From Bishop William Swing: Message to Regional and Global Staff/Call to Prayer

1 August 2016

Aug 01, 2016. 

Dear URI Colleagues, 

When August 6 rolls around and the world remembers the first atomic bomb hitting Hiroshima, deep inside many of us, we shudder. And we try to kid ourselves that the nuclear threat, now thousands of times more menacing, is successfully being held in check. 

But....what if it isn't in check?  What if accidents happen?  What if, the strongest nations are only kidding themselves, because they think that they are relevant by virtue of possessing the bomb?  Or more relevant because they possess many such bombs? What if their smug sense of domineering relevance is a mistake about how human nature actually works? What if people are flawed? Nations are flawed?  Can you imagine that political leaders could sometimes be flawed?  And make big mistakes?   

We cannot continue to put weapons of mass destruction, or beyond mass destruction, in the hands of non-perfect politicians and nations and trust that nothing cataclysmic is ever going to happen. The height of naivete!  If they can threaten all of life with collective annihilation, then, for starters, we can offer a collective prayer on behalf of all life. Next,  we can live into our prayer. 

A Cooperation Circle of URI, Voices for a World Free of Nuclear Weapons has such a prayer (see information below).  As August 6 roles around, the URI family is encouraged to join in saying this prayer and living into its primal cry.  

Thank you,    +William E. Swing 

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  • Encourage your friends to share the link and the video with their networks as well 

  • Organize a small group of people from different faith groups to say the prayer between Aug 5-8 

  • Download the PDF of the prayer at www.thenuclearprayer.org 

  • Take a short video of you saying the prayer, and send that video to [email protected] 

  • Download the attached press packet and send to media contacts, political figures and other people of influence in your community