Peace & Conflict

Christianity and Judaism all encourage believers to work towards achieving peace in the world.

Pacifism

  • A pacifist is someone who has strongly held beliefs that war and physical violence are wrong. Pacifists believe that all disputes should be settled peacefully

  • There were pacifists in Britain who refused to fight in the world wars. Many of these ‘conscientious objectors’ went to prison rather than go against their beliefs - they were prisoners of conscience. They suffered humiliation in prison, and after they’d been released

  • There are different degrees of pacifism - some people are against violence, under any circumstances, whereas others may disagree with violence, but understand that sometimes violence is the least horrible option

Just Wars

The Just War Theory is a philosophical theory that explains the conditions that must be met for a war to be classed as necessary

  • There must be a good reason for the war, e.g. self-defence or to help innocent people under threat

  • All other options habe been attempted to avoid war

  • It must be started by a proper authority - such as an elected government or president

  • A war must have a reasonable chance of success. Fighting an unwinnable war is considered a waste of lives

  • Any harm caused by fighting the war mustn’t be as bad as the harm it’s trying to prevent

Conditions for Fighting a war Justly

  • Discrimination: war should discriminate between combatants and civilians - it’s not seen as ‘just’ to deliberately target civilians

  • Proportionality: the military advantage gained by an attack must outweigh any harm to civilians

People Who Fight in Holy Wars Believe They’re Supported by God

  1. A holy war is one where people believe that God is ‘on their side’. Wars are mentioned in both the Old Testament and the Tenakh.

  2. In the past, holy wars have been fought over territory or to convert people, e.g. the crusades in the 11th to 13th centuries. However, holy wars can be declared for different reasons, such as to protect a religion

  3. Religion has been a factor in modern wars too.

  4. Atheists and humanists who don’t believe in God, have criticised religion for causing conflict and wouldn’t support starting a war over religion - but neither would many religious people. Some atheists and humanists also identify as pacifists and don’t agree with conflict being used at all

Mark Scheme Evaluation - ‘War is never right’

Arguments in support

  • teaching about the sanctity of life - the belief that it is wrong to take life, and that by doing so a believer is disobeying religious commands

  • arguments in favour of pacifism (both religious and non-religious) - violence breeds violence and does not bring about peace and stability

  • modern warfare targets innocent civilians through use of weapons of mass destruction. Modern warfare is therefore morally wrong.

Arguments in support of other views

  • idea of Just War - criteria include - started and controlled by a properly instituted authority/just cause/last resort/not involve suffering to innocent civilians/protect trees, crops, animals/not act of aggression or to gain territory/aim to restore peace and freedom/enable release of prisoners of war/must be winnable/proportionality

  • war can be the lesser of two evils: It can be justified if its purpose is to: stop atrocities/depose a dictator/to defeat terrorists/stop spread of weapons of mass destruction. If the consequences of war are better than the consequences of not fighting, then war is justified.

  • people have a right to self-defence.

Christianity

Matthew 5v9: "Happy are those who work for peace."/Matthew 5v44:

"Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you."/Matthew 5v38-48 - do not take revenge, if anyone slaps you on the right cheek, let him slap your left cheek... Matthew 22v39: 'Love your neighbour'/Romans 12v17-21

Jesus taught peace, forgiveness and overcoming evil with goodness but he did use force in the temple because it had become 'a den of thieves./Matthew 10:34.

Judaism

Exodus 20v13: "Do not kill"/Micah 4v3 "Nation will not lift sword against nation, there will be no more training for war."/Proverbs 25v21: "If your enemy is hungry, give him something to eat; if thirsty, something to drink."/the Talmud: "What is harmful to yourself do not to your fellow men"

Judaism portrays God as a warrior and see some wars as obligatory - a necessary last resort/these may be fought in self-defence or a preemptive strike against an enemy about to invade, or by God's command/Deuteronomy 20:1-4/Exodus 15:3