What Is a ‘Just’ War? Religious Leaders Speak Out

by David Harrison, Contributor

Ever since the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Towers in NewYork, some American religious leaders have been outspoken in callingfor a peaceful response and respect for civil liberties. Theirperspectives contrast sharply with President Bush’s bellicoseinvocations of religious rhetoric, as in his recent address toCongress when he declared that “God is not neutral.”

Christians have a “just war” teaching that in theory can be used tojudge any war. According to Sister Evelyn Mattern, a programassociate at the North Carolina Council of Churches, “the US RomanCatholic bishops recently invoked the ‘just war’ teaching with regardto Afghanistan. In their hurry to support the president, they failedeven to mention one of the main criteria for a just war: that it canbe declared only after every other effort has failed. It has yet to berevealed, I think, what the US tried and failed before it beganbombing.”

Rabbi Mordechai Liebling, director of the Shefa Fund’s Torah of Moneyproject, which deals with Jewish ethics on finances and sociallyresponsible investing, suggests that US foreign policy should addressthe root causes that push people in developing countries to extremism.“We have to find a way of getting beyond the levels of despair andmisunderstanding that grip much of the world. Despair makes a populacerife for an opportunistic leadership that easily divides the worldinto good and evil, leading to bloodshed. The focus on defeating evilrather than on improving living conditions leads to more people raisedin despair. We need to rekindle hope. That comes from working for realchange.”

“However vulnerable we might feel, we must caution against blindnationalism which too often leads to irrational and violent behavior,”commented the Rev. Lucius Walker, director of the InterreligiousFoundation for Community Organizing. “As an interfaith agency, wecondemn the vilification of Islam, a major world religion which sharesits roots with Judaism and Christianity. We are also deeply concernedabout the impact of a US war on the already brutalized population ofAfghanistan. We cannot justify an attack on innocent civilians who arealready living under horrific conditions given the civil war thatrages on. The tragic reality is that people in many parts of the worldhave been the victims of terrorism, and that much of that terrorismhas been fomented by our government. This in no way excuses theterrorist acts committed against the people of the US—but it mustinform our response to those terrorist acts.”

From a Buddhist perspective, Sue Moon, editor of Turning Wheel,quarterly magazine of the Buddhist Peace Fellowship, said: “I don’tsupport the war and I don’t support the continuation of bombing inAfghanistan and I definitely don’t support the extension of the war toIraq. As Buddhists, one of our first precepts is not to kill and tosearch for ways of being nonviolent and to work for social justice. Iwould be in favor of continuing international talks and agreements andnegotiations. Aid to Afghanistan is essential. We should cut back onarms sales and reevaluate our energy policy, which is dependent onMiddle Eastern oil, by supporting alternative energy policies.” Moonis the author of Being Bodies: Buddhist Women on the Paradox ofEmbodiment.

On the issue of civil liberties, Dr. Laila al-Marayati, the founder ofthe Muslim Women’s League, said: “America pays lip service to thingslike human rights. That makes it a source of hope, but when we don’twalk the walk, that leads to resentment....We should not sacrifice ourfreedoms in the name of this war. The crackdown on various religiouscharities feels like an attempt to limit the American Muslimcommunity’s activism on behalf of legitimate causes like the sufferingof Palestinians.”

“Now we have the proposal to reinstate covert surveillance ofreligious and political organizations in the US,” said the Rev. JimWallis, editor of Sojourners magazine. “For those of us who have livedthrough those activities in the past, it brings back all the memoriesof government harassment of dissent. Finding and punishing those whocommitted the attacks of Sept. 11 and preventing future attacks issomething we all should support. Sacrificing our constitutional civilliberties to do so is not.”

David Harrison is a writer with IPA Media, a project of theInstitute for Public Accuracy{www.accuracy.org).