On February 28, 2026, the United States and Israel launched nearly 900 airstrikes against Iran in twelve hours. The attacks killed Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, destroyed military infrastructure, and ignited the most significant Middle Eastern conflict in decades. Iran responded with retaliatory strikes across the region, closed the Strait of Hormuz, and triggered what has become the 2026 Lebanon War.
Forty-seven days later, the world remains on edge. A fragile ceasefire holds. Negotiations continue in Pakistan. Millions have been displaced. Thousands are dead — including 170 civilians killed when a missile struck a girls’ school in Minab.
And Christians are deeply divided.
On one side stands Pope Leo XIV, the first American-born pope, who has emerged as the conflict’s most prominent religious critic. “God does not bless any conflict,” he wrote. “Anyone who is a disciple of Christ, the Prince of Peace, is never on the side of those who once wielded the sword and today drop bombs.”
On the other side stands the Trump administration, which has framed the war in explicitly religious terms. When asked if God approved of America’s actions, President Trump replied: “I do — because God is good and God wants to see people taken care of.” Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth led Pentagon worship services praying that “every round find its mark against the enemies of righteousness.”
Who is right? What does the Bible actually say about war? And how should Christians think about this particular conflict?
At Higher Praise, we believe these questions deserve more than partisan slogans. They deserve careful biblical reflection.
War in a Fallen World
The Bible does not pretend war doesn’t exist. From Cain’s murder of Abel to the apocalyptic battles of Revelation, Scripture acknowledges that violence pervades human history. Jesus Himself predicted: “You will hear of wars and rumours of wars… Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom” (Matthew 24:6-7).
This is descriptive, not prescriptive. War exists because sin exists. James diagnoses the root cause: “What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don’t they come from your desires that battle within you? You desire but do not have, so you kill” (James 4:1-2).
War is never God’s ideal. It is the tragic fallout of human rebellion against the Creator. The prophetic vision of peace — swords beaten into plowshares, nations no longer learning war (Isaiah 2:4) — represents God’s ultimate intention for humanity. We are not there yet.
The question Christians must answer is not whether war is good (it isn’t) but whether it is ever justified in a fallen world where evil men do evil things.
Throughout church history, Christians have answered this question in two primary ways: pacifism and just war theory. Both traditions claim biblical support. Both include faithful believers. Understanding each is essential before evaluating any specific conflict.
Christian Pacifism
Pacifism holds that followers of Jesus should never participate in war. Its adherents point to Christ’s explicit teachings:
“You have heard that it was said, ‘Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth.’ But I tell you, do not resist an evil person. If anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to them the other cheek also” (Matthew 5:38-39).
“Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you” (Matthew 5:44).
“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God” (Matthew 5:9).
Pacifists observe that Jesus never resisted His persecutors. When Peter drew his sword in Gethsemane, Jesus rebuked him: “Put your sword back in its place, for all who draw the sword will die by the sword” (Matthew 26:52). The early church, for its first three centuries, was largely pacifist. Christians died as martyrs rather than kill as soldiers.
This tradition continues today among Mennonites, Quakers, and many Anabaptists. It represents a prophetic witness against the normalisation of violence.
Just War Theory
The majority Christian position, however, has been just war theory — the view that while war is always tragic, it can sometimes be morally justified.
This tradition traces to Augustine of Hippo (354-430 AD), the great North African theologian we discussed in our article on Algeria’s Christian history. Augustine watched barbarians threaten the Roman Empire and asked: Is it loving to allow the innocent to be slaughtered when force could protect them?
Augustine concluded that war could be an act of love — love for the neighbour being attacked. Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274) refined these principles into the classic just war framework still used today.
Just war theory includes two sets of criteria:
Jus ad bellum (justice in going to war):
- Just cause: War must respond to a grave injustice — typically aggression, defence of the innocent, or restoration of rights.
- Legitimate authority: Only proper governing authorities may declare war, not private individuals or vigilantes.
- Right intention: The goal must be peace and justice, not revenge, conquest, or economic gain.
- Last resort: All peaceful alternatives must be genuinely exhausted first.
- Proportionality: The expected good must outweigh the expected harm.
- Reasonable chance of success: War should not be waged if victory is impossible.
Jus in bello (justice in conducting war):
- Discrimination: Intentional attacks on civilians are always prohibited.
