Gloria Patri

Christianity is NOT a pacifist religion Christians are supposed to be pacifists? Just say you know nothing about Christianity. Modern culture wants you to believe that Christianity is a religion of passivity, that a "good Christian" stands by while evil triumphs. This is a lie. From the early Church Fathers to the great Doctors like St. Augustine and St. Thomas Aquinas, the Church has always taught that some wars are just, AND HOLY. War is an evil, but sometimes necessary to restore just peace and avoid greater evils. The Church does not glorify violence, but the Church does teach that peace is the fruit of justice, not cowardice - Is 32,17 If tyrants threaten the innocent and if evil crushes the weak, then Christian men may, and sometimes MUST, take up arms in defense of the good. St. Augustine (4th Century) taught that war is sometimes a tragic necessity. In City of God, he wrote: “It is the injustice of the opposing side that lays on the wise man the duty to wage wars.” He taught war can be an act of charity and justice. Just wars are those meant to punish injustices, when a people or city failed to return what was unjustly taken or neglected punishing evil. Sometimes, the only way to restore order is to fight. St. Thomas Aquinas codified the "Just War Theory," laying out the conditions (Legitimate authority; Just cause; Right intention - these must all be present, otherwise war becomes sinful) where taking up arms is not a sin, but a moral duty to protect the innocent. And then there is Holy War. St. Bernard of Clairvaux, preaching to the Knights Templar, wrote that when a Christian knight kills an evil-doer in defense of the Faith, "he is not a homicide, but a malicide (a killer of evil)." Christ Himself is not a pacifist. He drove out the money changers with a whip - Jn 2,15 He called His apostles to be fishers of men, but His Book of Revelation shows Him returning as a rider on a white horse, with a sword (Rev 19), waging war on evil. Francisco Suárez, a theologian, said: “War is not intrinsically evil, but can be honest and indispensable, when waged to restore justice and protect the innocent.” This is echoed in the Catechism of the Catholic Church (n. 2265–2266). Even the saints fought. St. Joan of Arc led armies to defend Christian France. St. Louis IX led Crusades to recover the Holy Land. St. Fernando III of Castile freed Spain from Islam by the sword, and was canonized. Holiness and heroism are not opposites. A Christian is not a pacifist, a true Christian is a peacemaker. And sometimes, the only way to make peace is to destroy the evil that threatens it. Make no peace with evil, destroy it. Tolerance of evil is not a Christian virtue.