Is War Ever Justified?

There are many ongoing armed conflicts that are taking place around the world and which continue to result in violent death, and the most recent conflict is the 2013 South Sudanese political crisis in Africa, South Sudan where there have been over 1000 deaths in this year alone. The most devastating conflict is the War in Afghanistan, which began in 1978 and still continues today, resulting in 1,405,111-2,084,468 deaths. These figures are devastating and shocking, however in some cases is it right to risk the lives of thousands and go to war?

There are three main approaches to issues surrounding war and peace: the just war theory (the belief war is morally justified is it meets certain criteria), realism (the belief ethics has nothing to do with war and it’s often necessary to promote security, survival and economic growth) and pacifism (the belief that all violence is wrong). The just war theory is split into two questions: when is it right to fight? (Jus ad bellum) and how should war be fought? (Jus in bello). For a war to be considered just, there are six conditions which must be met in order for this to happen. First, war must be in a just cause, meaning the war is only just if it is fought for a reason that is justified and that carries moral sufficient weight – the just cause is to put right a wrong or to prevent a wrong for happening. Secondly, War must be declared by a competent authority, meaning only a war declared by a government/ruler of the state with the legitimate authority to declare war can be a just war. Thirdly, there must be a just intention which is as just as the cause i.e. a war should not be fought with the deliberate intention of killing a country’s leader or in a spirit of hatred or revenge. Forth, there must be a comparison of justice on both sides so both sides must be compared and have a just reason to fight, fifth, war must be a last resort; so must only be resulted to after all other negotiation had failed. Lastly, there should be a reasonable likelihood of success – there should be a better state of affairs after the war than there were before.

There are also criteria that must be met when fighting the war itself, there should be a reasonable proportion between the injustice being fought and the suffering that will be inflicted, the cause of justice cannot be upheld by unjust means. Robert Holmes wrote ‘unless one can justify the actions necessary to waging war, one cannot justify the conduct of war’. Also, this proportionality must be exercised meaning the use of weapons must be proportional to the threat and only minimum force should be used. There must be fair treatment of prisoners of war, no reprisals and those at war must have an obligation to distinguish between appropriate and inappropriate targets of destruction and between innocent civilians and those involved in waging the war ‘an act of war aimed indiscriminately at the destruction of entire cities or of extensive areas, along with their populations is a crime against God and man himself’ The Vatican statement (Article 80).

However, absolute pacifists will disagree with this theory, because they believe it is never right to kill another human being, no matter what the consequences of not doing so might be, even the loss of life. Even though this may be a good and kind attitude to have, there are certain situations I think this could fail. For example if there was an intruder in your house threatening the lives of your loved ones and yourself, if you had the opportunity to kill or hurt the intruder in order to save your family, would you? Even if you were a pacifist, surely the love you have for your family would resort you to attempting to stop harm coming to them? Or even if you saw someone in the street being mugged or harmed in some way, surely helping the person by resulting to violence may be the lesser of two evils? Other pacifists may say that Jesus preached a better way to respond then violence, and to turn the other cheek when something hurts us so to use an alternative means to make peace. However Jesus at one point took his anger out on the temple, so he used violence for something which didn’t even have a just cause, who is to say that we can’t do that too?

Overall, war is something which has been around for so long, and we live in an unjust world. Trying to get rid of war is like trying to get rid of sin – it just will not happen. This means that war must somehow be justified, if it will improve things in the future, surely this must be the best thing to do. Jesus never sent soldiers away from John the Baptist, he just told them not to miss use their power, so surely if soldiers have good intentions and do not miss use their powers, then war is justified. Pacifists may say that we must have the courage and strength to behave in the way you believe and that it’s better to kill than to kill; however if you were ever in a life or death situation, would you really be able to stand there and take the harm coming to you? This is why, in my opinion, I feel that war can be justified.

KD

Time To Take Action

Mayhem. Absolutely mayhem. Just when we thought the destruction and barbaric killing of thousands of Syrians in the Ghouta chemical attack wasn’t enough, we were proven wrong. Men and women who have dedicated years to save the lives of others are now being threatened to leave Syria as hospitals have been destroyed or wrecked in attacks. There is no question at this stage that Syria is at ‘breaking point’ and yet it appears that this horrific situation is simply being dismissed as another story on top of all the other 'unfortunate' current affairs happening during this period. It makes me think how an international community can allow this evil and suffering to happen.

It has been confirmed by the Council on Foreign Relations that over 15,000 doctors have left Syria due to the conflict and threat of imprisonment if they continue to aid causalities. In turn, there are shocking injuries going unattended; women giving birth without the support of a medical team; people who are undergoing life-saving surgery and amputations without anaesthetic; and victims of sexual violence having nowhere to turn to.

David Cameron has linked the devastations happening in Syria to the Holocaust.

Edmund Burke famous quote: "All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing” is a perfect example which highlights Britain's failure to take action and support Syrians. This is why evil occurs in today’s society. The signatories to the letter in The Lancet say it is "arguably one of the world's worst humanitarian crises since the end of the Cold War".

Don’t get me wrong, I am completely aware of the issues and necessary procedures that we must put to attention before finalising on an idea that will impact the country as a whole but we should surely start considering the two primary guidelines of the Just War Theory. This theory outlines ‘when is it right to fight?’ and ‘how should a war be fought?’ Just war is the standard method of assessing the morality of war. This is a basic moral guide for religious believers today.

Jeremy Bentham developed a theory that states an act should be done for ‘the greatest good for the greatest number’. Therefore, an act will be moral if it benefits the majority rather than the minority. As Christians it is our moral duty to “not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good”. In other words, if we decide as a country to intervene and help Syrians, we should ensure that there will be a reasonable proportion between the injustice being fought and the suffering inflicted by war. This includes the use of weapons that must be proportional to the threat and only minimum force should be used and civilians should be protected as far as possible.

Studying RE at A level has really helped me to see life in a new prospective. Honestly, I love it. It is not just because it allows me to gain a deeper understanding of my faith, the creation of laws or taking part in ethical and philosophical debates but it enables me to grow with the changing nature of religion in Britain today which could impact the attitude of millions, urging us to help those who need it most.

Picture from BBC News website - used for educational purposes

Welcome!

Welcome to the Sacred Heart of Mary Girls' School A-Level Religious Studies blog. We are embarking on an ambitious project to take it in turns to blog at least weekly on some aspect of our EdExcel A-Level course which covers both philosophy and ethics. 

Socrates said, "The unexamined life is not worth living" and careful reflection upon our lives and the world around us is an important part of our study of both philosophy and ethics. We hope this blog will help us in our understanding as we work towards both AS and A2 qualifications in this subject. Feel free to join in the discussion!

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Sacred Heart of Mary Girls' School, Upminster

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