Diocesan News
Revd Patrick Comerford preaches at 61st anniversary of the bombing of Hiroshima
A prominent Church of Ireland priest, the Revd Patrick Comerford has condemned the Israeli military offensive in Lebanon, saying: ?The Israeli military offensive of the past three weeks is precisely that ? offensive.?
Preaching on the 61st anniversary of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima [6 August 1945] in Whitechurch Parish, Rathfarnham he said ?Israel is legitimately worried about its very survival, about attacks on its civilian population, and about Hizbullah?s refusal to disarm in defiance of UN resolutions. But Israel has defied international law, international conventions on human rights, the accepted criteria for a ?just war? and UN resolutions, by waging an undeclared war; using a disproportionate force that is totally destructive; deliberately attacking civilian populations; making refugees of up to half a million non-combatant civilians; targeting UN observers; destroying the democratic institutions and civilian infrastructure of a sovereign state; and of course, by acquiring nuclear weapons.?
?The appalling destruction of families, mainly children, in Qana last week was in sharp contrast to the joy there must have been in Cana when Jesus arrived for a wedding, and joined in the family celebrations, the celebrations of local people, local people just like those who were wiped out so brutally last week.?
He said the Israeli military action in Lebanon ?should be offensive to all humanity, and ? with the capacity of all modern wars to degenerate quickly into nuclear wars ? modern wars must be declared offensive.
Patrick Comerford, who has been involved in Christian-Muslim dialogue programmes for the past ten years, contrasted the bright light of the first atomic bomb and the mushroom cloud over Hiroshima with the bright light and the cloud that enfolded the mountain during the Transfiguration, a feast that is celebrated in the Church calendar on 6 August.
?The bombing of Hiroshima on this day 61 years ago should have made any future wars impossible,? he said. However, he added, ?the whole world is now living beneath one looming mass mushroom cloud.?
He continued: ?The distinctions between ?conventional? war and ?nuclear? war are being eroded so that wars can continue rather than cease. In this country, in recent years, for example, the transportation of US troops through Shannon to take part in an illegal and immoral war in Iraq and the use of depleted uranium in their weapons have, of course, eroded all the barriers between neutrality and membership of military alliances, but have also eroded all the inhibitions that helped to distinguish between ?conventional? warfare and ?nuclear? warfare.
?Today, the world has 11,000 active, deliverable nuclear weapons ? the US has the majority of these (6,390), and Russia has 3,242. The western world is quick to express its fears that Iran and North Korea are about to join the nuclear club. But last year, the US contributed singularly to the collapse of the review conference on the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, and Washington is now planning a new generation of nuclear weapons designed not to deter but to wage a nuclear war, including small-yield ?mini-nukes? and the nuclear ?bunker-busters?.
?We all know how frightening it would be if Iran, or even al-Qaeda, acquired nuclear weapons capability. But, at the moment, the only force in the Middle East with a nuclear capacity is Israel which probably has 200 nuclear weapons. No Arab state possesses nuclear weapons.?
Patrick Comerford, who was preaching in a personal capacity, is the Southern Regional Co-ordinator of the Church Mission Society Ireland.
The full text of Revd Comerford's address follows
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Rev Patrick Comerford,
Southern Regional Co-ordinator, Church Mission Society Ireland,
Sunday, 6 August 2006:
The Transfiguration of Our Lord.
Whitechurch Parish, Rathfarnham, Co Dublin: Family Service.
Daniel 7: 9-10, 13-14; Psalm 97; 2 Peter 1: 16-19; Luke 9: 28-36
May all we think, say and do be to the glory of God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, the Eternal Trinity, three in one and one in three, now and forever, Amen.
I have long been fascinated by the coincidence that 6 August is marked in the Church Calendar as the Transfiguration of Our Lord and is also Hiroshima Day, the anniversary of the first use of an atomic bomb, when an entire city was levelled to the ground for the first time in modern warfare.
The two stories ? The Transfiguration and Hiroshima ? stand in sharp contrast:
The bright light that enfolds Jesus reveals the power of God, who created the world, who loves us all, who redeems us, and who calls us into his kingdom.
The bright light emitted in the flash of that first atomic bomb reveals the destructive power created by humanity, bringing doom and the potential to destroy all kingdoms on earth.
The cloud that enfolds Jesus, Peter, John and James after the Transfiguration heralds a revelation of the word of God and a call to prophetic discipleship.
The mushroom cloud that hung over Hiroshima after that first nuclear explosion heralded a future in which all life can be wiped out, over and over again, many times over through nuclear overkill.
In our Gospel story this morning, Peter, James and John appear slightly dim-witted. They don?t know how to respond to the experience they have just gone through. And so they want to erect three dwellings, three monuments on the hillside, reminding them in years to come of one past good experience, rather than transforming their own lives, making the Transfiguration their own experience, going out into the world and proclaiming the Good News of the Trinitarian God they have just experienced, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, and his call and promise.
