Passing the buck.Passing the Buck AMERICA'S Roman Catholic bishops are preparing another letter on nuclear war, to be issued in June, and the relevant committee has released a draft. Their first pastoral letter Pastoral letters are open letters addressed by a bishop to the clergy or laity of his diocese, or to both, containing either general admonition, instruction or consolation, or directions for behaviour in particular circumstances. on the subject, five years ago, as released only six weeks after President Reagan announced SDI (1) (Serial Digital Interface) A physical interface widely used for transmitting digital video in various formats. For electrical transmission, it uses a high grade of coaxial cable and a single BNC connector with Teflon insulation. , and so could not take it into account. The new draft does -- inadequately. The bishops acknowledge that "some" of SDI's objectives -- moving away from long-term reliance on deterrence deterrence Military strategy whereby one power uses the threat of reprisal to preclude an attack from an adversary. The term largely refers to the basic strategy of the nuclear powers and the major alliance systems. , protecting society as a whole -- "correspond to key themes" of their first letter. But they conclude that the SDI project should be continued without deployment and within the limits of the ABM ABM: see guided missile. ABM - Asynchronous Balanced Mode treaty -- which, in effect, kills SDI. The bishops get from here to there with the assisatance of four "principles": 1) "that the framework of arms-control agreements and negotiations not be eroded e·rode v. e·rod·ed, e·rod·ing, e·rodes v.tr. 1. To wear (something) away by or as if by abrasion: Waves eroded the shore. 2. To eat into; corrode. or made more difficult", 2) "that a new surge of offensive competition not be stimulated", 3) "that the stability of deterrence not be weakened in an untested attempt to transcend" it; and 4) "that defense spending as a whole not absorb a morally disproportionate percentage of the federal budget." Some preliminary objections to these principles, are obvious. The morally proportionate percentage of the budget that should go to defense is whatever it takes to stay safe and free. Whether SDI will provoke a "surge" of offensive competition is impossible to say; it will certainly provoke some, somewhere down the line. The defense always stimulates the offense, and vice versa VICE VERSA. On the contrary; on opposite sides. , and will continue to do so, until the bishops' committee on ending Original Sin original sin, in Christian theology, the sin of Adam, by which all humankind fell from divine grace. Saint Augustine was the fundamental theologian in the formulation of this doctrine, which states that the essentially graceless nature of humanity requires redemption brings in its final report. But the most problematic principle is the first, which places an absolute (disporportionate?) value on negotiations. The "framework" can always be "eroded" by the displeasure of one of the parties. If one party dislikes something, then it becomes a priori a priori In epistemology, knowledge that is independent of all particular experiences, as opposed to a posteriori (or empirical) knowledge, which derives from experience. unacceptable. What the bishops, like all postulants at the shrine of the arms-control process, have done is to offer themselves as permanment hostages to the bad opinion of the Soviets. It is not surprising, therefore, that the bishops' opinion of SDI should conicide with Gorbachev's. The structure of the bishops' argument strangely resembles that of liberal Catholic politicians who explain their support of the abortion as deference to consensus. In each case, the moral buck is passed -- to negotiations, or to the electorate. If something is worth doing, it may be worth doing over the objections of others -- especially the objections of enemies. |
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