War, Peace, and Violence in Western Religious Thought
Daniyah Hannini Final Paper
War, Peace and Violence in Western Religious Thought
For a little over ten years, various works have been published by numerous academics in hope of finding some sort of solution when it comes to the position America should take when it comes to dealing with the tragedy of the September 11th attacks and the seemingly uprising form of “radical” Islamists. Although the bulk of books and articles published that seem to agree and promote the concept of engaging in warfare against these groups and individuals who promote acts of terrorism are very clear in their position on this matter, very few actually carry through with providing a blueprint which serves the purpose of defining the actual boundaries the United States must have in order for this military action to be considered as morally stable. In the book “Just War Against Terror,” Jean Bethke Elshtain provides her solution for the U.S's role in regards to the war against terror. However, one major difference between Elshtain's book and the many others that exist today, is the fact that she took this concept of engaging in warfare a step further and actually constructed the foundation to how the U.S should go about military conduct. Elshtain feels that not only is this war necessary and vital for the safeguarding of America as a country, but is also the ethical thing to do. Throughout her book Elshtain constantly criticizes those who feel that attaining justice is impossible if it involves shedding blood of others and clearly supports the involvement of America in the Iraq War. Elshtain provides her own alternative for the situation, which involved her fine tuning the definition of just war and boldly taking the stance that this is a time in which it is a necessity for America to truly start establishing true peace and to work on itself as a country. The book starts off by Elshtain painting a picture of what exactly happened on September 11th. She then draws
War, Peace and Violence in Western Religious Thought
For a little over ten years, various works have been published by numerous academics in hope of finding some sort of solution when it comes to the position America should take when it comes to dealing with the tragedy of the September 11th attacks and the seemingly uprising form of “radical” Islamists. Although the bulk of books and articles published that seem to agree and promote the concept of engaging in warfare against these groups and individuals who promote acts of terrorism are very clear in their position on this matter, very few actually carry through with providing a blueprint which serves the purpose of defining the actual boundaries the United States must have in order for this military action to be considered as morally stable. In the book “Just War Against Terror,” Jean Bethke Elshtain provides her solution for the U.S's role in regards to the war against terror. However, one major difference between Elshtain's book and the many others that exist today, is the fact that she took this concept of engaging in warfare a step further and actually constructed the foundation to how the U.S should go about military conduct. Elshtain feels that not only is this war necessary and vital for the safeguarding of America as a country, but is also the ethical thing to do. Throughout her book Elshtain constantly criticizes those who feel that attaining justice is impossible if it involves shedding blood of others and clearly supports the involvement of America in the Iraq War. Elshtain provides her own alternative for the situation, which involved her fine tuning the definition of just war and boldly taking the stance that this is a time in which it is a necessity for America to truly start establishing true peace and to work on itself as a country. The book starts off by Elshtain painting a picture of what exactly happened on September 11th. She then draws