Study Guide
Various Authors - What We're Fighting For: A Letter from America

1. Consider the "five fundamental truths" that the authors affirm pertain to all people without distinction. For each one, do you agree? For each, can you think of any way that someone might disagree or wish to qualify it? Do any of these truths sound similar to things said by the authors we've read so far?
2. What two reasons are given initially to explain why the authors believe we should fight?
3. What is the response of the authors to the issue of allegedly misguided and unjust foreign policies of the United States as a motivation for the attacks of September 11? What is the authors' opinion of U.S. foreign policies?
4. The authors take Osama bin Laden's taped statements about the attacks to imply what about the attackers' motivation?
5. What is the authors' estimation of American values?
6. According to the authors, what consequence follows from the conviction that all persons have innate human dignity? (What philosopher does this sound like?) What is the relationship of democracy to this human dignity?
7. Could the authors accept cultural relativism or subjectivism as viable moral theories?
8. According to the authors, what is the appropriate response to moral disagreements?
9. What do the authors see as the relationship of freedom of conscience and freedom of religion to the other values they mention?
10. What do the authors see as the most important fact about this country?
11. How do the authors respond to the claim that the American values mentioned are not universal, but instead are largely Western and Christian?
12. What is the authors' opinion of holy wars or crusades?
13. What governmental responses to or policies towards religion do the authors reject? Why? What governmental response to or policy towards religion do the authors favor?
14. What do the authors think is the appropriate response of those with religious faith to people who do not share that same faith?
15. How do the authors respond to the claim that moral analysis is irrelevant to war? Have we read or read about anyone who might make such a claim?
16. According to the authors, for what purposes should wars not be fought?
17. According to the authors, what is the primary moral justification for war?
18. What principles of Just War Theory do the authors agree with? Do they omit any? How do the past actions of Al Qaeda and the current actions of the United States stack up when compared in light of these Just War principles?
19. What contrasts do the authors draw between Islam and the "radical Islamicist" religious-political movement?