Summary and Critical Analysis of the U.S. Catholic Bishop's Draft Letter--The Challenge of Peace: God's Promise and Our Response.

摘要

This report opens with a 1500 word summary of the Bishop's 24,000 word draft pastoral letter. A critical analysis of each of the document's four sections follows. The final chapter offers a view of the impact of this letter on military preparedness. There are only two moral injunctions addressed to Catholic military personnel: it is immoral to target cities and the arms race is condemned as dangerous and wasteful of resources. The admonition against a first strike with nuclear weapons is ambigeous enough to permit individual interpretation. Intentional targeting of cities has been outlawed by international conventions and agreements for years. The arms race condemnation is so non-specific that its effect on U.S. military personnel is nil. (Author)