A silent prayer was held in Japan on Wednesday marking 80 years since the United States dropped an atomic bomb on the city of Hiroshima bringing World War Two to a dramatic end. Japanese prime minister Shigeru Ishiba attended a ceremony on Wednesday, together with officials from around the world and the city’s mayor Kazumi Matsui.
The BBC reported that Matsui warned of an “accelerating trend toward military build-up… [and] the idea that nuclear weapons are essential for national defence”, saying this was a “flagrant disregard [of] the lessons the international community should have learned from the tragedies of history”.
The bomb fell on 6 August, the Feast of Transfiguration, when we recall how Jesus and some of his disciples received a sign of the glory they are to encounter, and were changed for ever. Hiroshima changed the world for ever. The bombs killed over 200,000 people – some from the immediate blast and others from radiation sickness and burns – and others live today with the legacy of that awful day.
Read the story on the BBC here.
We need to learn the lessons of the tragedies of history, if we are you avoid this level of human suffering and devastation in the future. Yet the wars we see around us today, notably in Ukraine and Gaza, are deliberately exploiting the suffering of civilians as tools of war.
According to the Anglican Communion News Service, the House of Bishops in the Anglican Church in Japan shared a statement to coincide with the anniversary, emphasising their continued commitment to peace, reconciliation and reparation:
“On this 80th anniversary, we recall our unity in Christ as a sign of peace. We commit to faithfully practising the work outlined in the NSKK’s (Nippon Sei Ko Kai – the Anglican Church in Japan) War Responsibility Declaration and the 2023 Missionary Conference Appeal, and to proclaiming the reconciliation and peace shown through Christ’s death and resurrection.”
Read the full statement from the Anglican Church in Japan on the Anglican Communion News Service here.