Report of August 9, 2022 Hiroshima-Nagasaki Commemoration Prayer Witness Outside the White House

Dear Friends,

On August 9th from Noon-1:00PM, with the temperature heat index at over 100 degrees, about 25 friends from the faith-based peace justice community in the DMV, in solidarity with people worldwide and the Nuclear Ban Treaty Collaborative Days of Action Working Group, who are acting at this time for nuclear abolition, held a prayer service outside the White House on Pennsylvania Ave. to commemorate the 77th anniversary of the U.S. nuclear bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and to call upon the U.S. to repent for the nuclear sin, ratify the UN Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear weapons (TPNW) and abolish its nuclear arsenal (see attached photo by Art Laffin). This witness was sponsored by the Dorothy Day Catholic Worker.

After my opening statement and welcome, Scott Wright and Jean Stokan lead us in offering an Apology Petition to the people of Japan for the sinful and criminal U.S. use of nuclear weapons against them. (See the petition in the below prayer service). This was followed by people prayerfully laying roses on top of photos of A-Bomb victims that we displayed on the street. 

Mary Helen Washington then began reading an excerpt from Setsuko Thurlow’s acceptance speech for ICAN’s Nobel Peace Prize award in 2016. Setsuko was 13 years old when the atom bomb was dropped by the U.S. on her home city of Hiroshima. However, after Mary Helen read the first several lines, we and all tourists were abruptly ordered to leave the street by the Secret Service. We reset our vigil just inside Lafayette Park, next to the Peace Park vigil that has maintained a continuous peace presence in the Park since 1981, and tried to continue our prayer service. Within several minutes we and all tourists were ordered again by Secret Service to move out of Lafayette Park and onto H St. where we continued our prayer service with many tourists looking on.  (We later learned these measures were taken in response to an incident directed at the Secret Service).

At our new H St. vigil site, despite loud road repair work being done that later stopped due to our request, Mary Helen was able to finish Setsuko’s harrowing and inspiring reading.  Kathy Boylan then read a reflection by Dorothy Day condemning these nuclear atrocities immediately after they occurred. I offered a song in Japanese dedicated to the Hibakusha titled Genbaku O Yurusumagi (Never Again the Atom Bomb) by Ishiji Asada. Paul Magno, Dan Moriarty and Sunny Neelam then read a Reflection/Prayer about the real truth about why nuclear weapons were used, past and present nuclear policy, and the present nuclear threat (see below). This was followed by Susan Gunn and Kirstin De Mello leading a litany of repentance. Jack McHale then read Dan Berrigan’s poem “Shadow on the Rock.” To mark today being the anniversary of the martyrdom of Franz Jagerstatter and St. Edith Stein, Mike Walli and Susan Gunn read several quotes from them. 

We concluded the witness by singing Happy Birthday to Kathy Boylan who is celebrating 79th birthday on Friday, Aug. 12, and the Vine and Fig tree song.  

I want to express great gratitude to all the groups represented in this witness today. They include: Pax Christi Metro-DC, Pax Christi USA, Columban Center for Advocacy and Outreach, Maryknoll Office for Global Concerns, Sisters of Mercy of the Americas – Justice Team,  Franciscan Action Network, Assisi Community and the Caldwell Community. We stand in solidarity with people across the world and in the U.S. I also want to thank all those who could not attend this witness and who expressed their prayerful solidarity. And special thanks to each of you who receive this, for all you are doing to help create the Beloved Community and make God’s reign of justice, love and peace a reality.

In hope for a disarmed world,

Art

Prayer Service for Aug. 9, 2022 White House Witness

OPENING 

APOLOGY PETITION 

During our Prayer Service of Repentance in front of the White House on August 6, 2016, an Apology Petition was read and presented to Mr. Mimaki, a Hiroshima A-bomb survivor. Over 700 people signed the petition. In September 2016, Mr. Mimaki delivered the petition to the Mayor of Hiroshima and is now at the Hiroshima Peace Museum. Two years ago, to mark the 75th anniversary of the US atomic bombings of Japan, an updated Petition was signed by over 240 people and sent to the mayors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and to the main Hibakusha organization. This petition was also endorsed by many religious and peace groups.

