Can you be Christian and support the Iraq war?

What he said, but since I’m a glutton for punishment I’ll wade in anyway.

To answer your question in its simplest form, it is entirely possible for a Christian to be wrong on any given issue, so yes, a Christian could be either for or against this war, which doesn’t mean that they’re correct in that position.

If you’re asking what the appropriate Christian response to this war would be that becomes a tougher question. The easy and perhaps obvious answer would be to say that Christians should be against this war, and that may well be the correct answer. I am a Christian who is against the war so the challenge for me is to try to understand if there is any Christian justification for it.

It’s true that Christians are to be non-violent but this does not mean that a Christian should be against laws. Christ said that Christians should be law abiding citizens, in fact. Christians are also to be non-judgemental but the function of laws is not (of should not be) to pass judgment on people but instead to provide safety and order and fairness for the citizens of a given political area (and to do this in as fair and error free a way as possible always keeping in mind that humans and human laws are imperfect and mistakes will be made, and that there is always room for learning and improvement in the way we make and apply laws). Just what laws apply on the international level can be a little hazy, but I don’t think that will end up being a problem in this situation. If we concede, for the sake of this argument anyway, that if Saddam had had WMD he would have been a threat to his neighbours and others and that this threat would break some form of international law then we can skip past this problem. (Note that there may well be serious problems with this position if we choose to pick it apart a little bit). This was the original justification by the Bush administration. This was their basis for a just war.

We now know that there were no WMD and if you don’t believe that they actually ever believed there were WMD in Iraq in threatening amounts then this problem starts to simplify. It looks to me like their own claim of a basis for a just war was a lie, so by their own standards this is not a just war.

 

A post like this is hard to find fault with. Grizzled, I hope you don't make me more emboldened.

One question, though, how do Christians deal with injust and atrocious laws?

 

I wasn't being sarcastic. I really wants to know.

 

The initial post I was referring to was the one I quoted and was responding to, where you ridiculously asserted that Jesus allowed himself to die because he was against violence - which you later admitted you knew was not true (so why did you post it, if you wanted a serious discussion?).

In said post, besides the flippant lie that you included to make your connection between Christ and an inability for Christians to be OK with war, you created three "options", all of which were designed to make war supporters look hypocritical or "bad" to their faith.

Nowhere did you act like you were looking for a serious, honest response. If you wanted an honest discussion on the topic, you would have left your question with the first post in this thread. Instead, you didn't, you came back with a knowingly incorrect theory on why Jesus died and followed it with three possible conclusions, all pre-judging the issue and phrasing things in the worst possible light. You weren't looking for information - you were looking to bash a group of people.

 

or...

E. Christianity isn't a purely stable concept and is open to interpretation, allowing for views and ideologies that could be used to justify or reject the war in Iraq

Either way this is a rather bad question. Christianity is so fragmented and diverse that its impossible to make some sort of essentialist and universal claim that Christianity supports or rejects the war.

 

MartianMan,

I have to agree with Manny here. It seems to me that you do not come forward with an open mind to have honest discussion.

I am an ex-Christian. I grew up in the Bible Belt in a family that was/is very religious. I am a practicing Muslim today and becoming a Muslim was undoubtedly the best decision I have ever made. The reason I say this is to set the premise that I do not have a pro-Christian bias that causes me to believe that you are impartial.

It is important not to confuse a political agenda with a religious one. The war in Iraq is not a religious war. There are pro-War Christians and there are anti-War Christians. The belief of Christianity does not hinder or facilitate a particular stance. There are good Christians on both sides of the issue. Neither side is misguided in their Christianity.

It's the same dillemma that Muslims face today. Suicide bombers in Israel don't do what they do for religious purposes, but rather political. Terrorists do not attack the civilized world for religious purposes, but rather political. Many Muslims feel that their actions are on the basis of religion just like GWB and feels that liberating Iraq is doing God's work. Both are misguided.

 

I think Jesus follow The Golden Rule? "Do not do to others what you would not have them do to you."