- Proportionality: Military means must be limited to legitimate necessity.
Just war theorists point to several biblical texts:
Romans 13:4 describes governing authorities as “God’s servant, an agent of wrath to bring punishment on the wrongdoer.” The government “does not bear the sword for no reason.”
When soldiers asked John the Baptist how to live righteously, he did not tell them to leave the military. He said: “Don’t extort money and don’t accuse people falsely — be content with your pay” (Luke 3:14).
Jesus told Pilate: “My kingdom is not of this world. If it were, my servants would fight” (John 18:36). The implication, some argue, is that earthly kingdoms do fight — and may do so legitimately.
Neither Tradition Endorses This
Here is what both traditions share: neither endorses war waged carelessly, for economic gain, for imperial expansion, or for political convenience. Neither blesses wars that target civilians. Neither celebrates bloodshed.
And here is where the Iran conflict becomes deeply troubling.
Evaluating the Iran War
Even within just war theory, serious questions arise about the 2026 Iran conflict.
Was it a last resort? The strikes began while negotiations were underway in Oman. The Omani foreign minister had reported “significant progress,” with Iran “willing to make concessions.” Then the bombs fell. If diplomacy was working, how could war be a last resort?
Was the cause proportionate? The stated goals have shifted repeatedly: preventing Iranian retaliation, destroying missile capabilities, stopping nuclear development, seizing oil resources, achieving regime change. Multiple and changing objectives suggest unclear thinking, not the focused pursuit of justice.
Were civilians protected? The strike that killed 170 people at a girls’ school in Minab violated the most basic principle of discrimination. Whatever the military target nearby, the death of schoolchildren cannot be dismissed as acceptable collateral damage.
Was the intention right? President Trump threatened to “wipe out” Iranian civilisation — language that Pope Leo rightly called “truly unacceptable.” Civilisation includes museums, universities, hospitals, mosques, and millions of innocent people. Threatening civilisational destruction is not the language of just war; it is the language of total war.
Cardinal Robert McElroy, a leading American Catholic, stated plainly: “In the Catholic teaching this is not a just war.”
We at Higher Praise are not Catholic. But the cardinal’s assessment deserves serious consideration from Protestants who hold to the same just war principles Augustine and Aquinas articulated.
The Danger of Holy War Rhetoric
Perhaps most troubling is the religious rhetoric surrounding this conflict.
Defense Secretary Hegseth prayed that “every round find its mark against the enemies of righteousness.” President Trump claimed God approved the war. Administration officials have framed America as a “Christian nation trying to vanquish its foes.”
This is dangerous territory.
Pope Leo responded: “Even the holy Name of God, the God of life, is being dragged into discourses of death.”
The pope is right to be alarmed. When leaders invoke God’s blessing on their wars, they move from just war into holy war — the belief that God commands this specific conflict and guarantees victory. Holy war rhetoric has a long and bloody history: the Crusades, the Wars of Religion, countless conflicts where both sides claimed divine mandate.
Scripture warns against presuming to speak for God. “Do not take the name of the Lord your God in vain” (Exodus 20:7) means more than avoiding profanity. It means not invoking God’s authority for purposes He has not authorised.
Vice President JD Vance pushed back on the pope, asking: “How can you say that God is never on the side of those who wield the sword?” He cited the liberation of France from Nazi Germany as an example where God surely supported the Allies.
Vance raises a fair point. Most Christians believe God opposed Nazi tyranny and blessed those who resisted it. But the comparison reveals the weakness of the current conflict’s justification. Nazi Germany invaded its neighbours, operated death camps, and sought world domination. Iran, whatever its faults, has not done these things. The analogy strains credulity.
What Christians Should Do
So how should believers respond?
First, reject tribal thinking. The temptation to support “our side” regardless of the facts is the path of political idolatry, not Christian faithfulness. We must evaluate this war — and every war — by biblical principles, not partisan loyalty.
Second, hold leaders accountable. Romans 13 grants government authority to punish wrongdoing, but it does not grant unlimited power. When governments act unjustly, Christians have historically spoken prophetically — from the Hebrew prophets confronting Israelite kings to Dietrich Bonhoeffer opposing Hitler. Pope Leo stands in this tradition. We need not agree with every papal statement to recognise the legitimacy of religious leaders speaking truth to power.
