[Part 3]-Theme D- Peace and Conflict ☮️⚔️

Question 1

What is just war theory ?

Answer 1

• Just war theory is a set of rules, for fighting a war in a way, that believed to be justified and acceptable to God.
• It was developed by St Thomas Aquinas, and based/developed from earlier philosophical thinkers such as Augustine.

Question 2

What does the Catechism of the Catholic Church, teach about just war ?

Answer 2

• The Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches Roman Catholics, that ‘the strict conditions for legitimate defence by military force, require rigorous consideration’
• therefore war can be justified and seen as acceptable; there are strict conditions that must be met.

Question 3

What is Jus ad bellum ?

Answer 3

• Jus ad bellum is the first part of Aquinas’ just war theory and is criteria that is consulted before engaging in war, and determines whether it should be fought or not.

Question 4

Referring to Jus ad bellum, what are the criteria/six conditions for a war to be ‘just’

Answer 4

1) must be declared by a legitimate and correct authority- [e.g- by the government of the country]

2) must have a just cause- [e.g- fought in self-defence, and not to gain territory]

3) must have a right and just intention- [e.g- to promote good]

4) must be a last resort- [other ways of solving the conflict must be attempted, such as diplomacy]

5) must have a reasonable chance of success- [it’s wrong to ask people to fight in a war, which have a high chance of them being killed and losing]]

Question 5

What is Jus ad bello ?

Answer 5

• just ad bello, is the second part of Aquinas’ just war theory, and is criteria that must be consulted during war. It teaches and explains how a war must be fought.

Question 6

What are the criteria of Jus ad bello ?

Answer 6

• It must have a use of force, that is proportional- [innocent civilians should never be killed or targeted]
• [conventions which are internationally agreed, such as the Geneva convention must be obeyed]

Question 7

What is Jus ad bellum 🆚 Jus ad bello ?

Answer 7

• Jus ad bellum is the first part of Aquinas’ just war theory and is criteria that is consulted before engaging in war, and determines whether it should be fought or not.
• ; just ad bello, is the second part of Aquinas’ just war theory, and is criteria that must be consulted during war. It teaches and explains how a war must be fought.

Question 8

Referring to Vardy, explain how this can be used to criticise just war theory.

Answer 8

• ; the argument of just war theory is an unconvicing argument, since it’s only relative- who decides what is a just authority and an intention can be seen as relative aswell ? For example, is it God, the pope [a religious leader] or perhaps the government.
• Moreover, Vardy argued that the idea of a just intention is culturally relative, therefore the argument of just war theory is unsuccessful as it’s dependent on the scenario.
• An example of this is the conflict between Italy and Ethiopia, Italy invaded Ethiopia, to spread Catholicism; although they argued the intention was ‘just’, it’s now seen as unjust, meaning just war theory can’t be a successful argument.

Question 9

Referring to Fletcher’s situation ethics explain how this can be used to criticise just war theory.

Answer 9

• ; some may argue that this criticism is not robust and may argue that just war can be an acceptable argument.
• This is because of Fletcher’s situation ethics, which teaches Christians to always ‘do the most loving thing’ and it can be argued that just war theory can be acceptable.
• Since the most loving thing, could be to fight in defence of others- which is one of the conditions of jus ad bellum. Furthermore, situation ethics doesn’t contradict Jesus’ commandment and teaching to ‘love thy neighbour’ in Mark 12, as it teaches to always do the most loving thing

Question 10

Referring to Vardy, and situation ethics explain how this can be used to criticise just war theory.

Answer 10

• yet on the other hand, situation ethics can’t be used to justify just war theory, as how is it ever just or loving to take a life which is sacred and created by the sovereign creator of death and life- God ? the sanctity of life teaches Christians that life is sacred, therefore only God should take it.
• The sanctity of life is also reinforced by Richard Mouw’s [philosophical] argument claiming that although Jesus said to love thy neighbour as yourself, it doesn’t rule out any of the other commandments that.
• For example, Jesus taught against having evil intentions- ‘’… But I tell you anyone who looks at a woman lustfully, has already committed adultery with her in his heart’.

Question 11

Why can’t situation ethics be used, to support just

Answer 11

• Therefore [, in conclusion] situation ethics can never be used to support just war theory, as not only is just war theory intrinsically evil as it takes life, it contradicts the teachings that God has laid down for Christians.

Question 12

Evaluate just war theory, referring in your answer to Aquinas’ natural law. [1]

Answer 12

• Moreover, just war theory is unjustified since it’s a complete contradiction of Aquinas’ development of natural [moral] law.

For instance, the first natural moral law is self-preservation which includes preserving yourself; it also includes self-preservation of others, therefore it could argued that just war theory is unjustified because it juxtaposes Aquinas’ develop towards natural moral law

Question 13

Explain the evaluation to the first natural moral law: self-preservation

Answer 13

• But on the contrary to this, it could also be argued that since self-preservation is the first natural moral law.
• wouldn’t it be important to protect our own lives, than those who threaten countries and promote wrongdoing and committing evil acts ?

Question 14

What is holy war ?

Answer 14

• holy war, is a war that is fought for religious reasons, and is believed to be sanctioned by God

Question 15

Why might some Christians support hoy war ?

Answer 15

• although most Christians, such as Roman Catholics would argue that holy war is wrong since it expresses violence and takes lives [which is unjustifiable, as the Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches ’deliberate murder of an innocent person is gravely contrary to the dignity of the human being’]
• some Christians might argue that holy war is acceptable, as the Old Testament teaches Christians to ‘take vengeance’ [numbers 31:2] therefore this suggests perhaps God authorities war.

