"A National Pastoral Life Center publication." Includes bibliographical references.

This book describes the positions advocated by ethicists and churches in the public debate on nuclear weapons. After tracing the development of just-war theory, the dominant moral position on war in Western thought, Dr. Davidson synthesizes the views of contemporary ethicists on the moral principles associated with the just-war tradition. He then documents the postures of Reinhold Niebuhr, Paul Ramsey, Michael Walzer, and James Turner Johnson with regard to the first use and retaliatory use of nuclear weapons, deterrence policy, the nuclear freeze proposal, the arms race, and disarmament. The positions endorsed by the Roman Catholic Church and the major Protestant and Jewish denominations in the United States on the issues of nuclear warfare are described in detail, with extensive treatment given to the development of the Catholic Bishops' 1983 pastoral letter on war and peace and the statements of churches affiliated with the National Council of Churches. The views of over 30 denominations, representing more than 110 million members, are considered. The final chapter of the book contrasts the stance of the churches with that of the Reagan Administration. Proposing guidelines for a moral defense policy in the nuclear age, Dr. Davidson's thesis is that national security requires a recognition of the need to protect and preserve values worth defending while simultaneously taking steps to prevent nuclear war.

Moral theologians, defense analysts, conflict scholars, and nuclear experts imagine a world free from nuclear weapons At a 2017 Vatican conference, Pope Francis condemned nuclear weapons. This volume, issued after the 60th anniversary of the Cuban Missile Crisis, presents essays from moral theologians, defense analysts, conflict transformation scholars, and nuclear arms control experts, with testimonies from witnesses. It is a companion volume to A World Free from Nuclear Weapons: The Vatican Conference on Disarmament (Georgetown University Press, 2020). Chapters from the perspectives of missile personnel and the military chain of command, industrialists and legislators, and citizen activists show how we might achieve a nuclear-free world. Key to this transition is the important role of public education and the mobilization of lay movements to raise awareness and effect change. This essential collection prepares military professionals, policymakers, everyday citizens, and the pastoral workers who guide them, to make decisions that will lead us to disarmament.