Third, pray for peace. Jesus said peacemakers are blessed and called children of God. We should pray for the ceasefire to hold, for negotiations to succeed, for wisdom to prevail over pride. We should pray for Iranian civilians caught in the crossfire, for displaced Lebanese families, for American and Israeli soldiers in harm’s way, and for leaders on all sides to choose peace over escalation.
Fourth, care for the suffering. Whatever we think of the war’s justification, the humanitarian crisis is real. Christians should support aid organisations serving refugees, advocate for civilian protection, and remember that behind every statistic is a human being made in God’s image.
Fifth, maintain humility. These are genuinely difficult questions. Faithful Christians disagree. The pacifist who refuses all violence and the soldier who believes he defends the innocent can both be sincere followers of Jesus. We should engage with charity, not contempt.
The Prince of Peace
In his Palm Sunday homily, Pope Leo declared: “Brothers and sisters, this is our God: Jesus, King of Peace, who rejects war, whom no one can use to justify war.”
This is not the whole truth — Scripture is more complex — but it captures something essential. Jesus is called the Prince of Peace (Isaiah 9:6). His kingdom is characterised by swords becoming plowshares, by lions lying down with lambs, by the end of war itself.
We do not yet live in that kingdom fully. We live in the overlap of ages — the kingdom inaugurated but not consummated, the already but not yet. In this tension, Christians have sometimes concluded that force is necessary to restrain evil and protect the innocent.
But we must never lose sight of where history is headed. War is not the final word. Peace is. The new heavens and new earth will know no conflict. Every tear will be wiped away. The nations will be healed.
Until that day, we walk humbly, seek justice, love mercy, and long for the return of the King who will make all things new.
May God grant wisdom to those with power, comfort to those who suffer, and peace to His broken world.
FAQ — People Also Ask
What does the Bible say about war? The Bible acknowledges war as a reality of fallen human existence (Matthew 24:6) while calling believers to be peacemakers (Matthew 5:9). Scripture contains both examples of God-sanctioned wars in the Old Testament and Jesus’ teachings on loving enemies and turning the other cheek. Christians have historically held two main positions: pacifism (war is never justified) and just war theory (war can be justified under strict moral criteria).
What is just war theory? Just war theory is a Christian ethical framework developed by Augustine and Aquinas that defines when war can be morally justified (jus ad bellum) and how it should be conducted (jus in bello). Criteria include just cause, legitimate authority, right intention, last resort, proportionality, and reasonable chance of success. In warfare, intentional attacks on civilians are always prohibited. Both Catholic and most Protestant traditions accept just war principles.
Is the Iran war a just war? Christians disagree. Cardinal Robert McElroy stated that “in the Catholic teaching this is not a just war,” citing concerns that the strikes began during ongoing negotiations (violating last resort), had shifting objectives, and caused significant civilian casualties. Others argue the war was justified to prevent Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons or to respond to Iranian aggression. The use of holy war rhetoric by US officials has troubled many believers across traditions.
Does God take sides in war? Scripture shows God acting in history, including through warfare, but warns against presuming divine endorsement of human conflicts. Jesus said His kingdom is “not of this world” (John 18:36). While Christians may believe certain causes align with God’s justice, claiming God’s explicit blessing on a specific war risks violating the commandment against taking God’s name in vain (Exodus 20:7). Pope Leo XIV warned that “the holy Name of God is being dragged into discourses of death.”
What did Pope Leo XIV say about the Iran war? Pope Leo XIV has emerged as a prominent critic of the war, saying “God does not bless any conflict” and that Christ “does not listen to the prayers of those who wage war.” He called for negotiations, denounced the “delusion of omnipotence” driving the conflict, and said it was “truly unacceptable” for President Trump to threaten to destroy Iranian civilisation. The pope has called on political leaders to “stop” and choose peace.
Should Christians be pacifists? Pacifism is a legitimate Christian position held by Mennonites, Quakers, and others who believe Jesus’ teachings on loving enemies and turning the other cheek prohibit all participation in war. However, most Christian traditions have accepted just war theory, arguing that governments may use force to restrain evil (Romans 13:4) and that loving one’s neighbour may sometimes require defending them from attack. Both positions have been held by sincere believers throughout church history.