'War is never right' Assess this statement.

The morality and ethics of war have been the subject of debate from the beginning of human civilisation In the Christian tradition there is a diversity of beliefs about war, both condemning it and justifying it. <br>The sanctity of human life and its surrounding teachings are often interpreted as being against violence and warfare. War often results in the deaths of soldiers and sometimes civilians. This can be seen as going against the Natural Law of God. According to the Bible, ‘God created man in His own image’ (Genesis 1:27), meaning that the life of every individual is sanctified by God and only God can end the life that he has created. The Ten Commandments forbid murder outright and for many Christians this would cover the taking another human life in any context. Jesus’ teaching in the Gospels, particularly Matthew 5.44 ‘Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you’ reiterates a message of pacifism and a condemnation of war. <br>However within Christianity there are also justifications of War. Ecclesiastes 3:8 establishes that there is ‘a time to love, and a time to hate; a time for war, and a time for peace’, suggesting that there is sometimes a necessity for war. This suggests an appropriate time for war and 1 Timothy 1.18 ‘you may wage the good warfare,’ suggests an appropriate way of acting during war. “Jus in Bello” is the basis of international law which governs the way that warfare is conducted, such as the Geneva Conventions. These are put in place so that Wars can happen in a ‘Just’ way. St. Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274) included teachings on Just War in his theological discourse. Jus in Bello governs the waging of wars through a set of principles, beginning with the maxim that war should always have a ‘just cause’ or ‘right intention’, meaning that war should only happen with the ultimate goal of resolution and formation of a lasting peace. This is supported by Jesus teaching in Matthew 5.9 ‘Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God’. <br>For example, it might be acceptable to go to war for humanitarian purposes. If a group (A) is being oppressed or harmed by the government of their country (B) it might be justified for a country (C) to declare war against (B) to free (A). However war should also be ‘the last resort’, only in the event of all peaceful measures failing should ‘force’ be used. For example in the case of (A), (B) and (C). (C) would have to engage (B) and (A) in peace talks or similar dialogues before being able to justify declaring war. The other maxim is ‘proportionality’, which states that the level of violence used should not outweigh the positive results of that violence. For example, if you need to attack a building to kill one soldier but there are also 300 civilians in that building it would not be proportional to bomb that building. The death of 300 civilians would not be considered ‘proportional collateral damage’. Using these maxims to guide warfare protects those who are not directly involved while maintaining the right to defend oneself an other through force when absolutely necessary. <br>Within the Christian tradition war is not always condemned, rather than being ‘never right’, war is not always wrong.