Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Home
General Christian
Religion News
Question: Is Ukraine a “Just War”?

Question: Is Ukraine a “Just War”?

Last updated on: September 23, 2023 at 3:56 pm by Richard Ostling

0 Comments

Question: Is Ukraine a “Just War”? 2023-09-23T15:56:09-04:00 Richard Ostling

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

On the front lines in Ukraine: Can such a destructive war be morally “just”? / Lukasjohnns via pixabay.com

THE RELIGION GUY’S ANSWER:

The good news for Russia’s Vladimir Putin: A significant national leader announces that his invasion of Ukraine is a “just fight” that will end with “a great victory in the sacred struggle.”

The bad news: The speaker is North Korea’s Kim Jong Un, so what’s “just” is defined by probably the most despised despot on the planet and what’s “sacred” by an atheist who works to exterminate all religion.

Each international conflict raises the matter of what constitutes a “just war,” the theory by which Christians over centuries have sought to define what reaasons make the destruction of war morally acceptable. New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman asserts that Ukraine presents “as obvious a case of right versus wrong, good versus evil, as you will find in international relations since World War II.” Except for Putin allies who head the huge Russian Orthodox Church, Christian leaders agree that Russia’s war is unjust and Ukraine’s response is justifiable. If for no other reason, in the 1994 pact when Ukraine surrendered its Soviet-era nuclear weapons Russia pledged “to “refrain from the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of Ukraine.”

As we’ll see, there are complications and hesitations on the Catholic left since the invasion in February, 2022. The Catholic discussion on war-making is particularly notable due to the church’s global reach and the history of saints Augustine and Thomas Aquinas formulating the “just war” doctrine.

Three aspects of justice

Most early Christians were de facto pacifists who opposed military participation, both extending Jesus’ “blessed are the peacemakers” teaching from interpersonal relations into national and international affairs, and shunning pagan oaths and rites that Rome imposed upon soldiers. But Christians began gaining responsibility for setting defense policy after the Roman Empire granted their faith legal toleration during the 4th Century.

In modern times, a 1965 decree from Pope Paul VI and the Catholic bishops at the Second Vatican Council said soldiers “should regard themselves as agents of security and freedom on behalf of their people.” The Council decried the evils of warfare, but stated that “governments cannot be denied the right to legitimate defense once every means of peaceful settlement has been exhausted.” The decree denounced military “subjugation of other nations,” which for both religious and non-religious analysts accurately describes Putin’s vision of forcing Ukraine to again be a subservient province of a revived Moscow-led empire instead of a sovereign nation by the choice of its population.

The traditional Christian test for morally acceptable warfare has three aspects. Jus ad bellum means deciding whether conditions justify undertaking combat. Jus in bello means justice in the tactics of waging war, such as protection of innocent civilians and prisoners of war (universally defined by the 1949 Geneva Conventions) and avoidance of “disproportionate” means. The U.S. Catholic bishops applied that last point in a 1971 stand against continuation of the Vietnam War based upon the devastation in that country and the damage done within American society. With Ukraine. there’s widespread moral criticism of America’s provision of cluster bombs whose haphazard targeting kills non-combatants, with long-term danger from unexploded devices.

The third principle, usually less-discussed and hard to achieve, is jus post bellum, concerning justice when a war ends, including a fair peace treaty, compensation and restoration of victims’ rights, and prosecution of war crimes,

“Moral legitimacy”

The 1992 Catechism of the Catholic Church (#2309) summarizes classic Christian criteria for “moral legitimacy” of military action employed for defense: “The damage inflicted by the aggressor on the nation or community of nations must be lasting, grave and certain, All other means of putting an end to it must have been shown to be impractical or ineffective. There must be serious prospects of success. The use of arms must not produce evils and disorders graver than the evil to be eliminated.”

The Catechism emphasizes that modern weapons’ destructive power requires heavy consideration of that final rule, a theme developed at length in the U.S. Catholic bishops’ 1983 pastoral letter on the nuclear age, “The Challenge of Peace,” which is well worth reading here: www.usccb.org/upload/challenge-peace-gods-promise-our-response-1983.pdf/ The bishops concluded that “good ends (defending one’s country, protecting freedom, etc.) cannot justify immoral means (the use of weapons which kill indiscriminately and threaten whole societies). We fear that our world and nation are headed in the wrong direction.”

