Peace and Conflict

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  • Created by: Bramble1
  • Created on: 24-04-17 18:18

Why the UN is important for world peace

  • Imposing sanctions (for example, banning trade, banning cultural links, banning communications) on countries threatening world peace.

  • Authorising the use of force by member states to stop an aggressor.

    Sending a UN peacekeeping force to;

  • Assist in putting peace agreements into practice.

  • Stabilise conflict situations after a ceasefire and create an environment for the parties to reach a lasting peace agreement.
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How religious organisations work for world peace..

  • Organising public debates on the horros of wars and conflicts and encouraging their followers to support political parties opposed to war. This could bring about world peace becayse the more people who learn about the horrors of war, the more likely they are to work for peace.

  • Making public statements and organising protests about war such as condemning the Iraq war and the Darfur conflict. This could bring about peace becuase public opinion could be changed and governments take notice of public opinion.

  • Organising and attending inter-faith conferences to help all religions work together to promote world peace. Many conflicts are caused by religious differences and if religions work together for peace, it is more likely to happen. 

  • Working for economic justice and global recognition of human rights to remove the causes of war. If groups like Christian Aid and Muslim Aid can help to give the poor of the world a decent standard of living, this could remove some of the major causes of war. If religious organisations could persuade the governments of the world to respect human rights, this could stop wars that are started because one country feels its fellow ethnic group in another country is being treated badly.
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How Religion can cause wars....

  • One country might feel that another country is treating the followers of their religion badly and so they invade the country to protect their co-religionists. F/E in Bosnia and Kosovo where the Serbian Army invaded because their fellow Orthodox Christians were being treated badly by the muslim majority.

  • The majority of an area is one religion but the country as a whole is a different religion. F/E the majority of Kashmir is Muslim (but a substantial majority is Hindu), but Kashmir is part of India which is Hindu. The Muslims of Kashmir are fighting to be part of the Muslim state of Pakistan.

  • There are differences within a religion and one religious group attacks the other or having different beliefs. F/E the war with the Taleban in Afghanistan is a conflict between the Taleban view of Islam and the Afghans governments view of Islam.
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How Nationalism and Ethnicity can cause wars.,...

  • One form of nationalism is the belief that each seperate ethnic group should have its own country because it has a different culture. This leads minority ethnic groups to fight civil wars to establish an independant state.

  • Another form of nationalism is to insist that any minority ethnic groups should be removed from the country so that the nation is only one ethnic group. This can lead to the genocide of an ethinic group.

  • Tensions between ethinic groups often arise in countries which have been artificially created as a result of colonialism, 
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How Economics can cause wars....

  • Some people think that Iraq was invaded becauase the West wanted to make sure it would habe access to its enormous oil reserves.

  • Ecomonic problems in one country can lead to conflict in another country. F/E the economic crisis in Zimbabwe has led to mass migration of refugees looking for food and work into South Africa. Some South Africans have objected and begun to attack the refugees.
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How ideological and political differences can caus

  • In the DRoC two different political groups are fighting each other for power - one group supported by Uganda and Rwanda, the other supported by Zimbabwe, Angola and Namibia. The UN is trying to bring peace but (at the time of writing) the conflict has escalated greatly.

  • The Korean war began in 1949 when communist North Korea invaded South Korea with the aim of uniting the country under communism. A truce was declared in 1953 after the UN fought a war against North Korea and China, but there is still no peace and there are still outbreaks of conflict.
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The importance of the Just War theory....

  • It is fought by the authority of the United Nations.

  • It is being fought with the intention of restoring peace.

  • It is begun as a last resort - that is, after all non-violent methods of trying to end the conflict have been tried and failed.

  • The methods use avoid killing civilians. Although this would not ban such things as bombs aimed at armaments factories hitting hospitals accidentally, it would ban any methods which deliberately try to destroy civilian targets to make the civilian population afraid and sue for peace. 
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The importance of the Just War theory....

  • It is fought by the authority of the United Nations.

  • It is being fought with the intention of restoring peace.

