This is how fanatical "Christians" justify war

[Maraya1969]

A minister told me this crap before the Iraq war. I didn't realize it was actually a "Christian" doctrine for SOME. Check out the sentence at the link at the bottom of the post.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Land_letter#Was_it_a_just_war.3F

The Land Letter was a letter sent to U.S. President George W. Bush by evangelical Christian leaders on October 3, 2002 which outlined their theological support for a just war pre-emptive invasion of Iraq. The letter was written by Richard D. Land, president of the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention. It was co-signed by Chuck Colson of Prison Fellowship Ministries, Bill Bright, chairman of Campus Crusade for Christ, James Kennedy, president of Coral Ridge Ministries, and Carl D. Herbster, president of the American Association of Christian Schools.

The letter outlined how a pre-emptive invasion of Iraq met the criteria of traditional 'just war' theory:

* such an action would be defensive
* the intent is found to be just and noble. The United States does not intend to 'destroy, conquer, or exploit Iraq'
* it is a last resort claiming Saddam Hussein had a record of attacking his neighbors, of the "headlong pursuit and development of biochemical and nuclear weapons of mass destruction" and their use against his own people, and harboring Al Qaeda terrorists
* it is authorized by a legitimate authority, namely the United States
* it has limited goals
* it has reasonable expectation of success
* non-combatant immunity would be observed
* it meets the criteria of proportionality—the human cost on both sides would be justfied by the intended outcome

Just War in Iraq: Sometimes going to war is the charitable thing to do. (Charles Colson, Christianity Today, December 10, 2002)

[doc mercer]

1. Evangelical

Wow ... those "kind and caring" Evangelicals

[lectrobyte]

2. So much for all that Jesus turn the other cheek, the meek shall

inherit the earth etc. Wasn't the innermost circle of hell reserved for hypocrites?

[Lars39]

3. Don't forget, that's *Convicted Watergate Felon*, Chuck Colson.

:)

[KyuzoGator]

4. In Luke 22:36, Jesus tells his followers to buy swords.

That's the passage most commonly used by Christian psychos to "justify" unprovoked war.

[Rageneau]

6. Jesus knew the Christians were coming.

That's why He knew His followers would need swords.

[greyl]

5. What qualifications do they have to determine what's "just and noble"?nt

[Maraya1969]

9. None that I know of. I think they just made it all up so they can

justify being mean.

[TreasonousBastard]

7. Good Wiki article, and for those who don't know...

Just War theory goes back to Augustine who reconciled the original pacifist Christians with the Empire Christians after it became the Roman state religion.

It is very concise and, except for the Peace Churches who don't buy into war at all, it is subscribed to by all major Christian denominations.

Baptists, who actually were pacifists before sometime in the 19th century, do subscribe to it, and any war has to be "just" before the church "sanctions" it. In this case, the bigmouth Baptists of the Southern Convention rushed into calling Iraq Just War purely because politics trumps religion with these clowns.

ELCA Lutherans, other Baptist groups, some Methodists and Presbyterians, most of the Catholic Church, and a slew of others denounced an invasion of Iraq as not meeting Just War criteria.

Partly as a result of Iraq, the United Church of Christ and Unitarian-Universalists voted this year to become Peace Churches and disavow Just War.

[godhatesrepublicans]

8. The wiki article also lists how it WASN'T a just war.

I'm not a fan of the "Christianist" right wing by any means, but this highlights their hypocracy better than anything else I've read in weeks.

From the wikipedia piece:



Was it a just war?

In the time since the 2003 invasion, many discoveries have brought doubt upon whether the invasion was a "just war", which brings into question the validity of the Land letter's argument:


Jus ad bellum

* Not a just cause. Argument: Iraq was not a threat, nor was it involved in the 9/11 attacks.
* Not comparative justice Argument: Iraq has suffered more than America would have had Iraq not been invaded.
* Not a legitimate authority Argument: The invasion did not receive the explicit imprimateur of the United Nations.
* Disproportionality Argument: The good achieved by the invasion has been outweighed by the suffering of the Iraqi people.
* Not a last resort Argument: Further diplomatic efforts would have confirmed that Iraq was not a threat.



Jus in bello

* Indiscriminate deaths Argument: Most the Iraqi fatalities have been civilians.
* Minimum force not used Argument: Use of destructive forces greater than that required.
* Torture used Argument: Use of torture against Prisoners-of-war and civilians.
* Prisoners of War not treated respectfully Argument: POWs interrogated, tortured, humilated, murdered.

[NMMNG]

10. Someone who can claim war is "the charitable thing to do"

is one freaking evil SOB.