Churches campaign for abolition of Trident ahead of Peacemaking Sunday
As diplomatic initiatives gather pace to build a framework for a nuclear-weapon-free world, three British Churches are reiterating their call for the abolition of Trident
The call comes in advance of Peacemaking Sunday, which falls on 21 September this year.
Steve Hucklesby, speaking on behalf of the Joint Public Issues Team of Baptists Together, the Methodist Church and the United Reformed Church, said, 'Trident is a product of the Cold War era and we believe that it cannot meet the security needs of our world today.
'The Humanitarian Consequences Conference in Vienna in December is one of a number of international initiatives that is set to change the way we think about nuclear weapons. The government’s proposed spending on Trident – of £100 billion over the next 30 years – is out of step with the developing international consensus.
'It’s clear that the enormous sums of money earmarked for Trident would divert resources from other pressing priorities, such as addressing poverty at home and overseas, providing affordable and energy efficient homes, and investing in health and education.'
It’s likely that Peacemaking Sunday will have a special significance this year; not only because 2014 marks the centenary of the outbreak of the First World War, but also as a result of the wars being waged across the Middle East and elsewhere in the world today.
Peacemaking Sunday resources - including prayers of confession and interecession as well as sermon ideas - are available as a free download from the
Baptists Together resources library. The material has been prepared by Simon Woodman, co-minister of Bloomsbury Central Baptist Church.
Picture: Wikimedia Commons
A Trident missile armed Vanguard class ballistic missile submarine leaving its base in the Firth of Clyde.
This image is by JohnED76 available from flickr at http://www.flickr.com/photos/bodgerbrooks/1130008623/ and licensed under the Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license. It was cropped using Picasa 2 to emphasize the submarine.
Baptist Times, 12/09/2014