Churches consider Trident’s replacement - The Friend
Beth Allen reports on the reactions of other churches to this Quaker concern
The Friend - 16 December 2005
Given the Quaker concern about the possible replacement of the Trident weapons system, which may be replaced without a proper debate in Parliament, it seemed sensible to take advantage of the Church Representatives Meeting of the Council of Churches for Britain and Ireland, which was held from 22-23 November, to raise the subject and to ask the other churches to work together for a public debate.
Papers on legal and Christian discussion points were drafted, with a long list of church peace groups. We prepared a possible draft minute. As the Quaker representative, I braced myself for a tricky discussion. The night before, one of the other representatives commented "We're going to give you a hard time on this!" But I had the Meeting for Sufferings and MM minutes with me, and as I spoke to the seventy people present I sensed a deep response to the seriousness of the question.
CTBI is very conscious that its member churches come from all the four nations of these islands, so Shelagh Kesting, the Scots Moderator of the session, asked what each nation thought. What follows is an almost verbatim report.
Bill Brown, of the Church of Scotland, said " There is deep concern in Scotland. The General Assembly of the Church has a settled consistent mind and will on this, and resists nuclear weapons. Can we create a coalition on this with the Unions? The Church of Scotland would like to see a public debate on the issue, and we must remember that there is no such thing as an independent nuclear deterrent."
Mario Conti, the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Glasgow, recalled the Second Vatican Council's unequivocal condemnation of all Weapons of Mass Destruction. "The Roman Catholic Church is totally opposed to nuclear weapons. The Scottish Catholic hierarchy has produced documents condemning the possession of nuclear weapons, not just their use; possession of them is immoral, as to use them remains a temptation. "
Dewi Hughes, of the Union of Welsh Independents, considers that there is a long list of arguments against the Trident system, which is a total waste of resources. He said that Welsh Congregationalists would want to be involved in this discussion, along with many others in Wales. "This opening up of the debate is an answer to prayer. "
I had carefully reminded the representatives that the decision needs to be made in the Westminster Parliament; however, CTBI includes the Irish Churches, and Shelagh Kesting asked for views from Ireland. Daniel Newsam of the Church of Ireland rose to say that Ireland is a neutral country with a peace-keeping tradition, and that they find nuclear weapons repulsive, and are disturbed by what is happening across the Irish Sea. "There are no nuclear weapons on the island of Ireland and we would find them unacceptable."
The Church of England representative pointed out that each representative needs to depend on the expressed mind of their church, and the Church of England has not come to a mind on this. "But I have no problem with the proposal to engage in debate and work on it. Moving to a nuclear-free world needs much wisdom, and the way may not be by unilateralism. We do not all come from a pacifist position, nor do we all agree that the Just War theory cannot justify weapons of mass destruction."
(Outside the meeting, I was assured of strong and committed support from the Baptist Church, who have been thinking and writing about nonviolence for several years now, and who complimented us on our papers. The Methodists told me they are prepared to give staff time)
Aziz Pabaney, of the Armenian Orthodox Church, who is an Iraqi, asked how we could all take the debate forward together, and Michael Smart, of the Council on Christian Approaches to Defence and Disarmament, suggested that "This issue should have a high priority in peace organisations, and experts in the field could be included. CCADD includes military experts and could usefully bring them in."
Paul Renshaw, the retiring International Affairs Secretary at CTBI, reminded us that the CTBI International Affairs Liaison Group meets on 7 December and has already asked the Methodist Church to draw a group together. The Group, on which Friends are represented, can immediately identify one or two churches to be lead of the discussion.
The Moderator concluded, "CTBI looks forward to further reports on this work". The Church Representatives meet again at the end of March - what will we have to tell them?
Reflecting afterwards, it's clear that we all have to move from making resolutions to actual engagement with MPs, but these clear statements of intent are a solid basis for local Quaker peace groups who want to work with other churches. My own MP is working on this issue and I will be writing to him, to strengthen his request for a public debate.
The papers are available from QPSW, from mirandag@quaker.org.uk.
Beth Allen