Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal which comes upon you to prove you, as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice in so far as you share Christ\u2019s sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed. If you are reproached for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the spirit of glory and of God rests upon you. But let none of you suffer as a murderer, or a thief, or a wrongdoer, or a mischief-maker; yet if one suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but under that name let him glorify God. For the time has come for judgment to begin with the household of God; and if it begins with us, what will be the end of those who do not obey the gospel of God? And
\n\u201cIf the righteous man is scarcely saved,
\nwhere will the impious and sinner appear?\u201d
\nTherefore let those who suffer according to God\u2019s will do right and entrust their souls to a faithful Creator. (1 Pe 4:12\u201319).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
And the Church retained this stance for centuries:<\/p>\n
I do not wish to be a king; I am not anxious to be rich; I decline military command\u2026 Die to the world, repudiating the madness that is in it.<\/p>\n
\u2014\u2009Tatian\u2019s Address to the Greeks\u00a0<\/cite><\/div>\nWhatever Christians would not wish others to do to them, they do not to others. And they comfort their oppressors and make them their friends; they do good to their enemies\u2026. Through love towards their oppressors, they persuade them to become Christians.<\/p>\n
\u2014\u2009The Apology of Aristides 15<\/cite><\/div>\nA soldier of the civil authority must be taught not to kill men and to refuse to do so if he is commanded, and to refuse to take an oath. If he is unwilling to comply, he must be rejected for baptism. A military commander or civic magistrate must resign or be rejected. If a believer seeks to become a soldier, he must be rejected, for he has despised God.<\/p>\n
\u2014\u2009Hippolytus of Rome<\/cite><\/div>\nOne soul cannot be due to two masters\u2014God and C\u00e6sar. And yet Moses carried a rod, and Aaron wore a buckle, and John (Baptist) is girt with leather and Joshua the son of Nun leads a line of march; and the People warred: if it pleases you to sport with the subject. But how will a Christian man war, nay, how will he serve even in peace, without a sword, which the Lord has taken away? For albeit soldiers had come unto John, and had received the formula of their rule; albeit, likewise, a centurion had believed; still the Lord afterward, in disarming Peter, unbelted every soldier. No dress is lawful among us, if assigned to any unlawful action.<\/p>\n
\u2014\u2009Tertullian, On Idolatry Chapter 19: Concerning Military Service<\/cite><\/div>\nFor since we, a numerous band of men as we are, have learned from His teaching and His laws that evil ought not to be requited with evil, that it is better to suffer wrong than to inflict it, that we should rather shed our own blood than stain our hands and our conscience with that of another, an ungrateful world is now for a long period enjoying a benefit from Christ, inasmuch as by His means the rage of savage ferocity has been softened, and has begun to withhold hostile hands from the blood of a fellow-creature.<\/p>\n
\u2014\u2009Arnobius,\u00a0Adversus Gentes<\/i>\u00a0I:VI<\/cite><\/div>\nConsider the roads blocked up by robbers, the seas beset with pirates, wars scattered all over the earth with the bloody horror of camps. The whole world is wet with mutual blood; and murder, which in the case of an individual is admitted to be a crime, is called a virtue when it is committed wholesale.<\/p>\n
\u2014\u2009Cyprian of Carthage<\/cite><\/div>\nThose soldiers were filled with wonder and admiration at the grandeur of the man\u2019s piety and generosity and were struck with amazement. They felt the force of this example of pity. As a result, many of them were added to the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ and threw off the belt of military service.<\/p>\n
\u2014\u2009Disputation of Archelaus and Manes<\/cite><\/div>\nHow can a man be master of another\u2019s life, if he is not even master of his own? Hence he ought to be poor in spirit, and look at Him who for our sake became poor of His own will; let him consider that we are all equal by nature, and not exalt himself impertinently against his own race[\u2026]<\/p>\n
\u2014\u2009Gregory of Nyssa, Homilies on the Beatitudes<\/cite><\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\nThe logic of it was not far to seek.\u00a0 What did Christians owe a pagan empire that killed their Lord and his apostles and disciples?\u00a0 Why kill for the Whore of Babylon?\u00a0 As Cyprian of Carthage also said, \u201c[Christians] are not allowed to kill, but they must be ready to be put to death themselves . . . it is not permitted the guiltless to put even the guilty to death.\u201d<\/p>\n
I mention this to frame the discussion of Just War doctrine which first started to get ironed out in the fifth century and Christians were now faced with the question of their relationship to an empire that was no longer their pagan enemy but Christianized.\u00a0 What is notable about Just War doctrine is that it does not pronounce a blessing on war (though God knoweth many Christians have done so and few moreso than the cross-bearing Mars worshippers in the MAGA Cult) but instead is conceived in order to make war as hard as possible to launch.\u00a0 In short, it is designed to be 1) a concession to human weakness and 2) a massive hindrance to war.<\/p>\n
More than this, since the horrors of the 20th century, Benedict XVI has wondered aloud whether there is<\/em> any such thing as a Just War anymore.\u00a0 The movement of the Magisterium is decidedly in the opposite direction from the bloodthirsty warmongers in the Cult of Trump,who have given no consideration to this:<\/p>\n
CCC 2309\u00a0<\/b>The strict conditions for\u00a0legitimate defense by military force<\/em>\u00a0require rigorous consideration. The gravity of such a decision makes it subject to rigorous conditions of moral legitimacy. At one and the same time:<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Note that. Rigorous conditions.\u00a0 What we already know is that the Pentagon was in fact shocked<\/a> by Trump\u2019s capricious decision to show off his manhood by suddenly and without consideration\u00a0 launching a war both his predecessors understood to be insane<\/a>.<\/p>\n
Note also:\u00a0 *all* conditions of Just War must be met\u2013every single one\u2013or the war is Unjust and everybody who supports it is party to mass murder.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut Mark!\u00a0 That makes it incredibly hard to go to war!\u201d<\/p>\n
Now you\u2019re getting it, Spunky!\u00a0 That\u2019s the point.\u00a0 Just War doctrine is not there to pronounce a blessing on your lust for war but to throw up very high roadblocks to it.<\/p>\n
\u2013 the damage inflicted by the aggressor on the nation or community of nations must be lasting, grave, and certain;<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
If you think any of these criteria were met because a mob took over our embassy in Iraq for a couple of days, I have a bridge to sell you.\u00a0 If you think that there was an \u201cimminent attack\u201d worthy of a war with Iran because the Liar in Chief says so, I have a bridge to sell you.\u00a0 If you think, \u201cWell, you have to admit Soleimani was a bad guy who killed a lot of people\u201d is a good reason for war with Iran, then explain why you aren\u2019t demanding war with North Korea or Saudi Arabia?\u00a0 If your answer is that they are not the lasting, grave, and certain threats Iran is, I will call you a liar to your face.\u00a0 Iran was less of a threat than both.\u00a0 Trump made<\/em>\u00a0it a lasting, grave and certain threat by his stupid act. He did so out of intensely personal spite and jealousy of Obama by systematically undoing his peace treaty and laboring for wholly unnecessary war.<\/p>\n
\u2013 all other means of putting an end to it must have been shown to be impractical or ineffective;<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
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