Hiroshima + Nagasaki

I'm writing this because I feel sad and melancholy every single year at this time, because I know what took place 60 years ago on August 6th and 9th respectively. So I want to say a few things and make a few stands...

1. All war is hell, all war is sin.
2. The very existence (let alone usage) of atomic bombs is a slap in God's face - it is also a bigger threat to the idea of creationism and/or intelligent design than anything Darwin related.
3. Anyone who would justify atomic bombs for any reason believes in and worships a different god than I do.
4. By being the first nation to use nuclear weapons, the USA set a precedent it should not have set. The bombs targetted civilians, an act that we happen to define as "terrorism". In 1945, the USA lost its to combat "terrorism". The plank is still in our own eye...
5. George Bush is an evil person and is himself a "terrorist". Bush is in favour of the a-bomb and the h-bomb. Furthermore, he wishes to develop Bunker Blasters, a newer form using nuclear technology. It is complete ignorance and stupidity to underestimate the threat that such "weapons of mass destruction" still pose.
6. We owe apologies not only to the people who have suffered in all wars and all acts of mass violence - but also to the land. This includes not only Hiroshima and Nagasaki, but also New Mexico and the Nevada test site, and Chernobyl and the list goes on. We can only hope and pray that the earth can forgive us.
7. Following Jesus means following ways that lead to peace and opposing wars like the war in Iraq. Flower power to the people - ban the army. Make love not war. Listen to music that exists for the ideological purpose of educating people about war and violence so that peace may sought - both old hippie antiwar songs from the 60s and 70s but also modern bands that are relevant to current issues, like Funkervogt, an awesome German antiwar protest movement.

Live, love, be, believe
paxigoth

Hence justice, right reason, and the recognition of man's dignity cry out insistently for a cessation to the arms race. The stock-piles of armaments which have been built up in various countries must be reduced all round and simultaneously by the parties concerned. Nuclear weapons must be banned.

Pope John XXIII ~ Pacem in Terris

Sad how so many Catholics like to sweep this encyclical under the rug.

Ron has made a very good point. we Americains sit here in our comfy zones daring to give our enlightenment of what "should have been done" or what "should be done" in other countries. the fact is, us young people and even the ones that didn't serve the wars, weren't in the position to see both sides. we weren't on the line fighting for our lives. if i may assume this, but it seems as in battle/war, there comes a point to where the cause your fighting for is put on the backburner and your just hoping to come out alive. we have never been put into that situation here in america. thus our conscience and belief should not be of judgement. in my opinion? it should be compassion, understanding and begging God that we never come to that point again if that is at all possible. let's also be understanding to the Presidents of these situations. they saw both sides of the issue clearly. this was a major desicion about the President's shoulders. they knew the consequence, they had to know to even think of even doing it. maybe they didn't the fullest extent, neither the case, let's look at their shoes. a World War. none of us young people have ever seen something to that magnitude. this war in Iraq is a joke compared to the Great Wars. the idea that nation after nation is lining itself up against other nations? and the fact was, the invasion of that War was starting to come here. now, could the President done it another way? maybe. it's so sad to know that so many lives were lost.

but i will say this. when you have the likes of the Axis Powers at that time, so deadset on everything they wanted to give upon the world, then your going to effect of as many people dieing from one bomb, because that situation creates a situation to where you have, a wrong and a wrong as the possibilities. a country will always go in self-defense. we all believe in self-defense, no matter what the issue is.

if you want to get rid of nuclear bombs, change the world. if you want to get rid of war, change the world, and i feel safe to say that, hippies can't do it, Christians can't do it, no other believers of any other religions can do it, only God can, and it takes us as a whole to work together with humanity and God to the goal and we have a long way to go.

until then, i say pray and hope that we never come to that point again. leave the past where the past is. let those people who die remain in peace, not bring it back up as anti-anything propaganda, and leave what happened to them in peace. my opinion? what happened in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, should only be mentioned in history books, and not a word spoken about it for anti-war propaganda. why? because it belittles what actually happens when we use it for propaganda of some agenda. i say, leave it in the books and remain silent but yet never forget.

let us pray for our leaders, and pray optimistic prayers. have a sense of hope for our leaders in this country that, no matter of what the politics are behind everything, that they are doing the best they can do. we will never agree with everything they do and they will never be totally right with everything, but still pray and be hopeful/optimistc for those that are leading our country.