What do you think?

 

I am going to take some heat off MartianMan because if he didn't start this thread, I may make one similar to this sooner or later. I have got to say I am even more (much more) vocal than he in opposing this Iraq War. I guess, what he and I (if I may also include other non-Christian anti-war posters) would like to know is what Biblical references, especially in the New Testament, give pro-war Christians justifications for this War?

For what I see, only StupidMoniker and Grizzled (whose post is extremely well reasoned) offered their (Christian) point of views on this topic from two opposite camps.

Call me biased or ignorant. But among many other things, what strikes me most about Christianity is its unconditional love for fellow human beings, which of course include your enemies. If there's one day I may become a Christian, I believe it will be because of the teachings and actions of Jesus Christ, not Old Testament. So to forget about all the distracting skirmishes in this thread, if you are a Christian and for this War, have you really for a moment considered what Jesus would do?

 

Good question. If I were being held under the rule of a brutal tyrant, I would like someone with the power to save me to come over and get rid of the tyrant, and then allow me to choose who would control my country and by what means - allowing elections and allowing myself and/or a group I was allowed to elect to draft my constitution. I have always supported the war because I thought it was the right thing to do.

Edit: Legend,
Nothing "happened" to "Thou shalt not kill." The thing is, that is a prohibition against murder, not war. In many instances later in the bible, there is a lot of killing, especially in wars. Samson is filled with the Holy Spirit and kills 1,000 men (with the jawbone of an ass), many crimes in Leviticus call for the death penalty, etc. If the bible ended in Exodus, with God giving Moses the ten commandments, then we could take "Thou shalt not kill." as an absolute, but that is simply not the case.

Martian Man,
There was certainly a parable that had a message of turning the other cheek. There is also a message throughout the Gospels of helping those who can't help themselves.

 

I’m not sure what I’d be making you more emboldened about, but if it’s a good thing then I’m happy about that.

About your question, this can potentially be a very challenging question as well. In a general sense I’d say that working within the law to change the law is the right approach, and I’d hold up the approaches used by the Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. as an example. Depending on the issue this can be a challenging problem to work though, though. Do you have a specific situation in mind?

 

The difference is that when wnes or basso or someone else posts a pro or anti-war thread, they are clearly taking a position and pushing a specific point of view. You, on the other hand, act like you're looking for information. In fact, you stated in a later reply, <I>I'm trying to find out what the bible says about war, specifically from rhester, and in general from the public<I>. But at the same time, you take an antagonistic tone that demonstrates that you are not doing that, but instead taking a position on the issue, while having little to no information. When wnes and basso post their views, they are being honest about looking for debate and stirring up controversy. You are doing the same, but under the veil of "trying to learn", while not actually appearing to have an open mind from the start.

Again, if you had left your question with the first post, or not been antagonistic in your follow-up, I would have nothing to comment on. If you antagonize, you should expect to get antagonistic rebuttals, which I provided you. You seemed offended that I posted an option "D" that criticizes your view, but you didn't have a problem posting options "A" through "C" which attack war-supporters by making them look un-Christian (option A) or claim that Christians don't understand their own beliefs (option C). I find that a bit odd.

As an aside, I am neither a war supporter nor a Christian, so I have no personal stake in this issue. If you truly have an honest question on the topic, there are better, non-aggressive ways to get good answers. If, on the other hand, you want to stir up controversy, why try to hide it in some kind of honest search for information?

 

So out of all the countries who are ruled by a dictator and experience human rights violations in a massive scale, Bush chose to save Iraq. I wonder why?

 

Sorry, I haven't looked at this thread...

Obviously not an easy question.

There are Christians who support the Iraq war.
There are Christians who do not support the Iraq war.

I will think about my answer before I give it, if I even have one.

Jesus said before His return there would be wars and rumors of wars, nation would rise against nation, kingdom against kingdom, these are the beginning of sorrows... (in Matthew chapter 24).

There will be no wars in heaven... (Revelations chapter 21)

Is your question with respect to wars in general?