The abolition of war should be the task of the 21st century, a leading liberal theologian told a seminar on "Global Peace and Security" organised by the Irish section of Pax Christi in Dublin yesterday.
Prof Enda McDonagh said the "great model" for such a project was the abolition of slavery. Bringing an end to slavery had been "a very long haul"; there had been huge economic resistance; it was tied in with a racial issue; and there had been divided religious views on the subject. Although still a very serious problem in various places, he continued: "Slavery is not any more an acceptable public enterprise." He hoped war could also become "an unacceptable public enterprise" although he acknowledged there would still be outbreaks of violence.
The old Roman dictum, "If you want peace, prepare for war" had to be ruled out now. In its place he would substitute: "If you want peace, prepare for justice." Commenting on the morality of the war in Afghanistan, Prof McDonagh said he had noticed commentators who supported the bombing campaign were now saying, in effect, "Because we won we were right".
Speaking on the aftermath of the September 11th atrocities, Mr Dan Plesch of the London-based Royal United Services Institute for Defence Studies said the scale of the disaster had yet to be appreciated.
"It was the greatest defeat for Western power since the Ottoman Turks laid siege to Vienna in the 17th century. Never before has any non-Western state hit at the power centres of a Western country since the start of the colonial period. Never in history has an outlaw group caused such damage to a major state."