Theologians since the early centuries have explained this Christian acceptance of horrific conflict – a mandate actually – as “Just War Theory.”
While Democrats in Congress shout “illegitimate war” in response to President Donald Trump’s authorized strikes against Iran, the reality is that U.S. actions line up with the requirements first presented by Christian thinkers like St. Augustine and St. Thomas Aquinas, Marc LiVecche, a scholar and author on the topic, said on “Washington Watch” Wednesday.
Indeed, Operation Epic Fury, a joint mission with the nation of Israel, is not only just, it’s a mandate, LiVecche told show host Tony Perkins.
Humans are to provide for the well-being of other humans. A responsibility to care for human flourishing is laid out in Genesis, LiVecche said.
Sometimes that means use of force.
“Just war tradition is grounded. Its moral logic is in the purpose of being a human being. It is interested in human flourishing. We go all the way back to Genesis to see that human beings were made in the image of God,” LiVecche said.
The first chapter of Genesis also calls for human beings to “fill the earth and subdue it and have dominion … over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.”
“Dominion is something like stewardship or providential care over creation. That's a human mandate,” LiVecche said.
Just War Theory says war may be morally justified only when it is declared by legitimate authority, fought for a just cause, pursued with the right intention, and conducted with moral restraint.
Augustine believed was morally permissible only as a tragic necessity two restore peace and justice. Different U.S. administrations have called that “peace through strength.”
Augustine contended that only a legitimate authority could wage war. Even then the cause must be just – such as defending against aggression, recovering something wrongly taken or punishing a grave injustice.
Revenge, hatred or a lust for power were not acceptable motives, according to Augustine.
Eight hundred years later, Aquinas lined up Augustine’s believes. Aquinas said just cause meant the enemy deserved the attack because of a wrong that needed to be addressed.
Acceptable moral intentions would be to promote good and restore peace. Any evidence of hatred, cruelty or desire for domination would invalidate the justice of war, he said.
Protestant thinkers would later add their opinions. Martin Luther wrote that war should be fought as a last resort, fought reluctantly and fought to protect the innocent.
Luther strongly rejected the idea of “holy wars.” Spiritual battles are fought with the Word of God, not weapons, he insisted.
More than 400 years after the height of the German Luther’s Reformation activities, another German and a Lutheran Pastor, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, demonstrated his belief in Just War through his anti-Nazi efforts. Following a failed assassination attempt of Adolf Hitler, Bonhoeffer was linked to the conspiracy, jailed and eventually hung.
“The problem with all of this, of course, is that right after we were made in the image of God, we fell on our faces," LiVeeche said.
"And so now the exercise of dominion has to take into account the fact of the fall," he continued. "So in a world that is morally conflicted, we have to figure out how to address moral conflict without giving up on ethics."
On the eve of D-Day, when the Allies would begin pushing Germany back to Berlin, General Dwight D. Eisenhower assured America's young men their attack was noble.
In his famous address, the Supreme Allied Commander assured them "you will bring about the destruction of the German war machine, the elimination of Nazi tyranny over the oppressed peoples of Europe, and security for ourselves in a free world."
This isn’t hard to see
LiVeeche says Trump has checked the boxes on a just war, starting with responsibility for dominion as head of state and the objectives, not to procure Iran’s abundant natural resources but to destroy its war-making capability.
“Then you move into just cause. The cause is pretty plain. We can recite the history. President Trump did this starting from 1979 forward, the Iran hostage crisis, the Beirut bombings, the towers, the Iraqi insurgency. Upwards of 1,000 Americans have been killed by the Iranian regime since 1979,” he said.
The war against Iran is an ongoing act of self-defense.
“They want to kill us, and they want to kill our major non-NATO treaty ally, Israel, and the interests of Israel are vital national interests to the United States as well. We have to take them at their word and come to Israel’s aid,” LiVeeche said.
