Defending self-defense.

The May interview with Father John Dear ("Disturbing for peace") is itself very disturbing because of the absurdity of the views that Dear is promoting. It is apparently Dear's thesis that no war, not even one of self-defense, can be justified.

Did he ever hear of St. Augustine's requirements for a just war that are still the official guide in this matter for people of Christian faith? If an individual has the right to defend himself or herself against an unjust aggressor so also does a nation. What would Dear have advocated that the United States do after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941?

The Judeo-Christian ethic does not in any way explicitly condemn all war as morally wrong. One of the heroes of the Old Testament is Joshua, who brought down the walls of Jericho. Jesus never condemned war or advocated radical pacifism.

Does Dear condemn George Washington for waging the War of Independence and Abraham Lincoln for waging a war to preserve the Union and abolish slavery? It would seem that according to his own principles, he would have to.

I, for one, have no sympathy whatsoever with Dear's position that as Christians we must accept enslavement to evil rather than resist an unjust aggressor.

James P. Ward

Claymont, Del.

In reading the May interview with Father John Dear, I sadly shook my head that someone of his intelligence could think that Jesus was a pacifist.

Yes, by all means, be kind to others and strive for peace at all times; but for goodness sake when you are attacked you have a right to defend yourself. I refuse to accept the proposition that if you are faced with a person bent on killing you, you are required to bare your chest to the attacker.

Such an outlook reminds me of a scene in an old western. The outlaw was threatening to shoot this man holding a Bible and saying, "The meek will inherit the earth!" With that the outlaw shot the man, adding, "Yeah, but only six feet of it."

Joe Proctor

New Albany, Ind.