Christian Approaches to

Violence

Cain said to his brother Abel, “Let us go out to the field.”

And when they were in the field, Cain rose up against his brother Abel, and killed him.

Genesis 4:8

As Old as Time

You shall annihilate them—the Hittites and the Amorites, the Canaanites and the Perizzites, the Hivites and the Jebusites—just as the Lord your God has commanded.

Deuteronomy 20:17

Do not defile yourselves in any of these ways, for by all these practices the nations I am casting out before you have defiled…  otherwise the land will vomit you out for defiling it, as it vomited out the nation that was before you.

Leviticus 18:24, 28

Holy War in the Bible

The sons of Jacob answered Shechem and his father Hamor deceitfully, because he had defiled their sister Dinah…

On the third day… two of the sons of Jacob, Simeon and Levi, Dinah’s brothers, took their swords and came against the city unawares, and killed all the males… And the other sons of Jacob came upon the slain, and plundered the city, because their sister had been defiled… All their wealth, all their little ones and their wives, all that was in the houses, they captured and made their prey.

Genesis 34:25-29

Violence Not Commanded by God

…… Honor your father and your mother… You shall not murder. Neither shall you commit adultery.  Neither shall you steal.  Neither shall you bear false witness against your neighbor.

……Deuteronomy 5:16-20

10 Commandments

Suddenly, one of those with Jesus put his hand on his sword, drew it, and struck the slave of the high priest, cutting off his ear.

Then Jesus said to him, “Put your sword back into its place; for all who take the sword will perish by the sword. Do you think that I cannot appeal to my Father, and he will at once send me more than twelve legions of angels?

Matthew 26:51-53

Jesus Refused Violence

He shall judge between the nations, and shall arbitrate for many peoples; they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not

lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more, but they shall all sit under their own vines and under their own fig trees, and no one shall make them afraid; for the mouth of the Lord of hosts has spoken.

Micah 4:34

A Vision of God’s Future

“[Others will sculpt bronze better. Others will carve marble better. Others will be better lawyers. Others will be better astronomers]

But you, Roman, remember, rule with all your power the peoples of the earth—these will be your arts: to put your stamp on the works and ways of peace, to spare the defeated, break the proud in war.”

Vergil, Aeneid VI.847-853

Rome: A Different Kind of Peace

Marcus Tullius Cicero: 106-43 B.C. To defend oneself in order to secure peace

is “the only righteous grounds for going to war”

Peace must be based on justice◦ Justice: Do no harm◦ Justice: Do kindness and generosity

Rome was waging war to establish supremacy and to gain glory, without first exhausting discussion as a means for peace.

Cicero: Roman Critique of Rome

Admired Cicero as a “righteous pagan” Priority of justice and the pursuit of peace.

◦“Courage reflects justice when it protects one’s country in time of war or defends the weak and the oppressed”

◦“Whoever does not ward off a blow to a fellow man, when he can, is as much at fault as the striker.”

Introduced the God question into Just War

St. Ambrose

Learned the basic insights of just war reasoning and the relevant God questions from Ambrose.

The end of peace Just cause No wars to forge a Kingdom of God on earth Self defense as private citizens VS Self defense

as public officials defending others or the nations

Love is the basis for all morality The state may enforce religious rules

St. Augustine

“Is it always sinful to wage war?” In order for war to be just, three criteria

◦ The legitimate authority of the sovereign by whose command war is waged

◦ A just cause is required, namely that those who are attacked should be attacked because they deserve it on account of some fault

◦ It is necessary that the belligerents should have a rightful intention, so that they intend the advancement of good or the avoidance of evil

It is permissible for the Church to bear the sword through the soldiering of religious orders.

St. Thomas Aquinas

War is only just in lawful self defense The Two Kingdoms: Law and Gospel

◦ Critiquing Christian Pacifism◦ “What men write about war, saying that it is a

great plague, is all true. But they should also consider how great the plague is that [just] war prevents”

Criticized Augustine’s endorsement of theocratic and holy war

Selective Conscientious Objection Social Justice Public Accountability

Martin Luther

“War is always judged twice.”

