Religion, Peace and Conflict

Peace

Peace is the absence of conflict and violence, and many religions encourage believers to work towards achieving world peace

Pacifists believe that all war and violence is unjustifiable and all disputes should be settled peacefully. People are pacifists due to their faith, their non-religious view on the sanctity of life or their practical belief that war is ineffective and wasteful

War + violence

Justice

Weapons of mass destruction

There are different levels of pacifism - some may oppose violence completely and others, while may also think this, can understand that sometimes violence is the least worse option

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The causes of war

Religion

Self-defence

Tribalism

Honour

Greed/economics

Retaliation

The Just War theory gives conditions that must be met for a war to be classed as necessary

The different types of justice

Corrective - punishing

Distributive - creating fairness

Retributive - avenging

Restorative - protecting

Justice is trying to achieve what is right and fair - getting what you deserve

Defending the rights of others

  • must be a good reason to begin the war e.g self-defence
  • it is a last resort
  • must be started by a proper authority e.g a government
  • must have a reasonable chance of success
  • any harm caused by the war must not be as bad as the harm its trying to prevent

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Forgiveness

"If you forgive others their trespasses your heavenly Father will also forgive you" - Bible

If you don't forgive others, how can you expect God to forgive you on Judgement Day? Christians try to be merciful towards others

The Bible also says that Jesus said you should forgive 7 X 70 times (it should be unlimited)

"Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy" - Bible

Reasons why its important to forgive:

  • Lifts a weight of shoulders from carrying the burden
  • By not forgiving, anger, bitterness and resentment will build up inside and eventually destroy you
  • Healthy
  • Helps with the healing process
  • Jesus said if someone slaps your right cheek, offer them your left - don't retaliate, make them question themselves

Reasons why it's not always easy to forgive:

  • Although God expects you to forgive, sometimes your emotions overpower this and it feels impossible
  • When Jesus died on the cross, he asked God to forgive his killers - God forgives what we can't
  • There's only so much we can forgive
  • It is not mentioned that Mary forgave those who killed Jesus - she grieves and comforts others, but at no point does it say she forgave them
  • The past is in the past
  • Life carries on

"Love thy neighbour as you would love yourself"

Muslims believe they are held accountable for their actions, and ask for forgiveness on Hajj at the 'Mount of Mercy'

Muslims also believe that maintaining justice is part of their role as 'khalifah', and that Muhammad reconciled many fractured relationships