The bishops also discussed the traditional tenet that war must be approved and waged by “competent authority,” defined as “those with responsibility for public order, not by private groups or individuals.” Yet they allowed leeway for a “just revolution,” recognizing that “an oppressive government may lose its claim to legitimacy” so that “revolution in some circumstances cannot be denied.” Think of 20th Century insurgents seeking independence from colonial regimes or, for that matter, the American Revolution.

The independent National Catholic Reporter has run several articles in which liberals advocate various “non-violent resistance” tactics by Ukrainian civilians instead of the current military campaign against Russia. This past week, SimonMary Asese Aihiokhai of the University of Portland and Eli McCarthy of Georgetown University lamented that with Ukraine and otherwise “the primary use or impact of just war reasoning has been to legitimate war rather than prevent or limit it.”

No “Moral Superiority”

Writing in Commonweal magazine, Catholic theologian Paul J. Griffiths, formerly of Duke Divinity School, said the U.S.. has no “moral superiority” over Russia and is cloaking its strategic geopolitical interests in moralistic language. He argued that America should cease sending weapons because they “have extended a conflict that would likely have already ended without them and which will certainly be lengthened by our continued supply.”

Early in the war, Father Thomas Reese, the Catholic columnist with Religion News Service, emphasized that just war theory does not support “even a defensive war if there is no chance of winning.” On that, he cited John Sniegocki of Ohio’s Xavier University, who said with Russia’s “vastly greater” military strength “it seems inevitable” that the invaders will eventually control Ukraine. In a June column, Reese said Putin must be granted something in negotiations lest the war grind on indefinitely, and proposed that Ukraine pledge to officially shun NATO membership and keep NATO troops off its soil. Yet realistically, Putin is unlikely enter serious negotiations before November, 2024, when he hopes a compliant Donald Trump will be elected president.

Official Catholicism has been floating toward a form of semi-pacifism in recent times. Building upon assertions from prior popes, Francis’s 2020 societal encyclical Fratelli Tutti contends, “We can no longer think of war as a solution because its risks will probably always be greater than its supposed benefits. In view of this, it is very difficult nowadays to invoke the rational criteria elaborated in earlier centuries to speak of the possibility of a just war.”

The pope’s U.S. ally Cardinal Robert McElroy of San Diego applied this outlook to Ukraine last March 1 at the University of Notre Dame. His speech said “the atrophying of the just war framework as an effective constraint on war or pathway to peace calls the Church to redesign its moral framework for permitting war in dire circumstances.” He believed “the moral claim for the defense of Ukraine is clear and compelling,” indeed “unassailable.” But he said the “just war tradition” is hobbled in providing effective guidance today in situations like Ukraine. For instance, the tradition lacks realistic term for coping with a “protracted stalemate.” You might want to read McElroy’s full speech here. https://sdcatholic.org/wp-content/uploads/news/documents/3.1.2023-Cardinal-Address.pdf/

General Christian

Previous Post

September 8, 2023

Question: Why Did the Bible Accept Slavery?

Next Post

October 2, 2023 Question: How many members do major U.S. religious groups have?

Recent Comments

0 | Leave a Comment

"(First off, a correction: telescopes were invented about 1,300 years after Ptolemy's death.)Skeptics have been ..."

Ray Ingles

UFO buzz: Will life on distant ..."

"NIPs... spurn labels and are averse to “organized religion” with its expectations about moral lifestyles ..."

Ray Ingles

How do categories differ among America’s ..."

"Atheists are those who are certain God does not exist, and the same for all ..."

Brian Westley

How do categories differ among America’s ..."

"We already know what happens, Christianity is the only worldview that has completely answered all ..."

Lekrikrekral

Why doesn’t the Bible mention dinosaurs?

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Uncategorized

Select a Month October 2026 September 2026 August 2026 July 2026 June 2026 May 2026 April 2026 March 2026 February 2026 January 2026 December 2025 November 2025 October 2025 September 2025 August 2025 July 2025 June 2025 May 2025 April 2025 March 2025 February 2025 January 2025 December 2024 November 2024 October 2024 September 2024 August 2024 July 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 January 2024 December 2023 November 2023 October 2023 September 2023 August 2023 July 2023 June 2023 May 2023 April 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

What book tells about the creation of the world?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Acts Genesis Psalms Revelation