Just war

I AGREE WITH James Turner Johnson when he says that the principle of proper authority is especially important ("Authority and intention," Nov. 14). But his use of the principle to discount the call for international judicial processes baffles me.

Even a recognized "nation state" is not justified in using force to redress its grievances if it can appeal to a higher authority to administer justice fairly and impartially. If a court of international justice can be established, it becomes the proper authority. Nations that pursue wars without seeking satisfaction through international judicial processes are private parties taking the law into their own hands.

The U.S. has been building an international coalition to fight the war against terrorism, not only because it makes good political sense, but also because the authority of an international coalition is greater than that of one nation acting on its own. The U.S. undermines this international authority by insisting that everyone fall in behind its leadership.

If there is to be genuine international authority, there must be international accountability. When the U.S. is ready to enter into an international partnership to which it is willing to be held accountable, then perhaps we can make progress in our war against terrorism.

David Paul Henry
Lamoine, Maine

Glen Stassen's "Hearts and minds" is a good alternative to warmed-over Augustinian "just war" apologetics presented by James Turner Johnson and Jean Bethke Elshtain (Nov. 14). They ignore the pacifist nature of the early church in the Roman imperial paradigm and the radical "disarming discipleship" of the gospel message. Secular statecraft pursues its own agenda, and rewards instrumentalized religion to justify its best and worst combats. Will neo-Constantinians also rationalize the buildup for a wider "Zion's war" on Islamic peoples--Iraq, Syria, Iran--with theopolitical syllogisms? Let's have done with such repackaged apostasy.

Carl Davidson
Battle Creek, Mich.

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