Year 10 GCSE Revision guide on Religion, War and Peace

Year 10 GCSE Revision guide on Religion, War and Peace 1) What is meant by the word war? The definition of war is when there is conflict (struggle or fight) between two groups of people (usually nations), which cannot be resolved and which leads into violent confrontation. A war between people of the same nation is called a civil war. An example of a civil war happened in Northern Ireland between people who wanted Northern Ireland to stay part of Great Britain (Loyalists) and those that wanted it to be part of Southern Ireland (Republicans). 2) What does the word peace mean? Peace means freedom from violence, war and conflict. Remember conflict does not just occur between people it occurs within people. You may be in conflict with evil thoughts and desires within yourself. This is often referred to as spiritual conflict and religious followers often try to get rid of spiritual conflict by following their religion more closely and praying for inner peace. 3) What does the word justice mean? Justice is when people are treated in a fair and moral way, for example, a just society is one where people s human rights are respected. Injustice is the opposite of justice and is where people are treated in an immoral way and where their human rights may not be respected. Sometimes a sense of injustice can lead to war. 4) What are the main causes of war? Power a government or ruler wants to control more territory and more people. Resources a government or ruler wants valuable resources, e.g., oil, fertile land for farming, gold, diamonds. Diversion a government or ruler is in difficulty with its own people and so diverts attention away from itself by going to war therefore giving the people a sense of unity. Another word for diversion could be scapegoating. Defence a nation is attacked and it repels the invader. Helping others a nation goes to the help of another country which it feels has been unjustly (wrongly) invaded by another country. An example of this could be the Second World War when Britain went to war with Germany because it invaded Poland. 1

Religion even though people fight in the name of religion, e.g., Protestant and Catholics in Northern Ireland, the conflict is usually to do with territory. An example of religious war could be crusades in the Middle Ages. 5) What are the results of war? War causes violence, bloodshed, suffering, pain, death, loneliness, loss, hunger, confusion, refugees, disease, genocide (mass murder, e.g., the Nazi Holocaust against the Jews). War can also result in good overcoming evil. Many people would see the Second World War as an example of this. War can also result in people being forced to leave their own country for fear of torture and death, and seek refuge in another country; such people are called refugees. When they arrive in another country they may ask for asylum. Asylum is when the country the refugee enters agrees to let them stay and promises to respect their human rights. Refugees who seek asylum in a foreign country are called asylum seekers. If a country is a member of the United Nations then that country is obliged to take in and protect political refugees who are asylum seekers. 6) What is the United Nations? The United Nations (UN) was set up in 1947 just after the terrible genocide of World War 2 and has 192 countries who are members. Its main aim is to prevent the suffering and loss of life that war brings. Countries who are members of the UN have to follow International Law. Part of International Law is the promise to protect human rights even if people are not from your country, for example, the promise to be humane (kind) to prisoners of war or political asylum seekers. If there is a war UN Peace Keeping Forces may enter the war torn area to try and bring peace to the area and offer help to civilians caught up in the conflict. 7) Apart from the UN are there any other organizations which help people in times of war? The Red Cross is a humanitarian (seeks to help human beings) agency which was set up by Henry Dunant, a Swiss businessman, who witnessed a battle in Italy in 1859 in which 40,000 soldiers were killed or left dying without any medical care. In Muslim countries the Red Cross is known as the Red Crescent. Today the International Red Cross (ICRC) has about 97 million volunteers world-wide. Like the UN Peace Keeping Forces they go into war torn areas to bring humanitarian aid 2

