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My dear siblings in Christ Jesus,
We again live in a time of war.
As I write on Monday, March 2, 2026, the U.S. and Israeli attacks, and Iran’s retaliatory attacks throughout the Middle East, have led to multiple casualties, including six U.S. service members, 11 Israelis, five in Gulf states, 31 in Lebanon and at least 555 Iranians, according to government reports. At least 153 of the Iranian fatalities came from a reported strike at a girls’ elementary school in Minab.
We have already shared the messages from the Presiding Bishop:
Letter from Presiding Bishop Sean Rowe on Military Strike on Iran
And from the Primate of the Anglican Church in Jerusalem and the Middle East:
Archbishop of Jerusalem and the Middle East shares pastoral letter in light of escalating conflict
As a parent of a son who is an officer in the US Army, such days bring back memories of his deployment in Afghanistan. I remember the worry. The thought of the men and women in harm’s way, and of their families, leads me to prayer:
Almighty God, we commend to your gracious care and keeping all the men and women of our armed forces at home and abroad. Defend them day by day with your heavenly grace; strengthen them in their trials and temptations; give them courage to face the perils which beset them; and grant them a sense of your abiding presence wherever they may be; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
When the leaders of a nation ask the members of the armed forces to go into harm’s way, Christians must ask whether the command is righteous and just. Our questions must be about whether military action is morally defensible.
In the history of Christian theology there has been long reflection on when a war might be just. Just war doctrine was developed by St. Augustine of Hippo (354-430 CE) and systematized by St. Thomas Aquinas (c. 1225-1274). They articulated several criteria that be met simultaneously for military action to be “just.” The Iran strikes raise serious problems for me in several ways.
My own thought on just war doctrine has recently been focused because the Presiding Bishop appointed me to the Episcopal Church’s Task Force on Pacifism and Just War. I am the only member of the Task Force without experience in the Armed Forces. The other members served in combat (a couple before ordination) or as military chaplains (two are currently serving as chaplains). I offer the following preliminary reflection of the current military action in light of this work and my study.
Just war doctrine requires that war be waged in response to a real, grave, immediate, and present injury. War must not be fought for speculative or preventive causes looking to a hypothetical future. It appears that intelligence assessments reportedly saw no imminent threat from Iran at the time of the strikes. The action appears to have been motivated more by Iran’s nuclear ambitions, possible development of Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles (ICBM), and regional influence than any immediate attack on the United States. Just war ethicists have traditionally been deeply skeptical of preventive war — war fought against a future hypothetical threat — as distinct from preemptive war against an imminent one.
War must be fought for peace and justice, not for geopolitical advantage or at the behest of allies. The attack came after a lobbying effort by Israel, raising questions about whether the motivation was genuinely defensive or driven by regional power politics.
This is perhaps the clearest failure under just war criteria. Aquinas held that only legitimate governing authority may wage war, and in the American constitutional context, that means Congress. The White House did not seek authorization from Congress to carry out the strikes.
The UN Charter framework is somewhat more clear-cut in its formal legal terms. Article 2(4) of the Charter prohibits “the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any state.” There are only two recognized exceptions: action authorized by the UN Security Council under Chapter VII (which authorizes collective security measures), and self-defense under Article 51 in response to an armed attack.
Neither exception appears to apply cleanly here. There is no indication the Security Council authorized the strikes — and given Russia and China’s veto power, such authorization would have been impossible. On self-defense, Article 51 requires an “armed attack” to have occurred. The administration’s justification rested on Iran’s nuclear program and support for proxy groups, not a specific armed attack against the United States. A preventive strike to forestall a possible future threat does not meet the Article 51 standard under mainstream international law interpretation.
The killing of Ayatollah Khamenei adds an additional dimension. The targeted assassination of a sitting head of state is widely considered a violation of international law, potentially including the Vienna Convention – a widely recognized treaty governing treatment of heads of state and diplomats – and customary international humanitarian law’s protections for protected persons.
Bypassing the deliberative body representing the people as defined by the Constitution, ignoring the UN Charter, and paying no attention to established international law seems to violate the spirit of “proper authority” as most Christian ethicists understand it.
Just war requires that all peaceful alternatives be exhausted. The U.S. had held talks with Iran in Geneva just days before the strikes, with some signs of progress but without a significant breakthrough. Launching massive attacks while diplomacy was still underway is very difficult to square with the last-resort criterion.
Just war forbids fighting a war that will only produce greater chaos. The President acknowledged “the lives of courageous American heroes may be lost,” and at this time the conflict had already spread to ten countries, with Iran attacking American allies across the Persian Gulf and Middle East. The strategic endgame remains undefined.
The strikes face challenges on at least five of the traditional criteria for a just war: just cause (no imminent threat), proper authority (no congressional authorization and acting in violation of the UN Charter), last resort (diplomacy was ongoing), proportionality (massive scale and assassination of a head of state), and reasonable chance of success (undefined objectives, rapidly spreading conflict).
I commend resources on the website of The Episcopal Church’s Armed Forces and Federal Ministries regarding just war and pacifism:
Just War Educational Resources for Episcopal Military Chaplains
The days ahead will be filled with death and destruction. As Christians, we must hold our leaders to account for actions committed in our name as citizens of a nation. We should demand explanations. I hope this initial reflection can help Episcopalians in this Diocese frame the questions that need to be asked of our nation’s leaders.
At this time – especially at this time – we must also pray:
Almighty God our heavenly Father, guide the nations of the world into the way of justice and truth, and establish among them that peace which is the fruit of righteousness, that they may become the kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.
O God, the Father of all, whose Son commanded us to love our enemies: Lead them and us from prejudice to truth: deliver them and us from hatred, cruelty, and revenge; and in your good time enable us all to stand reconciled before you, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
O God, you have bound us together in a common life. Help us, in the midst of our struggles for justice and truth, to confront one another without hatred or bitterness, and to work together with mutual forbearance and respect; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
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