Many churches in the UK have been longstanding supporters of nuclear disarmament, including the Quakers, Methodist Church, Baptist Church, United Reformed Church and Church of Scotland. In addition to this many individual Catholics are supportive of Christian CND and this July the Church of England Synod passed a motion in favour of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons.
On Friday 19 October Christian CND Co-Chair Martin Tiller spoke at an event in Reigate. Martin’s theme was “Nuclear Disarmament and the Churches: An effective combination?”. About a third of those present said they were not church members, so Martin started with a short overview of the state of the Christian faith in the UK and some relevant bible verses. He then gave a summary of the situation with nuclear weapons, worldwide and in the UK, and described recent developments such as the Ban Treaty.
The main part of the talk was around the reasons why Christians really ought to view peacemaking as part of their faith, including getting involved with issues like disarmament, and a frank discussion of the reasons that Christians often have not made this a priority in the past. He finished with “reasons to be cheerful” – causes for optimism that the Churches’ role will become more mainstream and more effective. The talk was followed by a wide-ranging time of questions and discussion.
If you would like a Christian CND speaker to come to an event you are organising, please get in touch with the office.
