Nuclear disarmament resolution

Guest speaker at church Sunday, November 10th:  Dr. Ira Helfand

On August 18th, Rev. Dr. Peter Kakos joined us for worship and shared a few words of greeting. At that time, he mentioned the resolution that he had presented at the 32nd General Synod of the United Church of Christ that was held in Milwaukee from June 21st - 25th.

The resolution called for the United States to pull “Back From The Brink” and Prevent Nuclear War. The motion passed by a huge margin.
To read the entirety of the resolution, please click on this link:
https://www.uccfiles.com/synod/2019/resolutions/10-Prevent-Nuclear-War.pdf

After our worship Service, Rev. Kakos was invited to our Church Council meeting to speak more on the topic. At that meeting, our Church Council decided to move forward with presenting the resolution to the entire congregation for discussion and possible action.

With this in mind, we have invited Dr. Ira Helfand to address the congregation for about 10 minutes at the end of this Sunday's Service, November 10th.

Dr. Helfand is the co-chair, Nuclear Weapons Abolition Committee and is an emergency medicine physician in Northampton, Massachusetts
Ira Helfand, MD is co-chair of Physicians for Social Responsibility’s (PSR) Nuclear Weapons Abolition Committee and also serves as co-president of PSR’s global federation, International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War (IPPNW).
Dr. Helfand has worked for many years as an emergency room physician and now practices internal medicine at an urgent care center.
Dr. Helfand represents IPPNW at the annual World Summit of Nobel Peace Laureates. He is also a member of the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN)’s International Steering Committee.
Dr. Helfand co-authored PSR’s report, Nuclear Famine: 2 Billion at Risk?, which outlines the global health consequences of regional nuclear war. He was a leading medical voice in ICAN’s campaign for the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons.
Dr. Helfand addressed national delegations at international conferences on the Humanitarian Impact of Nuclear Weapons in Oslo, Norway, Narayit, Mexico, and Vienna, Austria, during the May 2016 U.N. Open-Ended Working Group on disarmament in Geneva, and throughout the U.N. General Assembly negotiations in 2017.

We invite any and all to come to our worship Service this Sunday and to hear Dr. Helfand's presentation. There will be an opportunity to ask him questions.
​
With the information presented in the resolution and in Dr. Helfand's address to the congregation, we will then be better prepared to discuss and to then vote as to whether or not our congregation wishes to sign the UCC resolution on nuclear disarmament.
​This vote is planned for our Annual Meeting on January 19, 2020.