WASHINGTON – A burgeoning evangelical Christian movement aims to spread its message of the importance of eliminating nuclear weapons at the National Association of Evangelicals meeting on Friday.
Nuclear disarmament, often thought to be an issue advocated for by groups more to the political left, is developing increasing support in the evangelical community as some believe it is called for by biblical doctrine.
“It’s always been commanded that we act as peacemakers,” said Joel Hunter, senior pastor of Northland, A Church Distributed in Longwood, Fla. “We’ve always had a foundational affinity for it, but only recently has it become a movement.”
The Rev. Tyler Wigg-Stevenson, founder of the Two Futures Project, said there is an important connection between nuclear disarmament and evangelical Christian values. He hopes to involve more people in this burgeoning movement when he speaks at Friday’s National Evangelical Association meeting. (Photo courtesy of the Two Futures project)
A major component of the momentum in the evangelical community has been the development of the Two Futures Project. The founder of the group devoted to eliminating nuclear weapons, the Rev. Tyler Wigg-Stevenson, 32, will be giving a talk at the Evangelical Leaders Forum in Landover, Md., on Friday.
“The way we see it, there are two potential futures: one in which nuclear weapons are used, which will create international conflict, and the other which is free of nuclear weapons and promotes peace,” said Wigg-Stevenson, an ordained Baptist minister who lives in Nashville, Tenn. “The choice is disarmament or seeing a morally unacceptable outcome.”
Wigg-Stevenson said the religious foundation of his organization is the biblical imperative against “the killing of innocents,” which he believes is inevitable if nuclear weapons exist.
First learning about anti-nuclear activism from his parents in the movement’s heyday during the 1980s, he didn’t get serious about the issue until he more deeply understood its potential harm while working as projects director for the Global Security Institute of former Democratic California Sen. Alan Cranston.
Evangelical inactivity on disarmament was common in the 1970s and 1980s, said Hunter. He explained that in previous decades, many baby boomers were involved in the anti-nuclear movement, but it was seen as separate from their involvement in the church. During the same period, Hunter said, evangelicals had more of a “a hard-power approach to international relations,” but now have returned to “leading by example and diplomacy.”
According to Hunter, the reason for the dormant reaction of Christians is difficult to pinpoint. “I can’t explain it biblically, it comes from more of a cultural and political aspect. We felt it was a great deal more constructive to align ourselves with self-defense and believe in using a military response to unfolding world events,” he said.
Since the April inception of the Two Futures Project, the movement has continued to flourish, with the help of endorsements and support former Secretary of State George Shultz and former Secretary of Defense William Perry, whom Hunter calls “giants of the previous generation.”
“But the organizational power comes from a younger generation that is taking increased social action,” he said.
The National Council of Churches – a partnership of a variety of Christian denominations – lent its support in a resolution drafted Sept. 22 to “reaffirm the goal of the total elimination of nuclear weapons.”
On the same day, Christian Broadcasting Network President Pat Robertson; Richard Land, president of the Ethics and Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention; and other leaders announced the formation of Christian Leaders for a Nuclear-Free Iran. The group released a letter to Congress asking for quick action to prevent Iran from possessing a nuclear weapon.
In the meantime, the Two Futures Project and other evangelicals have been mobilizing to express their opinion on the matter, and recruit more people to the cause.
“No one of us can achieve this goal, it’s the work of a generation or more,” said Wigg-Stevenson. “It requires genuine leadership, so we are asking people to be part of a critical mass and lend their support through three concrete steps: Join up, pitch in, spread the word. ”
Wigg-Stevenson is encouraging others to draft letters to legislators in Washington, sign a pledge to support disarmament and speak out about the dangers of nuclear weapons.
Although petitions from Two Futures and other organizations encouraging the disarming of Iran have been circulated to Congress and President Barack Obama, Hunter, who’s also a member of the President’s Advisory Council on Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships, said the issue has received minimal attention from the council.
“The president gave us four or five topics to focus on right now, and that’s simply not one of them,” Hunter said.
But Wigg-Stevenson said he hopes it will be, and that it gains further support from the evangelical movement. He plans to explain why he believes nuclear weapons pose a threat and why disarmament should matter to evangelicals based on their faith when he addresses the evangelical national association on Friday.