"War is never justified"

Christian Viewpoints
1. Complete agreement
  1. Pacifists
    1. Quakers
2. War can be justified in some circumstances
  1. St Thomas Aquinas
    1. Just War Theory
  2. Holy War (Crusades)
    1. Frowned upon in modern society
Atheist Viewpoints
1. Complete Agreement
  1. REMEMBER - Most atheists do have morals - sometimes stronger ones than theists!
  2. Pacifists
    1. Pacifism isn't tied to Religion
  3. Consequentialists & Utilitarinists (Me!)
2. War can sometimes be justified
  1. Fighting terrorism to protect civillians
Atheist Reasoning
1. Consequentialism & Utilitarianism
  1. War has can have side effects
  2. War brings more misery than joy
  3. War often harms civillians
    1. Just War Theory
      1. These have been proved ineffective
        We can't enforce international laws
    2. Geneva Conventions
      1. These have been proved ineffective
2. Rights-based Ethics
  1. War defends some Human Rights . . .
  2. . . . while violating others?
Christian Reasoning
1. Just War Theory
  1. War is acceptable if conducted in a certain way
    1. Most war is unfair and rules are broken
    2. People are still killing each other!
2. "Turn your swords into ploughshares" - Micah 4 : 3 & Isaiah 2 : 3
  1. Our finite resources are better spent elsewhere
3. Lex Talionis
  1. "An eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth" - Exodus 21 : 24
  2. War can be necessary for freedom and human rights
    1. . . .but there are usually, if not always, better ways
Note: The reason why there are no "War is always justified" views is because these views (surprise, surprise) aren't really common!

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"War is never justified"

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	Created by Stephen Hoy over 9 years ago