Downfall of Qadhafi in Libya with
use of NATO force, “End is welcome,
but doesn’t justify the means.”

One of the ethical principles taught me in my 13 years of Jesuit Education is: “One cannot use an unjust means to pursue a just end; such means are inconsistent with, and therefore undermine, the good end.” ( Educating in the Jesuit Tradition by ROBERT SPITZER, S.J. )

I have been thinking a lot about this principle these days and how many persons, including members of the Jesuits, Society of Jesus, preach this principle but do not practice it in action.

Willi Graf, one of the White Rose war resisters in Germany had a favorite quote from the bible that sums up those who preach but do not practice what they preach: “Be doers of the word and not hearers only, deluding yourselves.” (The Letter of James 1:22) St. Ignatius of Loyola said something similar “love ought to show itself in deeds over and above words.” (Spiritual Exercises, #230)

Tonight I wrote another email to Jesuits at Marquette and Creighton explaining how they justify teaching war on campus was not only a good example of “ends justifying the means’ but how the argument was false. My guess is the email will go ignored as past on this subject have.

The government often uses the unethical argument that the “end justifies the means” in war. The many innocent victims of killer drone attacks in Pakistan, Afghanistan, Somali and Yemen are justified by the fact that a few of the enemy are killed in these attacks.

Ads, especially political ones, often mislead and misrepresent the truth, again in the name of the end, selling an item or candidate.

When I look around I see all kinds of examples of groups and individuals using the “end to justify the means”. Maybe it is a sign of the times. However, it does not matter, no matter how many times it is used “the end does not justify the means’.

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