As Madeline Albright’s comment clearly articulates, in principle there is such a thing as a just war. The conditions are seldom met, however, and this is no accident. Naked aggression is almost always dressed up, with varying degrees of plausibility, to look like the furtherance of a cause that is at least arguable, so defending innocent people from such aggression – which has to be the basis for any just war – is seldom as clear-cut a grounding as the principles of just war demand.

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What can we do to change the tradition of politicians either brandishing their devoutness or defensively paying lip service to religion? It disfigures our public discussions, and I think that few people are fooled by it any more.

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It is fascinating to see how cautiously the candidates are approaching this issue in the run-up to November's election. Everybody apparently thinks -- probably rightly -- that this is a race to be lost by a single fatal misstep, not won by a bold stroke. So nobody is going to come out in favor of secular values or visions, and secularists, like me, are not so foolish as to try to goad any candidate into acknowledging their sympathy for a secular world view if that could cost them the election. Of course, this tradition of mealy-mouthed lip service is something we should try to discredit and dismantle as soon as possible. But not sooner!

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