Just War Theory Essay

War, the very word which instantly divides society. Are you for or against the war? Should the war be happening in the first place? Many questions and concerns arise from war. People’s patriotism and loyalty for one’s country is tested. Indeed, war has either brought people together or torn them apart. The Catholic Church is often in a tough spot when war happens in the world, mainly due to if the war is justified. The first and foremost goal of Christians is to maintain peace and harmony. When looking a building peace, Christians developed the just war theory. The just war theory can be properly examined by looking at the development of the theory and how it was applied to the War in Iraq. The development of the just war theory came out of the need to address the conflicting values in the real world . Modern day society is full of new moral conflicting values especially in

The complexity of today’s age is so hard to properly understand that the just war theory was created in Christian values to determine whether war is truly the right course of action. However, as examined in the 2003 War in Iraq, the just war theory can misused by any country if they want a war. The United States mislead the public in many ways about why the Iraq War was just. There were no weapons of mass destruction. Saddam Hussein had no connection to Al Qaeda. There was plenty of other criteria violated such as the criteria of last resort and proportionality. While the United States government is at fault for the misuse of the just war theory, it makes one wonder as to how the theory can be manipulated in such a way. Perhaps, the just war theory needs more revision to fit in with the ever growing complications of the modern world. In any case, the United States still stretch the just-war theory far too much to consider the War in Iraq