May peace be with you all. That the 71 st General Convention of the Episcopal Church, in accordance with our faith in Jesus Christ, the Prince of Peace, urge the President of the United States, and the U.S. negotiators at Geneva, to take immediate international leadership in signing and implementing a comprehensive Test Ban Treaty in the coming year, and to pursue diplomatic initiatives for the complete elimination of nuclear weapons design, testing, and manufacture anywhere in the world. Any act aimed indiscriminately at the destruction of entire cities or extensive areas along with their population is a crime against God and humanity. It merits unequivocal and unhesitating condemnation. Today there is no logical reason for the retention and further development of cataclysmic firepower.
Nuclear deterrence prevents genuine disarmament.
It maintains an unacceptable hegemony over non-nuclear nations. It fuels arms race build-ups around the world. It spans a militarism that is choking off development for the poorest half of the world's population. It is a fundamental obstacle in achieving a new age of global security. Today we repeat these words, conscious that the widening agenda for global security is acquiring momentum.