Attitudes to War L/O: To examine how ideas such as the Just War influence people’s attitudes to war. Start: Think of films about, or containing war, or fighting in them. For each film, consider whether they show war as having a point or being always wrong?

What is war good for? 8M&feature=related 8M&feature=related Discuss: Is war a force for good or bad?

What is war good for? It is easy to see why a person might think that war can never bring any good. War causes death, destruction of property and land, disease, mental illness. Many Christians believe that the rejection of war and violence is what Jesus stressed in the gospels. (For example: “Love your enemies”; “for all who draw the sword they will die by the sword”; Jesus is often referred to as the Prince of Peace). The Catholic Church teaches that peace is possible and that Christians have a duty to aim for peace in the world. Most Christians agree that war is always regretful: “lesser of two evils”.

Reflection Alley Chamberlain’s Dilemma: World War II Hitler is wanting to expand Germany and is thought to consider people who are not Germanic as lesser beings. He has already invaded Poland. Blair’s Dilemma: Iraq It is suspected that Saddam Hussein has weapons of mass destruction which he could use against the West. He is also responsible for crimes against humanity. Cameron’s Dilemma: Libya Colonel Gaddafi is massacring his own people who are rebelling against him in an attempt to cause regime change.

Just War Many people believe that war can be justified under certain conditions. St. Thomas Aquinas wrote about a theory of Just War (a war that it is better to fight than not). Intro to Just War: D1E&feature=related D1E&feature=related

Just War Theory 1. There must be a just cause, e.g. defending from attack or trying to stop tyranny? 2. Violence should be controlled. 3. It must be to prevent a greater evil. 4. It must be led by proper authority, i.e under control of leader of a country. 5. Force must be proportional 6. The intention must be to establish peace and justice 7. War must be against military personnel not civilians.

Exploring the Just War Theory World War II The Iraq War

The Second Gulf War In late 2002, American and British governments believed Iraq was developing weapons of mass destruction. The Iraqi government denied these claims and allowed United Nations weapons inspectors into Iraq to search for evidence of such weapons. In March 2003, the American and British governments asked UN weapons inspectors to leave and declared war on Iraq. On 9 th April 2003 the government of Iraq was toppled. The UN did not support the declaration of war. By the end of 2003, Saddam Hussein, Iraq’s formed president, had been captured. He had been a cruel dictator who had ordered many crimes against his own people. Since then, Iraq has held democratic elections and a new government has been formed. However, unrest still continues and no weapons of mass destruction have ever been found. The war has cost the lives of thousands of Iraqi civilians and those of many British and American soldiers, volunteers and civilian workers.

Is Just War Theory a good measure of whether or not a war should be fought? Explain your reasons and give examples.