This August marks the 80th year of the atomic age that began with the first and most recent use of nuclear weapons – on Japan just before the end of World War II. I say “most recent” instead of “last” because, while nuclear bombs have not been deployed as weapons since then, no one believes they never will be again. Under the “right” circumstances against the “right” enemy, there is little doubt that a future leader will decide to press the button as President Truman did in 1945.
Scottish theologian John Swinton, founder of the Center for Spirituality, Health, and Disability, asks, “What does it mean to be a disciple with a vocation when you do not have the intellectual capacities that religion often demands for participation in the faith?”