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“You will never be happy if you continue to search for what happiness consists of. You will never live if you are looking for the meaning of life.”
― Albert Camus

Ummm...Maybe I'm misreading, but Paxigoth isn't even talking about the military. I don't think he is making any sort of commentary on our armed forces. So, Ron, I think you need to reread and then rethink what you said. Paxi, is talking about WMD's like the Atomic Bomb and the H-Bomb. So he said war is hell, and it is sin. He didn't say that you, who served in the military, sinned. He said war itself is sin.

I have to agree with him about A-bombs. It is the height of hypocracy for us to police nations like Iraq for WMD's when we won't even get rid of our own. I think we do need to pull the plank out of our own eye, before we try to take the speck out of someone else's. Brennan Manning said it best. He said that so many of us claim to be pro-life and hate abortion. If we were really prolife we would hate these atrocious killers of men (WMDs) also. Those who are prolife, but don't shudder when innocents die at the hands of these type of weapons, should reevaluate their beliefs about the sanctity of life.

And before you spout about me sitting here comfy and not knowing what it's like...let me tell you...I can't fight for my country like you have. Why??? My country won't allow me to, because of who I am. Because I am gay, my country says that I can't serve her. I pay taxes, work, vote, etc. but I can't serve in the armed forces and be honest about who I am. That is pathetic and wrong. So, it is this country that keeps me from understanding what its like. So you can save that diatribe for someone else.

This is going to anger a lot of people, but I have to say it:

Did you serve in the Civil War??? Did you fight in WWII??? Did you fight in the Revolutionary War or the War of 1812???

If you didn't, then you didn't fight for my freedom or the freedom of America. Those are the only wars where there were either attacks made on America, or that the status of America's sovereignty was in the balance. If you fought in Vietnam, you fought to protect the South Vietnamese state...Korea...to stop the advance of Communism in that area. You didn't fight for America's freedom. America was a player, not the victim, not the agressor. You may have fought for American interests, but my freedom wasn't in Jeapordy in the Gulf War, nor was my mom's in Vietnam. I'm sorry, but that line about "fighting for your freedom" is over played and fallacious.

silly me... i thought vengeance was the Lord's to repay i guess it is actually bush and co's to pay
silly me... i thought my freedom/liberty was based on Jesus of nazareth i guess it is actually based on people killing each other
silly me... i thought people were here on earth to love each other and live in community and be human vessels of God i guess we are actually here to be good capitalists, have lots of entertainment and do whatever is self pleasing i'm so glad america has better living standards than most countries it helps me to forget all about following Jesus

Silly Us...I was under the same impression.

I stop reading posts like this when people make claims such as 'Bush is evil'. The poster clearly has no intention to enter into respecitful, convivial discussion.

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Nowadays, Church of England is much more, “Hello, how are you.” Much more a hobby-type… ”Hello.” A lot of people in Church of England have no muscles in their arms. “Hello, yes… Ha ha ha, yes, that’s what I thought. Ha ha. Do – do come in, you’re the only one today. Now the sermon today is taken from a magazine I found – that I found in a hedge. Now, uh, lipstick colors this, uh, season are in the, uh, frosted pink area and, uh, nail colors to match. And, uh, this reminds me rather of our Lord Jesus! Because surely, when Jesus went into Nazareth on a donkey, he must have got tarted up a bit. We will now sing four – hymn 405, “Oh God, What on Earth is, uh, is My Hairdo All About?” “Oh God, what on earth is my hai-airdo…”

Korea with the Navy on a nuclear submarine

You do realize, I'm sure, that Nuclear Submarines weren't around during the Korean War?

You do realize, I'm sure, that we never really left Korea, and that there are still soldiers there to this very day?