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.