religion, war, and violence

Christianity & Just War 10.18.16

Origins of Western moral views about killing Early Christianity Historical dilemma Hebrew Bible — violence embraced (Exodus: Angel of Death kills first born) Christian Bible and Jesus — pacifism (Sermon on the Mount, Matthew 5) First four centuries — Pacifists persecuted outsiders and underground religious movement in dominate Roman Empire Constantine First Christian emperor; Christianity becomes state religion Creative tension between Christianity’s teaching of pacifism and necessary violence in maintaining stability (and defending) empire “Once Christianity became the religion of the empire, its success was linked to the success of the empire, and preservation of the empire became the decisive criterion for ethical behavior. The church no longer saw the demonic as lodged in the empire, but in the empire’s enemies” (289)

Augustine and Just War Augustine (254-430 CE) City of God — addressing ill fit of Old and New Testaments “Lives between times” — After Christ but before End Times Liminal space where Christians know what’s right, but before the rule of righteousness Establishes Just War tradition Follow model of Jesus, but compromise during imperfect time Pacifism in relation to self but protect neighbor (community)

Thomas Aquinas & Just War Criteria Thomas Aquinas (early Medieval times) Further develops notion of Just War Attempts to define conditions under which war could be just Draws upon “Natural Law” and reason (NOT Bible passages) Jus ad bellum — The Right to go to War Just cause Legitimate authority Formally declared Peaceful Intention (purity of intent) Last Resort Hope of Success Proportionality Jus in Bello — Right conduct within War Distinction Proportionality Military necessity Fair treatment of prisoners No cruel and unusual

Articles: Can War Be Just? Editors of First Things : YES! Publication of Religion and Public Life Journal; December 2001 War against terrorism is Just Flow of Headings and Subheadings // In a time of War; A Nation under God; A War that is Just; Coalitions and Moral Legitimacy; Pacifisms; World Politics Reconfigured; Islam and the War of the Centuries Critiques of pacifists, academics “Our morally debilitated professoriate in particular often seems to be a breed apart, going on endlessly about how violence breeds violence and how we must address the root causes of resentments, etc., etc…” (279) “Then there are pacifists, real and fraudulent.” (280) Real = monasticism Fraudulent = Proponents of nonviolent resistance (Walter Wink) What would Jesus do? Pivot : What would Jesus have us do? (280)

Articles: Can War Be Just? Walter Wink: NO! What would Jesus do? // Contextualized Matthew 5:38-41 Not modern interpretation of “Turn the other cheek” Profound potential for personal and social transformation “Jesus, in short, abhors passivity and violence. He articulates, out of the history of his own people’s struggles, a way by which evil can be opposed without being mirrored, the oppressor resisted without being emulated, and the enemy neutralized without being destroyed” (288) Myth of Redemptive Violence “It is not the criteria themselves that are problematic, but the fact that they have been subordinated to the myth of redemptive violence: the belief that violence saves…Freed from that context, and subordinated to the church’s vocation for nonviolence, these criteria can play a critical role in preventing wars and in reducing the level of violence in wars that cannot be averted” (290) Abandon term “Just War” altogether; instead “Violence-reduction criteria” “I propose that we terminate all talk of ‘just wars.’ Even as the word ‘pacifism’ sounds too much like ‘passivity,’ ‘just war’ sounds too much like ‘war is justifiable’” (293) “We are not seeing a rationale for legitimating particular wars, but ways of avoiding warfare before it starts, and of decreasing its horrors once it begins” (294)