October 14 2002

“What frustrates us as Christian ethicists is that they (administration officials) are casting this totally in geopolitical terms, not in moral terms. And when you look at this through moral lenses, you see there’s no case,” said Shaun Casey, a professor of Christian ethics at Wesley Theological Seminary, a Methodist institution in Washington.

Casey is the leader of a new effort by 100 Christian ethicists to amplify their voices in this debate. They have signed a one-sentence declaration that says, “As Christian ethicists, we share a common moral presumption against a pre-emptive war on Iraq by the United States.”

Like most just-war ethicists, Casey does not believe that the pre-emptive or first use of force in itself violates the traditional norms. But also like most ethicists, he says such a war could be morally waged only if a serious attack by the enemy appears to be imminent, and not even the administration seems to think that is the case with Iraq.

http://www.ucc.org/news/r101102a.htm

http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/279/focus/A_just_war_+.shtml