NJPN Blog: Batter My Heart

Trinity Site obelisk. Top plaque reads: Trinity Site where the world's first nuclear device was exploded on July 16, 1945. Erected 1965 White Sands Missile Range J Frederick Thorlin Major General US Army Commanding

"Batter my heart, three-person'd God, for you

As yet but knock, breathe, shine, and seek to mend;

That I may rise and stand, o'erthrow me, and bend

Your force to break, blow, burn, and make me new."

(Holy Sonnets. Jonn Donne)

As we approach Trinity Sunday, it might be a good time to reconsider what is said to be the dawn of the nuclear weapons age. Why now? Because the first detonation of a nuclear weapon in 1945, was code named "Trinity".

The director of the Los Alamos Laboratory, J Robert Oppenheimer, chose this name because he was inspired by the poetry of John Donne and indeed the poem quoted above was his favourite.

A year later, it was this type of plutonium implosion bomb that devastated the city of Nagasaki in Japan following the destruction of Hiroshima, three days earlier.

But the most powerful nations of the world were not content with this demonstration of the destructive power of these weapons but went on carrying out tests that are still damaging the lives and environment of many of the poorest people on our planet.

The United States obtained a rare agreement with the United Nations in July 1947, in fact the only one ever granted, for Trusteeship of Micronesia on the understanding that it would improve the lives and economy of the islanders. Only five days later it established the "Pacific Proving Grounds" by the United States Atomic Energy Commission. This enabled it to carry out 105 tests in the Pacific, both atmospheric and underwater, between 1946 and 1962.

So, is the UK innocent?

Our nuclear weapons system is closely tied to that of the USA. In 1943 the U.K. nuclear weapons system was merged with the Manhattan Project and considered nuclear weapons to be a joint discovery. Between 1952 and 1957 the UK carried out 12 atomic weapons tests of its own in Australia, but the Trident system could not function without the American missiles which deliver the warheads which are made at Aldermaston.

If anyone asks about the victims of nuclear weapons, it is usual to look at the casualties of the bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, both those killed at the time and also the many who died during the years to follow, due to their exposure to radiation. We often forget those who died or whose lives were devastated as a result of weapons testing. There was an increase in the number of cancers directly attributable to the fallout-related radiation exposure in the Marshall Islands and pollution in the Pacific Ocean. Even small amounts of radiation accumulating from eating contaminated fish gradually built up, resulting in sickness and particularly affecting pregnant women and their unborn babies. There were many miscarriages, and babies, so deformed they were known as "jellyfish babies" and did not survive.

The 20,000 British servicemen that were taken to witness the British Tests in Australia and the South Pacific are now allowed to claim compensation for ill health resulting from their exposure.

The Treaty to Ban Nuclear Weapons, that entered into force in January 2021, prohibits all nuclear weapons related activities, including testing, as well as the obvious ones of using or threatening to use them. Pope Francis and all the mainstream Churches condemn nuclear weapons and call on all governments to support this treaty.

So, in this season of the Holy Trinity, may we pray for a true 'battering of the heart' of our politicians, to turn away from looking for security in Nuclear Weapons, and towards the security of faith, love and Peace.

Patricia Pulham is on the Executive of Christian CND, a member of NJPN.

Christian CND is a member of the National Justice and Peace Network (NJPN). Its annual conference will be held 22-24 July 2022, taking the theme, 'Hope is a verb with its sleeves rolled up'. Booking now at: www.justice-and-peace.org.uk/conference/