Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!caen!uflorida!gatech!mcnc!rutgers!aramis.rutgers.edu!athos.rutgers.edu!christian From: jclark@sdcc6.ucsd.edu (John Clark) Newsgroups: soc.religion.christian Subject: Just War Message-ID: Date: 2 Jun 91 05:41:22 GMT Sender: hedrick@athos.rutgers.edu Organization: University of California, San Diego Lines: 23 Approved: christian@aramis.rutgers.edu In article daly@strawber.princeton.edu (John Daly) writes: + +Who is innocent? Who other than God is qualified to make that kind +of judgement? I ask these questions because it seems to me the very And who other than the Diety can exact the penalty for said Judgement. Countries go to war over the most 'earthly' of reasons, essentially greed or the protection from greed. The U.S. is an Imperial Power on this earth at this time and behaving as such. There is no 'justification' in any sense other than "we have it and we're going to use it to our advantage". This is what any other major power has done. I object to the 'God is on our side' as a reason for engaging in warfare. I would call such reasoning 'presumption'. As for using ancient Hebrew models, I have yet to find the text which says for Christians to set up a Theocracy similar to ancient Israel, even some Jews disagree with the modern incarnation of Israel. If I defend myself against attack, I do so because I value my existence over the existence of the attacker. That simple. -- John Clark jclark@ucsd.edu