Hiroshima and Nagasaki: An Apology–Envision the World Without Nuclear Weapons—August 6 and 9, 2020—75th Anniversary of the U.S. Atomic Bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki  

        The 75th anniversary of the U.S. atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki is a time of remembering the horror, repenting the sin and reclaiming a future without nuclear weapons. It is a time to recommit ourselves to the work of disarming and dismantling the machinery of mass destruction and abolishing war.

        We unite in prayerful witness with people of faith and conscience across the globe to mark this historic anniversary. As citizens of the United States, we invite people to publicly ask God for forgiveness for the U.S. atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, which caused the immediate death of more than 200,000 people, and hundreds of thousands more who died in the aftermath as a result of radiation poisoning. We apologize to the people of Japan – and to the survivors of the bombing, the hibakusha – for our country’s bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and we ask forgiveness for these atrocities.

        Pope Paul VI, in his 1976 World Day of Peace Message, described the bombings as “a butchery of untold magnitude.” Pope Francis, who in 2017 condemned the possession of nuclear weapons as immoral, reminded us once more, during his 2019 visit to Hiroshima and Nagasaki, of “the unspeakable horror suffered in the flesh by the victims of the bombing and their families,” and reaffirmed his conviction that “a world without nuclear weapons is [both] possible and necessary.”

        Nuclear weapons are sinful and idolatrous. The mining, testing and deployment of these weapons have desecrated native lands and the Marshall and South Pacific Islands and have caused incalculable ecological devastation and early deaths of countless people exposed to nuclear radiation. Their research, production and deployment are a theft from the poor, and a crime against God’s creation, humanity and future generations. We repent for these sins and for the continued proliferation of nuclear weapons at the expense of unmet human needs. Further, we offer repentance for our nation’s possession and threatened use of nuclear weapons to enforce a world order based on systemic racism and the destruction of the cultural and biological diversity of our planet.

         We decry the fact that the U.S. government is committed to a 30-year upgrade of its nuclear arsenal at an estimated cost of $1.7 trillion. We denounce the Pentagon Doctrine for Joint Nuclear Operations stating that a limited nuclear war could be waged and won. We implore the U.S. to end its nuclear modernization program, renounce its first-use nuclear policy, and to sign and ratify the 2017 UN Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons. We call on all Christians and people of good faith everywhere to refuse to participate in the production, maintenance, threatened use and use of these murderous weapons.

        We firmly resolve, with God’s grace and mercy, to reject the false idols of nuclear weapons, and to embrace the life-affirming work of abolishing these weapons of terror.

         As the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientist has reset the Doomsday Clock to 100 seconds to midnight, let us heed the plea of the Hibakusha to the world: “Humanity and nuclear weapons cannot co-exist.” Now is the time to pursue non-violent alternatives to war and to lay the foundations for just peace; now is the time to restore justice for the poor and integrity to creation, and to seek a nuclear-free future for our children.

         On that day, the prophet reminds us, “God will rule over all nations and settle disputes for all peoples. They will beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation shall not raise sword against nation; nor will they train for war anymore” (Is 2:4) In that spirit, we solemnly renew our commitment to that biblical vision and promise of peace and justice, when the world will finally be free from the scourge of war and the terror of nuclear weapons.

Read Excerpt of Hiroshima Survivor Setsuko Thurlow 

Read Excerpt from Dorothy Day 

Song Dedicated to A-Bomb Survivors 

Reflection–Refrain–We Repent for the Nuclear Sin-Abolish Nuclear Weapons Now!

