Just War Theory 1 - Reasons for War

One of the evils that comes from the arguments discussed in the last post, and is what many people have in mind when they ask why bad things happen, is war. Here are the commonly accepted criteria for a just war.

The Just Way to go to War (jus ad bellum)

Martin Luther believed, as do I, that war for the sake of religion is always wrong, This is because it confused the two Kingdoms. "The emperor's sword has nothing to do with the faith," Luther said.  There is, therefore, a difference between a just war and a holy war.

Because it is in the prevue of the nation to wage wars, it is a valid and God-pleasing vocation of a soldier to fight for his country. However, it is also acceptable for a soldier to refrain from fighting in an unjust, or holy war.  The soldier should "with all possible diligence find out" whether a war in which he was called to fight was just or not. But, what if the soldier is not sure about the moral status of the war? If a soldier does not know and cannot find out the moral status of the conflict, the soldier may obey the prince and he does so without peril to his soul. He should not forfeit certain obedience for the sake of uncertain justice. He should rather, out of love (1 Cor 13:47), give his ruler the benefit of the doubt.

Just cause

The reason for going to war needs to be just and just for taking land that has been taken from you or to punish people who have done wrong. Innocent life must be in  danger and intervention must be intended to protect life. A contemporary view of just cause was expressed in 1993 when the US Catholic Conference said: "Force may be used only to correct a grave, public evil, i.e., aggression or massive violation of the basic human rights of whole populations."

Comparative justice

While there may be rights and wrongs done on both sides of a conflict that leads to war, to justly resort to military force, the injustice suffered by one party must significantly outweigh that suffered by the other.

Competent authority

A just war, according to Luther, must be first of all waged by the lawful ruler.  That means that only duly constituted public authorities may wage war.

Right/Just intention

Force may be used for a just cause as described above and only with the right intention.  The right intention must only be correcting a ongoing suffered wrong in justice, not in retribution.  Also, there must be no intention of material gain or even maintaining the economy. The intention of war should be to bring peace and to protect civilians

Probability of success

Arms may not be used in a futile cause or in a case where disproportionate measures are required to achieve success.

Last resort

The ruler must seriously try to settle the conflict by means of diplomacy, legality, sanctions, and every other viable peaceful alternative first, and only use force as a last resort.

Proportionality

The anticipated benefits of the war must be proportional to its anticipated costs and harms. This principle is also known as the principle of macro-proportionality. The use of arms must not produce evils larger than the evil to be eliminated. The ends do not justify the means.

Limited Objective

Luther states explicitly, "whoever starts a war is in the wrong," All permitted military action must be defensive, that is, it must be a war in response to prior attack or evil.