Expert: Fr. Michael - 11/24/2006

Question
Hello Fathers',

I overheard an expert on a radio program saying that Iran has already stated it wants to destroy Israel & the U.S. & it's a matter of time until Iran or some other evil nation will use a nuclear weapon against us. He discussed that the electromagnetic wave from a certain size nuclear device detonated 100 miles above the U.S. could completely knock out much or all of our communications capability.
Are there any Biblical scriptures supporting America or Israel launching a nuclear first strike against our enemies if we know they're going to attack first in a matter of time? Does the Bible indicate anywhere that we would be going against God's law by killing innocent civilians in such an attack?
I would think God would support our first strike option if we go by Old testament law. New Testament law seems a bit different. Christ comes and seems to move us to love our enemies and even "turn the other cheek".
What might be your opinion on all of this?

Thank you very much.

Sincerely,

Mike Eidson

Answer
       The Catholic Church and the moral law teaches that the waging of war is not in itself unjust.  St. Augustine, Father and Doctor of the Church, taught that a just
war is "not only excusable but also commendable" because it is undertaken "in the defense of [one's] country against enemies that would invade it."  In such a war "every man fights not for the defense of himself out of a private
affection for himself, but out of Christian charity for the safeguard and preservation of all the others."

       However, three conditions must classically be met for a war to be just (St. Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologica, IIa IIae, Q. 40, Art. 1):

       1) It must be declared and waged by the lawful authority of a sovereign entity.
       2) It must be fought objectively for a good cause (defense against an unjust attack, recovery of something unjustly taken, or punishment of an unjust aggression.
       3) It must be fought subjectively with the right intention, to arrive at a just peace, a just order of things, given each nation its due (not for
greed, cruelty, etc.)

       In prudence (practical wisdom), four circumstances must also pertain:

       1) the good to be gained by restoring justice must be proportionate to the evils that can be anticipated
       2) it must be as certain as can be that there really was an injustice committed
       3) the injustice must have harmed major, and not just minor, interest of the nation injured
       4) war must be the sole means available of re-establishing justice, after all peaceful measures were unable to remedy the situation

       Only a defensive war can be justified.  However, a nation that takes the initial step to war when it is certain that an enemy is about to attack immediately, can be said to be waging a defensive war.

       In the waging of war, unjust means must be avoided.  Means may be unjust because they are forbidden by the natural law (as would be the case of a direct attack on the civilian population), or by the positive law, such as
the use of poisoned gas.  However, if one belligerent violates a statute of positive law, the other is free to do the same.

       As is evident, it is not possible for both sides to be objectively justified in a war.  But it is possible for the citizens of both nations to be in good faith, and to be convinced that their cause is just.  The individual citizen must take as his norm the general principle that he is
obliged to obey his own rules unless he is sure that what they comment is unjust.  Hence, he must go to war if commanded, unless he has the sincere
conviction in his conscience that the war is unjust.

       One must also remember that the State has its proper realm of activity.  "The Almighty," said Pope Leo XIII, "has appointed the charge of the human race between two powers, the ecclesiastical and the civil, the one being set over
divine, the other over human things.  Each in its kind is supreme....  Whatever is to be ranged under the civil and political order is rightly subject to the civil authority.  Jesus Christ has Himself given command that what is Caesar's
is to be rendered to Caesar, and that which belongs to God is to be rendered to God."  Inhabitants owe undivided allegiance in civil or political matters to the government of the country in which they live.  Their allegiance to the Church is confined to purely spiritual matters.  The Catholic religion teaches that the State has divine authority, as well as the Church.