It has always seemed to me to be faulty logic to secure peace by investing in weapons. So the news that the British parliament has voted to spend huge sums of money on a weapon system no one wants to use, against enemies we don’t have, in a situation we can’t foresee for ends we can’t justify is both disconcerting and distressing.

While ethics and ethical living may be intensely personal it can’t be private. We act out of a sense of personal commitment to (hopefully) the greater good of our planet and humanity. There is a ‘save the world while we still can’ edge to it and that does force out into the open issues that don’t affect my day-to-day private life – like being against nuclear weapons.

As a church pastor, we are to be a people of peace and I cannot in good conscience support moves to retain and develop weapons of mass destruction. For arguments against nuclear weapons see CND

Photo by Bob Doran