Group marks Lent with protest at nuclear test site
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A UMNS photo by Jan Snider The
Peace with Justice Committee of the California-Pacific Conference is an
organizer of the annual protest against nuclear weapons testing.
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The
Peace with Justice Committee of the California-Pacific Annual
(regional) Conference is one of the organizers of the annual protest
against nuclear weapons testing that takes place at a Nevada test site
about 65 miles northwest of Las Vegas. The United Methodist group has
been protesting nuclear weapons, the arms race and war for the past 25
years during the season of Lent. A UMNS photo by Jan Snider. Photo
#06376. Accompanies UMNS story #213. 4/12/06
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April 12, 2006
A UMNS Report
By Lilla Marigza*
Fifty years ago, tourists traveled to Las Vegas to watch mushroom clouds rise in the distance.
Between 1951 and 1991, more than 900 nuclear tests were conducted at a
site 65 miles northwest of the city. Science would not know until
decades later the environmental and health fallout from experiments at
the Nevada test site. It has been called the "most bombed place on
earth."
For the last 25 years, the site has been a draw not for tourists, but for anti-war and pro-environment demonstrators.
Margaret Fuller-Lindgren of Palm City, Calif., goes there every year
with a group of United Methodists. "When I come here it's very humbling,
but it's also very empowering," she says.
On this day, a group of about 20 United Methodists walks down an
otherwise empty stretch of paved road in the desert toward the test
site. They carry a banner with the cross and flame logo and the words
"May Peace Prevail on Earth." They are singing, "Walk With Me."
"It's a really moving experience, it really is," says Sarah Wright of
Crescent Heights United Methodist Church in West Hollywood, Calif.
On the road, lined by miles of sand and spotty desert vegetation,
they come to a white line on the pavement that marks the place where the
desert becomes restricted property. No one without an escort may cross
the line. The group crosses it.
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A UMNS photo by Jan Snider The
Rev. Lily Villamin, Long Beach (Calif.) District superintendent, leads a
communion service for protesters at the Nevada test site.
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The
Rev. Lily Villamin, Long Beach (Calif.) District superintendent, leads
protest participants in a service of Holy Communion at the Nevada desert
test site. For 25 years during the season of Lent, United Methodists
have held a protest at the nuclear weapons testing site, 65 miles
northwest of Las Vegas, to promote peace and an end to nuclear weapons.
A UMNS photo by Jan Snider. Photo #06377. Accompanies UMNS story #213.
4/12/06 |
The United Methodists are met by uniformed federal guards who lead
them to holding pens just inside the property line. It is here, in these
wire cages large enough for hundreds of people, that the group holds a
vigil. They are here to pray for peace and bring attention to what
nuclear testing can do to the environment.
The prayers are led by Joanne Yoon Fukumoto a peace and justice
educator for the United Methodist Church. "Our voices are heard, and we
have to continue until all weapons of mass destruction are no longer,"
she says.
The brief service inside the holding pen includes quiet reflection
and a blessing of the land. Demonstrators hope for a peace in the world
like the peace they find here in the desert.
"The group experience that we had with prayer and meditation was very
powerful, and I'm a grandmother and I can't not be here for my children
and my grandchildren," says Joyce Georgieff, a peace and justice
coordinator for the denomination and member of Spurgeon United Methodist
Church in Santa Anna, Calif.
Corbin Harney is among the group. "I've been here since '85 trying my
best to put a stop to this nonsense of testing a nuclear bomb," Harney
says. He is a Native American, a member of the Shoshone tribe. He says
his people lived with a communal spirit on this land for hundreds of
years as caretakers of "Mother Earth."
"Everything on this Mother Earth enjoys the earth," he says. "We
enjoy it but somehow we've been taught differently. When we start
putting poison on our mother, everything is going to disappear from us."
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A UMNS photo by Jan Snider United Methodists walk toward the Nevada desert test site in protest of nuclear weapons testing.
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United
Methodists walk toward the Nevada desert test site in protest of
nuclear weapons testing. For 25 years during the season of Lent, United
Methodists have held a protest at the nuclear weapons testing site, 65
miles northwest of Las Vegas, to promote peace and an end to nuclear
weapons. A UMNS photo by Jan Snider. Photo #06378. Accompanies UMNS
story #213. 4/12/06 |
Wearing a simple wooden cross around his neck, the Rev. Paul Kim,
pastor of First United Methodist in Santa Paula, Calif., is also among
the group on this mission. Kim knows firsthand the impact of large-scale
weapons. He grew up in South Korea in the 1950s following the Korean
War. He remembers, he says, "the poverty after the war ? destruction. ?
When I was living in the village, our town was destroyed."
Kim would like to see an end to the escalating arms race among
countries today. "So many people are dying by the military weapons
today. All people are God's children, so we need to love each other."
The group makes its annual trip to the Nevada test site during the
Lenten season. The Rev. Diana L. Johnson, pastor of Martin Luther King
United Methodist in Los Angeles, reflects on the significance of holding
the protest during Lent. "It's time to give up ignorance. It's time to
give up laziness. It's time to be on the move," she says. "Give that up
in the name of Jesus Christ and do something not just for yourself but
for your brothers and sisters all over the world."
Johnson has taken time to reflect on how nuclear testing here has an
impact on life everywhere. "We're looking at land that looks beautiful
on the surface, but there is so much damage underneath the surface," she
says. "Why are we concerned about that? When it rains and snows and the
wind blows, all of this shifts and comes not only to this beautiful
land but it goes all over the world."
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A UMNS photo by Jan Snider Protesters face arrest once they cross this line marking the boundary of the restricted weapons testing area.
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Protesters
face arrest once they cross this line marking the boundary of the
restricted nuclear weapons testing area. For 25 years, United Methodists
have held a Lenten season protest at the Nevada desert testing site, 65
miles northwest of Las Vegas, to promote peace and an end to nuclear
weapons. A UMNS photo by Jan Snider. Photo #06379. Accompanies UMNS
story #213. 4/12/06 |
Twenty-five years ago, when protest began at the Nevada test site,
the group numbered in the hundreds for the annual pilgrimage into the
desert. This year, it's dwindled to less than two dozen.
"In the '80s, it was a little easier because there were thousands of
people coming, so it was sad to me that it kind of fell off. We don't
have as many people. So then I think it's all the more important that we
come," Fuller-Lindgren says.
Her fellow missionaries on this delegation agree. "This year is small, but I don't think the numbers matter," Wright says.
Fukumoto says she and others will continue to visit the site to pray,
remembering Christ's promise that where people are gathered in his
name, he is with them. "We know that God is really present in the
desert, that God looks down upon us and finds favor with peacemakers,
and that's what we are, peacemakers."
*Marigza is a freelance producer in Nashville, Tenn.
News media contact: Fran Coode Walsh, Nashville, Tenn., (615) 742-5458 or newsdesk@umcom.org.
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