LITANY OF REPENTANCE 

For the U.S. development, use, and threatened use of nuclear weapons, Forgive us O God 

For the over 200,000 people who died in Hiroshima and Nagasaki as a direct result of the U.S. nuclear bombings, Forgive us O God 

For the countless Japanese A-Bomb survivors who have suffered and died from the effects of nuclear radiation, Forgive us O God 

For all American Indians who have contracted cancer and died as a result from uranium mining on their sacred lands, Forgive us  God

For the unknown numbers of people who have suffered and died from nuclear testing in the Marshall Islands and South Pacific, Forgive us O God 

For workers in nuclear facilities who were exposed to radiation and who have suffered and died, 

Forgive us O God

For those living downwind from nuclear facilities who have contracted cancer and died, Forgive us O God 

For those prisoners and people with mental disabilities who were subjects of nuclear radiation experiments, Forgive us O God    

For the U.S. use of highly toxic radioactive depleted uranium weapons in Iraq, Yugoslavia, Afghanistan and elsewhere which have claimed untold lives and have caused dramatic increases of cancer, leukemia and birth defects in each of the countries where these weapons have been used, Forgive us O God 

For the millions who needlessly suffered and died–past and present–because of the money and resources spent on weapons and war instead of on programs to help eradicate poverty and preventable diseases, Forgive us O God 

For desecrating the earth and the environmental damage caused by the mining, testing and use of nuclear technology, Forgive us O God 

For the U.S. militarizing space and the dangerous use of nuclear technology in space,

Forgive us O God 

For the U.S. military being the world’s single biggest consumer of fossil fuels, and the single entity most responsible for destabilizing the Earth’s climate, Forgive us O God 

For placing our trust in weapons and mammon rather than in God, Forgive us O God

“SHADOW ON THE ROCK” by Daniel Berrigan, SJ

At Hiroshima there’s a museum 

and outside that museum there’s a rock, 

and on that rock there’s a shadow. 

That shadow is all that remains 

of the human being who stood there on August 6, 1945 

when the nuclear age began. 

In the most real sense of the word, 

that is the choice before us. 

We shall either end war and the nuclear arms race now in this generation,

or we will become Shadows On the Rock.

