This is Father Jared Cramer from St. John’s Episcopal Church in Grand Haven, Michigan, here with today’s edition of Christian Mythbusters, a regular segment I offer to counter some common misconceptions about the Christian faith.Like many of you, I imagine, I’ve been deeply concerned with our country’s recent military intervention in Venezuela. Many have written and spoken about how problematic that action was from the standpoint of international law, foreign policy, and a host of other concerns. Today, I’d like to talk about why the whole situation (and the perspective and moral worldview it represents) is problematic from the standpoint of Christianity. Though many assume Christian resistance to any war is largely due to the inherent violence of armed conflict, that’s a myth worth breaking. Because there are many more reasons Christians should be at least skeptical, if not outright opposed, to this most recent military action. Don’t get me wrong, nonviolence absolutely matters. From Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount to the witness of saints and martyrs across the centuries, Christianity has consistently lifted up the sanctity of human life and the call to resist cycles of violence. But the Christian concern about war goes deeper than that—and if we reduce it only to a debate about violence versus nonviolence, we miss something essential.After our country’s actions in Venezuela, my own denomination, The Episcopal Church, issued a statement expressing deep concern about the operation, its legality, and its consequences for civilians and for the Episcopal Diocese of Venezuela The statement names real human costs: Venezuelans killed, some of them civilians; increased instability; and fear for local church communities caught in the middle of geopolitical power struggles. All of those facts should give Christians pause.But here’s the deeper theological issue.Christian opposition to war is not only about the harm done in war. It is also about what war does to our moral imagination—about how quickly it trains us to believe that my safety, my prosperity, and my national interest matter more than the lives and dignity of others. That mindset is fundamentally at odds with the heart of Christian faith.In Christ, God is not reconciling some people, or my people, or the people who look like me or vote like me. Scripture tells us that in Christ, God is reconciling all people, breaking down the walls that divide us and creating a new humanity. The Letter to the Ephesians speaks of Christ tearing down the dividing wall of hostility and making peace—not peace through domination, but peace through self-giving love.War, especially when framed as preventive or preemptive action, does the opposite. It reinforces the belief that the lives on the other side of the border are expendable, that instability elsewhere is acceptable if it secures advantage here, and that power gives moral permission.This is why Christianity developed what we call Just War theory. And it’s important to say: Just War theory is not a loophole that makes war morally comfortable. It is a moral restraint, designed to make war harder to justify, not easier.For a war to be considered just, it must meet demanding criteria: a just cause, legitimate authority, last resort, proportionality, and a reasonable chance of success, among others. The Episcopal Church has repeatedly affirmed these principles while also condemning the first use of armed force for non-imminent threats and warning against abusing humanitarian language to justify political or strategic goals Measured against those standards, there are numerous reasons for Christians to be deeply troubled by U.S. intervention in Venezuela. The reported deaths of roughly 80 Venezuelans,