Michael Walzer

1. Judging the justice of going TO war.2. Judging the justice of actions IN war.

Just War is a tradition of the moral criteria for judging war

Just War Tradition

Just Cause: ◦ In response to a real and verifiable injury of

significance by some other nation or entity Legitimate Authority:

◦ Only legitimate public authorities can declare war Right Intention

◦ We examine the responder’s intentions The End of Peace

◦ This is the overarching moral obligation when waging war on the basis of the first criteria.

◦ This is the basis for the next four criteria

Criteria for Going TO War

Last Resort◦ All other reasonable means of peaceful

settlements have been exhausted Proportionality of Ends

◦ The overall damage caused by war will not exceed the original injury suffered

Probability of Success◦ There is a reasonable hope that the purpose for

going to war can be accomplished Public Declaration

There is a public declaration of the reasons for waging war

Criteria for Going TO War

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Noncombatant Discrimination◦ Noncombatants are spared violence

Proportionality of Means◦ War only uses means proportionate to the value

of the target

Criteria for Justice IN War

MLKJr Gahndi The norm for Christian Action

◦ This is where we want to live.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer – morally driven to join an assasination plot.

Pacifism

The Syrian army besieged the northern cities of Jisr ash-Shugur and Maarat al-Numaan near the Turkish border.

The Syrian Army claimed the towns were the site of mass graves of Syrian security personnel killed during the uprising and justified the attacks as operations to rid the region of "armed gangs", though local residents claimed the dead Syrian troops and officers were executed for refusing to fire on protesters.

Syrian Justification of Violence

Our cause is just, the security of the nations we serve and the peace of the world. And our mission is clear, to disarm Iraq of weapons of mass destruction, to end Saddam Hussein’s support for terrorism, and to free the Iraqui people.

George W. Bush, March 22, 2003, at the start of “Operation Iraqi Freedom”

Justifications for War

Our cause is just, the security of the nations we serve and the peace of the world. And our mission is clear, to disarm Iraq of weapons of mass destruction, to end Saddam Hussein’s support for terrorism, and to free the Iraqi people.

George W. Bush, March 22, 2003, at the start of “Operation Iraqi Freedom”

Justifications for War

Just three days removed from these events, Americans do not yet have the distance of history, but our responsibility to history is already clear: to answer these attacks and rid the world of evil.

War has been waged against us by stealth and deceit and murder.

This nation is peaceful, but fierce when stirred to anger. This conflict was begun on the timing and terms of others; it will end in a way and at an hour of our choosing.

George W. Bush at a prayer service in the National Cathedral

A Justification for War

Just three days removed from these events, Americans do not yet have the distance of history, but our responsibility to history is already clear: to answer these attacks and rid the world of evil.

War has been waged against us by stealth and deceit and murder.

This nation is peaceful, but fierce when stirred to anger. This conflict was begun on the timing and terms of others; it will end in a way and at an hour of our choosing.

George W. Bush at a prayer service in the National Cathedral

A Justification for War

Rick Warren: Does evil exist?

And if it does ◦do we ignore it, ◦do we negotiate with it, ◦do we contain it ◦or do we defeat it?

Saddleback Civil Forum on the Presidency, 2008

Should we ignore it, negotiate with it, contain it or defeat it?

……… Evil does exist… We see evil in Darfur. We see evil, sadly, on the streets of our cities. We see evil in parents who viciously abuse their children. And I think it has to be confronted. It has to be confronted squarely…

… [erasing evil from the world] is God’s task… [It] is very important is for us to have some humility… because… a lot of evil has been perpetrated based on the claim that we were trying to confront evil…

……………. Defeat it.

…………………………the transcendent challenge of the 21-century: radical Islamic extremism… and we’re going to defeat this evil.

…………… we must face this challenge.  We can face this challenge and we must totally defeat it. And we’re in a long struggle, but when I’m around the young men and women who are serving this nation in uniform, I have no doubts. None.

Should we ignore it, negotiate with it, contain it or defeat it?

Obama: Evil does exist… We see evil in Darfur. We see evil, sadly, on the streets of our cities. We see evil in parents who viciously abuse their children. And I think it has to be confronted. It has to be confronted squarely…

… [erasing evil from the world] is God’s task… [It] is very important is for us to have some humility… because… a lot of evil has been perpetrated based on the claim that we were trying to confront evil…

McCain: Defeat it.

