Yale Law School's Stephen Carter pens a thoughtful piece in Christianity Today on the issue of just war, especially as it relates to defending another nation that is being attacked. This has obvious implications for the situation in Sudan. I encourage you to read the whole thing to see the broad framework of his point, but here's the upshot:
I am not offering a settled answer to this question. The literature of just-war theory is strongly divided on many issues. I insist on two propositions, however. First, the morality of humanitarian intervention has nothing to do with whether others agree that the action is appropriate. (Although, as I have noted, international opposition might render it impractical.) Second, to refuse to protect the people of another country simply because they are not fellow citizens is, to say the least, uncharitable.
The genocide at Darfur is a timely, bloody reminder that the challenge will not go away. We Christians must ponder how best to meet it.
Those interested in more on contemporary defenses of just-war theory may want to check out Darrell Cole's When God Says War Is Right: The Christian's Perspective on When and How to Fight, and Jean Bethke Elshtain's Just War Against Terror: The Burden of American Power in a Violent World.
