historian
Kathleen Kennedy Townsend – former Lieutenant Governor of the State of Maryland
Pierce Corden – Expert Advisor, Holy See Mission to the United Nations in New York, and former US arms control official
David T. Ives – Executive Director Emeritus, The Albert Schweitzer Institute, and
Senior Advisor for the Summits of Nobel Peace Laureates
Alyn Ware – Director, World Future Council, Peace & Disarmament Program
Dr. Kim Phuc PHAN THI – UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador, Founder, Kim Foundation International Joan Brown Campbell, Rev. Dr. – General Secretary, National Council of Churches of Christ (ret.) and Former Director, Department of Religion, Chautauqua Institution
His Holiness Tep Vong, The Great Supreme Patriarch of the Kingdom of Cambodia
His Holiness Chamgon Kenting Tai Situpa
Bhai Sahib, Bhai Mohinder Singh Ahluwalia OBE KSG – Chairman of Guru Nanak Nishkam Sewak Jatha and the Nishkam Group of Charitable Organizations
The Rev. Canon Sally G. Bingham – President Emerita, The Regeneration Project, Interfaith Power and Light
Hereditary Chief Phil Lane Jr. – Four World’s International Institute
Angaangaq Angakkorsuaq – Shaman and Healer, Greenland
Pujya Swami Chidanand Saraswatiji – Spiritual Leader and President of Parmarth Niketan Ashram, Rishikesh, India
Rev. Drew Christiansen, S. J. – Distinguished Professor of Ethics and Global Human Development Senior Research Fellow, Berkley Center for Religion, Peace and World Affairs Georgetown University Swamini Adityananda Saraswati – Spiritual Leader and Co-Founder of Pan African Association Sadhvi Bhagawati Saraswatiji – Spiritual Leader and Secretary General of The Global Interfaith WASH Alliance
Mohanji – Humanitarian and Philanthropist, Founder of the Mohanji Foundation
Dharma master Hsin Tao – Founder, Museum of World Religions
Rabbi David Rosen KSG, CBE – International Co-President of Religions for Peace
Rev. Kosho Niwano – President-Designate, Rissho Kosei Kai, Co-Moderator Religions for Peace Bishop Rubén Tierrablanca González – ofm Apostolic Vicar of Instanbul – Latin Catholic Church James Carroll – Author, Historian, Journalist
Cynthia Lazaroff – Founder, NuclearWakeUpCall.Earth
Dr. Karen Hallberg – Professor of Physics at Balseiro Institute and Research Director Centro Atómico Bariloche
