Antinuclear Beliefs.

In possibly its boldest maneuver of the decade the Catholic Church launched an official condemnation of nuclear warfare and the military buildup that was taking place in the United States. The official pastoral letter titled "The Challenge of Peace: God's Promise and Our Response" was a 155-page statement issued by the National Conference of Catholic Bishops on 3 May 1983. The document was two years in the making. During that difficult period bishops debated the merits of issuing such a statement, the political implications of their action, the theory of just war, and United States national security concerns. While the bishops were slow to act, several priests from around the nation took it upon themselves to respond to what they saw as the biggest moral crisis of recent decades. Archbishop Raymond Hunthausen of Seattle, Washington, became an ardent protester against nuclear weapons, so...