Just war

For some christians, war is a necessary evil that should be used to prevent a greater evil to occur. The Just War Theory gives a criteria for Christians to determine when it’s okay to go to war and how a war should be fought.

Even though christians are pacifists, they still fought in WW2. This is because many Christians felt as though it would be wrong to let Hitler and the Nazi party continue doing what they were doing without stepping up to stop them. For these christians, war was a necessary evil.

When would it be okay to have a war?

How should these wars be fought?

Here are the six elements that make a war a just war:

• The war must have a just cause (e.g self defence)

• The war should be declared by the correct authority like the government or lawful ruler of the country

• The intention of the war has to be to defeat wrongdoing and promote good. The good achieved by the war must outweigh the evil that led to it.

• Fighting must be a last resort after all other diplomacy has failed

• There must be a reasonable chance of success. It would be unjust to take soldiers to a war you thought you would lose.

• The methods you use to fight the war must be proportional to achieve success

This is what can happen in the war:

• Civilians cannot be the targets of military operations

• Torture is never allowed

• Prisoners must be treated humanly