As the UK Government releases its latest Strategic Defence Review, voices from across the peace movement are speaking out against the renewed push for nuclear weapons. Christian CND members are among them, challenging the idea that true security comes through militarisation. Below, Rev. David Penney offers a powerful response, followed by reflections from Christian CND Executive Member Theresa Alessandro.
Rev David Penney
With reference to the Strategic Defence Review, the Government justifies an increase in the arms race and nuclear weapons because “we prepare for war in order to secure peace”.
When the military author Publius Flavius Vegetius Renatus made a similar statement “If you want peace, prepare for war”, it did not stop the fall of the Roman Empire shortly after in AD 476.
I fear the same outcome for the well being of not only the UK but also the rest of humanity.
The more weapons there are, the greater risk that countries will use them before losing them in war, as the UK and other countries have a first strike policy.
To threaten humanity with nuclear annihilation is not only immoral but also illegal according to the advisory of opinion of the International Court of Justice.
Instead of negotiating nuclear disarmament, the UK is breaking the terms of the Non-Proliferation Treaty by enhancing its nuclear weapon capability, which will only lead to other countries doing the same.
There is now the dangerous assumption by military strategists that you can fight a just war with tactical nuclear weapons on the battlefield without the risk of escalation to the use of strategic nuclear missiles, which would destroy the world.
The costly arms race could bankrupt the country, making it hard to meet essential social, economic and environmental needs.
Furthermore, it is wrong of the Government to say the arms race will generate lots of jobs. Investment in Renewable Energy would produce more jobs than the entire arms industry.
So much for the Christian prophecies concerning war and peace which call for “swords to be turned into plowshares” and avoid the destiny that “those who live by the sword will die by the sword”!
Give Peace a Chance!
— David Penney (Rev)
Member of Christian CND
Member of East Lancashire CND
Member of Clergy Against Nuclear Arms (CANA)
Theresa Alessandro – Christian CND Executive Member
What a contrast! The Prime Minister extols the Strategic Defence Review: ‘Making Britain Safer: secure at home, strong abroad’. In his introduction declaring that, ‘We also need to see the biggest shift in mindset in my lifetime: to put security and defence front and centre—to make it the fundamental organising principle of government’ requiring, ‘a whole-of-society response’ – and an instruction that, ‘The MOD must incentivise companies to prioritise nuclear activities.’
Meanwhile, Pope Leo says, ‘If you want peace, prepare institutions of peace….I encourage you to remain committed and present: present within history as a leaven of unity, communion and fraternity. Fraternity needs to be recovered, loved, experienced, proclaimed and witnessed, in the confident hope that [peace] is indeed possible, thanks to the love of God “poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit” (Rom 5:5). His Holiness Pope Leo XIV, 30 May 2025
Members of Christian CND do not agree that nuclear weapons make Britain, or anywhere, safer. Imagine if the ‘whole-of-society’ were invited by the Government to participate in working towards the complete elimination of nuclear weapons. We raise our voices and strive to be ‘a leaven of unity, communion and fraternity’, in Jesus’ name.