Question 16

Evaluate the reasoning of why some Christians might support holy war

Answer 16

• Evaluate: this completely contradicts with what God’s intention was, as it clearly states in Genesis 1:27 that humans are created imago dei, ‘in his own image’, therefore how can it be acceptable to deliberately murder his own creation, violating the natural laws.

Question 17

Referring to the crusades, explain why some Christians might support holy war ?

Answer 17

• For example, the crusades in the 11th, 12th and 13th century, were believed to be what God wanted as Christians violently went to ‘free’ places that were holy, in Palestine.
• therefore some Christians might support holy war because, the Bible teaches them to do, and there is historical evidence and records of holy wars, such as the crusades.

Question 18

What other scriptural evidence might be used to support holy war.

Answer 18

• Deuteronomy 20:16-18- some Christians may also support holy war, because of this historical evidence in which God commanded the Israelites to ‘ Completely destroy them the…Canaanites’, when he declared war on them because of their sin.
• this supports holy war, as one of the religious causes of holy war is: to recover and purify consecrated places that are presently being ‘polluted and profaned’- in the case it was the canaanites polluted the area [with their sin], therefore holy war can be justified because God has authorised it previously.

Question 19

Give a final reason why some Christians may support holy war.

Answer 19

• moreover, some Christians may support holy because in Matthew 10, Jesus taught his apostles that ‘I have not come to bring peace, but a sword’.
• suggesting that holy war can be justified, to fight for Christianity, as one of the religious causes of holy war is to spread the faith- it could be interpreted that using war to spread the faith, could be perhaps be acceptable, for the well-being of humanity.

Question 21

Evaluate the final reason of why some Christians may support holy war.

Answer 21

• Evaluation- ; this isn’t a robust argument, because this quote can also be interpreted as Jesus’ sword not being a physical one. this would be a complete juxtaposition of what he taught in the New Testament such as ‘to love thy neighbour’ ‘or to love your enemies’

Question 21

Why might some Christians oppose holy war ?

Answer 21

• Some quakers may oppose holy war, as the Quakers teach that they would ‘utterly deny all outward wars’ [including just war and holy war], quakers instead teach that they would instead support fighting to be a morally good person within your own self.
• This is because they believe that all life has value and is precious, since they teach to ‘live in the virtue of that life…’- The Quakers in Britain organisation.

Question 22

Referring to situation ethics, explain why some Christians may oppose holy war.

Answer 22

• Some Christians may oppose holy war, because of the Jesus’ teaching and commandment to ‘love thy neighbour’ in Mark 12’; how is it ever loving to take life which is God-given, as that would contradict the teaching of imago die in Genesis 1:27, which teaches Christians that they are made ‘in his own image’, so taking life made in his own image is wrong.
• This is reinforced by Fletcher’s situation ethics which explains that Christians should ‘always do the most loving’ thing, therefore this would oppose holy war, as how can it ever be loving to take God-given life?
• This is because, situation ethics is based on Jesus’ commandment of love, and agape [which can be known as the love of mankind- it teaches Christians to love one another, unconditionally, regardless of if that love is given back to them.], so ultimately holy war is wrong, as it contradicts situation ethics, Jesus’ teachings of love and imago dei.

Question 23

Referring to situation ethics, explain why some Christians may oppose holy war.

Answer 23

• Evaluation- yet this is a flawed argument, as couldn’t it be the most loving thing to defend the faith, and spread it ? which is one of the religious reasons for holy war.
• Situation ethics teaches to ‘always do the most loving thing’; it blindly ignores that it wouldn’t be more loving to not defend the faith from attack, and let Christians potentially be persecuted and harmed, than to take arms and defend the Christian faith ? This would also spread Christianity to others so they can understand and experience God’s forgiveness for them.
• Jesus taught to spread the faith and make ‘disciples of all nation’, though who are we to ignore his commandment ? Therefore this is a flawed argument because it ignores Jesus’ teaching and direction to spread the faith.

Question 24

Referring to natural moral law, further evaluate holy war, giving a secondary evaluation on religious causes.

Answer 24

• Secondary evaluation- on the contrary, this argument is not robust as how it be morally tolerable to take innocent lives in the name of a religion.
• The first principle Aquila’s’ natural moral law is self-preservation, but taking lives directly contradicts this ethical theory as life is sacred, therefore it should only he taken by God, and not by humans even if it’s for a ‘religious cause’

Question 25

Why do Buddhism oppose holy war and just war theory ? ☸️🪷

Answer 25

• Buddhism would oppose holy war and just war theory for many reasons.
• The primary being that it causes suffering to others Dukkha-dukkha [the suffering of suffering, including physical suffering] which is unskillful.
• since not only does it causes bad karma for the person committing it, it also causes others to die and suffer for religion, taking away the chance for a person to take away their bad karma, once again trapping them in the cycle of samsara [rebirth] which isn’t compassionate.

Question 26

Why do Buddhism oppose holy war and just war theory ? ☸️🪷

Answer 26

• Buddhism teaches to show karuna [compassion] to others and to quell the violence within themselves, instead of ‘responding to violence with violence’, therefore it would argue that holy war and just war theory is morally wrong and unskillful.

Question 27

Why do Buddhism oppose holy war and just war theory ? ☸️🪷

Answer 27

• Evaluate- ; wouldn’t it be more compassionate to keep the survival of the Buddhist teachings and take some lives, than let a religion die out, extinguishing the chance for people to escape the cycle of samsara and reach nirvana ?
• For example, in the twentieth century, some Buddhist monks supported a war that was in opposition of Korea and China, because they argued it would protect the Buddhists’ teachings, and make sure they survived. [reason why some Buddhists may support holy war]