[rottndog]

I thought the American(Generally Christian as well) ideal was not to kill or injure non-combatants ;and killing same was one reason we condemned the bad guys.

So what was more Christian...allowing the war to drag on costing potentially millions more lives, or dropping the bombs on two cities to bring the war to a decisive and quick end?

[dfwgator]

Those bombs wound up saving a lot more Japanese lives than American lives.

Not only that, it most likely spared Japan from being divided into a Soviet Zone and a US Zone. And no doubt a Korea-like Civil War probably would have been a result, with the ChiComs joining in on the fun.

[hoosierham]

I do wonder if destroying two major military bases instead might have done it.

It has been reported that the European city bombing stiffened the resolve if the survivors.

The destruction caused by a single atomic bomb in one instant versus the “familiar” conventional bombs no doubt altered the thinking of everyone.