Abstract: A recent effort to think about war concludes that the Book of Mormon displays two righteous approaches to conflict: a violent approach that is justified and therefore “blessed;” and a nonviolent approach that is higher than this and therefore “more blessed” (an approach that is also said to be effective in ending conflict). This effort, however, turns out to be unsuccessful for multiple reasons. Attending to these reasons can be valuable, since doing so can help clarify several important issues about the Book of Mormon and a gospel view of war.

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In an earlier publication, Even unto Bloodshed: An LDS Perspective on War1 (hereafter referred to as EUB), I argued that a careful look at the scriptures permits us to create a structure for a comprehensive view of war from a Latter-day Saint perspective. This general framework, stated (for brevity’s sake) in the form of broad principles, is summarized in Table 1.2 The framework is derived in part from an examination of classical just-war theory. Initiated by important religious thinkers in centuries past and expanded upon by others (not necessarily religious) in modern times, this theory argues that although war is always to be earnestly and energetically avoided, a given war is just when (a) it is fought for just reasons, and (b) it is conducted in a just way (i.e., the methods of conducting it meet various moral standards). The just-war [Page 127]framework seeks to identify the broad principles that would satisfy these two moral requirements. The general framework appearing in Table 1 follows this same structure, and indeed adopts several of its provisions from modern academic treatises of just-war theory.3

 

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Table 1. A Latter-day Saint Framework Regarding War

A.

The Requirement of Righteousness

1.

The most important requirement for any society is to be righteous — to be devoted to following God.

2.

A society that is not righteous must repent and begin seeking righteousness.

3.

As part of this righteousness such a society: