|
By: Rev. Amanda Hendler-Voss
Poet-prophet Alice Walker speaks of war this way: “It is always us, and only us, that we wound whenever we harm another. There is no way to be separate from the rest of creation; we indulge the fantasy of being separate to our peril.”(1) This peril is one we pass on to our children, our children’s children, and all of God’s creation.
What begins in Genesis as a magnificent symphony of creation quickly plunges into the murky depths of the human condition as sin slinks onto the scene and we bear witness to the first murder as Cain takes his brother’s life. The Creator implores, “What have you done? The voice of your brother’s blood is crying to me from the earth. And now you are cursed from the earth, whose mouth is open to take your brother’s blood from your hand.”(2)
The Earth bears witness to our violence. The blood we spill cries out to God, and the Earth drinks this tragic cup. Here, in the beginning of the beginning, human violence is a root cause of our broken relationship with the Earth. As our warring intensifies and our weapons become increasingly toxic, the virus of human violence poisons God’s creation.
There is a compelling relationship between ecology and war. What is the carbon footprint of a fighter jet manufactured in Georgia and flown half way around the world to engage a so-called enemy? How do you measure the environmental impact of weapons of mass destruction? Even more pressing, how have nuclear weapons permanently altered the ethical conversation about war’s degradation of creation?
When the atomic bomb exploded over Hiroshima on August 6, 1945, intense heat rays ignited firestorms that engulfed the city. Many citizens were trapped beneath collapsed buildings and perished in the fires. Heavy rain began to fall, and though it was midsummer, the temperature fell sharply.(3) The “black rain” containing soot and radioactive dust caused fish in rivers to die and float to the surface.(4)
Today, the smallest nuclear weapons states, India and Pakistan, are each believed to possess more than 50 Hiroshima-size “low-yield” nuclear bombs.(5) New research confirms that a nuclear detonation in an urban area would ignite fierce fires creating millions of tons of thick, black smoke. This soot would rise into the stratosphere and block sunlight, resulting in profound darkness and catastrophic global cooling.(6) Stratospheric smoke plumes would deplete the ozone layer by 40%-80%, causing intense levels of ultraviolet light once the smoke cleared.(7) Studies predict that a “moderate” nuclear war would decrease average global temperatures by 3.5-4 degrees Celsius, preventing grain production in northern regions or destroying the entire Asian rice crop with overnight frost.(8)
Despite this dire forecast, the Earth harbors a life giving spark that is not easily snuffed out. A close reading of the creation account in Genesis suggests that the Earth is a co-creator with God, assisting in calling forth life. Even in the midst of eco-catastrophes such as the flood in the story of Noah, life is difficult to extinguish, and humanity—though possessing the ability to harm the environment, propel the extinction of species, and kill off one another—is not the ultimate giver of life or death. Green things sprout up through concrete cracks, and even the landscape marred by war gives way to new life. God’s Earth is an organism that is constantly co-creating. The stubborn endurance of life in the face of death is a gift of hope.
God created the Earth with an incredible healing capacity, but God also created humanity to be in right relationship with the rest of creation. War wounds God’s Earth and chokes off life. Nuclear war could trigger the collapse of modern agriculture and cause the starvation of billions. Though concern about global warming is on the rise, few are discussing our addiction to the military industrial complex as a key cause of the Earth’s fever or the catastrophic climate change posed by a “moderate” nuclear war.
Faith communities can play a prophetic role in naming militarism as a major structural cause of global warming and calling for the elimination of nuclear weapons. While our personal choices profoundly impact the health of God’s Earth, changing our present course requires altering structures, like excessive defense spending, that demand mass consumption of fossil fuel. Building a safer world for our grandchildren requires wiping nuclear weapons from the face of the Earth.
Rev. Amanda Hendler-Voss is the Faith Communities Coordinator of Women’s Action for New Directions (WAND) and a co-author of the Muslim Christian Initiative’s Study and Action Guide to End the Nuclear Weapons Danger. She is ordained in the United Church of Christ.
Footnotes:
1 Alice Walker, preface to The Other Side of War, Zainab Salbi. (Washington DC: National Geographic), p. 11.
2 Genesis 4:10-12
3 The Spirit of Hiroshima, Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum, 1999.
4 Ibid.
5 Steven Starr, “Catastrophic Climatic Consequences of Nuclear Conflict,” INESAP Information Bulletin 28, January 2008, p. 2.
6 Ibid, p. 1.
7 Ibid, p. 2.
8 Ibid, p. 4.
|
