War

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Crusade, Just War, Jihad

Violence and War
Koran on War, booty and Peace

Catholic doctrine of just war.
In a statement by the United States Catholic Conference, November 1993 we find that war is justified under the following criteria:

Just Cause: force may be used only to correct a grave, public evil, i.e., aggression or massive violation of the basic rights of whole populations;
Comparative Justice: while there may be rights and wrongs on all sides of a conflict, to override the presumption against the use of force the injustice suffered by one party must significantly outweigh that suffered by the other;
Legitimate Authority: only duly constituted public authorities may use deadly force or wage war;
Right Intention: force may be used only in a truly just cause and solely for that purpose;
Probability of Success: arms may not be used in a futile cause or in a case where disproportionate measures are required to achieve success;
Proportionality: the overall destruction expected from the use of force must be outweighed by the good to be achieved;
Last Resort: force may be used only after all peaceful alternatives have been seriously tried and exhausted.

The Catholic Encyclopedia on war

1908 Preface of Catholic Encyclopedia.
The Catholic Encyclopedia, as its name implies, proposes to give its readers full and authoritative information on the entire cycle of Catholic interests, action and doctrine. What the Church teaches and has taught; what she has done and is still doing for the highest welfare of mankind; her methods, past and present; her struggles, her triumphs, and the achievements of her members,

Catholic Encylopedia on the Wars in the Old Testament
"Here we are confronted with the appalling destruction of the vanquished in the Old-Testament wars, where frequently all the adult males were slain after defeat and surrender, and sometimes even the women and children, unto utter extermination. But we cannot argue natural right from these instances, for, where justly done, this wholesale slaughter was the direct command of God, the Sovereign Arbiter of life and death, as well as the Just Judge of all reward and punishment. God by revelation made the Israelites but executioners of His supernatural sentence: the penalty was within God's right to assign, and within the Israelites' communicated right to enforce."

What the Jews did was the direct command of God, and hence was not subject to the criteria of just war. Though such direct commands are clearly dorment now, it is not excluded in the Catholic Encylopedia that they could return.

Catholics, Turks and Violence, the Protestant View

A song of the Dutch "Geuzen" (protestant resistance militia, 16^th century) contains the following phrase "....Though the Turk is not called a Christian, He burnt no one for his belief, like the papists do every day....".

Booty

Peace