The moral authority of the UN

Those who take the UN seriously or those self-professed pacificists who are opposed to armed conflicts of any kind should read this article in today’s OpinionJournal. It is written by a “liberal multilateralist on the left” (in the author’s own words).

I should point out that the traditional Christian theory of just war falls under the category of love, i.e., just wars are waged because of the love for one’s neighbors. When the UN failed to see even such obvious cases of impending genocide and to take actions accordingly (with the excuse of “impartiality”), it has lost all claims to moral authority. The failure to prevent evildoers from committing atrocities is itself a violation of the positive requirement of the sixth commandment. Conversely,

Greater love has no one than this, that someone lays down his life for his friends (John 15:13, ESV).

That is why being a soldier is a noble calling, and I pay my tributes to the heroes in our military who serve honorably in self-sacrifice.