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The Death of Bin Laden: Legitimate and Illegitimate Rejoicing Written by Luiz Sérgio Solimeo    May 11, 2011 Share Tweet The extraordinary feat of the Navy Seals taking the compound where Bin Laden was hiding by surprise, and killing him, gave rise to manifestations of joy among numerous people who saw themselves free from an implacable enemy of the nation and because justice had been served on the mastermind of the 9/11 attack which killed 2,977 people, mostly Americans.1 It Is Not Licit to Rejoice at the Harm Suffered by Fellow Human Beings… Following this spontaneous explosion of jubilee...

The death of Osama bin Laden did not end the war against jihadism, a war bin Laden had declared against the United States in a 1996 fatwa that mandated the killing of Americans wherever they could be targeted. But it did take one key leader of jihadist Islam off the global strategic chessboard. The death of Osama bin Laden did not end the civil war within Islam over the proper interpretation of Islamic law and the right relationship of Muslims to those who are “other.” But it did continue the dymythologization of bin Laden and his alleged invincibility, a myth...

WASHINGTON — The term “just-war doctrine” never surfaced in President Obama’s announcement Sunday night that U.S. forces had killed Osama bin Laden. But his precise remarks underscored the U.S. government’s awareness that the world would scrutinize the killing of the mastermind of the 9/11 attacks from many different vantage points, including the just-war doctrine. Introduced by St. Augustine of Hippo, this doctrine has traditionally provided the moral framework for guiding and evaluating “the just defense of a nation against an aggressor.” It does not directly address the issue of individual or collective guilt of the aggressor, or how a just...

[1]The revolutions in North Africa this year call to mind the old controversy about revolution, and whether citizens can rightly rebel against their long established government. Insofar as the revolt against Muammar Gaddafi has escalated all the way to civil war, Libya (as distinguished from Egypt and Tunisia) offers a sort of laboratory test on the issue of whether a citizen can rightly take up arms against a corrupt regime. A Medieval Islamic proverb takes submissiveness on the part of oppressed citizens to its logical extreme: “Sixty years of tyranny are better than an hour of civil strife.” Rejecting this...

Military intervention in Libya, in the judgment of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), “appears to meet” the just-cause criterion of Catholic teaching on just war. The USCCB, however, cautioned that it has “refrained from making definitive judgments” in light of “many prudential decisions beyond our expertise.” “In Catholic teaching the use of force must always be a last resort that serves a just cause,” Bishop Howard Hubbard of Albany, chairman of the USCCB Committee on International Justice and Peace, wrote in a letter to National Security Advisor Thomas Donilon. “The Catechism of the Catholic Church limits just...

EXCERPT : ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Imagine that thousands of American citizens, wanting to leave the mainland in search of a better life and to populate a large, uninhabited island a thousand miles off the west coast of the U.S., petition the U.S. Government to live on the island under U.S. jurisdiction, ruled by a Federal Governor. The Government agrees. No sooner have the emigrants planted the Stars and Stripes on the island than they strike gold, build up a healthy trade with the mainland, and become hugely wealthy. However, the Japanese, wanting to expand their sphere of influence and enrich their coffers,...

Featured Term (selected at random):PACIFISM The doctrine that all war is inherently wrong and, among Christians, that warfare is forbidden by the Gospels. The position of the Catholic Church is that war is, indeed, undesirable and that sinful passions give rise to war, but not all armed conflict is necessarily sinful and Christians may engage in a just war. (Etym. Latin pacificare, to make peace.) All items in this dictionary are from Fr. John Hardon's Modern Catholic Dictionary, © Eternal Life. Used with permission.

In the months preceding the Obama administration’s Nuclear Posture Review, which reshaped the principles governing the size and purpose of the U.S. nuclear stockpile, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops was busy at work. Its Department of Justice, Peace, and Human Development issued various position papers urging the administration to drastically reduce the role and size of the arsenal. Archbishop Edwin O’Brien of Baltimore, previously Archbishop for the Military Services, took the message to venues ranging from a deterrence conference hosted by U.S. Strategic Command (the command responsible for nuclear-strike operations) to the Global Zero Summit in Paris. Bishop Howard...

If You Want Peace, Prepare for War Written by The American TFP    Friday, 12 March 2010 16:31 Why We Cannot Cut Our Nuclear Arsenal Without the World Returning to Ethical Principles For years now, nuclear disarmament (even unilateral disarmament) has been vehemently debated in Catholic intellectual circles. Since the Obama Administration is now negotiating a new Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START) with the Russian Federation and this Catholic debate influences to some extent the realm of public policy, it seems opportune for the American Society for the Defense of Tradition, Family, and Property—TFP to pronounce itself on the...

A self-proclaimed born-again Christian who believes all abortions are a sin told his trial for murder today that he shot dead an abortion doctor in Wichita, Kansas, to protect unborn children. Scott Roeder said he had bought a .22-calibre Taurus gun and ammunition on 30 May 2009, the day before he shot George Tiller, and practised target shooting with his brother. Then he checked into a motel in Wichita, and the next day followed Tiller to the church in the town where the doctor was an usher. His defence lawyer asked: "Did you go and shoot Dr Tiller?" Roeder replied:...