Read Quote from St. Edith Stein and Blessed Franz Jagerstatter 

Closing Song: Vine and Fig Tree

Ryohei Takagi

August 9, 2022 White House Reflection/Prayer on Nuclear Threat

Refrain: We Repent for the Nuclear Sin-Abolish Nuclear Weapons Now
The powers that be want us to believe that nuclear weapons were used to save American lives and end WWII. This is a fallacy! Both General Eisenhower, and Admiral Leahy, head of the Joint Chiefs Of Staff, opposed using the atomic bomb. They declared that Japan was already defeated and on the verge of surrender and, as Eisenhower stated, “that dropping the bomb was completely unnecessary” and “no longer mandatory as a measure to save American lives.”We Repent for the Nuclear Sin-Abolish Nuclear Weapons Now
According to Gar Alperovitz, in his compelling book, Atomic Diplomacy, nuclear weapons were used against the Japanese primarily for two reasons: “first, the U.S. wanted to hasten its victory over Japan without the aid of the Russians, who were about to enter the war; second, and most importantly, President Truman intended to threaten the Russians and warn them not to challenge U.S. plans for organizing the postwar world.”We Repent and Resist the Nuclear Sin-Abolish Nuclear Weapons Now
The U.S. has never repented for using nuclear weapons. The violence unleashed at Hiroshima set in motion a trajectory of unrelenting violence by the U.S. in the wars of aggression that it has waged over the last seven decades in many countries, claiming untold lives. Moreover, the U.S. has continued to build even deadlier weapons which endanger all of creation. Beginning with the Manhattan Project in 1940, the U.S. has spent nearly $10 trillion on its nuclear weapons program.We Repent for the Nuclear Sin-Abolish Nuclear Weapons Now
On January 20 of this year, the Doomsday Clock was set to 100 seconds before midnight due to the existential dangers of nuclear war and climate change — threats compounded by cyber-enabled information warfare, upgrades to existing nuclear systems, and worsening world tensions. This determination occurred just prior to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Now this conflict has further exacerbated the nuclear peril between the two foremost nuclear powers. While the U.S. has always maintained a “first-use” nuclear weapons policy, Russia has publicly stated it would consider using nuclear weapons if it feels endangered by increased U.S. and NATO intervention in the Ukraine war.          We Repent for the Nuclear Sin-Abolish Nuclear Weapons NowAccording to the Federation of American Scientists, nine countries possess roughly 12,700 warheads. Approximately 90 percent of all nuclear warheads are owned by the U.S. and Russia (Russia has 5,977; the U.S. has 5,428). U.S. nuclear weapons are also stored at six military bases in the Netherlands, Italy, Germany, Belgium and Turkey. Furthermore, U.S. and NATO missile defense systems ring Russia and China, increasing already heightened tensions. The U.S. and Russia, whose nuclear forces are on high alert, are developing hypersonic weapons that could become nuclear capable.                                    We Repent for the Nuclear Sin-Abolish Nuclear Weapons NowDuring the Trump administration, the U.S. dramatically increased the nuclear danger by threatening to use nuclear weapons against adversaries on several occasions. Moreover, the U.S. withdrew from the Iran Nuclear Deal and the INF Treaty with Russia and carried out a subcritical nuclear test, a flagrant violation of the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty. In its 2019 Doctrine for Joint Nuclear Operations, policy makers declared that a limited nuclear war could be waged and won. This doctrine was the latest manifestation of a long-held existing Pentagon policy positing that the U.S. must be prepared at all times to use whatever military force is necessary, including nuclear weapons, to protect its vital interests in the world. Also, in February 2020, the “lower-yield” W76-2 nuclear warhead on Trident missiles was deployed, a smaller warhead the military believes is more usable. Additionally, a new U.S. space force was created to oversee military control and domination of space.                           We Repent for the Nuclear Sin-Abolish Nuclear Weapons NowOn March 28, 2022 the Biden administration transmitted to Congress a classified Nuclear Posture Review (NPR) which basically reaffirms preexisting U.S. nuclear doctrine, including refusal to adopt a “no first-use” nuclear policy. President Biden is committed to the modernization of nuclear forces, as evidenced by a proposed 2023 nuclear weapons budget request of $50.9 billion. The U.S. nuclear arsenal upgrade, now underway, is estimated to cost $1.7 trillion over the next several decades violates the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty. This deadly venture not only endangers the world but represents a direct theft from the poor everywhere. As a leading nuclear superpower, the U.S. practices a double standard by calling on other nations to disarm while, at the same time, it refuses to disarm and instead is rapidly expanding its own arsenal.                                                                                                  We Repent for the Nuclear Sin-Abolish Nuclear Weapons NowOn July 7, 2017, at the conclusion of a special “UN Conference To Negotiate a Legally Binding Instrument to Prohibit Nuclear Weapons,” 122 countries voted in favor of a historic treaty to legally prohibit nuclear weapons. On January 22, 2021, the TPNW went into force, thereby making nuclear weapons illegal under international law. To date 66 countries have ratified the TPNW. However, all the nuclear armed states have refused to sign it. We call on the U.S., the only country to have ever used nuclear weapons, to ratify this treaty and lead the way to total worldwide nuclear disarmament. We Repent for the Nuclear Sin-Abolish Nuclear Weapons Now
Pope Francis declared: “If we also take into account the risk of an accidental detonation as a result of error of any kind, the threat of their use, as well as their very possession is to be firmly condemned… Weapons of mass destruction, particularly nuclear weapons, create nothing but a false sense of security…The total elimination of nuclear weapons is “both a challenge and a moral and humanitarian imperative” of our time.  We Repent for the Nuclear Sin-Abolish Nuclear Weapons Now
Nuclear weapons are immoral and illegal. They can never be used under any circumstance. This means that anyone in the military chain of command must refuse orders to ever use these or other similar murderous weapons. We Repent for the Nuclear Sin-Abolish Nuclear Weapons Now