Lesson Objectives

1

• Lesson Objectives
• To know about weapons of mass destruction
• To know the Christian just war theory
• To understand why some Christians believe in a
  just war

2
Can a war be fair?

• The theory of Just War

3
Peace is the ideal

• But most religious believers accept that war is
  sometimes a necessary evil
• So a set of rules has been formulated to judge
  whether a war situation is just

4
The rules have been developed over centuries

• Augustine (a Christian leader in the Middle Ages)
  came up with the JUST WAR theory.
• This outlines the conditions under which
  Christians could justify gong to war.
• The Christian thinker St. Thomas Aquinas added to
  this list.
• The United Nations added to this and produced a
  list of reasons to justify going to war.

5
A Just War

• A Just War is.
• A war that is fought for the right reasons and in
  the right way.
• There are 7 just war principles to remember!!!!!

6
The war must be fought for a JUST CAUSE. There
has to be a just or moral reason such as
defending a nation under attack or trying to stop
tyranny
7
The war must be fought by the PROPER AUTHORITY of
a government or the United Nations. The
politicians must make the most important decisions
8
A war is just if it is begun as the LAST RESORT,
all non violent means of solving the conflict
must have been tried and failed before you turn
to war
9
There must be a REASONABLE CHANCE OF SUCCESS. You
cannot go to war and waste the lives of brave
soldiers for something which you have very little
chance of winning, lives should not be wasted.
10
There must be CONTROLLED VIOLENCE. Every effort
must be made to make sure that as little violence
as possible is used to achieve victory and
methods should AVOID KILLING CIVILIANS
11
The force used in the war must be PROPORTIONAL to
the cause. It would not be proportional to drop a
nuclear weapon on a small country for invading a
small island.
12
Why Do Christians Believe in Just War

• St Paul said in Romans 13 and Titus 3 that
  Christians must obey the orders of the GOVERNMENT
• Jesus never condemned the soldiers the met and
  commended their faith in Luke 7
• When Jesus was asked about paying takes he said
  Give to Caesar what is Caesars which must mean
  fighting in a just war ordered by the
  government
• Everyone including Christians agree that a police
  force is needed to protect innocent people from
  criminals. In the same way an army is needed to
  police the world and fight just wars in order
  to protect innocent countries from criminal ones

13
Apply Just War Theory

• Apply both your own just war theory and the
  Christian just war theory to the case studies you
  are given
• Gulf War
• Falkland War
• Vietnam War
• Second World War
• Israel/Palestine Conflict

14
How To Answer an Explain Question

• Questions in your exam will be looking for you to
  show your understanding of a subject
• You need to look carefully at a question to find
  out what it is asking you what are the key
  words for this question
• Explain why some Christians believe in a just
  war

15
Answering Explain questions

• The key word is WHY so in your answer you need to
  explain WHY some Christians believe in just war
• Use the word BECAUSE
• You need to give at least FOUR REASONS to get
  full marks for this question.
• For HOMEWORK answer the question
• Explain why some Christians believe in a just
  war