January 11, 2019

Jubilee USA

Jubilee Kings Bay Plowshares 7

By Martha Hennessy

A small group of seven Catholics accessed the Naval Submarine Base Kings Bay in St. Marys, Georgia on April 4th, 2018, the 50th anniversary of the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. With them they carried an indictment of the United States government and military, specifically the Trident nuclear program. The indictment cited national and international law violations including the U.S Constitution (Article VI, Section 2), the United Nations Charter of 1945 on the threat of use of nuclear weapons, the Nuremberg Principles regarding crimes against peace and humanity, and the Non-Proliferation Treaty of 1970 requiring negotiations in good faith to eliminate nuclear weapons. According to the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists, decades of violations and the current geopolitical situation now bring us to two minutes before midnight on the doomsday clock. This assessment reflects the Trump administration’s Nuclear Posture Review and its call for the development of smaller, more “usable” nuclear weapons in response to non-nuclear threats.

The group also brought with them a copy of Daniel Ellsberg’s book “The Doomsday Machine.” The book meticulously documents a nuclear strategy that reveals, since the 1960’s, the willingness of the U.S. to take billions of lives through a nuclear first strike. Pope Francis recently made it clear deterrence is a false construct, and the manufacture, possession, and threat of use of the nuclear arsenal is immoral.

Our Catholic faith motivates us to take action, in part, from alarming events that haunt us as Disciples of Christ in the 21st century. For example, the Trump administration unilaterally withdrew from the diplomatically successful Iran Nuclear Deal. National Security Advisor John Bolton is recommending the U.S. withdraw from the Intermediate Range Nuclear Forces (I.N.F.) treaty. This action would potentially jeopardize the renewal of the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (NEW START) in 2021. We remain cognizant of the ramifications of a 38 minute false alarm of incoming missiles in Hawaii a year ago, as well as the recent New Year’s Eve tweet from the U.S Strategic Command Center stating they are ready to drop “something much, much bigger” than the Times Square Ball. The symbolism and intent is quite clear for those who have eyes to see…

To read more https://www.catholicprofiles.org/blog-1/jubilee-kings-bay-plowshares-7