Reflecting theologically on war in the Middle East

It is rare that theology features in the decision making of great nations, but there are reports of US military commanders referencing the Biblical end-times narrative of writers such as Tim LaHaye and Hal Lindsay. One officer is quoted by an NCO as saying, “President Trump has been anointed by Jesus to light the signal fire in Iran to cause Armageddon and mark His return to Earth.”

If you want to weigh up the rights and wrongs of the latest war in the Middle East you need to go further back than those writers or even the Victorian clergyman, John Nelson Derby, who inspired them with his dispensationalist theology. Great Christian thinkers like Augustine of Hippo and St Thomas Aquinas developed principles to restrain Christian princes from unnecessary military action. The intention to wage war was justified only if it passed certain tests. Here are three of them:

1. Is the cause just? Will it protect the innocent or restore peace?
2. Is war the last resort? Have all other avenues been exhausted in the search for a resolution?
3. Is there a reasonable hope of success? Will military action succeed, or just create more chaos?

The President of the United States attacked Iran with almost every weapon at his disposal except (at the time of writing) nuclear weapons and ground troops. Did this action pass the just war test? Let’s consider three of them.

First, has it protected the innocent? In the weeks leading up to the US attack Donald Trump encouraged Iranian demonstrators onto the streets to protest. He promised US support, but this massive attack on Iran has only exposed them to the charge of treason. Bombing tends to harden, not weaken an enemy’s resolve.

I don’t believe that the joint Israeli and US action was intended to support the demonstrators. Its real purpose was to protect Israel from Iran and its vile children, Hamas and Hezbollah. These have been ruthlessly neutralised, and that takes the pressure off Israel for now. The problem is that when you sow a whirlwind, you tend to reap a hurricane. The innocents of the future will have much to fear from yet more deeply radicalised Muslims.

Second, was it the last resort? Not really; negotiations with the Iranian regime were difficult, though by no means at a stalemate. The Iranian regime was never going to give the US an easy victory. Why couldn’t the US have pressurised Iran with more limited military action rather than all-out war? The attack on Iran was premature.

Third, was there reasonable hope of success? The US only stated their war aims in the most general terms and the President kept changing his mind about what these are, the latest at the time of writing being “unconditional surrender”. When you don’t know what your aims are you won’t know what success looks like. But the signs are not good. Look at Libya: regime change gave them civil war. Then there is Iraq: Saddam Hussein was replaced with total chaos and no nation-building plan. And of course, Afghanistan: where the Taliban were replaced with… the Taliban.

With that track record it is hard to believe that this war will work out well in the long term. Factor in an impulsive and quixotic President and you have a recipe for chaos. Nevertheless, Benjamin Netanyahu can congratulate himself on having played on Donald Trump’s vanity to destroy an implacable enemy. Good for him; he was only doing his job, but this is not a just war.

How should Christians in the US or UK reflect on what has been happening? Do we start with the most complicated and least-likely-to-be-true interpretation of the Bible given us by the Left Behind novels? No, we should reference the deeper wisdom of Christian thought developed over centuries of trying to control the aggressive actions of ambitious leaders who have been given too much power.