April 1, 2026
Richard Land is at it again.
Land was the president of the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission (ERLC), the public policy arm of the Southern Baptist Convention, from 1988 to 2013. He then served as the president of Southern Evangelical Seminary in Charlotte, North Carolina, from 2013 to 2021. He is now the executive editor of The Christian Post, the "nation's most comprehensive Christian news website."
Those of us who opposed President George W. Bush's unjust, immoral, undeclared, senseless, unnecessary, offensive, and evil war in Iraq-a war that saw tens of thousands of American soldiers die in vain and for a lie, suffer traumatic brain injuries, lose limbs or testicles, have PTSD, or commit suicide-remember Land as the primary author of the " Land Letter" in support of the pre-emptive invasion of Iraq. The open letter addressed to President Bush stated:
We believe that your policies concerning the ongoing international terrorist campaign against America are both right and just. Specifically, we believe that your stated policies concerning Saddam Hussein and his headlong pursuit and development of biochemical and nuclear weapons of mass destruction are prudent and fall well within the time-honored criteria of just war theory as developed by Christian theologians in the late fourth and early fifth centuries A.D.
The letter was also signed by Chuck Colson (founder of Prison Fellowship Ministries), Bill Bright (founder of Campus Crusade for Christ), D. James Kennedy (pastor and president of Coral Ridge Ministries), and Carl D. Herbster (president of the American Association of Christian Schools). Colson, Bright, and Kennedy are now deceased. Herbster is now the leader of AdvanceUSA, a Christian group that advocates for conservative causes.
Land is now saying the same things about the war in Iran as he said about the war in Iraq over twenty years ago. Since he is now about 80 years old, to make it easier on himself, he should just take all of his old articles in support of the war in Iraq and substitute the word Iran for every occurrence of Iraq.
Land's latest perversion of just war theory is found in his recent article in support of the war in Iran, "Is Operation Epic Fury a Just Cause?"
Before invoking his unjust war theory in defense of the United States attacking Iran, Land introduces his article thusly:
President Trump has launched Operation EPIC Fury against the ultra-terrorist cabal that has been operating the Islamic terrorist state controlling the country of Iran since 1979. Since that date, they have been fomenting terror and revolution throughout the Middle East and the world.
The Iranian terrorist state has been killing Israelis and Americans, as well as their fellow Iranians and Islamic compatriots who do not agree with them. The mullahs have labeled America as the "Great Satan" and Israel as the "Little Satan" and have pledged themselves to the destruction of both. It has often been reported that they have openly declared that Iran could "do with one or two atomic weapons what Hitler failed to do" - eliminate the Jews!
At the grievous expense of their own people, the Iranian mullahs have spent their country's impressive oil riches in pursuit of weapons of mass destruction - including nuclear weapons and the guided missiles to deliver them.
President Trump did launch Operation EPIC Fury, Iran did have a revolution in 1979, and the first supreme leader of Iran, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, did label America as "Great Satan" and Israel as "Little Satan." Most everything else is bluster.
There is no dispute that Iran is an autocratic, theocratic, Muslim state that oppresses Iranians economically, politically, and religiously. But most of the rest of what Land says is only partially true or simply not true at all.
Iran is a Shia Muslim country. Most terrorist attacks over the past 20 years have been carried out by Sunni extremist groups or individuals. Does Land even know the difference between Shiite and Sunni Muslims?
Why is it that Iran had an Islamic revolution in 1979 ? Land forgot to mention that the CIA orchestrated a coup in 1953 to replace Iran's elected prime minister with Mohammad Reza Pahlav, the shah of Iran, whose regime was marked by repression, torture, and violence against his political opponents. No wonder Iran had a revolution.
If Iran has been killing Americans, then why is the United States only now doing something about it ? Has Iran only killed Americans while Trump has been the president ? And who are these Americans that Iran has killed ? Can Land name one?
If Iran was serious about destroying Israel, then why does Iran let thousands of Jews live unmolested in Iran and have synagogues, schools, butchers, restaurants, and a matzah factory?
Land maintains, contrary to numerous reports by U.S. intelligence agencies, that Iran has been "in pursuit of weapons of mass destruction - including nuclear weapons." Iran is a signer, along with 190 other countries, of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty-Israel is not. Land is simply lying when he says that it "has often been reported" that the mullahs of Iran "have openly declared that Iran could 'do with one or two atomic weapons what Hitler failed to do' - eliminate the Jews!" If it has often been reported, it should be easy to find using any search engine. Land gives no sources and no links and couldn't if he tried because there are none.
Land then gives the lamest explanation of just war theory I have ever read. How stupid does he think his readers are ? He briefly mentions just cause, must be defensive, last resort, noncombatant immunity, and prudential judgment. Then he has the audacity to say: "Applying these criteria to the American and Israeli intervention in Iran, it is clear that they meet just war criteria." The only thing clear is that applying these criteria means just the opposite.
Land's whole argument is based on the delusion that Iran is on the verge of making an atomic weapon (something that Netanyahu has been claiming for 20 years), that Iran would use such a weapon to threaten Israel and/or the United States, and that Iran is not entitled to possess nuclear weapons but other countries are, even though Iran is surrounded by U.S. military bases within range of Israel's nuclear weapons.
Richard Land is just another bloodthirsty conservative warmonger who blindly supports Trump, the U.S. military, the Republican Party, and the government of Israel. The fact that he is a religious man makes his defense of the attack on Iran even more despicable.