Peace and a Political Dilemma for Wales
On 6 August, as the National Eisteddfod gathered at Y Garreg Las, Cytûn marked Hiroshima Day, 81 years since the first use of an atomic bomb in war. The event and its commemoration have particular significance this year.
Wales’s new Plaid Cymru Government is already facing a difficult political dilemma. How does a government led by a party committed to peace, human rights and international law reconcile those principles with its responsibilities for security, economic development and thousands of skilled jobs in Wales?
That tension has now become immediate. Welsh Government support for the forthcoming Defence Security Resilience Cymru summit in Newport has attracted criticism from peace campaigners, particularly given Plaid Cymru’s previous opposition to arms-industry events.
Ministers will not attend, although civil servants will be there to support Welsh businesses, while the Government develops a new ethical framework for the defence sector.
The Challenge to Theology and Witness
For the churches, these are questions of public theology as well as politics. These issues also fall within Cytûn’s shared policy priority of Citizenship – considering how Christians and the churches engage with the moral and political choices facing our society.
The Nonconformist and Dissenting tradition has a significant history of Christian witness for peace. That tradition is represented within Cytûn today by members including the Union of Welsh Independents and the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers), while the historic contribution of movements such as the Baptist peace movement in Wales, alongside continuing Christian witness for peace across the denominations.
Hiroshima Day Meditation
Earlier that day, the President of the Union of Welsh Independents led a meditation at the Cytûn stand, reflecting on Hiroshima, peace and the Christian calling to be peacemakers.
The meditation is available in Welsh only.
