A Catholic Conservative Looks at the Atomic Bombing of Japan

That Catholic Conservative being me.

I suppose my thoughts echo those of the late great Archbishop Fulton Sheen when he said:

When, I wonder, did we in America ever get into this idea that freedom means having no boundaries and no limits? I think it began on the 6th of August 1945 at 8:15 am when we dropped the bomb on Hiroshima."

I think there might be some truth in that. I say this as someone whose grandfather was about poised to be part of the invasion of Japan.

VOX NOVA had two pieces up one is the The Feast of the Transfiguration which compares the feast we celebrate today and the bombing of Hiroshima that occurred on this date. One of the more conservative posters at Vox Nova has also posted On the Atomic Bombings of Japan I.

By the way there is quite of history of Current and well known past political conservatives that had huge problems with what happen as to this episode. GO here just for a taste

After years looking at this like Dresden, like the Fire bombing of Tokyo I can not see how this can be justified. I am not calling TRUMAN a war criminal. I recognized at the time that they thought they were doing right. On that note if you are ever in Independence Missouri you go to the Truman Presidential Library. One is struck even on slow days how many people from Japan are there. There is a exhibit on this and a book where people can write their thoughts. The entries from the people from Japan are interesting and not for the most part full of venom. They recognize their Govt and their atrocities. They come for understanding.

I also think that many of us know in the heat of war and the pain of a long four year struggle that perhaps something went off the rails in those days.

Imagine this scenario. The United States establishes a beach head and surrounds Hiroshima. The allied forces announce until there is an unconditional surrender of Japan American servicemen will take out every man ,woman, and child out of their homes and execute them. Would this be moral? If not what in the end is different?

I really recommend one looks at David Armstrong's thoughts on this. He is by the way no raving liberal or Pacifist either.

See his posts
The Nuclear Bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki: Do They Meet Catholic Just War Standards of Morality? (Part II / Part III / Part IV) (Part 1 has the opinions of both political and religious Catholics often conservative)

On Whether the Catholic Ethical Principle of "Double Effect" Can Justify the Nuclear Bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki

Declassified Top Secret Documents From Harry Truman and Others Reveal Discussions and Qualms Concerning the Morality of Nuking Hiroshima and Nagasaki

Critique of Dr. Thomas Sowell's Article: "Trashing our History; Hiroshima" (Dave Armstrong vs. Dr. Thomas Sowell)

Popes Pius XII, Paul VI, John Paul II, Vatican II, the CCC, and US Bishops on the Morality of Nuking Hiroshima & Nagasaki

Further Catholic Reflections on the Ethics of Hiroshima and Nagasaki

Analysis of Gaudium et spes With Regard to Nuclear Strikes

9000-9600 Catholics Killed at Nagasaki in August 1945

Japanese "Universal" Military Conscription in World War II: Justification For Nuclear Bombings of Japan? (+ Discussion)

The Hiroshima and Nagasaki Debate: Did I Commit the Fallacy of Appeal to Authority or Call My Opponents "Murderers"?

One never knows how God operates in history I suppose. But in one of the above links 9000-9600 Catholics Killed at Nagasaki in August 1945 there are things to ponder and pray on. At least they strike me and I suppose I shall end my post with these reflections:

By 1945 the Nagasaki community of Roman Catholics, the descendants of these hidden Christians, formed the largest Catholic colony in Japan. Ironically, they inhabited the Urakami valley, which is the district of Nagasaki over which the atomic bomb exploded. The bomb killed nearly 9,600 of the 12,000 Catholics who lived near the hypocenter of the blast, leaving 70,000 people dead altogether. Their beloved church, the Urakami Cathedral, the largest Catholic church in the Orient, was utterly destroyed. Two priests hearing confessions at the time, along with dozens of penitents, were killed when the church collapsed on top of them.(Nagasaki: A Peace Church Rises From the Nuclear Ashes, Jack Wintz, O.F.M.)

Fat Man exploded directly above the Catholic cathedral in Nagasaki. The city was the historical center of Catholicism in Japan and contained about a tenth of the entire Catholic population. The cathedral was filled with worshipers who had gathered to pray for a speedy and just end to the war. It is said their prayers included a petition to offer themselves, if God so willed it, in reparation for the evils perpetrated by their country.(Karl Keating: e-letter of 3 August 2004)

It is ironic that this most Catholic of Japanese centers should have been targeted for the second atomic bomb of 1945. One of the original martyrs executed at Nagasaki in 1597 was a Mexican-born Franciscan friar, canonized in 1862 as St. Philip of Jesus. As he was about to die on his cross, he is reported to have foretold that one day Nagasaki would be destroyed by "a ball of fire dropping from the sky."(Fr. Robert F. McNamara, Japan's Blessed Martyrs)

Nagasaki had been visited by St. Francis Xavier in 1549, and was the most Christian of Japanese cities with 10% of its population being Catholic. It contained the largest Catholic cathedral in East Asia; during the atomic attack, its roof crumbled killing dozens of parishioners that were about to give confession. Of Nagasaki's prebomb population of 22,000 Christians, most of whom were Catholic, only 13,000 survived the A-bomb.(Peter N. Kirstein, August 9, 1945: Remember Nagasaki Genocide!!)