Does Christian Doctrine support or condemn war?

[Quarkhead]

Do you feel that Christianity preaches a doctrine which justifies war? Specifically, the war in Iraq, and the War on Terror? Why or why not?

[MagusYanam]

But, running a country (something a Christian should not do), finds the individual who is running the country having to make good and bad decisions.

Looking back on what the Nazi's and Japanese did to all sorts of people, can, maybe, justify the killing of the bad guys in a war. But never under any circumstances can a war be fought for Jesus.

As a pacifist I have to say that killing with intent, in war or otherwise, is never justified - the Ten Commandments made that quite plain. There are times, however, when war does become a grim necessity - and I agree that WWII was one of those times. The American Civil War was another. But we should never think these wars were just. They happened because all other options were fully exhausted, and we should admit that when we had to resort to war, we failed. We failed to find a more peaceful solution in each case.

I think that if a.) we can begin to admit that war is always a sign of failure and weakness and b.) during times of peace we strive as a nation not so much to prepare for the next one but to ensure the next one needn't come (i.e. pay five cents each on foreign aid and education for every dollar we spend on the military - even that small an investment could do literally a world of good).

Rather than try to argue that the Christian Scriptures do or do not justify war one should look at the practice of Christian societies over the last two millennia. Thousands of denominations, movements and sects within Christianity is more than enough testament to the fact that agreement is impossible... Christian societies have no difficulty justifying war.

I believe I should recommend broadening your research a little. Try looking at the Anabaptists, for example - they established several societies (short-lived, unfortunately) in Germany and the Netherlands that refused to fight, even when they were overrun and slaughtered by the Catholics or the Lutherans. I used to be an Anabaptist, and though they tend to be too sectarian for my taste, their philosophies of pacifism and communitarianism are quite admirable.

You do have a good point, though. It would be well never to ignore the ignoble elements of our own spiritual past, to ensure that they don't happen again.

[Dilettante]

The first Christians refused to serve in the Roman military--that was one of the reasons why they were perceived as a threat to the Roman Empire, which depended on its army to keep the "Pax Romana".
This changed later when the Christian church inherited the Roman Empire.
Even if the Gospels contain a pacifist message, pacifism has its limits, and theologians such as Aquinas, Vitoria and Sanchez developed a "Just War" doctrine which justifies war in some cases:

Principles of the Just War A just war can only be waged as a last resort. All non-violent options must be exhausted before the use of force can be justified.
A war is just only if it is waged by a legitimate authority. Even just causes cannot be served by actions taken by individuals or groups who do not constitute an authority sanctioned by whatever the society and outsiders to the society deem legitimate.
A just war can only be fought to redress a wrong suffered. For example, self-defense against an armed attack is always considered to be a just cause (although the justice of the cause is not sufficient--see point #4). Further, a just war can only be fought with "right" intentions: the only permissible objective of a just war is to redress the injury.
A war can only be just if it is fought with a reasonable chance of success. Deaths and injury incurred in a hopeless cause are not morally justifiable.
The ultimate goal of a just war is to re-establish peace. More specifically, the peace established after the war must be preferable to the peace that would have prevailed if the war had not been fought.
The violence used in the war must be proportional to the injury suffered. States are prohibited from using force not necessary to attain the limited objective of addressing the injury suffered.
The weapons used in war must discriminate between combatants and non-combatants. Civilians are never permissible targets of war, and every effort must be taken to avoid killing civilians. The deaths of civilians are justified only if they are unavoidable victims of a deliberate attack on a military target. ( www.mtholyoke.edu)

Whether these principles were always observed or not is another matter, of course.