News & Views of Phillips Since 1976
Tuesday December 10th 2024

War”'s definition and justification plague individuals and institutions alike

by Frank Erickson

The Catholic Church did a very good thing during the “Gulf War””¦from the New Dictionary of the History of Ideas ”“ “The Catholic Church responded to the Gulf War in a statement that put the very idea of a just war in peril. The theory of just war, they said, “was indefensible and has been abandoned. In reality”“with the sole exception of a purely defensive war against acts of aggression, we can say that there are no ”˜just wars”' and there is no ”˜right”' to wage war.”

Beautiful, without even realizing it, the Catholic Church is moving into a realm of seeing “war”'s” non-existence”“they touch on it, but then contradict themselves”¦and I get it, I see why it happens, how the human mind works and how our fear works.

How else can it be approached, that when you say “there are no ”˜just wars”' and there is no ”˜right”' to wage war,” you are flat out saying there is no way to create “war”-but the backdoor is left open for a “purely defensive war ”“ people have a right to defend themselves.

Okay, understood, but this is how the aggressors get themselves “in,” the aggressors know this. That all they need is for it to be defined as “war” regardless of just or unjust. When those being attacked are free to kill because they are fighting a “purely defensive war,” the aggressors are “in” the same “war” and have the freedom to kill.

The Church doesn”'t understand ”“it can”'t exist both ways”“that is, if you are going to say that “war” can only exist in a “purely defensive war,” then what you are saying is that “war” is the freedom to kill, if in a “purely defensive” mode.

So then how is it “war” with acts of aggression that have no justification, aggression that has no right to be waged?

The Church puts out a good effort, but they mistakenly reinforce the same old belief, that “war” alone is the justification, the right.

If “war” to the Catholic Church only exists in a “purely defensive” mode, how can “waging war” exist through acts of aggression?

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