Just war theory involves the ethical criteria used in dealing with a decision of whether or not to go to war.
On March 24, 2006, Kim Lawton, on episode no. 930 of PBS' Religion and Ethics, explained just war tradition in these terms ".......a set of teachings that began with Saint Augustine in the 4th century and were further developed by Saint Thomas Aquinas in the 13th century. The tradition says in order for a war to be just; there must be a just cause; it must be declared by the proper government authority; there must be a right intention and a probability of success. War must be a last resort, and the means used should be proportional to the desired ends." Based on this criteria I am personally inclined to think that the Iraq War met only one of the criteria listed above and is therefore not a just war. What do you think?
The full transcript of the above mentioned program can be found at Religion and Ethics
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
1 comment:
I do not believe there is such a thing as a just war, even though there may be just causes. Everyone I know teaches their children that the only time one is allowed to fight is in self defense, that one must never strike the first blow. This belief may be hard to apply when cultures clash, but it is not hard for me personally to believe that both sides in any war throughout history claimed God as their supreme ally, and that everyone is correct to claim Him.
Post a Comment