• Just cause
• Legitimate authority
• Comparative justice
• Right intention
• Last resort
• Reasonable chance of success

2. Jus in bello (justice in the conduct of war) principles, which apply to military commanders and soldiers. These include:

• Proportionality
• Discrimination

Most of the points are self-explanatory. But I want to zero in on three of them—right intention, proportionality, and discrimination. As we think about the concept of right intention, we must keep in mind that war is most moral when its primary objective is to stop genocide or accomplish some other noble aim. Unfortunately, many nations wage war based on less honorable purposes. Wars to gain access to natural resources such as oil, minerals, or even water rights violate the primary concept of right intention. A few examples of immoral reasons for war are ethnic cleansing, economic gain, expansion of territory, and increased international influence.

The second point that needs to be explained is proportionality, sometimes referred to as the “principle of macro-proportionality.” This is in keeping with the words of Jesus in Luke 14:31–32. This principle suggests that the amount of force used should be in proportion to the military objective pursued. In other words, moral warriors would not kill soldiers simply to kill them. Further, they would certainly not kill or maim innocent civilians. This leads us to the third point that we want to highlight—discrimination.

This concept says essentially that soldiers should fight soldiers. It is sometimes called “the principle of noncombatant immunity.” The unfortunate reality of war is that there will always be some “collateral damage” or loss of life of innocent civilians. But the principle still holds: we should seek to minimize the number of noncombatants that are hurt. “Weapons,” such as land mines, are especially reprehensible because they kill noncombatants for years after the conflict.

In conclusion, we should all pray for the peace of Jerusalem. As Christians pray, we should not be drawn into an anti-Israel propaganda campaign designed to make them out to be the “bad guys” in an unfortunate moral quagmire. The foreign affairs arena will require great discernment over the next few years. I hope that President-elect Obama and Senator Hillary Clinton are up to the task. Whether we like it or not, America is still the world’s policeman.