Can We Stop Evil With a Targeted Nuclear Strike?

“The whole world lieth in wickedness” — the Apostle John wrote almost 2,000 years ago.

All these years, the best minds of mankind: priests, scientists, doctors, cultural and art workers, public figures and politicians have been trying to do their best to prevent evil from spreading uncontrollably.

Man has achieved a lot: he split the atom, learned to fly into space, invented powerful computers, made amazing discoveries in the field of medicine, developed powerful economic systems. But to solve the problem of evil is still almost impossible. And even outstanding scientific discoveries are often used by mankind to commit evil.

Nuclear energy, which is supposed to serve us well by generating electricity, serving our industry and new technologies, lighting and heating our homes, becomes stuffing for murder weapons.

And again we hear the voices of Western politicians who convince us that with the help of nuclear weapons it is possible to solve the problem of evil. There are calls for the preventive use of the energy of a nuclear explosion in order to stop military conflicts, to give happiness and peace to tormented humanity, peace to children and bread to the hungry.

The stupidity and hypocrisy of such statements are well known to those who themselves suffered from the consequences of nuclear aggression and man-made disasters. Such appeals are not heard either from the old-timers of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, or from the liquidators of the consequences of accidents in Bhopal, Chernobyl and Fukushima.

It is noteworthy that military doctrines like “Massive retaliation” or “Flexible response strategy” (between which there is no significant difference, because each implies the use of nuclear weapons as a reaction to aggression) appear in countries that are in words for peace, but are only concerned with building up forces , satisfying their own political and economic ambitions, spreading their own influence.

It seems that the lessons of history do not teach us anything.

The voice of the Church is no longer in vogue today. Forgotten are the appeals of the Roman Pontiffs and Orthodox Patriarchs. Today we are told: “Your views are outdated, you have not achieved peace with your sermons and statements. Let us achieve peace with «selective nuclear strikes on interdiction targets» and «limited use of nuclear weapons».”

However, I will still say it! Destroying or containing evil with nuclear strikes is like putting out fire with gasoline!

First, a nuclear strike destroys even the secular concept of power parity. For a long time, it was believed that such parity was the key to maintaining peace. But even a targeted nuclear strike will upset this delicate balance.

Secondly, a nuclear strike will inevitably entail other strikes. It is naive to assume that there will be no answer. Politicians and the military are accustomed to act in such a way as not to be the loser. At the same time, human sacrifice and suffering are not particularly impressive. A targeted nuclear strike will almost certainly develop into a full-scale nuclear war, in which there will be no winners. Everyone knows that you cannot shoot on board an aircraft in the air, even if the policeman needs to restrain the aggression of a raging criminal. The shot will lead to depressurization of the aircraft and the death of all people on board. Our world is like such an airplane. One nuclear “shot” – and our world can no longer be saved.

Thirdly, a nuclear strike cannot be morally justified. We know that in exceptional cases, determined by the moral principles of just war, some use of force is allowed. The Church recognizes that every nation has the right and duty to defend itself against unjust aggression. However, one of the main principles of acceptable military action is that soldiers fight soldiers, trying to minimize civilian casualties. In a nuclear strike, civilian casualties no longer fit into the category of collateral losses and statistical errors. A nuclear strike cannot only hit military targets and only kill enemy soldiers. This is an open and targeted killing of civilians.

And finally, let’s heed the words of Pope John XXIII: “Peace on earth, which people at all times yearn for, can be restored and strengthened only in full respect for the order created by God.”

There is no other viable concept that can contain evil and promote peace. We have only one way – a strong-willed and resolute renunciation of the use of nuclear weapons in any form. And the search for common ground for the development of a dialogue between people of goodwill. All people are brothers, and even in a very acute conflict situation, we must strive to resolve conflicts in a brotherly way, on the basis of mutual benevolence.