The Morality of War

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             Arguments.
             There are several biblical and non-biblical arguments to support pacifism, however an exhaustive study and disclosure of them all is not within the scope of this paper. Below we will outline and discuss a few of the most compelling arguments below as well as the critic's responses.
             Historical Argument.
             Feinberg and Feinberg (2010) lay out the case:.
             The point of this argument is that most Christians were originally pacifists. In fact, until Constantine legalized Christianity in the Roman Empire, most Christians loath to serve in the Roman military. Since the Roman army carried out persecution on Christians, enlisting in the army would likely make a Christian even more vulnerable to persecution than if he remained a civilian. (p. 638) They also point out that serving in the Roman military would leave a Christian in a compromising situation of worshipping Caesar and other Roman Gods, which was strictly forbidden by the Bible under idolatry. .
             Critics of this argument concede that early Christians did refrain from military service. However, this was not necessarily because they were pacifists, but because they did not want to open themselves up to idolatry. Feinberg and Feinberg also write, "Even before Constantine legalized Christianity in the Roman Empire, there were individual Christians who served in the military. Once Christianity was legalized many more Christians served" (p.642).
             Sacredness of Life/Immorality of Killing.
             These are two distinct arguments but are closely related. In its most extreme form, the sacredness of life argument prohibits the killing of any living thing. In its most liberal form the killing of plants and animals is allowed while the killing of human beings is prohibited. The Immorality of killing argument states that all humans have a right to life, and killing them denies them that right. If there is a right to life, then it will never be permissible to kill any person even to save a life because it is never permissible to violate someone's right even to bring about a good.