  • It is begun as a last resort - that is, after all non-violent methods of trying to end the conflict have been tried and failed.

  • The methods use avoid killing civilians. Although this would not ban such things as bombs aimed at armaments factories hitting hospitals accidentally, it would ban any methods which deliberately try to destroy civilian targets to make the civilian population afraid and sue for peace. 
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Why some Christians believe in pacifism....

  • The fifth commandment says you should not kill. Christians should obey the teaching  of the Ten Commandments and so should not be involved in killing people in wars.

  • So many horrible things have happened to civilians in modern wars because of the terrifying effects of weapons of mass destruction, no modern wars can be just.

  • For the first 300 years of Christianity Christians refused to fight in wars. The great Christian leaders all argued that Christians must not be involved in war and must be pacifists.

  • In the Sermon Jesus also taught that Christians should love their enemies. It seems impossible to love someone you are trying to destroy and so this teaching of Jesus also seems to mean that Christians should not be involved in wars.
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Why some Christians believe they can fight in just

  • It is the teaching of the main Churches (Catholic, Anglican, Methodist etc.) that Christians have the right to fight in wars that fulfil the criteria for just wars.

  • Jesus never condemned the soldiers he met and actually commended the faith of Roman Centurion in Luke 7. This seems to mean that Jesus accepted the right of Christians to be soldiers.

  • St Paul said that Christians have to obey the orders of the government because governments are authorised by God. Therefore if the government authorises a war, Christians should fight in it.

  • Everyone agrees that a police force is needed to protect innocent people from criminals in the same way an army ready to fight just wars is needed to protect innocent countries from criminal ones. 
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Hindu attitudes to pacifism

  • Gandi's idea of Satyagraha (truth force) showed that pacifism can work as a way of removing injustice.

  • Modern methods of warfare are so terrible that they are bound to take innocent lives, which is against all the teachings of Hinduism.

  • The Hindu believe of ahimsa or non-violence is one of the moral codes of Hinduism and means that Hindus should not be violent to others.

  • India fought the only non-violent war in history when Gandhi led a war of independance against Britain in which he refused to allow any violence. This showed that it is possible to fight against opressors without using violenve.
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Hindu beliefs in a Just war...

  • In the caste system of Hinduism the second most important caste is the warrior caste whose caste duty was to defend society by war if necessary.

  • The most popular Hindu holy book, the Bhagavad Gita, says that most warriors must fight in just wars and that they need not fear killing because it is the body that is killed, the soul cannot be harmed.

  • The Laws of Manu set out strict rules about war- civilians, women and children must not be harmed.

  • There are many stories of battles in the Hindu Scriptures and Rama, the avatar of Vishnu, fought and killed the tyrant king Ravana.
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Christian attitudes to bullying

  • In a democracy, every person has human rights, including the right to be able to live free from fear. All Christians Churches teach that Christians should protect human rights and so they should not bully because bullying denies the victim's human rights.

  • Bullying has harmful on effects on society. The victims of bullying are likely to be prevented from achieving their careers, and therefore the contribution to society, they are capable of. The bullies are likely to go on bullying and preventing even more people making their contribution to society. Whereas Christians should always try to make society better.

  • Christianity teaches that it is the duty of Christians to protect the weak and innocent, so bullying must be wrong.

  • Christianity teaches that human beings are a creation of God made in God's image . Bullying is mistreating God's creation and is so wrong.
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Hinduism and attitudes to bullying

  • In a democracy, every person has human rights, including the right to be able to live free from fear. All Hindu's believe that they should protect human rights and so they should not bully because bullying denies the victim's human rights.

  • Hinduism regards using violence without a just cause as sinful because it is against the doctine of ahimsa (non-violence) and bullying always involves using violence (whether physical or verbal) which is unjustified and so is sinful.

  • Many Hindus believe that it is the duty to protect the weak and innocent, because this brings good karma and will make it easier to gain Moksha. Bullying is the exact opposite of this as bullies attack and exploit the weak and innocent, so bullying must be wrong.

