Almost 2,000 years ago, Jesus rode toward Jerusalem in what has come to be known as the triumphal entry. Scripture tells us that, as he caught sight of Jerusalem, he wept for the city, saying, "Would that you knew the things that make for peace" (Luke 19:41-42).
Today, with Jesus, we may be tempted to look upon Washington, D.C., and weep as our nation's leaders stubbornly refuse to learn the things that make for peace. Given unprecedented opportunities to lessen hostilities with the Soviet Union, our government instead chooses to continue a course of unbridled military competition that can only lead to an end more terrible than the one Jesus foresaw for Jerusalem (Luke 19:43-44).
In our own time, the awesome destructive power of nuclear weapons has brought home with new clarity the truth that the way of the sword cannot make for peace. Just as surely as we live by nuclear terror, we or our descendants will die by it. We can no longer live with the illusion that our weapons can save us or that they can defend the values of justice and freedom. In this apocalyptic era of our own design, the only defense remaining is the way of peace and reconciliation.
That is the reality of our time as illuminated by the gospel and the daily news. With a flurry of rhetoric and billions of dollars in high-tech contracts, the Reagan administration is striving desperately to revive the idea that the solution to the dead end of nuclear weapons lies in still more weapons. They call it a Strategic Defense Initiative. Others call it Star Wars.
Of course, these weapons are different. They are non-nuclear and purely defensive, we are told. As the president describes them, they are hardly weapons at all. They sound more like America's private guardian angels hovering above to protect us from the consequences of our actions. The president even claims to see "the hand of Providence" at work in his space weapons proposal.
This issue of Sojourners focuses on the Star Wars scheme. In the lead feature, we look behind the administration's veil of deceptions, blasphemies, and simple absurdities about Star Wars in search of the truth about this dangerous new phase of the arms race. Our interview this month is with a physicist who has taken a strong personal stand of non-cooperation with Star Wars and the nuclear arms race. Our Star Wars package concludes with some ideas and resources for church-based education and action.
One important opportunity for action against Star Wars is coming up very soon. On Pentecost Sunday, June 7, Christians in hundreds of towns and cities across the country will be gathering for public Peace Pentecost services calling the nation to turn away from Star Wars and toward a new path of peace and reconciliation.
More information on Peace Pentecost can be found on page 25 of this issue. Included on that page is a copy of the Peace Pentecost prayer which we hope will be used in thousands of churches as a sign of our unity as peacemakers and our repentance from the illusion and idolatry of weapons in space.
Danny Duncan Collum is a Sojourners contributing editor.
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