How Just is War?

When I was a student at Ozark Christian College, there was a debate that seemed to rise up among the student body every once in a while (and by that, I mean every few hours). This running debate centered on the ethical issue of how Christians understand violence and war. To be honest, I had never really considered this question before my time at Ozark, and I did my best to avoid the issue for my first few years there. Over the past couple years, however, I have tried to think through this topic and formulate my own beliefs regarding a Christian response to war, so maybe now is the time to share my thoughts with you, my faithful reader.

I've been very hesitant to write this post for some time for a number of reasons. For one thing, I'm aware that my views are probably out of line with what the majority of American Christians believe, and I'm also aware that this can be a very sensitive topic, especially for those who have fought in our military or who have military personnel in their family. My intent is not to offend anyone in any way, as I too have friends and family who have served in the military, and all of them could easily kick my tail. I also realize that for those who have been in the military, their time of service can be a core aspect of how they identify themselves, and so for me to question the legitimacy of Christian involvement in war can seem like a personal attack. Again, this is nothing that I intend. And finally, I hope to not over-simply the issue, because I know that it is a complex one. Whenever I'm faced with a difficult question, my response is usually to just side with more mature Christians who I feel have life more figured out than I do, but my problem is that in this case there are Christians I respect a great deal who fall on both sides of the issue, so that doesn't help me out at all. My purpose in pointing this out is simply to state that I hope to write from an attitude of humility. My thinking regarding this issue is still developing, and I may very well be wrong about some things, and I'm open to opposing viewpoints as long as they aren't hostile, and as long as they include a handshake, side-hug, or Wendy's gift certificate.

I'll also point out at the start that in this post I am considering a Christian response to war, not to the use of force in general. The question can be raised, "But what should a Christian do if he comes home and discovers an intruder attacking his family?" That's a different discussion for another day.

In conversations I have had with people, when it comes to the debate about Christian involvement in war, there are two main camps. On the one hand are those who advocate pacifism and completely reject any sort of Christian involvement. On the other hand are those who advocate a "just war" theory, claiming that war is acceptable when it is for a just cause--defending the lives and liberties of a nation.

After thinking through this for a while, I don't think I can agree with the pacifists. I would really like to be a pacifist. I think pacifists are cool. But there are times I think a war can be just. There are times when a maniac rules a nation and begins to use his power to throw the world into chaos, and such times may be instances when warfare is necessary as an absolute last resort. There are indeed "just wars."

However, I also believe that those instances are very, very, very rare. I think a problem may just war theorists have is that they begin to see any war that their nation is involved in as "just." Many American Christians would probably fall into that camp. We are brought up believing that the United States is always right. We are told that we are God's nation, so whatever military campaigns we undertake must be good and just. We are the "good guys," regardless of the situation or time in history.

If this is true, though, it means that the United States is the only nation in the history of the world to always go to war justly. That is simply unrealistic. Propaganda and an instilled sense of nationalism lead us to think that our nation is always in the right, but to believe this is perhaps naive. It would make us unique in the history, because I don't think we can find any other nation to which we can apply the same qualification, especially since we ourselves have been at war with many of them at one time or another.

When considering the justice of a particular war, there are a few scenarios that may be played out. First, it could be that both sides in the war are just in their actions. This, of course, is ridiculous. Second, it could be that one side is just while the other is not. This would be the "just war" mentioned earlier. Third, it could be that neither side is just, and sadly, I believe that this is historically the most common type of war.

I think it's a good exercise to sit down and think through each of the wars and conflicts in which the United States has been involved in its history. Think about the circumstances and reasons that drove the U.S. to go to war, and ask, "How many of these wars were just from a Christian perspective." In elementary school history class, we were taught that we were always in the right, but that may be true far less often that we had believed. Most wars aren't fought to protect human lives. They are fought to protect national interests, economies, and ideologies.

Ultimately, these sorts of questions come down to the question, "Is it okay for a Christian to serve in the military?" To be frank, if a fellow believer were to seek my advice about whether or not to join the military, I would strongly encourage him to stay out. Not because there aren't any just wars to be fought, because I believe there are. But as I understand military life, a solider doesn't get to choose which wars he does and does not fight in, and it may be that a nation will send the Christian off to fight in an unjust war, or even in a just war, that person may be ordered to engage in unjust actions. When a person joins the military, he is signing over some of his freedoms to people who typically make decisions on national, not Christian, principles.

Of course, there are many Christians who have fought and who are fighting in our nation's military. In expression my views, my purpose is not to say that such people are evil or anything of the sort. This group includes people within my church, my friends, and my family. People who I love and respect greatly. I simply think it's time that the American church pays closer attention to how ready we are to jump on board with our nation's program. Our lives ought to be geared first and foremost toward emulating the character of Jesus.

The church as a whole has had far too uncritical of an approach when thinking about how we deal with war. There have been times in war that Christians have killed fellow Christians in the name of their countries. And somehow, I don't think that's what Jesus had in mind when he told us to love each other.