As our nation celebrates Veterans Day and the rest of the western world
remembers past wars on Armistice Day reflecting on the morality of combatants is especially relevant. This reflection is also in accord with the UU principles that value the search for truth and pursuit of peace and
justice. The specific doctrine of the “moral equality of combatants” is of central importance. This doctrine holds that combatants on both sides hold equal liability to violence. In other words, all combatants can permissibly kill the other side’s combatants irrespective of the justice or injustice of their side’s cause. A better understanding of the arguments related to
this doctrine will impact our moral evaluations of veterans’ actions and maybe our proclivity to war.