A president should not even hint at nuclear genocide

The threat of [nuclear weapons’] use, as well as their very possession, is to be firmly condemned. For they exist in the service of a mentality of fear that affects not only the parties in conflict but the entire human race. International relations cannot be held captive to military force, mutual intimidation, and the parading of stockpiles of arms.

—Pope Francis, address on freedom from nuclear weapons, 10 November 2017

A president should not even hint at nuclear genocide

On Tuesday evening, April 7, President Trump posted a threat against Iran that many interpreted as a plan to use nuclear weapons for the first time in 80 years: “A whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again.” While a ceasefire has been brokered, it is very fragile, especially after such inflammatory rhetoric. Mercy’s Critical Concern for Nonviolence is a central tenet of not only the Sisters of Mercy but of all those who follow Jesus.

Please urge members of Congress to take actions that will both restrain the Trump administration from prosecuting this war in Iran and rebuke the language of genocide and even nuclear-adjacent rhetoric. You may use the draft email in the grey box at right (below on mobile devices) to urge your three members of Congress (two senators and one representative) to release a public statement (or point you to one they already made) denouncing President Trump’s threats against civilians and civilian infrastructure and especially rebuking language that can even imply the intent to use nuclear weapons. Members of Congress also have the power to block additional funding requests to enable this war of choice in Iran, to force War Powers Resolution votes to halt further aggression, and to hold Trump administration official accountable for their actions in violation of both the letter and spirit of laws and the Constitution.