Editorial April 26, 1982 Issue

Unilateral disarmament that works

BEULAH M. ROEGGE

Truth, righteousness, the gospel of peace, faith, salvation, the word of God—this is the armament that the writer of Ephesians calls for when he commands: "Take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand."^{See Eph. 6:13–17.} Truly impregnable armor is spiritual and is the ultimate defense. As it is put on, material armor can be put off.

Whenever military plans demand that guns be chosen over butter, and when the awfulness of modern technology's "guns" is paraded, it's not surprising to find people crying out for a way to stop the armaments race. Yet history tells us the weak are overrun. Even on a personal level, judgments differ regarding possession of firearms. There is the person who discards the antique family musket in symbolic protest while another member of the same family applies for a permit to carry a gun. Is it any wonder that disarmament talks proceed at a snail's pace? And is it altogether surprising that frustration and fear might make inroads into traditional alliances and confuse loyalties?

Commenting on recent peace demonstrations in Europe, a writer in the publication Foreign Affairs notes: "Instead of believing that the United States provides security and that the U.S.S.R. breeds insecurity, many young Europeans now feel the opposite." And further on, "... in Western Europe, the public mood is one of fearing war, of believing that the accumulation of weapons can only lead to war...."^{Stanley Hoffman, "NATO and Nuclear Weapons: Reasons and Unreason," Foreign Affairs, Vol. 60, No. 2 (Winter 1981–82), pp. 330–331 .}

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