TOV - Violence in the Service of Justice: Is it Permissible?

Violence in the Service of Justice:
Is it Permissible

Theology on the Vine
June 2^nd, 2011

Reactions to the death of Osama bin Laden have run the gamut from jubilation to fury to somber reflection,
which has many asking: Was it Moral? Was it Just?
What is wrong in celebrating his death?


What is the attitude that Christians should have in the face of violence?
War? or Terrorism?

—- Violence and Christianity —-
In the Bible we read: "You have heard that it was said, 'An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.' But I say to you, offer no resistance to one who is evil. When someone strikes you on (your) right cheek, turn the other one to him as well.”
Matthew 5:38-39 New American Bible

How did Jesus understand it?
How does the Church understand it?

Click here to go to the articles we posted for this presentation.

Articles added since original TOV Gathering
(click the highlighted links below to read the articles)

From "First Things" on May 18, 2011 - George Weigel discusses what the death of Bin Laden "did" and "did not" do. You must read the full article to get to this interesting point:
"What the death of bin Laden did demonstrate unmistakably is just how poorly many religious leaders and religious intellectuals think about the new kind of war in which we have been engaged for more than a decade and a half (although most of us only recognized that after 9/11)."

Article added on 8/30/2011: The Death of Osama bin Laden

Articles posted prior to original TOV Gathering
(click the highlighted links below to read the articles)

Lets start with a couple of articles posted this week that pose questions of morality, justice, just-war, in light of public reactions to the death of Osama bin Laden.

From the National Catholic Reporter on May 5:
Article 1: Bin Laden killing poses moral questions

From the National Catholic Register on May 4:
Article 2: 'Justice has been done,' states President Obama, and just-war scholars agree.

So what is this “Just-War Theory”? Where did it come from? How does it apply today? In the following article from 2002 posed on CatholicCulture.org, Mark S. Latkovic provides a more in-depth look at these issues:
Article 3: “Just-War Theory, Catholic Morality, And The Response To International Terrorism”

The following two articles provide views on the issues of terrorism.

In the following article, “The Struggle with Terrorism”, Ron Rolheiser, OMI writes that:
“The strength of a people, in the end, lies not in its military power, but in its faith, moral fiber, imagination, and in the vision of its poets, artists, philosophers, and priests.” And latter that: “Hatred only dies when it is turned upon itself. We are right in trying to contain it, but eventually it can only be defeated from within. In the interim, we need better poetry.”

Article 4: "The Struggle with Terrorism"

In “Evil does not die of natural causes” by Charles Krauthammer in the Washington Post, writes that: “The bin Laden operation is the perfect vindication of the war on terror.”

Article 5: “Evil does not die of natural causes”

Violence in the Service of Justice: Is it Permissible?

In the following article “Pope: Violence in God’s name never justified” about Pope Benedict XVI new book “Jesus of Nazareth – Holy Week”, the reviewer indicates that the Pope “insists that Jesus never advocated violent revolution, as some liberation theologians have suggested, saying violence was not His way no matter how valid the motivation.” The review also says: "Violence does not build up the kingdom of God, the kingdom of humanity. On the contrary, it is a favorite instrument of the Antichrist, however idealistic its religious motivation may be," Benedict wrote. "It serves, not humanity, but inhumanity."

Article 6: “Pope: Violence in God’s name never justified”

Have we seen “liberation theology” in action in the Americas? The following article points to it in Venezuela in this article from 2007. Is this a case of “violence in the service of justice” or not?

Article 7: "Marxism, Liberation Theology And The Lack Of Liberty”

Liberation theology – is it a “fundamental threat to the faith of the Church” (from Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger in 1984 in “Liberation Theology”. You can read the full article here:

Article 8: “Liberation Theology”

The Real History of the Crusades...

It seems that once we start talking about the topics of “Violence in the Service of Justice”, The Just War Theory”, or the Middle East, the comments and questions that comes up include: “What about the Crusades?”, “How could they be ‘Justified’?”, “Weren’t they attacks against Muslim’s?”

There is a lot of confusion and misconceptions about the Crusades. In the following article “The Real History of the Crusades”, by Thomas F. Madden, Professor of History and Director of the Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies at Saint Louis University, he states that:
“They were not the brainchild of an ambitious pope or rapacious knights but a response to more than four centuries of conquests in which Muslims had already captured two-thirds of the old Christian world. At some point, Christianity as a faith and a culture had to defend itself or be subsumed by Islam. The Crusades were that defense.”

To get a more in-depth look at the history of the Crusades, please check out the following article:

Article 8: "The Real History of the Crusades" by Thomas F. Madden

The following 2 min. video outlines 8 key elements of the Just War Theory.