(particularly medical help) for the victims of war. They see themselves as completely neutral which means they don t take sides in a war situation so in a war torn area like Afghanistan by flying the Red Cross flag no one should shoot at them. 8) Give an example of a recent war In 2003, the USA and UK lead an invasion of Iraq in order to remove Iraq s then dictator Saddam Hussein. The president of the USA, George Bush, and the Prime Minister of the UK, Tony Blair, said their reasons for invading were to disarm Iraq of weapons of mass destruction (WMD), for example, chemical and nuclear weapons. They believed that Iraq might not only invade neighbouring countries but also launch an attack on Israel therefore bringing instability to the Middle East. Bush and Blair also believed that Saddam supported international terrorism like the 9/11 terrorist attack in America in 2001. It is worth noting that both Bush and Blair were practicing Christians who believed that the invasion of Iraq did not conflict with their Christian faith; they believed that the invasion of Iraq was a Just War (see below). 9) Are there any wars happening in the world today? The war in Afghanistan started in 2001 and like the Iraq war has been led by the USA and UK. Like the Iraq war the invasion of Afghanistan was prompted by the 9/11 terrorist attacks of 2001. It is believed that the 9/11 attacks were started be an extreme terrorist organization called Al-Qaeda. Recently the leader of Al-Qaeda, Bin Laden, was assassinated by American troops in Pakistan. 10) If war causes such widespread human suffering why do people agree to go to war? Many people including Christians believe that war is sometimes the lesser of two evils. They believe that it is wrong to kill but war is sometimes necessary in order to defeat evil and restore justice. A war that can be justified (seen as right) is called a Just War and many Christians would fight in a Just War. The person most associated with the Christian idea of Just War is the 13 th century Christian Thomas Aquinas. 11) What were the conditions that Thomas Aquinas believed were necessary for a Just War to take place? The war must be controlled by a ruler or government so not just anyone could decide to go to war. There must be a just cause (for example, self-defence). There must be a right intention to promote good or avoid evil. The war must be a last resort. All other means to resolve the conflict must have been tried first, e.g., negotiations, trade sanctions. There must be a reasonable chance of success. There must be proportionality in the way the war is fought. Only enough force should be used to achieve its aims, for example, dropping an atomic bomb on Baghdad would have won the recent Gulf War very quickly but would have killed hundreds of thousands of innocent civilians so the force used would not have been proportional. 12) According to these conditions set out by Thomas Aquinas, can it be said that fighting against the Nazis during the Second World War was justified (right). For many Christians the Nazi regime which was based on the racist hatred of Jews was such an evil and threat to the security of the world that the only way of defeating it was to use violence. So for most Christians fighting against the evils of Nazism was a just cause. The Nazis treated people like Jews and Russians with injustice, 3

therefore, fighting against the Nazis helped restore justice to the world. However, some Christians might question whether all of the Second World War was proportional particularly the genocide caused by the dropping of two atomic bombs on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Some Christians do not agree with the Conditions of a Just War and believe it is never right to fight in a war; these people are called pacifists. 13) What is a pacifist? The term pacifist usually refers to someone who thinks that violence to resolve a conflict can never be justified. Pacifists who refuse to fight in wars are called conscientious objectors. They may work to help the dying and wounded but they would never fight. 14) Are there any Christian pacifist denominations (types of church)? Yes, The Society of Friends or Quakers oppose all wars and violence. If there was a war today and they were called up they would be conscientious objectors (they would refuse to fight). Because Quakers would not fight in a war in any circumstances they may be referred to as absolute moralists. 15) Who have been some famous pacifists? Mahatma Gandhi believed in peaceful resistance to British rule in India. Martin Luther King also believed in peaceful non-violent protest with his work with the Civil Rights Movement against racism and segregation in 1950 s and 1960 s America. 16) Where did Martin Luther King get his pacifist ideas from? Martin Luther King was a Christian who looked to the example and teachings of Jesus. Teachings like Love your neighbour as you love yourself and love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you according to Martin Luther King were powerful arguments for pacifism. Jesus once said that if someone hits you on the side of the face you should offer them the other side of your face for them to hit you again. Jesus was not talking literally; he was saying that non-violence can in the end be a stronger force than violence. MLK believed these teachings and that is why he said: Darkness cannot drive out darkness only light can do that; hate cannot drive out hate only love can do that. In other words in the face of hatred and violence the best response is to show Christian love rather than retaliate which only causes more violence. 17) What is meant by the term Holy War? A Holy War is a war that is declared when one or both sides believe that God is exclusively on their side so when they kill they are doing so with the blessing and approval of God. 4

