Land letter
The
Land Letter was a letter sent to President
George W. Bush by
evangelical Christian leaders on October 3, 2002 which outlined their theological support for a
just war pre-emptive
invasion of Iraq. The letter was written by Richard D. Land, president of the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission of the
Southern Baptist Convention. It was co-signed by
Chuck Colson of
Prison Fellowship Ministries,
Bill Bright, chairman of
Campus Crusade for Christ, James Kennedy, president of Corel Ridge Ministries, and Carl D. Herbster, president of the American Association of Christian Schools.
The letter outlined how a pre-emptive invasion of Iraq met the criteria of traditional 'just war' theory:
- such an action would be defensive
- the intent is found to be just and noble. The United States does not intend to 'destroy, conquer, or exploit Iraq'
- it is a last resort because Saddam Hussein had a record of attacking his neighbors, of the 'headlong pursuit and development of biochemical and nuclear weapons of mass destruction' and their use against his own people , and harboring Al Qaeda terrorists
- it is authorized by a legitimate authority, namely the United States
- it has limited goals
- it has reasonable expectation of success
- non-combatant immunity would be observed
- it meets the criteria of proportionality—the human cost on both sides would be justfied by the intended outcome
Other than the evangelical wing of the Christian church in America, few if any other Christian bodies worldwide were able to consider the facts known in October 2002 and derive from them a justification for an invasion of Iraq.
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