In spirit of the theme of the ongoing Marquette Mission Week I think it appropriate to consider some of the issues of war and justice and how we as Christians should be responding to the current war in Iraq.

The question is: how can we responsibly balance the deaths that will result from war against the prospect of foreign injustice or national security?

Biblically speaking this issue continually contradicts itself. The same Christ who said we are to "turn the other cheek" (Matthew 5:39) also acknowledged the legitimate use of force in several different passages.

However, the Bible is not the sole source of moral wisdom and though the rest of this column will examine the Catholic view, the rules of the "Just War Doctrine" are ones that I believe every person from every creed can agree on.

Paragraph 2309 of the Catechism of the Catholic Church contains four criterion of a just war. In order for a war to be morally right this criterion must be given "rigorous consideration" and all the conditions must be met.

First, "the damage inflicted by the aggressor or on the nation or community of nations must be lasting, grave and certain."

This essentially means that it's only morally permissible to go to war if the enemy has stricken first, or if it is morally certain that they will strike.

Therefore, it's not right to go to war to conquer new territory, subjugate people, obtain wealth or, in more in modern terms, ensure a continuous and cheaper supply of oil.

Second, "all other means of putting an end to it must have been shown to be impractical or ineffective."

Basically this means that war must be a last resort.

The third criterion is pretty self explanatory: "there must be serious prospects of success."

Finally, "the use of arms must not produce evils and disorders graver than the evil to be eliminated. The power of modern means of destructions weighs very heavily in evaluating this condition."

When considering this final criteria remember that Saddam Hussein was clearly a horrible dictator who killed thousands of people, but according to a Johns Hopkins study published in a United Nations Report in October 2006 the war has caused an estimated 650,000 deaths among Iraqi civilians.

These deaths from this war far outweigh the number of deaths from Saddam Hussein's dictatorship. Moreover, the fact that 650,000 Iraqi civilians have been killed in a war that we started unprovoked is clearly an evil on our end.

Wartime issues are always complicated, and the war in Iraq is no different.

We were told going in that Iraq was developing weapons of mass destruction and the war would be in our best national interest.

Five years later we now know that Iraq has no weapons of mass destruction and the threat from Iraq was most likely a fabrication from the current presidential administration.

War. Peace. People of Faith.

As people of faith I believe we must use the tools of that faith (e.g. the Bible and established doctrine like the "Just War Doctrine") when determining the righteousness of our actions, and when we do that we find that the war in Iraq is unjust.

This war is wrong, and as such the only responsible thing to do is call to call for peace.

How can we call for peace?

The most practical way is to exercise our right to vote and vote for the presidential candidates who promise to withdraw troops from Iraq including: Democratic candidates Barack Obama and Hilary Rodham Clinton or Republican candidate Ron Paul.