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Posted by adam.dada on December 3rd, 2007
Zion, IL
By A.B. Dada
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Blogger Curtis Schweitzer has agreed honorably to discuss and debate the morality versus immorality of the Just War Theory, a Christian doctrine founded by Augustine and one supported by many Evangelicals today, including Dr. Ron Paul, Republican Presidential candidate.
Mr. Schweitzer, and Dr. Paul, both believe that the Just War doctrine of Augustine’s is moral and acceptable for Christians. I personally am in the minority in believing it is both immoral, and unbiblical, to go to war or use force against another — be it individual, state or society.
I’m not sure when we’ll begin, but I will post my own starting views this week. Curtis will be posting his views on his site, and we will go back and forth until we’ve both hopefully presented our points of view and our cases.
It is not my desire to necessarily convince anyone to support or deny the Just War doctrine because of my beliefs of Curtis’, but I do hope that it causes the fair reader to consider the reasons behind the supporters and detractors of this historical doctrine.
December 3rd, 2007 at 12:08 pm
When viewed as a cap, the Christian just war tradition does not say when to go to war. It says when not to go to war. Though the cap is weaker than your personal cap, it is consistent with that.
In rhetoric, when our own strong convictions can be distracting, we can agree to logically weaker statements, still true.
In addition, at times we it appropriate to commend positions as monotonic improvements over the current situation. Or, over other positions, such as the holy war position that has become popular recently.
So, even with a strict ethic concerning force, the just war tradition is useful.
December 4th, 2007 at 10:02 pm
[…] debate: the (im)morality of just war theory Posted in debate by curtisschweitzer on December 4th, 2007 Adam Dada has kindly agreed to participate in a small debate with me over the morality of Just War Theory. His first post, which introduces the series, can be found here. He will be posting this week, at which point I will be responding. Please feel free to visit his site and check out some of his other posts, as he’s an exceedingly intelligent and rational blogger. […]