Antinuclear Movement.

Mainline churches were heavily involved in the growing antinuclear movement of the 1980s. The Religious Society of Friends (Quakers), the Unitarian-Universalists, and the United Church of Christ launched separate large-scale campaigns against the creation and use of nuclear weapons. The Quakers' "New Call to Peacemaking" campaign, which was first launched in 1979, stressed the role that churches had in the peace process and encouraged mainline churches to become more involved in this crucial issue. In 1982 the Reverend Billy Graham, the respected Baptist minister and friend to several U.S. presidents, became involved in the antinuclear movement despite being urged not to by the Reagan administration. Graham traveled to the Soviet Union to attend the World Conference on Religious Workers for Saving the Sacred Gift of Life from Nuclear Catastrophe, sponsored by the Russian Orthodox Church. This event brought together more...