HERB’S CORNER | Welcome to Holy War Land
Photo by K. Mitch Hodge on Unsplash A prime is a number whose only divisors are 1 and itself. The complete history of even primes is very short: the number 2. An argument can be made that the even prime is all that’s needed for the complete history of “just wars:” World War 2.
But I’m not as confident about there being only one just war as I am about only one even prime. The word “just” is not as well defined as “prime.” No country, no matter how terrible its government, goes to war thinking its cause is unjust. While wars are viewed as “just” going in, the story is often different going out. At that point, people can easily judge a war to have been unjust, but they can’t bring back the lives of those who died in an unjust war. Any criteria for a “just war” will always have close calls. When the call is close, I would rather err on the side of it not being “just” enough to enter.
It’s easier to count the number of just holy wars. Hint: It’s fewer than the number of even primes. Even for a semi-pacifist like me, holy wars give “war” a bad name. If ever there were such a thing as a “good” war, it would be one in which people would generally be better off after than before; there would be a serious effort to minimize civilian casualties; opponents would be treated with as much respect and dignity as conditions allow; peace negotiations would be attempted at each stage; at the end, those involved could look toward a more optimistic future in this life. In other words, it would be a war that is by no means “holy.”
“People who choose to die in the name of their gods are free to do so, but they have no right to take others.”
The holiest of holy wars in Western “Civilization” were the Crusades, typified by the Cathar Wars. Abbot Arrnaud Amaury, legate for the ironically named Pope Innocent III, was a military adviser during the Crusades. His troops succeeded in carrying out the Abbott’s 1209 battle orders: “Kill them all. God will know His own.” Amaury was rewarded in 1212 for his holy war service with an appointment to archbishop.
People who choose to die in the name of their gods are free to do so, but they have no right to take others. For those who believe that the One True God is on their side and that the other side are infidels, that the world is black and white without shades of gray, that this life is a dress rehearsal for an imagined afterlife, that you get extra eternal benefits for killing and being killed in the name of God, then welcome to Holy War Land.