by Masamichi Kamiya

When the Nobel Peace Prize Committee announced that the prize for 2009 was being awarded to President Barack Obama of the United States, a controversy arose basically on two fronts. Some people argued that Mr. Obama had not yet achieved much on the world political stage, and some criticized the committee's decision by saying that he is the commander in chief of the U.S. military, which is currently fighting two wars, one in Iraq and the other in Afghanistan.

At the Oslo City Hall in Norway on December 10, 2009, Mr. Obama delivered his acceptance speech for the prize, in which he tried to respond to the above criticisms. But to me, his speech illustrated very clearly a dilemma arising from the consideration of issues of war and peace.

In his speech, while spotlighting the well-known achievements of Martin Luther King Jr. and Mahatma Gandhi, who are considered personifications of nonviolence, Mr. Obama stated: "I cannot be guided by their examples alone." Then he orchestrated his argument toward a "just war" to protect peace, justice, human rights, democracy, and so on. As long as evil exists in the world, Mr. Obama stressed, "the instruments of war do have a role to play in preserving the peace."

Here is the dilemma. In order to preserve the peace, war is justified and accordingly waged! This dilemma has been tackled for many centuries by many great individuals over the course of human history.

How can humanity overcome this dilemma, particularly in an age of nuclear weapons? The following are some of my thoughts, as someone who believes in the teachings of Buddhism.

First of all, people of religion must rediscover the doctrines of their respective faiths with refreshed eyes of love and compassion. Buddhism stresses: "Do not harm others because they care for themselves most, as you care for yourself most." In Christianity, it is said: "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you." Love and compassion must prevail over hatred, anger, and ruthless discrimination against fellow human beings.

Second, even though war is justified in certain instances by decision makers in world politics, such as President Obama, we must not neglect the fact that any war waged definitely brings about overwhelming tragedy, which amplifies human suffering. In this regard, people of religion must be the strongest advocates for trumpeting the immorality of war. Nuclear weapons are the most detested tools of immorality for possible use in an act of war. Therefore, the voices of faith communities must be heard to say that nuclear weapons must be eliminated.

Third, although war is sometimes justified, it must be stressed that the threat or use of nuclear weapons is fundamentally against the rules of international humanitarian law. The international community must bear in mind that the International Court of Justice, in its advisory opinion of July 8, 1996, said that "the threat or use of nuclear weapons would generally be contrary to the rules of international law applicable in armed conflict, and in particular, the principles and rules of humanitarian law." People of religion must not be strangers to international law, which guarantees the well-being of humankind from the legal perspective. They must also be aware of international legal standards.

Fourth, in view of the catastrophic power possessed by nuclear weapons, we must spare no effort in urging governments to heighten the threshold for using nuclear weapons from a threefold perspective, namely, (1) to reduce the number of nuclear weapons, (2) to reduce the role of nuclear weapons, and (3) to reduce the threat of those weapons. Governments are not exclusive players in dealing with the issue of nuclear weapons. Nongovernmental organizations, scholars, peace practitioners and advocates, the media, and people in civil society alike have an important role to play. Faith communities are no exception.

Nuclear disarmament is often thought of as an objective that peace-loving citizens of the world should seek. While still respecting that view I think nuclear disarmament should be regarded as a tool or vehicle that can help transform the world of war into a world of peace. If human beings are destined "to beat their swords into plowshares," they will someday eliminate nuclear weapons once and for all and bring about a civilized human society where the dilemma of issues of war and peace has vanished and the illegitimacy of war and armed conflict under any and all circumstances is fully observed.