Hiroshima, Nagasaki, and Just War
Catholic apologist extraodinaire Karl Keating, in his latest E-Letter, tackles the question of whether the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki can be squared away with Catholic teaching on Just War. His answer is negative:
Catholic apologist extraodinaire Karl Keating, in his latest E-Letter, tackles the question of whether the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki can be squared away with Catholic teaching on Just War. His answer is negative:
- "The atomic bombings of Nagasaki and Hiroshima, like the fire bombings of Dresden and other German cities, cannot be squared with Catholic moral principles because the bombings deliberately targeted non-combatants. The evil done by our enemies did not exonerate us from the moral law. Their evils did not provide us justification for evils of our own. Being a Christian in peacetime is difficult; it is more difficult, but even more necessary, in wartime.
"Fat Man exploded directly above the Catholic cathedral in Nagasaki. The city was the historical center of Catholicism in Japan and contained about a tenth of the entire Catholic population. The cathedral was filled with worshipers who had gathered to pray for a speedy and just end to the war. It is said their prayers included a petition to offer themselves, if God so willed it, in reparation for the evils perpetrated by their country."
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