This Community Affirmation was affirmed at the June 1982 International Religious Convocation for the Second United Nations Special Session on Disarmament.  It remains timely today.

 

Community Affirmation

 

We who live in the shadow of the mushroom cloud and the dangers of bullets on our streets

Today declare our hope in the future.

 

From the diversity of our religious traditions

We have come to renew our belief in the holiness of the earth and the sanctity of all life.

We declare we are at peace with all people of good will.

 

We need no leader to define for us an enemy

Nor to tell us we need weapons for security.

 

Instead we affirm that our earth’s security rests not in armaments, but

In the justice of adequate housing and food

In the justice of meaningful education and work,

In the justice of an economic order that gives everyone access to our earth’s abundance,

In the justice of human relationships nourished by cooperation,

In the justice of safe, clean and renewable energy instead of the perils of nuclear power

 

We affirm people over property, community over privatism,

Respect for others regardless of sex, race, or class.

 

We choose struggle rather than indifference.

We choose to be friends of the earth and of one another rather than exploiters.

We choose to be citizens rather than subjects.

We choose to be peacemakers rather than peacekeepers.

We choose a weapons-free future.

And we will settle for nothing less.

 

We unite ourselves with sisters and brothers the world over

To join together in communities of resistance to the threat of weapons.

We unite ourselves with trust in the Spirit of Life.

Justice and love can overcome the machines of destruction.

 

Before us today are set life and death.

We choose life

That we and our children may live.