Were the Allies justified in bombing Hiroshima and Nagasaki?

Was dropping atomic bombs on Japan morally justified?

  • Yes

    Votes: 21 42.0%
  • No

    Votes: 11 22.0%
  • Undecided

    Votes: 6 12.0%
  • Answer is too complicated for a poll

    Votes: 12 24.0%

  • Total voters
    50
  • Poll closed .
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Trench warfare in World War I was a war crime for which many of the European generals should have been executed.

When I was watching a film about Winston Churchill, my mum came into the room and remarked, "Granda said he should have been hung for what he did to the men." I presumed he said that owing to the debacle at Gallipoli. Only several years later did I find out that he had fought at Gallipoli.
 
It might be helpful to get a better idea of what nuclear blasts do to people to put some more concrete on the concept. The Infographic Show just released a horrific video with the gory details -
or if you don't like that there is plenty other resources. Now imagine the flesh melting off of kids, them screaming in uncontrollable pain, or the horrendous suffering of drinking contaminated water that burns you from the inside out.

Yeah some of the Japanese soldiers were monsters. But Japanese kids??
 
Yeah some of the Japanese soldiers were monsters. But Japanese kids??
Civilian deaths, including the deaths of children, are a consequence of war, and in WWII Japan was clearly an aggressor. One could argue that Japan’s leaders brought this on their own people, or, perhaps, that even though the atomic bombs demonstrate an excessive use of force, the United States is not squarely to blame.

I have from my grandparents a lengthy catalogue of atrocities committed by the Allies, which were then largely erased by Allied propaganda. Still I say that the German goverment, and the German people, brought the war, and the accompanying death, suffering, and destruction, on themselves.

No one is arguing that suffering and death of civilians are desirable. But, in war, some civilian deaths - even deaths of children - are somewhat inevitable.

I do not justify the atomic bombs. I am not decided on whether their use was morally permissible. The effects certainly were horrific, but the result was a very swift end to a costly war, and the fall of an evil régime. That is not a pragmatic “We stopped more probable deaths.” The end of the Japanese Empire halted evil on a massive scale. The Japanese needed to be stopped, and fast.

Focusing on civilian deaths obscures the issue, and misdirects the blame.
 
It might be helpful to get a better idea of what nuclear blasts do to people to put some more concrete on the concept. The Infographic Show just released a horrific video with the gory details -
or if you don't like that there is plenty other resources. Now imagine the flesh melting off of kids, them screaming in uncontrollable pain, or the horrendous suffering of drinking contaminated water that burns you from the inside out.

Yeah some of the Japanese soldiers were monsters. But Japanese kids??
I am not sure how the killing of any non combatant can be justified biblically. I had a CNWDI (critical nuclear weapons design information) clearance in the military so I saw pictures of radiation poisoning and heard accounts of it during my nuclear training. This is just one aspect of the horrific and sinful things that occur during war and within the military, I could give more examples but I will not. I cannot recommend any Christian that is not mature and firm in their faith to enter our military, I have seen what it can do to the weak and lost.
 
Civilian deaths, including the deaths of children, are a consequence of war, and in WWII Japan was clearly an aggressor. One could argue that Japan’s leaders brought this on their own people, or, perhaps, that even though the atomic bombs demonstrate an excessive use of force, the United States is not squarely to blame.

I have from my grandparents a lengthy catalogue of atrocities committed by the Allies, which were then largely erased by Allied propaganda. Still I say that the German goverment, and the German people, brought the war, and the accompanying death, suffering, and destruction, on themselves.

No one is arguing that suffering and death of civilians are desirable. But, in war, some civilian deaths - even deaths of children - are somewhat inevitable.

I do not justify the atomic bombs. I am not decided on whether their use was morally permissible. The effects certainly were horrific, but the result was a very swift end to a costly war, and the fall of an evil régime. That is not a pragmatic “We stopped more probable deaths.” The end of the Japanese Empire halted evil on a massive scale. The Japanese needed to be stopped, and fast.

Focusing on civilian deaths obscures the issue, and misdirects the blame.
Are you speaking from a world perspective or biblical? Maybe there are things I can learn from those here on how any non combatant death is justified biblically. Just because death is inevitable does not make it morally correct from a Christian perspective from anything I have ever run across in scripture but perhaps I will be corrected.
 
Are you speaking from a world perspective or biblical? Maybe there are things I can learn from those here on how any non combatant death is justified biblically. Just because death is inevitable does not make it morally correct from a Christian perspective from anything I have ever run across in scripture but perhaps I will be corrected.
I am not justifying the deaths of civilians. I said they are practically unavoidable. People get caught in the crossfire. It matters who started firing to begin with, and why.
 
Just because death is inevitable does not make it morally correct from a Christian perspective from anything I have ever run across in scripture
This raises an important question. If civilian deaths are practically unavoidable, and they are still morally wrong, then is it not the case that war must necessarily be avoided?
 
There is a bias - to me one imposed by the Allied occupation, rather than from the Japanese govt. The feeling I got from the museum was not one of Japanese victimhood, but human despair and warning.
You might want to make yourself familiar with the content of Japanese history textbooks. There’s plenty said on the subject of the atomic bombs. Nothing of Nanking or the countless sex slaves abused by the Japanese soldiers.

Frankly, I wouldn’t trust the facts presented by the Japanese government. The nationalist propaganda is laid on a bit thick over there.
 
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