It stems true to say that on the matter of war all Christians travel a common path-—a pith recognizing the sacredness the high value of life and the awfulness of life-taking—until they come to a fork in that road with one route being pacifism and the other being thf acceptance of war as a sometimes just act. The essential meaning of Just War theory is portrayed by the second path it is in assertion that under some circumstances war mil be a justifiable enterprise for the Christian. To say that war's justice or lack there of cannot be known a priori but only after the examination of the values at stake and an assessment of circumstances and thereby to place war along with other classes of human action under the aegis of prudence—that is the basis of the Just War position.

What is the major reason for America's dilemma in Vietnam? Actually, the same reason holds for the near-boiling point of the cold war, for the resumption of arms sales to Arab countries following the Middle East crisis, for current American intervention in Thailand, Laos, Guatemala, Peru, Ecuador. Columbia and others; for mutual defense treaties with 42 nations; for military and economic aid to nearly 100 other nations. The same reason, furthermore, why defense appropriations constitute nearly 10% of gross national product; why Congress appropriates money for the Defense Department faster than the Pentagon can spend it; why 72% of every tax dollar goes for war and war preparation; why the Pentagon controls almost the exact percentage of Federal property in the world (53%) that the United States itself controls of the world's productive capacity. The reason is of course, our wealth, and the type of society necessary to produce it.