Christian response to global issues war and peace

Examples of wwars from the 20th century:

• Word war I and World war II
• Vietnahm
• Iraq
• Syria
• Libya

Different theories on the causes of war include:

• religious beliefs/ particular ways of life
• country/ individual seeks power
• greed and the pursuit for oil or gold
• Form of revenge
• Defensive reasons/ response to acts of aggression

Effect of war on mind map

•  
  • Conventional
  • Nuclear
  • Biological and chemical
• Many countries, including UK, has nuclear weapons. They defend this by saying they're a useful deterrent.
• Countries owning nuclear weapons are less likely to be attacked as they could retaliate.
• The threat of nuclear weapons pose means that countries are unlikely to use them.
• Many people want to see the numbers of weapons considerably reduced and are in favour of multilateral disarnment (loss of all nuclear weapons)
• Others support unilateral disarnment (individual countries getting rid of nuclear weapons regardless of what other countries do.)
• Nuclear proliferation (increasing the number of countries developing nuclear weapons) is a major concern, with fears hat irreponsible governments or terrorists could obtain such weapons.

A war which is morally right to fight. For a war to be just, conditions were laid down in the thirteenth century by St. Thomas Aquinas:

• The war must only be started and controlled by the authority of the state/ ruler.
• Must be a just cause; those attacked are attacked because they seserve it.
• The war must be fought to promate good/ avoid evil. Peace & justice restored afterwards.
• Must be the last resort; all other ways of solving problem must be tried first.
• Must be 'proportionality'. E.g. innocent civilians should not be killed, you must use only enough force to achieve force and no more.

Lets Last resort

Play Peace restored at end

Jenga  Just and fair chance of success

Ring Reasonable force

Amy Proper Authority

Terrorism

• An unlawful and often random violence to achieve a political view
• Terrorist attacks are carried out for a variety of reasons:
  • to correct an injustice
  • to assert political/ religious beliefs or overthrow a govrnment
• The justification for terrorism is that it is the only way to remove injustice. It makes individual governments listen.
• Most people condemn all acts of terrorism, claiming nothing can justify such disregard for life.

Pacifism

• Pacifists believe that all war and violence is wrong. They believe that these are acts against God's will.
• We are all God's children and we all have a right to live.
• Violence only breeds violence. Nothing good can come out of something evil.
• Jesus was a pacifist but he showed an act of violence in the temple when he saw people selling goods and knocked over the tables

Violence is...

• Wasteful- it uproots and destroys precious human lives; it consumes huge quantities of wealth and intelligence
• Indiscriminate- it is hard to limit its deadly effects to those who are 'guilty'
• Sexist- historically it has been done by men
• Unjust often the innocent suffer
• Destructive- engcourages brutality and treats people like objects
• Vicious circle- sets off a spiral of violence

Non-violence is...

• Humane- it avoids killing other humans
• Creative- cuts barriers of sex, race and class
• Civillian method- everyone can become involved
• Voluntary- people not forced in military type machine
• Radical- change society for better.
• Dignifying- depends on people standing up for themselves & refusing to let go of argument 

• Raise people's knowledge about an issue
• Put pressure on people in authority to change things
• Object to some injustice in socieaty
• Ultimately change the situatuion

• "Blessed are the peacemakers, for hey shall be called the sons of God."
• "Do not resist the evil person. If someone strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also."
• "Put your sword back in it's place, Jesus said to him, for all who draw the sword will die by the sword."
• "War is the most barbarous and least effective way of resolving conflicts" (Pope John Paul II)
• "Because of the evils and injustices that all war brings with it, we must do everything resonably possible to avoid it." (Catechisms ot the Catholic Church)