October 21, 2020, 2:00 p.m.–3:00 p.m. EDT
New START (Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty), the last remaining nuclear weapons agreement between the United States and Russia, expires in February 2021 unless both sides agree to a five-year extension. The treaty, ratified almost a decade ago, limits the number of deployed strategic nuclear weapons to levels far below those of the Cold War.
With the deadline for renewal just months away, what are the current prospects for New START? How does its renewal fit into the wider ethical and policy debates on nuclear arms control and disarmament? And how can Catholic and evangelical Protestant communities mobilize in support of the agreement? This panel discussion will feature prominent evangelical and Catholic leaders and scholars who will explore these timely and important issues.
Panelists included: Sam Nunn, Former US Senator, Founder and Co-Chair, Nuclear Threat Initiative; Walter Kim, President, National Association of Evangelicals; Lucas Koach, Director, Office of International Justice and Peace, US Conference of Catholic Bishops; Maryann Cusimano Love, Associate Professor of International Relations, The Catholic University of America; John Hartley, Director, World Evangelical Alliance Global Task Force on Nuclear Weapons, Research Scholar, Yale University. The discussion was moderated by Maura Policelli, executive director of the Keough School of Global Affairs' Washington Office.
This event was presented by the University of Notre Dame’s Keough School of Global Affairs and Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies, in partnership with the following co-sponsors: The Catholic Peacebuilding Network, National Association of Evangelicals, United States Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Office of International Justice and Peace, Nuclear Threat Initiative, World Evangelical Alliance Global Task Force on Disarmament and Nuclear Weapons, Georgetown University’s Berkley Center for Religion, Peace & World Affairs, The Catholic University of America’s Institute for Policy Research, and The Project on Revitalizing Catholic Engagement on Nuclear Disarmament.