Here is video of a short part of President Obama's Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech, which he delivered in Oslo, Norway today. In this clip, Obama defended the necessity of war at times, and even came right out and said "a non-violent movement could not have halted Hitler's armies." President Obama should be commended for making the case for "just war" in front of a European audience that may have been shocked (as shocked as we are) to hear him make that case, and even defend the role of the United States in underpinning post- World War II stability with...

A just war can only be waged as a last resort. All non-violent options must be exhausted before the use of force can be justified.A war is just only if it is waged by a legitimate authority. Even just causes cannot be served by actions taken by individuals or groups who do not constitute an authority sanctioned by whatever the society and outsiders to the society deem legitimate.A just war can only be fought to redress a wrong suffered. For example, self-defense against an armed attack is always considered to be a just cause (although the justice of the...

The Catholic attitude to war 1557. You speak of a Christian solution of social troubles, but did not the Great War show the utter failure of Christianity altogether? No. Christianity did not fail. The nations failed to observe Christian principles, a totally different thing. When I say the nations, I mean those in political control of their destinies, and the general outlook of the peoples concerned. Many individuals who fought were excellent Christians, believing the cause of their own country to be just and defending the right as they conceived it with the highest motives. And this on both sides....

Jesus supports the IDF and he wants his believers to be the best soldiers they can be. That was the message conveyed by members of the local Messianic Jewish community via sacred texts, prayer and talks, to a group of 18-year-olds who took part this week in a premilitary program called Netsor. "I am a soldier of God," said Boris, an intense redhead accepted to an elite combat unit, who is one of the 28 young men and women who participated in Netsor. "I will do my best during my service in the IDF to serve God spiritually and physically....

Just War According to Catholic Teaching Written by Luiz Sérgio Solimeo    Thursday, April 10 2003 The Church teaches that military action is justified as a means of re-establishing order. After the brutal September 11 attacks, the United States must once again wage a war in a foreign land.As always, the problem of the legitimacy of using military action for revenge as a means of re-establishing justice comes to the fore. Thus, it is in the interest of our readers to bring to their attention the traditional Catholic doctrine on the subject.Saint Augustine (354-430)The great Saint Augustine provided the...

"I Beg You Not to Be Misled by Confusion and Lies" Scranton Bishop's Letter for Respect Life Sunday Here is the text of the pastoral letter Bishop Joseph Martino of Scranton, PA released ahead of Respect Life Sunday, October 6, 2008.  The bishop asked the letter to be read at all Masses over the weekend in place of the homily, and a copy placed in all parish bulletins.  He makes clear that though Catholics should not engage in single-issue voting, that all moral issues are to be accorded the same weight in determining how to cast one's ballot in the upcoming elections. ...

Judaism And Warfare , Steven Plaut Dear Dr. H: You write about how Judaism is devoted to the pursuit of peace. You bring assorted citations from the Bible and Psalms about how nice peace can be. You emphasize that Judaism grants peace priority over competing goals. You find biblical quote after biblical quote about how good peace is. You then conclude that Israel is behaving in a manner that contradicts Jewish tradition when it wars against Hamas barbarism and Gaza terror. Israel must pursue "negotiations" with Hamas, you insist, citing the biblical desire for peace as the over-riding consideration. That...

For those individuals -- such as nearly all members of the world news media -- who, in light of Israel's invasion of Gaza -- see moral equivalence between Israel and the Palestinians, here are some clarifying thoughts. First, it would be difficult nearly to the point of impossibility, to find Israeli or other Jews who celebrate the deaths of Palestinian civilians. Jews both within and outside of Israel cringe when they see pictures of dead Palestinian men, women, and children in Gaza. For thousands of years at their Passover seders, Jews have removed wine from their cups to ceremonially weep...

WAR HAS always had rules, even if only to protect the dead. In The Iliad, for example, Homer tells us that Achilles' desecration of Hector's corpse angered the gods. Medieval churchmen sought to limit warfare to certain days of the week and evolved an entire just war theology to constrain the use of armed force. By the Age of Reason, international law "publicists" were busily expounding on the subject, and the 20th century opened with a substantial body of law governing both the right to initiate combat (jus ad bellum) and how armed force is applied (jus in bello). These...

Question 40. War Is some kind of war lawful? Is it lawful for clerics to fight? Is it lawful for belligerents to lay ambushes? Is it lawful to fight on holy days? Article 1. Whether it is always sinful to wage war? Objection 1. It would seem that it is always sinful to wage war. Because punishment is not inflicted except for sin. Now those who wage war are threatened by Our Lord with punishment, according to Matthew 26:52: "All that take the sword shall perish with the sword." Therefore all wars are unlawful. Objection 2. Further, whatever is contrary...