  • Hindus see bullying as wrong because they believe every person has a soul, which is part of the divine essence. To mistreat that divine will bring bad karma, which will prevent you from gaining Moksha.
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Religious conflict- children not in religion

  • Religions usually tell parents that it is their duty to bring their children up in the faith and ensure they become full members of it as adults; therefore if the children no longer take part in the religion, their parents will be regarded as failures by other believers.

  • Parents will worry that their children will become immoral without the guidance of religion.

  • Parents will worry that their children will not be with them in the after-life because they have left the faith.

  • Children will feel that their human right to freedom of religion (which includes the freedom not to believe) is being taken away by the parents.
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Religious conflict- interfaith marriage....

  • Often there can be no religious wedding ceremony because the couple must be members of the same religion for a religious wedding ceremony to be allowed.

  • There is a question of which religion the children of the marriage will be brought up in. Some religions insist on the child being brought up in their religion but how can a couple decide this?

  • There is also the problem of what will happen after death? Will the couple have to be buried in different places according to their religion.

  • For the parents and relatives of the couple there is often the feeling that they have betrayed their roots and family by falling in love with someone from a different religion.
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Religious conflict- children more religious

  • If the child wants to have a low-paid job as a priest (minister). After spending a lot of money on university education the parents will angry; even more so if their children have to be celibate and deny their parents the chance of having grandchildren.

  • If the child critises the lifestyle of the parents, for example Catholic parents who use contraception.

  • If the child tries to force the parents to be more religious, for example Baptist children expecting their parents to read the bible every day.
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Religious conflict- disagreements over moral issue

  • If a Catholic decides to divorce so they can marry someone else.

  • If a couple decides to live together rather than marrying even though their religion bans sex before marriage.

  • If a family member decides to write for a ponographic magazine or become a striptease artist.

  • If a family member decides to have an abortion even through it is against their religion.
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Christian teachings on forgiveness and reconciliat

  • Most Christians believe that humanity had become split from God through sin, but the forgiveness of sins brought by the death of Gods son, Jesus has allowed reconciliation between God and humans. Jesus died on the cross to bring forgiveness and reconciliation.

  • Jesus said that if people do not forgive those who have sinned against them , God will not forgive their sins.

  • St. Paul said that Christians should try to live in peace with everyone. The only way to live in peace with everyone is to try and bring about reconciliation through forgiving those who wrong you.

  • Christianity is based on the concept of forgiveness and reconciliation. All the Churches teach that Christians should be committed to forgiveness and reconciliation when there are conflicts between friends and family. Christians believe that the power of forgiveness and love can lead to reconciliation ending conflict.
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Hinduism teachings on forgiveness and reconciliati

  • The belief in the Gunas means that forgiveness and reconciliation are a quality of light (sattva) whereas hatred and bitterness are part of the forces of dark (tamas) which keep the soul from moksha.

  • The Upanishads teach the danger to the soul of not forgiving those who seek your forgiveness. They think that it is better for one's soul to forgive those who have committed the wrong, and to bring about reconciliation of conflicts as this is more likely to lead to moksha.

  • Many swamis have taught that to forgive those who have wronged a person, and to bring reconciliation to conflicts, is part of the process of libertating the soul (Moksha).

  • Refusing to forgive and/or be reconciled means that the soul is becoming bitter and twisted and so that it will go backwards in the process of samsara.
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Hinduism teachings on forgiveness and reconciliati

  • The belief in the Gunas means that forgiveness and reconciliation are a quality of light (sattva) whereas hatred and bitterness are part of the forces of dark (tamas) which keep the soul from moksha.

  • The Upanishads teach the danger to the soul of not forgiving those who seek your forgiveness. They think that it is better for one's soul to forgive those who have committed the wrong, and to bring about reconciliation of conflicts as this is more likely to lead to moksha.

  • Many swamis have taught that to forgive those who have wronged a person, and to bring reconciliation to conflicts, is part of the process of libertating the soul (Moksha).

  • Refusing to forgive and/or be reconciled means that the soul is becoming bitter and twisted and so that it will go backwards in the process of samsara.
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