Can war ever be justified?

Question

can war ever be justified and what is it meant by a 'just' war??
religious studies essay!!
thankss
xx

Answer 1

Absolutely. Anytime you are attacked, you have the right to defend yourself and it would be just.

Answer 2

Throughout history (even in the bible) certain wars and battles have been justified by virtue of overthrowing an oppressive system or removing a current (or potential) threat. Were it not for the American Revolution or the Civil War the USA would be quite a different place today.

Our founding fathers believed in justified battles to the extent that they wrote it into our Declaration of Independence: "...whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it..." and again in our Second Amendment right to militia and bear arms.

Answer 3

Is there any such thing as a just warexcept when people are being massacred or tortured as in Rwanda. There are times when God wants us to get rid of evil leaders. In the Old Testament there were heaps of wars where God wanted new and just leaders to reign. YET the crusades were not justified. They were considered Holy Wars because Priests wanted to get rid of the Muslims. Nothing was achieved. Look up Crusades onEncarta site.

Answer 4

The word "just war" is a misnomer. No war came be justified because it is an invasion of another country. The terminology is meant for the defence of ones country. Meaning we defended ourselves therefor we engaged in a "just war"

Answer 5

You question uses the word 'can' not 'should', in which case I can justify war in the same way I can justify using 'punching someone in the face' as a means to stop them from either further harming me or someone else.

Answer 6

War, quite frankly justifies itself. A "Just" war is described by the combatants, creating for themselves a moral cause for war. In the long view, it is hard to justify war because it involves destruction and death. For many this is an impossilble thing to justify. For others, and perhaps too many, this is quite easily justified. Often what is "just" is determined by the victors.

Answer 7

Any action that is self defense: Britain was justified in responding to Germany in WWII and the USA was justified in responding to Japan after they attacked Hawaii.
That is to name a few, unfortunately, human history is rife with people & countries who attack others to get their possessions and or make them slaves or just conquer them to rule them as subjects.
So all countries have the right to fight back (go to war) when someone wants to make you a slave . . . as was said, often war is upon you whether you choose it or not.

Answer 8

I think so. If North Korea launces a nuke at somebody, I think it would be justified to go to war with them. When Japan attacked Pearl Harbor without warning, were we not justified in going to war with them?

Answer 9

(1) Most people justify war politically. For example, that if a nation is threatening or attacking other nations, then war is justified if it is used to stop the attacking nation from being a continuing threat and causing further violence, destruction, loss of life, and threat to other nations seeking good will relations.

(2) If you compare war with cancer, for example, as a "symptom" of some other problem that is not being addressed so that it causes "sickness," then war, like disease, serves the purpose of forcing people to examine and take steps to change a situation so this tragedy can be avoided in the future, even if it cannot be prevented in the present.

So by this perspective, war is not "justified" but is a "result" of unresolved conflict that needs further study so it does not continue or repeat itself. War is part of the social and spiritual development process until humanity is mature enough to prevent it, by reconciling conflicts whether political, economic or religious.

The Bible says that some wars happen so that onlookers may repent; so I take this to mean that part of our learning curve is to have both good and bad consequences to our actions, so that we repent and refrain from those that cause suffering and commit to thinking, acting and speaking in ways that promote conflict resolution, reconciliation and peace in order to prevent oppression, violence and war.

(3) The only "just war" is a spiritual battle, with no violence or harm to any person, but purely a "struggle" of truth and love to overcome ignorance, fear, anger, hatred, or other negative feelings or perceptions that otherwise block the spiritual reconciliation process of "making peace" with oneself and with all neighbors and relations. I believe the true meaning of "jihad" means the inner spiritual struggle and does not mean literal military attacks, which seem to result from confusing Mohammed's military strategies with his spiritual teachings, as he was a leader in both areas.

The Christians have terms for a cleansing process, ranging from going through the fire to be refined or purified, to being "slain" in order to be reborn in the spirit. Both Buddha and Jesus suffered terrible battles, fighting against temptation by evil spirits or false messages, which were used to reinforce the true concepts or teachings in their minds.

So any such moral battle, taken on to eradicate common enemies of fear, falsehood, or other division separating people, and to establish truth and equity to bring spiritual healing and restoration of neighborly relations, would be a "just war" in that it eliminates divisive conflicts that otherwise lead to oppression, violence, or physical war.

Answer 10

It seems many times through human history it can be a reason is always put forward though honestly we should never go to war over anything but sadly still happens

Answer 11

War is always justified somehow...But what is classed as 'just' depends on the person.

The UK and US 'justified' the Iraqi war by saying that they had weapons of mass distruction. To them this means they have 'justified' the war with a reason. To the rest of the world, this reason did not justify it.