Religious Ethics
on War
Tom2 , Jonny and AJ
“And he will be called a Wonderful Counsellor, mighty God,
everlasting father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his
government and peace there will be no end.” - Isaiah 9:6-7
“They will beat their swords into plough shares, and their spears
into pruning hooks. Nation will not take up sword against nation,
nor will they train for war any more.” - Micah 4:3
“You shall not murder.” - Exodus 10:13
Why Christians Approve of War
• C.S. Lewis says ‘turn the other cheek’ does not apply to war
as there are other factors than your ego
– Jesus professes pacifism in terms of ‘love thy neighbour’ – Lewis
claims that war is not necessarily a matter of ego
– EG WWI was about defence, WWII was keeping a promise
• Just War Theory, being of Augustine and Aquinas is held in
high regard (especially by Catholics)
• Biblical precedent of war (and violence):
– Deuteronomy 20 "not leave alive anything that breathes…
completely destroy them …
– Battle of Jericho
– Crucifixion of Jesus - God approved as it alleviated sin
• This can be applied to wars against evil EG overthrowing tyrants
(Saddam – 2003, King George 1776)
Fletcher’s views
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"love thy neighbour," - Fletcher proposed that loving ends justify any means.
Fletcher outlined his theory in four "working principles" and six "fundamental
principles".
The four working principles:
Pragmatism - An action someone makes should be judged according to the love
influenced in it, so the user must always ask: what is the most loving thing to do?
For example, war may not - to a situationist - be considered the most 'loving' thing
and so many are quick to deem it as morally wrong.
Relativism - Approaching every situation with a relative mind-set and thus
opposing legalistic approaches - avoid words such as 'never', 'complete' and
'perfect'.
Positivism - The most important choice of all in the teachings in John 4:7-12 is "let
us love one another because love is from God".
Personalism - Whereas the legalist thinks people should work to laws, the
situational ethicist believes that laws are for the benefit of the people. This forces
the user to ask 'who is to be helped?' instead of 'what is the law', stressing the
importance of people before laws.
Fletcher
• ““Sometimes you’ve gotta put your principles to one side
and do the right thing” –a taxi driver” – Joseph Fletcher
• Third Principle: Love and justice are the same
"Love and justice are the same, for justice is love distributed,
nothing else.“
There can be no love without justice. Consider any injustice –
a child starving, a man arrested without charge etc. These are
examples of a lack of love. If love was properly shared out,
there would be no injustice. War to end these things can be
justified
What does Fletcher think?
• Fletcher would
condemn this as:
• It is not done out of a
love of God
• It does not consider the
relative outcomes
• It does not comply with
the laws in place within
the institution
NO!
Why condemn war?
• When beginning a war he
would condemn it if:
• It is not the most loving thing
one can do
• It does not consider the
relativity of its outcomes
• It is not done out of love for
God
• It does not coincide with
established laws