Christian’s Approach to Nuclear War
A Christians approach to Nuclear is entirely based on the opinion of
the person. Although in this essay I will try and generalise this and
try to find reasons as to why this might be.
In my view; yes, a Christians approach to nuclear war should be
different to other war. Any war goes against the teachings of
Pacifism, but in the world, unless you can get everyone to listen and
obey these teachings, then a more practical scheme should be adopted.
This then makes the basis of any war; that your enemy will not listen
to reason, so war being the last resort, you commence in battle.
Although this is different for nuclear war, because when you decide to
include ‘weapons of mass destruction’ we assume that your enemy is
evil, that other options and methods have been considered and that
this is the only way to stop them from harming other beings,
environment and lives.
In war, many people die for a cause that they believe is right and
some innocent people may. The war carries on until the opposition
forces are defeated. In Nuclear war this is different. When a nuclear
weapon is dropped on a certain area, it is not completely guaranteed
that every person you bomb is bad. Therefore in Nuclear war many more
innocent people die than in a war not containing nuclear warheads.
This is a reason why Christians may feel differently about types of
war.
Although one of Jesus’ commandments, “Love thy neighbour”, tells us
that no one should not kill another human being and this may justify
going to war. This is because if a dictator has many innocent people
under a strict regime, and if he was harming and killing undeserving
people then some form of action should be taken. This has applied to
everyday life when Saddam Hussein’s regime was defeated and his power
taken away. This would be an example to show that some war has good
intent and therefore cannot be generalised into saying that all war is
Christians' Justifications for Using Nuclear Weapons. When answering the title of this essay, you have to first look at why. countries retain and develop nuclear weapons. The first reason and most obvious of all is to use the nuclear device.
Christians refuse to fight at war, they can still be part of war in a
On more than one occasion, President George W. Bush has described the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, as fostering “a monumental battle of good versus evil.” In this battle, there has been no doubt in his mind (or in ours) regarding who is on the side of good and who is on the side of evil. Though some have winced at the President’s use of such absolute moral terms to portray the tragic events of that fateful day, others have applauded his courageous use of such unfashionable discourse as entirely appropriate, even suggesting that it implies the demise of the cultural scourge of postmodern moral relativism.
The “Just War Theory” is known as a Christian philosophy that aims at reconciling three things. The first is that it strongly advocates that killing human beings is wrong. Secondly, it claims that the state has the mandate to defend its citizens as well as justice. Thirdly, people should protect innocent human life, should defend the moral values. According to this theory, observing these concepts requires the willingness to make use of force. Therefore, this Christian philosophy advocates for war while safeguarding the rights of its citizens and justice, as well as the innocent and moral values.
On August 6th 1945 the first atomic bomb as dropped in an attempt to end the war efforts in the pacific. This year will mark the 69th anniversary of the dropping of the bomb, and even after all this time there is still much debate over if dropping the bomb was the right thing to do or not. One of the main reasons I have seen arguing for the dropping of the bomb was that it saved American lives, and that it saved more people than it killed. However, saving American lives was not the only motivation for dropping the atomic bomb, the argument could even be made that saving the lives of soldiers was not even first on the list of reasons for dropping the atomic bomb. Among the reasons for dropping the bomb was to justify the cost of the Manhattan Project, to impress the Soviets, a lack of reason not to use the bomb, and responding to Pearl Harbor.
Harry Truman (1884-1972) was the most influential person in the race for the super bomb. As President Roosevelt’s Vice President, he knew nothing about the development of the atomic bomb. But within months of assuming the office of President of the United States on April 12, 1945, he became the first and only American leader to authorize the use of atomic weapons against an enemy target. Truman’s era only marked the beginning of the race for nuclear weapons. The development of nuclear weapons is still an issue today, decades after Truman left office.
In the book of Genesis, it tells us that God created the world. He put
Out of all the dangerous powers and authority our government wields, possibly the most threatening powers are nuclear weapons. People tend to be frightened by things they do not understand, which make nuclear weapons a perfect catalyst for fear. These weapons have the most overwhelming and destructive power known to man; although, nuclear weapons are only safe in countries that try to maintain harmony and stability. Nuclear weapons are defined as “explosive devices whose destructive potential derives from the release of energy that accompanies the splitting or combining of atomic nuclei.” This power is both dangerous and unstable in the hands of small erratic countries.
All in all, when religious war were happening the church try to verify the ethic of war, take into some wars to be self-defense. Christians justified Jesus “Prince of Peace” war-making by noting that Jesus himself used violence on at least one occasion, described “in all four gospels”. They point to Old Testament precedents, and the New Testament to open the door to force. John the Baptists declares that soldiers do not have to abandoned all military activity.
