Ask the Defence Secretary to cancel Westminster Abbey celebration of 50 years of CASD

The Royal Navy will host a National Service of Thanksgiving to mark 50 years of the Continuous at Sea Deterrent (CASD) on the 3rd of May. New CASD Dreadnought submarines are currently being constructed as part of a £205 billion Trident replacement scheme.

A service of thanksgiving for Britain’s nuclear weapons system is highly inappropriate and morally questionable. It sends out a terrible message to the world about our country. It says that here in Britain we celebrate weapons that can kill millions of people.

The decision to host this service in Westminster Abbey is contrary to the motion passed by the Church of England General Synod in July 2018. That motion says that “nuclear weapons, through their indiscriminate and destructive potential, present a distinct category of weaponry that requires Christians to work tirelessly for their elimination across the world.”

Successive UK governments – since our ratification of the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty - have claimed to support the goal of a world without nuclear weapons, yet our government today appears to be comfortable celebrating these deadly weapons.

We are calling on the government to reconsider their ill-judged decision to celebrate these weapons of mass destruction. If the service does go ahead we will protest outside the Abbey on the day.

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Dear Secretary of State,
I was shocked to learn that the Royal Navy plans to host a National Service of Thanksgiving to mark 50 years of the so-called ‘Continuous At Sea Deterrent’ (CASD) at Westminster Abbey on the 3rd of May.
A service of thanksgiving for Britain’s nuclear weapons system is highly inappropriate and morally questionable. It sends out a terrible message to the world about our country. It says that here in Britain we celebrate weapons that can kill millions of people.
The decision to host this service in Westminster Abbey is contrary to the motion passed by the Church of England General Synod in July 2018. That motion says that “nuclear weapons, through their indiscriminate and destructive potential, present a distinct category of weaponry that requires Christians to work tirelessly for their elimination across the world.”
Successive UK governments – since our ratification of the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty - have claimed to support the goal of a world without nuclear weapons, yet our government today appears to be comfortable celebrating these deadly weapons.
I urge you to reconsider your department’s ill-judged decision to celebrate these weapons of mass destruction. If the service does go ahead I will support the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament’s protest outside the Abbey on the day.

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