Group Responds to Trump's Thrice-Repeated Interest in Using Nuclear Weapons With Statement & Events in Princeton, NJ and Doylestown, PA Commemorating 71st Anniversary of the Atomic Bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki

The Princeton-based Coalition for Peace Action (CFPA) is responding to Wednesday's revelations from MSNBC's Joe Scarborough that Donald Trump recently asked a national security expert three times why, since the US has nuclear weapons, it can't use them. A statement by the Rev. Robert Moore, CFPA's executive director, is immediately below, followed by information on three events CFPA is sponsoring three events in conjunction with this weekend's anniversary of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

"It is terrifying that Donald Trump, the Republican Party's nominee to be our next Commander in Chief, is so anxious to use nuclear weapons. I have been to Hiroshima and Nagasaki, seen the artifacts of the atomic bombings, and met with the survivors who were still suffering horribly decades after those cities were completely destroyed, killing an estimated 210,000 human beings with just two of what would today be considered very small bombs.

Today, about 15,000 nuclear weapons still exist, with several thousand deployed on hair trigger alert able to be fired in minutes. A recent study by the Nobel Prize winning International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War concluded that the use of even 100 of those could result in one billion deaths.

Thinking of these weapons as 'useable' is insane and the ultimate sin. Every major faith has called for complete renunciation of these weapons. Such loose talk demonstrates that the only way to ensure that such doomsday weapons aren't used again is to globally abolish them for everyone. They simply can't be trusted in human hands.

It wasn't that long ago that President Reagan, also a Republican, joined former Soviet leader Gorbachev in saying that 'nuclear war cannot be won and must never be fought.' Former President George H.W. Bush unilaterally eliminated thousands of nuclear weapons, and the Soviets reciprocated. He also negotiated a treaty to abolish chemical weapons, and the US Senate ratified it. It is time to abolish the most dangerous weapons of all, not to talk loosely about using them," said the Rev. Robert Moore, CFPA Executive Director.

The Coalition for Peace Action (CFPA) is sponsoring three events in conjunction with the 71^st anniversary of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. On Friday, August 5, the first commemoration event will begin with a Bring-Your-Own Picnic at 6:30 PM (no alcoholic beverages permitted), followed by the outdoor Program from 7:30-8:45 PM at Tiger Park in the front of Palmer Square in Princeton.

The keynote speaker for the 7:30 PM Rally will be Dr. Zia Mian, Director of the Project on Peace and Security in South Asia of Princeton University's Program on Science and Global Security (PSGS). Dr. Mian is also Co-Director of PSGS and Co-Chair of the International Panel on Fissile Materials. His most recent book is Unmaking the Bomb: A Fissile Material Approach to Nuclear Disarmament and Nonproliferation (with Harold Feiveson, Alexander Glaser, and Frank von Hippel, MIT Press, 2014).

The Rev. Robert Moore, CFPA's Executive Director, who has visited Hiroshima and Nagasaki and met with survivors of the atomic bombings, will also speak. The Solidarity Singers of the New Jersey State Industrial Union Council will perform music.

On Thursday, August 6, CFPA is co-sponsoring a Vigil from 10 AM to 12 Noon at the Doylestown Friends Meeting at the corner of State & Main Streets in Doylestown, PA. CFPA's Buxmont chapters are co-sponsoring the Vigil with The Peace Center. For further information, contact Jenny Isaacs of Doylestown Friends Meeting Peace & Social Concerns Committee at jenny.isaacs@gmail.com

On Sunday, August 7, CFPA Executive Director, the Rev. Bob Moore, who is also Co-Pastor of Christ Congregation, 50 Walnut Lane in Princeton, will preach on Choose Life: God's Call to Abolish Nuclear Weapons at the 10 AM Christian Worship Service at the church. The worship area is air-conditioned, and the public is invited.

"The purpose of these Commemorations is not to look back with 20-20 hindsight to question whether the atomic bombings in 1945 were justified. What's done is done. Rather, our reason for having these commemorations is to remember the absolute horror that nuclear weapons represent, and the real and growing threat they present today. On this 71^st Anniversary, we call for cancellation of the US government's planned $1 trillion build-up of its nuclear arsenal, and re-commit ourselves to working for the global abolition of nuclear weapons so such total destruction can never again be inflicted on anyone," said the Rev. Robert Moore, CFPA's executive director.