Over two generations after the Hiroshima bomb, the world?s leaders appear to be slightly dim-witted too. They don?t know how to respond to that experience of over 60 years ago. They go on building more and more nuclear weapons, creating more and more wars, rather than transforming the lives of people so that we no longer live in fear of war, poverty and injustice.
The promises made to soldiers during World War I that it would be the war to end all wars, the promises made to the world in San Francisco at the end of World War II that the United Nations would create world peace, the promise of the nuclear powers that the fear of nuclear war would deter other states from going to war ? all these promises have not only been foolish and folly, they have been proved to be lies.
The bombing of Hiroshima on this day 61 years ago should have made any future wars impossible. The threat that any conventional war could quickly escalate into a war in which nuclear weapons could be used, and thus lead to the destruction of whole societies, if not the whole of human society, should have spurned world leadership into making sure that war would never be waged again.
Since the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945, nuclear proliferation appears to have continued unabated over the span of two generations. It is not being over-emotional or over-fretful to say the whole world is now living beneath one looming mass mushroom cloud.
The distinctions between ?conventional? war and ?nuclear? war are being eroded so that wars can continue rather than cease. In this country, in recent years, for example, the transportation of US troops through Shannon to take part in an illegal war in Iraq and the use of depleted uranium in their weapons have, of course, eroded all the barriers between neutrality and membership of military alliances, but have also eroded all the inhibitions that helped to distinguish between "conventional" warfare and "nuclear" warfare.
Today, the world has 11,000 active, deliverable nuclear weapons ? the US has the majority of these (6,390), and Russia has 3,242. The western world is quick to express its fears that Iran and North Korea are about to join the nuclear club. But last year, the US contributed singularly to the collapse of the review conference on the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, and Washington is now planning a new generation of nuclear weapons designed not to deter but to wage a nuclear war, including small-yield "mini-nukes" and the nuclear "bunker-busters".
We all know how frightening it would be if Iran, or even al-Qaeda, acquired nuclear weapons capability. But, at the moment, the only force in the Middle East with a nuclear capacity is Israel which probably has 200 nuclear weapons. No Arab state possesses nuclear weapons.
Actual possession of nuclear weapons is surely a greater danger than an ambition to possess them. And if Hizbullah carries out its threat to hit Tel Aviv, what is going to constrain and restrain Israel?s capacity and desire for revenge?
The Anglican Bishop of Jerusalem, Bishop Riah, in a letter to his clergy, his friends and to Anglican bishops around the world a few days ago, has spoken of the horrific scale of the present disaster in Lebanon, on the West Bank and in the Gaza Strip, all within his diocese.
Israel is legitimately worried about its very survival, about attacks on its civilian population, and about Hizbullah?s refusal to disarm in defiance of UN resolutions. But Israel has defied international law, international conventions on human rights, the accepted criteria for a ?just war? and UN resolutions, by:
- waging an undeclared war;
- using a disproportionate force that is totally destructive;
- deliberately attacking civilian populations;
- making refugees of up to half a million non-combatant civilians;
- targeting UN observers;
- destroying the democratic institutions and civilian infrastructure of a sovereign state;
- and of course, by acquiring nuclear weapons.
The appalling destruction of families, mainly children, in Qana last week was in sharp contrast to the joy there must have been in Cana when Jesus arrived for a wedding, and joined in the family celebrations, the celebrations of local people, local people just like those who were wiped out so brutally last week.
If you are an innocent, suffering Palestinian, Christian or Muslim, on the West Bank or in the Gaza Strip, if you are an innocent suffering Lebanese civilian, Christian or Muslim, then the Israeli military offensive of the past three weeks is precisely that ? offensive. But it should be offensive to all humanity, and ? with the capacity of all modern wars to degenerate quickly into nuclear wars ? all modern wars must be declared offensive.
The bright light that enveloped Jesus and the cloud that descended on the Mount of the Transfiguration stand in sharp contrast to the bright light of the first atomic bomb and the mushroom cloud that hung over Hiroshima.
One light and cloud call us to depend not on human power but on the power of God, the power of creation, and to be signs of a bright new future. The other light and cloud threaten an awesome power, threaten all of creation and offer us a gloomy, dismal future.
Today, we all live under the mushroom cloud of Hiroshima. Instead we should be living in the bright light of the Transfiguration. The past few weeks are a reminder of the futility and blasphemy of modern warfare. For the sake of the little child being baptised here this morning, and for all the children of the world, let us hope and pray that there will be no more Hiroshimas, no more Nagasakis, no more Qanas. For they are our hope and our promise, they are our future. How we respond to war today will shape their world tomorrow.
If we really hope for and anticipate the Kingdom of God, then we must be signs, sacraments, icons, tokens of that Kingdom, and work for peace today and live in the power of the Transfiguration.
And now, may all we think say and do be to the glory of God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, the Eternal Trinity, three in one and one in three, now and forever, Amen.
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