Eamonn Fitzgerald's Rainy Day

Formally accepting the Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo yesterday, President Obama forcefully defended the use of military force "on humanitarian grounds" and to preserve peace.

Lots of doves will be spending the rest of the weekend brushing up on stuff they'd hoped was history. The doctrine of "just war", for example. The Old Testament acknowledges frankly that there is "a time to kill" (Eccles. 3:3) and the New Testament accepts the legitimate use of force as in John the Baptist's acknowledgment that Roman soldiers, who were paid to enforce the Pax Romana, could keep their jobs (Luke 3:14), and by Paul's observation that the state "does not bear the sword in vain" but is "God's servant for your good" (Rom. 13:4).

That done, the doves will be off to the Vatican website for a close reading of Gaudium Et Spes promulgated by His Holiness Pope Paul VI on 7 December 1965. As the Second Vatican Council noted, "insofar as men are sinful, the threat of war hangs over them, and hang over them it will until the return of Christ" (Gaudium et Spes 78).

"Evil does exist in the world. A non-violent movement could not have halted Hitler's armies. Negotiations cannot convince al Qaeda's leaders to lay down their arms. To say that force may sometimes be necessary is not a call to cynicism — it is a recognition of history; the imperfections of man and the limits of reason." That was President Obama yesterday. We're all neo-cons now.