The Family Research Center, a religious right organization notable for its anti-LGBTQ campaigning, is arguing that President Donald Trump’s ordered killing of a top Iranian military general was biblically justified.
Thursday’s episode of “Washington Watch with Tony Perkins” featured an interview with David Closson, FRC’s Director of Christian Ethics and Biblical Worldview, that the episode’s show notes said would explain “why America’s response to Iran was justified from a Biblical perspective.”
Perkins told listeners that the journalists who had contacted him had been shocked to hear that evangelical Christians supported the killing of Qassem Soleimani. Perkins said that scripture speaks to “every aspect of life,” including when it is appropriate for nations to engage in war, and hosted Closson to explain why Trump’s action was biblically justified.
Closson said that the scripture “lets us see that all war itself is not intrinsically evil,” saying that the Old Testament sanctions war and that the New Testament states that governments are answerable to God for the responsibilities they have to their citizens.
“Sometimes there are compelling reasons for going to war. And all killing is tragic, but sometimes it’s necessary,” Closson said.
Perkins and Closson discussed the components of jus ad bellum, which is a set of criteria used to determine whether going to war is ethical. After walking through the different criteria, the duo said that the principles had been derived from scripture.
“A lot of Christians think that the default position of Christianity is passivism, but there’s actually quite a few examples in the Bible that actually– where Jesus thinks about these issues and scripture teaches a couple examples,” Closson said, going on to cite scripture he said backed up his assertion.
Earlier this week, FRC executive president Jerry Boykin argued it would have been “irresponsible” for Trump not to order the drone strike against Soleimani, the commander of Iran’s elite Quds Force.
