Bishops Prepare Anti-Nuke Letter

United Methodist bishops, inspired by their Roman Catholic counterparts, are in the process of drafting a pastoral letter on nuclear armaments.

Testimony on the subject was taken here for two days last month from theologians, scientists, military experts, members of Congress and Reagan Administration officials.

The bishops, leaders of the nation’s second largest Protestant denomination, praised the 1983 Catholic pastoral letter against nuclear war.

They hope to “mobilize the church against the greatest threat to human survival today,” said Bishop C. P. Minnick Jr. of Raleigh, N. C., co-chairman of the project.

Some have indicated that they may come out against possession of nuclear arms. Catholic bishops accepted such possession conditionally, so long as genuine efforts were being made to reduce and eliminate nuclear arms.