NEWSBRIEF, October 2000:

Nuclear Weapons Still Concern the Churches

Nuclear weapons remain a dangerous threat in the search for global peace, and NATO should be pressed to live up to its commitments in the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT). That was the conclusion of a meeting held in Brussels in October for church leaders from Europe and North America. Organised by CEC, in conjunction with the World Council of Churches (WCC) and Project Ploughshares, which is linked to the Canadian Council of Churches, the gathering was attended by church representatives from the USA and Europe and was addressed by a senior NATO official. Church leaders are now to visit non-nuclear NATO member states prior to NATO's defence review in December, in order to ask their governments to ensure that NATO's obligations under the NPT are met. CEC Central Committee approved the idea at its recent meeting in Romania, adding that member churches should be alerted to the urgency of this issue. It also encouraged churches to take up the issue with their own governments.