Break-in at Y-12

In The New Yorker, Eric Schlosser explores the history of the Catholic Plowshares operations against nuclear facilities, focusing on the recent break-in of three activists—including an 82-year-old nun—to the Y-12 National Security Complex known as the Fort Knox of Uranium. Plowshares operations were inspired by Dorothy Day, a socialist activist turned Catholic pacifist, and led by brothers and Catholic priests Philip and Daniel Berrigan, all of whom condemned the use and development of nuclear weapons. “Plowshares actions have not only revealed serious vulnerabilities in the security of America’s nuclear enterprise; they’ve also shed light on the inherent risks faced by every nation that possesses weapons of mass destruction,” Schlosser writes.

Read at The New Yorker

© 2011 Religion & Politics