Seek Peace and Pursue It

I was reading Augustine earlier this fall, and I was struck by his stance on war. He ceded that war was sometimes justified and a legitimate use of force, legally. But that legal allowance does not erase the moral weight of taking life. When weighing what is legal vs. what is moral, we should choose the moral. In this, Augustine—who argues strongly for just war theory— seems to be making a case for pacifism.

Augustine clarifies that a soldier killing an enemy, an executioner killing a convicted criminal, or someone who accidently kills another are not guilty of murder. And he confirms that laws allowing defensive killing are just and legitimate. Killing in self-defense is not the same as killing in anger, greed, or revenge. However, he suggests that human laws can permit lesser evils to prevent greater ones, whereas God’s law can only permit that which is good. And the taking of life is never good. Augustine posits the possibility that someone can act within the boundaries of human law while remaining morally accountable before God.

Today, on Veterans Day, we remember those who fought. And indeed, I think most who fight in war do so with the belief that they are protecting their home and family, that they are stopping evil, that the fight is just. I know I am safer and more secure because of my ancestors who participated in war, from the Revolution on down through WWII. I acknowledge that for me, personally, I am the beneficiary of the fight of others.