The unprecedented events of the past six months, sparked by the greatest terrorist outrage that we have known and the threat - as US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld recently candidly acknowledged - that there may be much worse to follow, has taken us all so much by surprise that we have scarcely caught our reflective breath. Tony Blair's prominence in advocating and commending the US-led campaign in Afghanistan has given the UK an unique opportunity both to sway world opinion and to influence American policy - both, no doubt, among its intentions. It may also have placed the UK high on the target list for whatever next round is being planned by al-Quaeda and company.

There is a good deal of room for differences in Christian perception, all the way from consistent pacifism to whatever is its opposite. Most Christians, in line with and often leading wider public opinion, have been supportive of the broad outlines of the US/UK/coalition action. There is of course nothing wrong with that. Christians believe that child abuse is wrong and feeding the hungry is good, and while we have a highly distinctive rationale for our high view of human dignity - what could be higher than our belief that we are made in God's own image? - we applaud the efforts and attitudes of anyone who takes human dignity seriously. At one level we can be part of general opinion and be content.

A Christian Perspective
However, from a Christian perspective some things seem very clear, and in these we will differ from some others.

First, our condemnation of the September 11 attacks needs to be unequivocal. We may be aware of some of the reasons why anti-western sentiment can so readily be whipped up in parts of the world (though the reasons in this case are plainly very complex and as much connected to issues in the governance of Arab nations, and the enigma of the search for peace in Israel/Palestine, as to anything directly in the west). But, as the age-old debate on the origins of crime illustrates, to understand is not to explain away. Some early comment suggested that the US somehow "deserved" this appalling mass murder of its and many other nations' citizens. Whether coming from American fundamentalists like Jerry Falwell, who suggested it was God's judgment, or from some British and European commentators who plainly nurture their own kind of anti-Americanism, we should be ashamed of such naive and blase dismissal of a very great crime.

Secondly, even some traditional pacifists should be able to support the principle of the limited military action in Afghanistan. It is truly remarkable how an international political consensus has been established and maintained as we have witnessed something between a small war and what has been described as an extensive police action in defence of western civilians. Yet at the core of the action has been a deep commitment on the part of the US and its allies to limit Afghan civilian casualties and to follow the principles of the "just war" that have been laid down by Christian thinkers from Augustine on. Mistakes have surely been made in the fog of war. But there has been a series of revealing stories of frustration on the part of the US armed forces at the constraints of their rules of engagement.

Justice and Just War
In a very remarkable meeting some weeks ago, US Defense Secretary Rumsfeld called together a range of religious leaders and asked for their advice, since he was concerned that at every level the campaign against al-Quaeda and the Taliban be conducted on explictly "just war" lines. Like many member of the US government, Rumsfeld is a Christian (President Bush begins his cabinet meetings with prayer). The restraint with which the campaign has been marked derives in no small measure from that commitment.

Christians must never be uncritical of their governments, and while in time of crisis we all tend to want to pull together our critical faculties need to remain engaged. As the campaign against international terrorism on this new scale continues - and as we meet fresh challenges that may indeed supersede September 11th in their atrocity - we need to hold ourselves to this standard of justice.

Of course, just war theory was not devised for these circumstances. Indeed, it has been pointed out that one of the interpretative problems of using Scripture for guidance in this matter is that the wars of the Old Testament do not always conform to the "just war" pattern. As we know sadly from history, the pressures of the moment - especially when national survival or extreme terrorism has been at issue - have led to the short-circuiting of our proclaimed public values.

Non-pacifist Christians have therefore a remarkable opportunity to help shape the debate in the coming months. We believe in self-defence, and the defence of the weak and defenceless which in the context of war is often what that means; and that it may involve pre-emptive strikes. In balance with that conviction we hold that the dignity of every member of humankind is derived from God himself. In a fallen world in which disorder may spread in fresh and frightening form these convictions will often seem to be in tension. In countries like the UK that have increasingly abandoned their Judeo-Christian roots, the opportunity for Christians to take a lead in articulating these fundamentally moral convictions may sometimes seem to be diminishing - and yet it actually grows. That is part of what it means to be light and salt.

Nigel Cameron is Ethics and Policy Consultant to CARE and General Editor of CounterCulture
email: nigelcameron@aol.com

Return to top