Wednesday August 6, 2025
By the time we or our parents had awakened 80 years ago, the world had already undergone a transformation. The top secret Manhattan Project saw its fruition in the use of the atomic bomb, a weapon of such horror and devastation that one would think it would never be used again. But three days later, it was used again in Nagasaki.
The weapon killed between 150,000 and 240,000 persons, most dying immediately, and the rest dying from the result of the radiation that hovered over the cities and the surrounding area. The Hiroshima bomb had an explosive yield of 15 kilotons, low by today’s standards of our largest weapon of 1.2 megatons, 80 times larger than the weapon used at Hiroshima.
Now there are more than 12,000 weapons in the hands of nine nations, some of which rattle their sabers from time to time. In 1968 the UN established the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), wherein signatories promised not to transfer nuclear weapons to non-nuclear countries. We and 190 other countries remain a part of this essential treaty, but have opposed other, stronger, treaties on nuclear weapons.
Prayer for the Day
Peace, we are told to pray for peace, O God,
But we know the words of our lips are not enough;
Peace, we are told to work for peace, O Lord,
But so often we feel helpless as leaders wage war.
Peace, we say we want, so open us to your peace,
As we struggle in this world to create peace for all.
In the name of the One who gives us strength for peace,
Even Christ Jesus our Lord, Amen.
Thoughts for the Day
Despite the global turmoil, “we, the people, must never give up. Instead, we must work even harder to build civil society consensus that nuclear weapons must be abolished for a genuinely peaceful world.
Kazumi Matsui, Mayor of Hiroshima at commemoration ceremony
Where have all the flowers gone?/Long time passing
Where have all the flowers gone?/ Long time ago
Where have all the flowers gone?/The girls have picked them, every one
Oh, when will you ever learn?/Oh, when will you ever learn?
Pete Seeger, American songwriter, peace activist (1919-2014)
God shall judge between the nations, and shall arbitrate for many peoples;
They shall beat their spears into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks;
Nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore.
Isaiah 2:4