Special
Report At
a glance
The New Testament does not address the matter of war, apart from
using warfare in metaphors that describe the Christian life or illustrate
the proclamation or the gospel, and in Jesus warning that
those who use the sword are sooner or later destroyed by it,
according to Fr. Richard P. McBriens Catholicism.
According to The Modern Catholic Encyclopedia, early Christians
were forbidden from taking part in war because of the danger of idolatry
in military service (soldiers might be asked to offer sacrifices to the
emperor), and secondly because killing, even of an aggressor, was judged a
direct violation of Jesus command that Christians love their enemies and
overcome evil with good.
After 312 A.D., when the Emperor Constantine made Christianity the
state religion, things began to change. Christians no longer were a persecuted
minority and church and state became allies. During the period of close
relationship between the church and society, Christianitys commitment to
pacifism declined and the first outlines of just war teaching appeared,
according to this encyclopedia.
Augustine, particularly, began developing a teaching justifying
war, arguing that violence could be a requirement of Christian love if it
were necessary to protect ones neighbor, especially the innocent and the
weak, from unjust harm.
Aquinas later elaborated on that position and outlined specific
criteria. According to McBrien, three basic categories must be met to justify
war:
- The cause must be just.
- The war must be undertaken by legitimate authority.
- The intention must be right.
Beyond those three categories are a complex set of criteria
and principles that include that war is a last resort, that there is
reasonable hope of success, that there is proportionality
between the evil produced and the evil hoped to be avoided or the good hoped to
be achieved.
The just war theory also requires immunity of noncombatants from
direct attack.
National Catholic Reporter, October 5,
2001
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