The U.S. delegation, left, meets with the Russian delegation, right, at the Bilateral Consultative Commission on the New START Treaty, in U.S. Mission at Geneva, Switzerland, on March 28, 2011.

Threat of New Nuclear Arms Race Grows

As the final treaty governing the world’s largest nuclear arsenals expires without a successor, faith leaders and advocacy groups are calling on the United States to reject a new arms race and embrace a path toward disarmament.

On February 5, New START, the last remaining nuclear arms control treaty between the United States and Russia, expired. No follow-on treaty has been negotiated to prevent an arms race between the two superpowers, who already possess nearly 90% of the world’s nuclear weapons.

On the last day of the treaty, the Maryknoll Office for Global Concerns (MOGC) released the following statement from Senior Program Officer for Peace and Nonviolence Dan Moriarty:

Tonight at midnight, New START, the last remaining treaty capping the number of nuclear warheads in the U.S. and Russian arsenals, will expire, potentially unleashing a new arms race. As people of faith, we cannot remain silent. We can afford neither the monetary cost nor the existential risk such an arms race would pose. Catholic teaching holds that spending on such weapons constitutes a theft from the poor, and that the development and possession of nuclear weapons is morally unacceptable. They threaten human life and all of God’s creation. On behalf of every community where Maryknoll missioners have lived and worked around the world and our common home, and echoing the call of Pope Leo XIV and the president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, we urge President Trump to maintain New START nuclear stockpile levels, pursue diplomatic negotiations for a follow-on treaty, and commit to concrete steps toward nuclear disarmament. We pray that the Prince of Peace guides us toward integral disarmament, to step back from the brink and free our world of nuclear weapons once and for all.

Moriarty references the following statement from Archbishop Paul Coakley, President of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB):

The dangers posed by current conflicts around the world, including the devastating war in Ukraine, make the forthcoming expiration of New START simply unacceptable. I call on people of faith and all men and women of good will to ardently pray that we, as an international community, may develop the courage to pursue an authentic, transformative, and lasting peace. In his address to the diplomatic corps this year, Pope Leo XIV specified the importance of renewing the pact, saying that there is a ‘need to follow-up on the New START Treaty,’ and warning that ‘there is a danger of returning to the race of producing ever more sophisticated new weapons, also by means of artificial intelligence.’ More broadly, in his message for the World Day of Peace, the Holy Father cited St. John XXIII’s call for ‘integral disarmament’ that includes adopting a mindset which realizes that ‘true and lasting peace among nations cannot consist in the possession of an equal supply of armaments but only in mutual trust.’

I call upon policymakers to courageously pursue diplomatic negotiations to maintain New START’s limits, opening pathways toward disarmament. International policy disagreements, as serious as they are, cannot be used as excuses for diplomatic stalemates; on the contrary, they should spur us on to more vehemently pursue effective engagement and dialogue. May the Prince of Peace enlighten our hearts and minds to pursue peace around the world in a spirit of universal fraternity.

The USCCB has expressed to MOGC and other partners that President Trump’s threats to begin nuclear weapons testing is also of grave concern. We are working closely with the Back from the Brink campaign and faith-based anti-nuclear weapons organizations to stop such testing before it begins, promoting an action alert urging citizens to contact their representatives in Congress:

Tell Congress No Funding for Nuclear Weapons Testing

For the first time in decades, a U.S. president is threatening to restart nuclear weapons testing — a dangerous and unnecessary move that would put countless lives, communities, and even our planet at risk.

Experts agree that there is no military or technical justification for explosive nuclear weapons testing, but there are potentially devastating consequences if we test again, shattering the global taboo that has helped keep our world safe for more than 30 years. Other countries have already signaled that if the U.S. resumes nuclear weapons testing, they will follow suit, further fueling the global nuclear arms race now underway.

Congress has the power to stop this — they can block any funding that would allow explosive nuclear weapons testing to resume. This issue is too important to our future for our elected officials to stay silent.

FAITH IN ACTION: Add your name to the Back from the Brink campaign to tell Congress not to support funding for nuclear weapons testing.

Photo: The U.S. delegation, left, meets with the Russian delegation, right, at the Bilateral Consultative Commission on the New START Treaty, in U.S. Mission at Geneva, Switzerland, on March 28, 2011. Courtesy of the U.S. Department of State, available via Wikimedia Commons.