#573 - Commemoration and Mourning - August 6, 2021
August 6: Anniversary of the First Deliberate Use of a Nuclear Weapon against a Human Population
Today is a major day of commemoration and mourning for the anti-nuclear movement – the bombing of Hiroshima. Next Monday, August 9, will commemorate the last time a nuke targeted a human population, in Nagasaki. We hope it remains the last time – all life on earth could depend on it.
Here are some of the blog posts we’ve run on the topic. The quotation of the week below is a classic for consistent-lifers.
Nukes and the Pro-Life Christian: A Conservative Takes a Second Look at the Morality of Nuclear Weapons
Pro-life Flag Content Winner
The Pro-life Flag Project, which we endorsed, has announced its winner; their hope is to make this a common symbol. See the full reasoning on the symbols here. Highlights:
The white background symbolizes non-violence in the womb and the unborn child’s innocence.
Baby feet have been a symbol associated with the pro-life movement since the iconic Precious Feet lapel pins were named the international pro-life symbol in 1979.
The two pink hands represent the pregnant mother, holding and protecting her child.
The white heart in between the feet symbolizes the pro-life movement’s love for both the mother and her child.
There have been attempts but no similar project for a universally-recognized peace flag, but any flag with either the circular or the dove peace symbol on it should be easily understood. Both the pro-life and the peace flags used together might be of interest for consistent-lifers on suitable occasions.
Our Latest Blog Post
As a differing view from the post offered last week on the topic of Christian outlooks, Julia Smucker offers My Christian CLE Perspective: Absolute Nonviolence Across the Issues
Quotations of the Week
Herman Kahn
On Thermonuclear War, Princeton University Press, 1960, p. 50
"Probably of limited significance to us are the so-called embryonic deaths. These are conceptions which would have been successful if it had not been for radiation that damaged the germ cell and thus made the potential conception result in a failure. There will probably be five million of these in the first generation, and one hundred million in future generations . . . On the whole, the human race is so fecund that a small reduction in fecundity should not be a serious matter even to individuals. It is almost completely misleading to include the ‘early deaths’ or embryonic deaths in the same total with the major and minor defects . . .”
Juli Loesch (aka Julianne Wiley)
“Shake Hands with a Prolife Peacemaker,” U.S. Catholic, May 1984
“I always lay a Herman Kahn quote on them about how 100 million embryonic deaths would result from limited nuclear war. One hundred million embryonic deaths is of limited significance, he says, because human fecundity being what it is . . . the slight reduction in fecundity should not be a matter of serious concern even to individuals.
Tell that to a prolife group, and their response will be, ‘That guy’s an abortionist.’ Well, what he was was a nuclear strategist. But you can make that connection because you’ve got that common ground.”
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