Hiroshima/Nagasaki Commemorations in Princeton & Doylestown Aug. 5-6

The Coalition for Peace Action (CFPA) is sponsoring three events in conjunction with the 72ndanniversary of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. On Sunday, August 5, the first commemoration event will begin with a Bring-Your-Own Picnic at 6 PM (no alcoholic beverages permitted), followed by a Program from 7:00-8:45 PM at Hinds Plaza, adjacent to the Princeton Public Library at 65 Witherspoon Street.

The Program beginning at 7:00 PM and will include a minute of silence at 7:16 PM, which corresponds to the Japanese time that the bomb dropped on Hiroshima (8:16 AM on August 6), killing about 140,000 civilians and gravely wounding hundreds of thousands more.

The Program's keynote speaker will be Dr. Alex Wellerstein, a historian of nuclear weapons from Stevens Institute of Technology. His general research interests are in the history of nuclear technology, government secrecy, and Cold War science. Poet David Steinberg, who has been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize, will read poems. The Solidarity Singers of the New Jersey State Industrial Union Council will provide music.

Also on Sunday, August 5, CFPA Executive Director, the Rev. Robert Moore, an ordained minister in the United Church of Christ who has been working full time to globally abolish nuclear weapons for over 40 years, will preach on The Faith Imperatives of the Nuclear Weapons Era at the 10 AM Christian Worship Service at Christ Congregation, 50 Walnut Lane in Princeton. The public is invited.

On Monday, August 6, CFPA is co-sponsoring a Vigil from 5:30-6:30 PM at the corner of State & Main Streets in Doylestown, PA. Eight large "Abolish Nuclear War" banners will be flown and origami peace cranes will be handed out to passersby. For further information, contact Jenny Isaacs of Doylestown Friends Meeting Peace & Social Concerns Committee, the other co-sponsor, at jenny.isaacs@gmail.com or 267-221-7604.

"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 72nd Anniversary, we call for building on last summer's passage of the Nuclear Ban Treaty at the UN, and re-commit ourselves to working for the global abolition of nuclear weapons so such total destruction can never again be inflicted," said the Rev. Robert Moore, CFPA's executive director.