Augustine and a few others are mainly responsible for the guidelines to the Just War Theory. This is a largely Christian philosophy that attempts to bring together three main things: taking human life is seriously wrong, defending citizens and justice of states, and protecting innocent human life as well as defending important moral values. The theory specifies conditions for judging if it is just to go to war, and conditions for how the war should be fought. The six conditions that St. Augustine explains must be satisfied to go to war will be extensively discussed later in the paper. The Pope's condemnation to the current Iraqi war will also be discussed as well as personal opinions towards this condemnation. .
The aim of the Just War Theory is to provide a guide to the right way for states to act in potential conflict situations. This theory is exclusively intended for states as opposed to individuals. St. Augustine believed that the only just reason for going to war was to maintain peace. In the book, The Just War, Paul Ramsey quotes St. Augustine on the main idea of going to war. "We do not seek peace in order to be at war, but we go to war that we may have peace. Be peaceful, therefore, in warning, so that you may vanquish those whom you war against, and bring them to the prosperity of peace."(Ramsey 151, on Augustine). Augustine tried to bring together Christian pacifism with the way it was; to bring together the pacifist teachings of Jesus with the obligation of Christians to fight for their country when required to. This concept was considered a prelude to Augustine's conditions of a Just War. Augustine accepted that there would always be wars, and that war was generally a sin. But he also stated that war could be a consequence of sin and that war could be an accepted remedy for sin, thus war could sometimes be justified. In his discussions, Augustine made it very evident that individual and states have different responsibilities when it came to war and violence.