Nuclear Prayer Days and Beyond 

Dear Friends,

May our hearts join in respect for the gift of this precious planet, the web of life, the family of humanity, and the love of the Creator. We invite you to join us in invoking blessings, strengthening resolve, and lifting our hearts toward the source of life and love known by many names. Through prayer directed to the Creator of all life we plead for protection and the elimination of the most horrific instruments of death ever created by the hands of man, nuclear weapons. We call upon you to join with millions of caring hearts the world over from Hiroshima Day, August 6th until August 9 so that Nagasaki be the last use of a nuclear weapon. Please join any of the many events taking place during this period.

Please take a moment on those days to pray in a manner you choose. Join a group, form a group, or pray in solitude. Stimulate the conscience in the Church, the Mosque, the Synagogue, the Temple and the purity within your own heart. There are hidden powers in atoms. There are hidden powers in prayer.   

Human imagination cannot grasp the suffering, carnage, and agony that would be caused by the use of even a small portion of the world’s over 12,000 nuclear warheads. The impact of these devices of death dwarf the horrific radioactive blasts and firestorms that incinerated Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Yet, world leaders are expanding arsenals, modernizing and making the weapons more usable, and with bravado announcing threats to use them.

Nine nations – US, UK, Russia, China, France, India, Pakistan, Israel, and North Korea – stand ready every minute of every day poised at a moment’s notice to unleash the unthinkable. Thousands of men and women, in good conscience, prepare to thereby execute the future of humanity. This is based on the belief that such preparation and willingness to do the unthinkable deter others from irrational behavior. We believe we can do better. We do not accept living under the cloud of this unacceptable risk.

By accident, design, or madness, over time, the use will occur unless we, you and I, unleash the sinew of our passions, the power of our faith and commitments, and the value of our time, treasure, and precious moral agency to stop the madness.  

A misreading of a computer, a mistake by a computer system, a misreading of an adversary nation’s actions, a war escalating out of control, and errors as yet unpredictable remind us that no system created by humans can be  more perfect than we are.

We know from recent scientific studies that the tons of soot rising into the stratosphere from less than 150 explosions would so destroy the agricultural base of the planet that civilization would simply end, not in a whimper, but in wails of pain and regret.  

There are diplomatic practical solutions to be pursued. There are roads of policy saner and more humane than the present log jam. There are ways out of the dilemma. We need not be victims of our own devices. The moment of negotiations may not be today, but the opportunity will arise and we must stimulate and galvanize the political will to seize it and act with clarity to hasten its day.  

Such efforts, in the recent past, have led to reductions in the world's arsenals from over 70,000 to less than 13,000 today. Action is needed, no doubt. We believe that prayer clarifies intentions, amplifies commitments, and calls upon forces in this mysterious universe beyond our intellectual reckoning.

Our affirmation of hope can help the many living in psychological denial, numbed by the horror of the reality placed before us. Realism invokes our commitment to follow our moral compass, affirm our common humanity, and get on with the tasks that require cooperation and that cannot be denied, such as protecting the climate, the rainforests, and the oceans.

For all that is sacred, for all that we love, for the smiles of children yet to be born, we come together in prayer. Please join in your own way. We also come together in public education, research, organizing, and advocacy. Please support us or another advocacy initiative to end the threat of nuclear annihilation. Two points: many more voices are needed and together we are so much stronger.

Respectfully with love,

Jonathan Granoff,

President, Global Security Institute

PS: The Einstein-Russell Manifesto Ends with these powerful words:

There lies before us, if we choose, continual progress in happiness, knowledge, and wisdom. Shall we, instead, choose death, because we cannot forget our quarrels? We appeal, as human beings, to human beings: Remember your humanity, and forget the rest. If you can do so, the way lies open to a new Paradise; if you cannot, there lies before you the risk of universal death.

Resolution:
We invite this Congress, and through it the scientists of the world and the general public, to subscribe to the following resolution:

“In view of the fact that in any future world war nuclear weapons will certainly be employed, and that such weapons threaten the continued existence of mankind, we urge the governments of the world to realize, and to acknowledge publicly, that their purpose cannot be furthered by a world war, and we urge them, consequently, to find peaceful means for the settlement of all matters of dispute between them.”