Scottish hierarchy peace plea

THE BRITISH Government's policy of nuclear deterrence is immoral and the arms race should be "condemned unreservedly" by the Church.
That is the unequivocal message of the Easter statement from the Catholic Bishops' Conference of Scotland, headed by Cardinal Gordon Gray, Archbishop of St Andrews and Edinburgh.
The statement comes in the wake of the controversy about Government plans to locate the Trident nuclear missile in Scotland. All eleven Scottish bishops demonstrated their suspicion of the Government's intentions.
"Whatever is done will be done in our name and, in a democracy, with our presumed agreement. The conscience of a nation should not be compelled to hazard guesses against a background of an indefinite number of possibilities," the statement said.
According to the statement, if it is immoral to use nuclear weapons, then it is immoral to threaten to use them.
Neither a just war theory, which was "evolved in a time when war was very different from what it is now", nor a deterrent theory are enough to justify the risks involved, the bishops say.
Quoting from the Vatican Council, the bishops call the arms race "a theft from the poor" and "one of the greatest curses on the human race".
"Too much energy has been spent on preparations for war, too little on making peace," the statement said. The Church in Scotland is, therefore, in "an anguishing situation".
They unite themselves with the increasing number of Catholic Hierarchies throughout the world who have called for a "specific reduction in arms". Finally, the bishops refer in the statement to the situation in Scotland today and have lined themselves up with the Church of Scotland and the Episcopal Church in questioning present Government policy on the deployment of nuclear weapons in the country.