During last 50 years of development, the nuclear bomb, as the ultimate weapon became the peacekeeping force on the earth. The nuclear bomb was developed in Manhattan project during the WW II and was successfully tested in the New Mexico on July 16 1945. At this point started the change of nuclear weapon from ultimate weapon to political weapon. USA decided to use the atomic bomb to defeat Japan in order to save around 500.000 lives of American soldiers that were needed to end the war and in the summer 1945 the USA dropped two bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The nuclear weapon raised the confidence of USA but president Truman did not ordered its mass production because at that time he saw no explicit political function for the bomb. USA even tried to internationalize control of the bomb under the UNITED NATIONS but the Soviets were reluctant to support American plan for two reasons. To stop soviet nuclear program before developing the first soviet bomb would give Americans permanent lead in nuclear weapons technology. Soviets believed that instruments of force always have political capabilities. For the Kremlin weapons were political tools. This led Americans to the same conclusion. The beginning of Cold War created several political functions of nuclear weapons: nuclear deterrence, alliance building, and international prestige.
For hundreds of years, the controversy of how the earth was created has been a hot topic among people of all beliefs. Do you have an opinion about how the earth was created? Hopefully, giving all of the information stated in this paper, you will firmly believe that God created the earth. The Bible says in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth (To, A. God-Centered Approach). Science says that the earth was created by a massive explosion of light and energy, known as the “Big Bang Theory” ("Did God Create the Universe?”). According to the Bible, God made us, we did not make ourselves. According to science, there was a hydrogen atom that steadily grew over many centuries, and man developed. The Bible says
The day the atomic bomb dropped, August 6, 1945, was the day in which Newt Hoenikker's father tried to play a game with him. Felix, one of the scientists who had helped create the weapon, wanted to play cat's cradle. It is a game played with string looped over the fingers. After a series of movements, one is supposed to be able to see what appears to be a cradle shape. To most, it simply looks like a tangled string. Newt’s constant reference to the game of Cat’s Cradle is Vonnegut's way of symbolizing the search for meaning that people get caught up in all the time. In the scientific community, they have made a career out of this game.
The cold war was named so because between the USA and Russia, there was hardly any direct combat just a pile of tension, hostility, and potential violence. They were heading towards mutually assured destruction; using weapons of mass destruction which were the nuclear bombs and assuring inevitable destruction for both sides if there bombs were to go off and ultimate victory for none at the end. Each set of alliances, the Warsaw Pact and NATO competently created nuclear weapons to threaten the other one. Just in case either one of the countries decided to attack using their fatal nuclear weapon, then the other one wouldn’t just stand empty handed. Both USA and Russia found it their first priority to keep themselves as secure as possible by creation of nuclear arms. This resulted in a competition to be the most prepared and powerful, known as The Nuclear Arms Race.
When it come to be publicly acknowledged that the United States government planned on using atomic bombs to fight the war against Japan, a group of scientists who had worked on the atomic bomb for many years, felt the need to protest the idea. Leo Szilard who was a head of the group of scientists came up with a petition for the president for his associated scientists to look over. In his petition he asked the President “to rule that the United States shall not, in the present phase of the war, resort to the use of atomic bombs” (Szilard, par. 1). Szilard’s thoughts mentioned in the petition sought the strength and persuasion needed to sway the President that the use of the atomic bomb was uncalled for because of the shortage of facts presented, their poor reasoning found in the writing, and the failure to communicate the significance that their arguments held in the decision.
Religion has played a major role in the lives of most cultures whether it is Christian, Islamic, Judaism, or another religious faith, but has it been the leading cause of war throughout history? God refers to sin as being the force that drives the world it provokes conduct involving one’s flesh and mind. Richard Dawkins an evolutionist, and agnostic, states that “religion causes wars by generating certainty” (Thacker). When he implies certainty in his quote, does he mean that this is a fact he is certain of, or can he provide proper evidence? War and conflict is a characteristic nature of man it was around before religion ever existed and many other factors are the cause of war such as, ethnicity, culture, ideologues, race, class, gender, power, greed, selfishness, revenge, genocide, immigration, government decisions, and SIN these are just a few. Bible scriptures say, “war is the cause of sin in the world not god” (King James Version, Matt. 15.19). Therefore, the aim is to prove that religion is more of an excuse for war. Then refute that selfishness, greed, and sin caused by human-violence are the primary causes of war.