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Atheism & Nuclear War
It should be obvious that atheism does not have anything specific to say about nuclear war.
Atheism naturally cannot say anything about an issue that does not relate to the existence or non-existence of gods. However, an atheist position very well may take a position for the complete eradication of the Christian concept for ‘just war’ based on divine command as was explored in my book. That is what I will do in this post.
We know from cinema and books that nuclear war of cataclysmic proportions is very much a threat. The Cold War saw an influx of cinema-related to the dangers of nuclear war. On the Beach (1959) creates a fictitious scenario where Australians are forced to face the fact that all life will end in a few months; Threads (1984) depicts a world where in Sheffield, England, working-class citizens are battling the long-term effects of nuclear war; The Day After (1983) shows the aftermath of a nuclear holocaust on the life of residents in a small town in eastern Kansas; By Dawn’s Early Light (1990) features a scenario where Turkey fires a nuclear missile at the USSR; and so forth.
Films filled the imaginations of everyday viewers of what might come to be if the USSR and the USA, the two major superpowers in the middle of an arms race, collide.
But how real are these threats? In the previous chapter, we looked at some of…
