Fourth Geneva Convention<\/a>.<\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
I was shocked and dismayed to see him repeat that proposal in last night\u2019s debate and double down on it during an interview with Bill O\u2019Reilly, which he did from Mesa, Arizona, earlier today. \u00a0Behind him, a large crowd of perhaps a thousand people, gathered in what looked like some sort of airplane hangar, cheered loudly. \u00a0I\u2019m guessing, given the location, that not a few of those cheering were members of my church.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
The policy he recommends is immoral. \u00a0It\u2019s the kind of thing that ISIS and al-Qa\u2018ida do. \u00a0It\u2019s the kind of thing that the Nazis did. \u00a0It contravenes international law. \u00a0It would make our nation and its leaders and its soldiers war criminals. \u00a0It would inflame much of the world, and virtually all of the Islamic world \u2014 that\u2019s something on the order of 1.6 billion people \u2014 against us.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
I understand the fear and the anger. \u00a0I understand it very well. \u00a0But this proposal, while it plainly gratifies some audiences, is utterly irresponsible as well as completely unethical.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
If Mr. Trump doesn\u2019t really mean it, he\u2019s a manipulative liar. \u00a0If he means it, he\u2019s aspiring to commit war crimes.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
Imagine our pilots, ordered to target schools, hospitals, or homes.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
Imagine our soldiers, ordered to enter into houses and apartments in order to shoot unarmed women and children.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
Imagine the toll that such actions \u2014 and, surely, they\u2019re the sorts of acts that the deliberate targeting of the wives and children and extended families of ISIS terrorists would require \u2014 would inevitably take on the members of our military, on the moral self-understanding of our nation.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
Plato was right: \u00a0It\u2019s preferable to suffer wrong than to do wrong. \u00a0Evil can injure our bodies against our will, but evil can only injure our souls if we permit it to do so.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
Donald Trump is an increasingly sinister demagogue.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\u00a0 \u00a0 http:\/\/www.christianpost.com\/news\/trump-kill-innocent-family-isis-gop-debate-152612\/ \u00a0 The laws of war \u2014 yes, there are such things \u2014 have long banned the deliberate targeting of women and children. \u00a0(See here, for example.) \u00a0 But Donald Trump proposes doing precisely that, in direct violation\u00a0of (among many other things) the Fourth Geneva Convention. \u00a0 I was shocked and dismayed to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1019,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-28995","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n
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<\/a>