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End of nuclear nightmare. By Michael Williams, Vicar of Bolton Parish Church
From the Bolton Evening News, first published Monday 29th May 2000.
IT has just been announced that a further step has been made to rid the world of nuclear weapons.
When I was young and growing up in the '50s and '60s, such a dream seemed a very long way off.
All of us in those days lived under what was called the three-minute warning.
This meant that all we could expect was a warning of three minutes if a nuclear attack was launched.
It certainly raised questions about the meaning of life when it seemed possible that the whole planet could be destroyed in a matter of minutes.
One of my friends began building a nuclear shelter in his house for his family. He also went out and bought a shotgun because it was predicted that law and order would break down in the aftermath of a nuclear attack.
Some people joined ban the bomb organisations and held rallies calling on governments to outlaw the use of nuclear weapons. But, despite this, the major countries of the world built more and more weapons of mass destruction.
Thank God that in leaving behind the 20th century we can leave all this behind, too. Some 187 countries have now agreed to a number of measures to limit and take out of service their nuclear weapons.
This is absolutely wonderful news. It represents a major step forward for human beings on this planet. In the past when science has invented weapons, they have always been used. For example, the terrible plague of land mines that we are now left with.
But nuclear weapons, although they were used on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, have never been used again.
Thank God that common sense is eventually being brought to bear on this problem.
Thank God that instead of risking human and planetary destruction, we can now look forward to the dismantling of these weapons. Of course, we are not out of the wood yet.
Accidents could still happen and no doubt some mad dictator somewhere could still use such a weapon. But with so many countries being willing to put their missiles aside we should rejoice.
People who are not believers will simply be thankful for the fact that some sanity has, at last, begun to reign.
As a believer I want to thank God for such a miracle. Having lived through the nuclear age with all its fears and terrors it seems to me that it is nothing short of a miracle that we didn't blow ourselves, and the planet, up.
Let's be thankful to God for the fact that the threat never materialised, and let's look to the future with optimism.
If human beings, with the help of God, can overcome such a terror, then it proves that we can build a world of justice and peace if we give our minds to it.
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