The church’s teachings on just war place limits on the permissible methods to bring someone to justice. So too does international law, and hiding explosives in everyday items like pagers and walkie-talkies is a violation of the 1899 Hague Convention, which prohibits “treacherous killing.”
Laurie Johnston
Laurie Johnston is an associate professor of theology at Emmanuel College, in Boston, and a member of the Community of Sant’Egidio.
Posted inArts & Culture, Books
Review: Martyrs for the earth
In ‘Ecomartyrdom in the Americas: Living and Dying for Our Common Home,’ Elizabeth O’Donnell Gandolfo invites us to look carefully at the lives of modern ecomartyrs as a guide to help us “re-imagine and re-embody the relationship between human beings and the earth.”
Posted inFaith, Faith and Reason
All is fair in A.I. warfare. But what do Christian ethics have to say?
The great danger of artificial intelligence is not that it is ineffective. It can also perform quite effectively. In fact, it is already transforming modern warfare.
Posted inFaith, Short Take
St. Augustine, just war and the plight of civilians in Israel and Gaza
It is hard to see how, at the present moment, either Gaza or Israel could possibly meet the traditional criteria of just war theory.
Posted inArts & Culture, Books
Review: Why we get trapped in conflict, in our families and our politics
Amanda Ripley’s new book offers powerful advice on how to step outside the traps we all fall into when navigating situations of conflict.
Posted inPolitics & Society, Short Take
When Italy struggled to settle refugees, privately-funded faith groups stepped up with a solution. The United States should do the same.
As the refugee crisis overwhelmed Europe, religious groups devised an alternative: private funding for resettlement. Two members of the Community of Sant’Egidio write that the Humanitarian Corridors model could work in the U.S.
Posted inFaith in Focus
A Mother Fears Death
My son is one year old today. That phrase still warms and unnerves me simultaneously: my son. What has changed in this year? The answer that first comes to mind is simply, now I’m afraid of death. Yes, it is a morbid thought, and I do not usually say it aloud. But I feel the reality of it cons