The oxygen that breathes life into peacemaking

The "just war" principle evolved to address the question of what happens when there is a greater evil that will be committed if violence is not countered. Christian doctrine is not comfortably numb to the scenario of unmitigated, unlawful aggression. Even Gandhi, the champion of non-violence, demurred that sometimes violent resistance to evil was better than no resistance at all. And Bonhoeffer, the great Christian pacifist my colleague Kevin Rudd wrote about recently, joined the plot to assassinate Hitler.

We now come to a new crossroads, for the exercise of the war in Iraq has meant that the principles that govern just war-making have been thrown over. And the Christian response should be to challenge this reversal of principle and practice.

In the meantime, the existing "just war" framework can serve as a basis to develop new peacemaking actions where justice and commitment to the poor is central.

And here what better example than the worldwide "Make Poverty History Campaign", which originated out of the movement for Jubilee Debt Relief and others, and involved numerous young people, including many Christians, and which resulted in the UN adoption of the Millennium Development Goals.

The rule-breaking that defines Christ's mission as recorded in the gospels is the ushering in of an age where peace is pre-eminent, not one where war is justified. We shouldn't lose sight of this mission as we contemplate peacemaking in the new century.