The Justness of Gulf War
Before McCarthy ridicules Catholic morality, he should at least make an honest exposition of it. He labels the “just war” theology a “proposition that allows theologians to argue that killing people is pleasing to God,” and a departure from early Christianity. He fails to mention that the possibility of just war was enunciated by St. Augustine, who relied heavily on Scripture and early Christian practice. This approach was later echoed by St. Thomas Aquinas.
McCarthy says pacifist bishops who reject just war are true to “the statements of modern Popes.” No modern Pope has ever questioned the just war principles. Just the opposite; they have said few modern wars can meet them.
Despite what McCarthy says, the principles do not seek God’s blessing on a war. They allow a nation, like an individual, to take life in self-defense when there seems no other moral recourse.
MICHAEL IMLAY, Temple City
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