Religious believers should be pacifist
- Created by: Former Member
- Created on: 09-04-14 19:21
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- Religious believers should be pacifist
- If they didn't fight when their religion was persecuted, it may die out entirely
- Jesus put people first before rules (e.g. don't hurt others)
- We can still be just without adhering to pacifism
- Pacifism has worked before:
- Martin Luther King Jr's nonviolent resistance against racial segregation laws in the 60's USA earned black people more equal treatment
- Gandhi used ahimsa (absence of the desire to harm) and Satyagraha (civil disobedience and noncooperation with evil) to win Britain's respect and India's freedom
- Catholic Workers Movement- peace is freedom from violence and social injustice
- Preferential pacifism- at some point, the welfare of the oppressed becomes more important
- Pope Paul VI- "to struggle against injustice is to promote the common good"
- Life is sacred- we should not destroy it
- "Thou shalt not kill" and "Love your enemies" are self-explanatory!
- How can we "Love our neighbour" if we do not fight to protect them?
- But there's always nonviolent solutions, like peace talks and economic sanctions...
- But this doesn't always work. Nazi Germany refused to make peace before WW2, despite numerous attempts
- But there's always nonviolent solutions, like peace talks and economic sanctions...
- All modern warfare involves the deaths of innocents- this is morally unjustifiable
- Matthew 26:52- "Those who live by the sword, die by the sword"
- We are all equally worthy of life. Acaranga Sutra- "all beings are fond of life, like pleasure and hate pain"
- War goes against Natural Law's precepts- there's no guarantee innocent life will be safe, society is disrupted, as is education, and God isn't worshipped through annihilating His creations!
- Situation Ethics, sometimes, war may be the most loving thing, e.g. to save the innocent from suffering
- Matthew 5:9- "Blessed are the peacemakers"
- Only God can take life. Job 1:21- "the Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away"
- Fighting war shows that we have no faith that God will right wrongs
- But no action will result in more deaths and suffering!
- Isaiah 2:4- "Nation will not take up sword against nation"
- But this may be just an ideal for now- some war may be fought first to reach this point
- War may be the lesser of two evils; the means of establishing peace
- There are holy wars, e.g. the Crusades
- Martin Luther King Jr's nonviolent resistance against racial segregation laws in the 60's USA earned black people more equal treatment
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