As KC grows its nuclear weapons footprint, where are the Christians? | Opinion

So, where are the Christians?

I attended a training and a gathering before a formal public hearing May 7 regarding the impact of nuclear weapons production in Kansas City. The federal government is allocating new money for our area to support production of the next generation of nuclear firepower. In the hearing, representatives of the Department of Energy and National Nuclear Security Administration shared the summary of an environmental impact statement. It was billed as an opportunity for the public to weigh in.

Attendance was not robust. In reports from attendees, and in my own case, many of us did not find out about these meetings until days or hours before — in my case, with an unrelated search on the web focused on nonviolence. Interesting. It seems the ball got dropped all around.

Media coverage? None identified, even from local news outlets. The formal hearing with the representatives? It was held at a remote community center and limited in space. Did the agencies’ intent play any role?

At both gatherings, I knew no one. At the hearing, there was one participant who identified as Christian clergy. A couple of others provided evidence of their knowledge of the impact of nuclear weapons production. Others used many of these experts’ talking points. There were some emotional pleas to stop the production of nuclear weapons. No member of the public spoke in support of this expansion and its expense.

From my scope of the two encounters, painfully, it all seemed just a formality. At most, 60 or 70 folks showed up. In the 80-plus years since Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the nuclear holocaust has haunted us. One of the speakers at the hearing has invested over 30 years in research and civil action to expose the cataclysmic potential of this arsenal. The result? The nuclear weapon industry continues to grow and refine its lethality.

In Kansas City, a 1.7-million-square-foot complex is being constructed for offices and manufacturing. Dubbed the Kansas City Non-Nuclear Expansion Transformation or KC NExT project, it claims its purpose, in part, is to manufacture non-nuclear components used in U.S. nuclear weapons systems. What? Yes, the crafting is mind-numbing.

‘Peace through atomic strength’

The country has spent tens and hundreds of billions on nuclear weaponry. Is that pro-life? What about the children? The hungry, the poor? And what about the planet? My gut tells me that, as in many military ventures, respect for life is not a guiding principle. Contrary to the slogan tagged to the bottom of the DOE/NNSA presentation slides — “peace through atomic strength” — my fear is that nuclear conflagration could come soon to a location somewhere in the U.S.A.

The 250 million-plus adults in the United States are apparently tolerant of this spending and violent potential, sought and engineered by the federal government. Maybe it’s the promise of mutually assured destruction that dampens our resistance, gives us solace, conditions our complacency. Whatever the case, there are not ample boots on the ground to demand that our nation terminate spending on the research, development and production of nuclear weapons. There never has been in all these 80 years.

What a feat has been accomplished that has instilled such fear, trust and obedience, even among the almost two-thirds of Americans who identify as Christian — many of whom call the United States a Christian nation. For all those years, even the Christian community in this country has been complicit in nuclear proliferation and pending genocide, not to mention its silence in response to so many other crimes against humanity that this nation has committed or supported in that time. In whose name?

Versed in the Jesus ethic, I wonder at how the church has not been out front from the beginning in standing against nuclear weaponry — and for that matter, against all war. To this day, where are the Christians? Even as few as 20 or 30 million of them showing up to share this message would likely make for a commanding statement calling to account the insanity of dependence on these weapons for protection. Such visibility, engagement and action could change the world — advancing peace, understanding and goodwill that the present Christian witness across the globe does not appear to be accomplishing.

Dorothy Day, co-founder of the Catholic Worker Movement and a noted critic of militarism, capitalism and preparation for war, is said to have proclaimed: “Our problems stem from our acceptance of this filthy, rotten system.” Those words speak reality to power in ways that we, yet to this day, appear not to have eyes to see nor ears to hear.

Martin J. Dressman is a retired social worker. He lives in Prairie Village.