My friends, we are facing the transcendent challenge of the 21-century: radical Islamic extremism… and we’re going to defeat this evil.

My friends, we must face this challenge.  We can face this challenge and we must totally defeat it. And we’re in a long struggle, but when I’m around the young men and women who are serving this nation in uniform, I have no doubts. None.

So I find it to be a law that when I want to do what is

good, evil lies close at hand.

For I delight in the law of God in my inmost self,

but I see in my members another law at war

with the law of my mind, making me captive to

the law of sin that dwells in my members.

Wretched man that I am!

Who will rescue me from this body of death?

Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!

A Biblical Vision

Ignore it?Negotiate

with it?

Contain it?Defeat it?Other?

Evil: How to Respond?

First, the evil within us. Do we…

Informed by this, we move on to tackle the evil outside of us.

“The whole human race faces a moment of supreme crisis in its advance toward maturity… Since the council, the dynamic of the nuclear arms rais has intensified. Apprehension about nuclear war is almost tanglible and visble today”

“Catholic Teaching beings in every case with a presumption against war and for the peaceful settlement of disputes”

U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops The Challenge of Peace, 1983

Presumption Against War

“The arms race is one of the greatest curses on the human race and the harm it inflicts upon the poor is more than can be endured”

The Second Vatican Council

Presumption Against War

Thus, in this age which boasts of its atomic power, it no longer makes sense to maintain that war is a fit instrument with which to repair the violation of justice.”

Pope John XXIII

All these factors force us to undertake a completely fresh reappraisal of war.”

The Second Vatican Council

Presumption Against War

The wolf shall live with the lamb, the leopard shall lie down with the kid, the calf and the lion and the fatling together, and a little child shall lead them.

The cow and the bear shall graze, their young shall lie down together; and the lion shall eat straw like the ox.

The nursing child shall play over the hole of the asp, and the weaned child shall put its hand on the adder’s den.

They will not hurt or destroy on all my holy mountain; for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.

Isaiah 11:6-9

A Biblical Vision

For a child has been born for us, a son given to us;

authority rests upon his shoulders; and he is named Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

Isaiah 9:6

A Biblical Vision

Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.”

After he said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord.

Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you.John 20:19-21

A Biblical Vision

“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be children of your Father in heaven… Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.”

Matthew 5:43-48

A Biblical Vision

“You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.’ “

“But I say to you, Do not resist an evildoer. But if anyone strikes you on the right cheek, turn the other also; and if anyone wants to sue you and take your coat, give your cloak as well; and if anyone forces you to go one mile, go also the second mile.”

Matthew 5:38-41

A Biblical Vision

Focus on peace, not on triumph Focus on intentions Focus on tradeoffs Minimizing Damage

Most wars don’t live up to all of this – even ones that in retrospect needed to happen.◦ These criteria give a way to look at the events in

question and to arrive at some conclusions

JWT: An Extremely High Bar

Holy War

P 19-20

Luthers 95 Theses

This is about being good Christian citizens in our judgments about what things are worth going to war over.

This is not about second guessing the actions of vetrans of war.

Ethics of Citizenship

Some were just responses to Islamic invasions

Some were unjust All had corrupt Christians doing

unconscionable things

Crusades

The American Patriot Bible

Published by Thomas Nelson Publishers, The American Patriot's Bible consists of hundreds of commentaries on various patriotic themes.

… on the basis of Zechariah's prophecy that the Messiah would "speak peace to the nations" (Zech. 9:10) we are given a full page eulogy of Christopher Columbus that celebrates how God had destined this "devout Catholic" to bring the good news of salvation to an unreached people group. Absent from the commentary is any discussion of how he and his fellow pioneers deceived, maimed, raped and murdered a large number of these unreached people.

Greg Boyd

Controling enemy computers to blind enemy to incoming air strike that cripples air defenses.

Planting a major virus designed to make a nuclear facility render itself inoperable

Destroying the infrastructure of a nation, cutting off power and communications etc.

Cyber War: Examples

Biological Warfare

Hiroshima and Nagasaki Mutually Assured Destruction

Nuclear Warfare