| | The Religious Debate ~ - Ethics and War Links to articles offered by Markkula Center for Applied Ethics at Santa Clara University.
The President's Belief - P-I Focus: Bush weds religion, politics to form world view By DAVID DOMKE. Seattle Post-Intelligencer. Aug 22, 2004. Since the attacks of Sept. 11, the president and his administration have converged a religious fundamentalist worldview with a political agenda -- a distinctly partisan one, wrapped in the mantle of national interest but crafted by and for only those who share their outlook. It is a modern form of political fundamentalism -- that is, the adaptation of a self-proclaimed conservative Christian rectitude, by way of strategic language choices and communication approaches designed for a mass-media culture, into political policy....The goal is a national mood of spiritual superiority under the guise of a just sovereignty. The ultimate irony is that in combating the Islamic extremists responsible for Sept. 11, the administration has crafted, pursued and engendered its own brand of political fundamentalism -- one that, while clearly tailored to a modern democracy, nonetheless functions ideologically in a manner similar to the version offered by the terrorists...[My] research showed that the administration's public communications contained four characteristics simultaneously rooted in religious fundamentalism while offering political capital...
- The Bush Doctrine By Tony Carnes. Christianity Today, May 2003. The Bush administration hasn't used a distinctive shorthand phrase to signal its foreign policy goals. The Weekly Standard has described it as "morality-based," and Newsweek's Howard Fineman has called it "faith-based" foreign policy.....Many foreign-policy experts question this new approach, including Carol Hamrin, a recently retired State Department expert on China and a senior associate of the Institute for Global Engagement, a Christian think tank. "I agree that there is evil," Hamrin said. "But my point is practical: if we operate on the mindset that we are right and they are wrong, we lose the complexities. People need to sense you are willing to accept them if they don't accept your values or ideas. Have we communicated that to the Muslims?"
- An Open Letter to President George W. Bush By: Hal Stone, Ph.D. & Sidra Stone, Ph.D. Feb 2003... Using language such as the “axis of evil” comes from a part of us that sees us as being good and living lives of righteousness and all darkness as living “out there” in the world. That part of us doesn’t realize that each of us has darkness and evil – as well as good - within. It doesn’t realize that the battle on the outside is a reflection of the battle that we all must wage within our own souls.... In psychological terms, you are disowning your own evil and projecting it out onto the world around you.... [On September 11, 2001] you were taken over by the hero archetype.... This archetype acts like an infusion of super-powerful energy. It gives us the power to do very heroic things.... It is like a psychological instinct.... It gives us the hero’s strength but not always the wisdom to balance it.... We lose our vulnerability! .... It seemed to us that about a year after 9/11 a new energy began to take over in you and join with the energy of the existing hero system. This new archetype is “The Savior.” It has a distinctly religious quality. The Savior must save the people from evil. There is evil and darkness in the world and some one or some group must save the world from this evil. This archetype would make you feel that you are the anointed and appointed ... of God whose job it is to rectify this dangerous situation. This puts us back to the days of the crusades and a holy war....[Read more.]
"Just War" Theology - Ethical Issues in Counterterrorism Warfare By Dr. Martin L. Cook. Sep 2001. The established moral and legal traditions of just war are .... pressed to adapt to the new and unforeseen character of a “war against terrorism.” This paper is a preliminary effort to extrapolate and apply existing fundamental moral principles of just war theory to this novel military and political terrain.
- The church and just war criteria For those who believe in the possibility of a just war, seven criteria, taken as a whole, must be satisfied according to the tradition that goes back to St. Augustine in 300 or 400 AD
- 'We Must Oppose This War' Initiated by George Hunsinger, a professor of theology at Princeton Theological Seminary, in consultation with the Christian theologians and ethicists listed, as preparations for war on Iraq were under way. Hunsinger argues that that U.S. war against Iraq violates the tenets of a just war.
- Just War -- Or A Just War? By Jimmy Carter, published in the New York Times, March 9, 2003 As a Christian and as a president who was severely provoked by international crises, I became thoroughly familiar with the principles of a just war, and it is clear that a substantially unilateral attack on Iraq does not meet these standards. This is an almost universal conviction of religious leaders, with the most notable exception of a few spokesmen of the Southern Baptist Convention who are greatly influenced by their commitment to Israel based on eschatological, or final days, theology....American stature will surely decline further if we launch a war in clear defiance of the United Nations. But to use the presence and threat of our military power to force Iraq's compliance with all United Nations resolutions -- with war as a final option -- will enhance our status as a champion of peace and justice.
- Catholic 'Hawks' Argue 'Justness' of War With Iraq By Jason White. Religion News Service. Bush's hawkish approach has won the support of some of the nation's most prominent Catholic theologians, who argue war with Iraq is not only morally permissible, but also a moral necessity.
- "What would Jesus do about war with Iraq?" "Christians Debating War" was the topic of the discussion, and King introduced the show with the question: "What would Jesus do about war with Iraq?" Panel of Christians Speaks Out on War With Iraq, featuring Dr. Bob Jones, Max Lucado, Father Michael Manning, John MacArthur and Bishop Melvin Talbert.
And More... ~ Links ~ - Rabbi has guidelines for seeing both sides of war By Cathlee Falsani. March 14, 2003. "The more you want to go to war, the more you have to cry. The less you want to go to war, the more you have to deal with what genuine evil is. But we have it split now. The people who want to go to war are happy. And the people who don't want to go to war are crying.... What you disagree with most is what shapes you the most," Kula said. "Whatever you are predisposed to think and believe, it's really important to look at the opposite. . . . It doesn't mean you have to take the opposite opinion. It means you have take the opposite opinion into account.
- The Religious Left's Moment Liberal and mainstream religious groups are becoming an increasingly visible and vital part of the antiwar movement. By Rebecca Phillips. In the past few months, liberal and mainstream religious groups have stepped up efforts to protest potential war with Iraq and have become an increasingly visible--and vital--part of the antiwar movement.
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