The Nuns, the Priests, and the Bombs

The Nuns, the Priests, and the Bombs (2018) was written and directed by Helen Young. It's a documentary depicting the brave women and men of the Plowshares movement.

The Plowshares movement takes literally the Biblical imperative to turn swords into plowshares. They spend most of their lives and their energy working to bring an end to the nuclear arms race. Sometimes they enter "secure" nuclear facilities and spray-paint messages of peace on or near the nuclear weapons. Many of them spend years in jail for their peaceful, nonviolent protests.

It's true that some Plowshares people are nuns and priests, but Plowshares welcomes dedicated lay people as well. They concentrate on nuclear weapons facilities, because they realize the enormous, terrible, destruction that a nuclear war would bring about.

Many peace activists--like myself--are worried about nuclear weapons. However, there are so many bad things happening--both within and outside the U.S.--that opposition to nuclear weapons moves down the list of priorities.

That's why we need to see a documentary like this to remind us that nuclear weapons threaten human existence on our planet.

We saw this movie courtesy of Geneseo Peace Action, the student peace group on the SUNY Geneseo campus. I congratulate Geneseo Peace Action for making the film available. My suggestion--watch the film and then find a way to encourage other people to see it. It's a matter of life and death.