Thoughts after reading Martin Luther King's "Stride Toward Freedom"

Martin Luther King, Jr. Day having just passed, I decided I should read more of King's writings. I read his first book, Stride Toward Freedom, which is the story of the struggle to integrate the buses in Montgomery, Alabama, in 1955 and 1956. Black people were at that time required to sit at the rear of the bus, and were also required to give up their seat to a white person if told to do so. For more than a year, the black people of Montgomery boycotted the bus system, organizing car pools and ride sharing, and walking miles to work rather than riding the buses. I won't tell the whole story here, but I do recommend that you read the book.

Several things struck me about the struggle for integration. The first is that King taught that the black people must always be nonviolent, even if they were insulted or attacked. What amazes me is that the black people did manage to remain nonviolent, even when the homes of black leaders and several black churches were bombed. I can easily imagine this violence being returned with violence, but they didn't do it. King must have been an amazing man to have this kind of influence on the black population of an entire city.

The second thing that struck me is that so many of the leaders of the movement were church leaders. Of the 45 members of the Executive Board of the Montgomery Improvement Association, the organization founded to lead the movement, twenty-four of them carried the title, “Reverend.” Many of the meetings were held in churches, and churches provided office space and other resources to the movement.

I have recently seen many churches refuse to get involved in struggles for justice (or to end wars, or to rid ourselves of weapons of mass destruction, or to stop our government from torturing people, or to stop changing the global climate), often saying that it is “too political.” I believe that God calls us to work for justice for all his children, and while some may see this as a political issue, I believe it is a moral issue. Church leaders and congregation members would do well to read Martin Luther King's books and speeches. Or simply consider this, also from Dr. King: “Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.” That doesn't just apply to individuals, it also applies to churches. When the church fails to speak out about things that matter, it's as good as dead. Pastors, churches, Christian congregations, take a lesson from Dr. King: get active, do something, make things happen.

Can we morally justify our nuclear weapons?

The United States possesses ten thousand nuclear weapons. As I have previously mentioned, this is enough to kill every human being on planet Earth, perhaps 8 or 10 times over. A single warhead could likely kill over 4 million people, and there are 192 of these warheads on each of the nine Trident submarines based at Naval Base Kitsap-Bangor on Hood Canal in Washington State. Just the nuclear weapons carried on the Trident subs are enough to kill every man, woman, and child on Earth, and that's just a fraction of the total nuclear arsenal of the U.S.

I'd like to know under what circumstances we would be morally justified in using these weapons. Remember that these weapons are not intended for military targets, they are city destroyers. A bullet is intended to kill a single enemy soldier. An anti-tank weapon is intended to destroy a single attacking enemy tank. But a nuclear weapon is intended to kill civilians, millions of them, entire cities of them – men, women, and children. A nuclear weapon is intended to destroy millions of innocent lives, the lives of people who would like nothing more than to be simply left alone to go about their business. Under what circumstances would we be morally justified in vaporizing 4.4 million innocent human beings with a single warhead? Under what circumstances would we be morally justified in vaporizing 35.5 million innocent human beings with a single missile? Under what circumstances would we be morally justified in vaporizing 851 million innocent human beings with the firepower we could launch from a single Trident submarine? And under what circumstances would we be morally justified in ending the life of every single human being on planet Earth, something we have the capability to do 8 times over?

It is my contention that there are no circumstances under which we could justify using these weapons. It is my contention that there are no circumstances under which we could justify the destruction of millions, even billions, of innocent human lives. So why do we have these weapons? Again I ask you, are we really that insane, or that evil, that we would destroy all human life with our nuclear weapons? If not, why do we have ten thousand nuclear weapons? If we are to be honest with ourselves, we must admit that we are insane enough, we are evil enough to destroy all human life. We must admit that we have, in the words of Martin Luther King, Jr., allowed our scientific power to outrun our spiritual power.

Or we can regain our humanity by ridding ourselves of these weapons.

That is the path that I choose. I will not participate in the destruction of the human race. I will work for the abolition of nuclear weapons. I will work to remove from political power those who would give the order to use these weapons, and I will work to replace them with people who will dismantle our nuclear arsenal.

And I hope that you will join me. For it is likely that the survival of the entire human race depends on it. Certainly our status as moral beings depends on it.

Martin Luther King Day vigil at Naval Base Kitsap-Bangor

On January 15, 2007 – Martin Luther King, Jr. Day – I joined approximately 220 people in a vigil for peace and for the abolishment of nuclear weapons. The vigil was held at the gates of Naval Base Kitsap-Bangor, located on Hood Canal/Puget Sound in Washington State. The action included hanging a sign from an overpass near the gates, with this statement from Martin Luther King, Jr.: “When scientific power outruns spiritual power, we end up with guided missiles and misguided men.” In a nonviolent act of civil disobedience, seven people blocked the highway into the base, holding a sign that said “Abolish Nuclear Weapons”, and were arrested on “suspicion of attempted disorderly conduct.” An additional six demonstrators were arrested after they entered the base in an attempt to deliver a statement to the base commander.

Naval Base Kitsap-Bangor is home to nine Trident submarines. Each submarine carries up to 24 D5 missiles, and each missile carries 8 nuclear warheads. Each of the 192 nuclear weapons on a Trident sub has an explosive power of 475 kilotons of TNT, more than 30 times the power of the bomb that killed 140 thousand human beings at Hiroshima. Assuming the same kill ratio as the Hiroshima bombing, each warhead could kill 4.4 million people, each missile could kill 35.5 million people, each sub could kill 851.2 million people, and the Kitsap-Bangor based nine sub fleet could kill 7.66 billion people, more than the current 6.3 billion population of the Earth.

In addition to the nuclear weapons on the submarines based at Kitsap-Bangor, there are an additional approximately 1000 nuclear weapons stored on the base. In total, Kitsap-Bangor is home to 24 percent of the U.S. nuclear arsenal, and is quite possibly the world's largest stockpile of nuclear weapons. Assuming that each of these warheads has the same killing power as the sub-based weapons, they would have the ability to kill another 4.4 billion people.

The total killing power of the approximately ten thousand nuclear weapons the U.S. possesses is beyond imagination.

Are we really that insane, or that evil, that we would destroy all human life with our nuclear weapons? Why do we have ten thousand nuclear weapons? We have truly allowed our scientific power to outrun our spiritual power; we truly are misguided men. If you care about your fellow human beings, work to abolish nuclear weapons. Write to your Congressional Representatives. Join a group working for the abolishment of nuclear weapons. Participate in vigils and demonstrations, and encourage others to join you.

Martin Luther King, Jr. said, “For years now, we have been talking about war and peace. But now, no longer can we just talk about it. It is no longer a choice between violence and nonviolence; it's nonviolence or nonexistence.” In a world in which a single naval base has the capability of killing every single human being on the planet, King has it right: we cannot continue this path of violence. We must dismantle our nuclear weapons. We must stop using violence to settle our disputes. And we must do it now.

The vigil at Naval Base Kitsap-Bangor was organized by The Ground Zero Center for Nonviolent Action. Visit their website for more information on their activities, and check out some of the other groups listed on their links page.