18) What are some examples of Holy Wars that have taken place? There were Holy Wars in biblical times as the Israelites fought to capture the Promised Land. In the 11 th and 12 th centuries CE there were Holy Wars between Christians and Muslims. Pope Urban II urged the Christian crusaders to rescue the Holy Land from that dreadful race, by which he meant the Muslims. 19) Are there any modern examples of Holy War? During the recent Gulf War with Iraq Saddam Hussein declared a Holy War or Jihad against the allied forces. He said that all Muslims should rise against the infidels (non-believers). The Muslim terrorists who caused the September 11 th attacks on the World Trade Centre felt that they were taking part in a Holy War. 20) What are the problems connected with the idea of a Holy war? Surely belief in God is about peace and love and tolerating other people s beliefs not conquering people through violence. If people really believe that God is on their side in a Holy War then how do they explain it if they lose as Iraq has just recently done? Is it really a good enough answer to say that God was just testing them? Can believing that God is totally on your side inspire acts of terrorism like 9/11? 21) Surely it is never possible to follow a religion and support terrorism? Terrorism can be defined as the deliberate use of violence or threat of violence directed at civilians to cause a state of terror (fear) which will have the result of changing government policy. It is true that the vast majority of Muslims would strongly disagree with acts of terrorism like 9/11 and say it goes against the main teachings of their religion. However, if we really think carefully about this issue can it not be argued that the atomic bombs dropped by the Americans on Japan to end the Second World War were an act of terrorism which was supported by many Christians. If the suicide bomber that Bonhoeffer (see below) blessed to kill Hitler had also harmed civilians could this not also be seen as an act of terrorism which many Christians would have argued was the lesser of two evils. 22) What happened when America dropped nuclear bombs on Japan? America dropped two nuclear bombs to finish off the Second World War in the Far East with Japan in August 1945. The first bomb dropped on Hiroshima weighed two 5

kilogrammes (about five pounds) and was little larger than a cricket ball. It killed 140,000 civilians. Many people died of cancer years after the bomb and many babies were born deformed. America justified its actions by saying that if it had not dropped these bombs the war could have dragged on and on and many more people would have died than died as a result of the bombs. One single nuclear warhead today is 853 times more powerful than the bomb dropped on Hiroshima. Nuclear weapons in the world today have enough fire power to destroy all life on this planet many hundreds of times over. The killing of large numbers of civilians is called genocide. 23) If nuclear bombs are this dangerous surely using them can never be justified? America believed that using nuclear weapons in the Second World War in the end actually saved more lives than they destroyed. But Japan did not have any nuclear weapons to retaliate with. Many people believe that if two countries went to war today that both had nuclear weapons, they could not be used because both countries would end up being destroyed. This is called mutually assured destruction or MAD. Many people believe that nuclear weapons can never be justified because the effects on innocent civilians is so devastating (look at the conditions of a Just War). People who believe that conventional warfare can be justified but not nuclear war are called nuclear pacifists. The Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) lead by Bruce Kent wanted all nuclear weapons scrapped and believed that using them could never be justified. They also believe that keeping nuclear weapons encourages other countries, and even terrorists, who do not have nuclear weapons to acquire them this is known as nuclear proliferation. 24) Don t Jesus teachings about love and peace mean that all Christians should be pacifists? No it doesn t. Christian teachings can be interpreted in different ways. For example, love your neighbour as you love yourself can mean you are never violent towards people because you would not want them to be violent towards you. However, if you really love someone it can also mean that you are prepared to fight to defend them even if it means using violence. Most parents would not hesitate to be violent towards an aggressor if they were attacking their child. During the Holocaust in the Second World War many Christians felt that the best way of showing love towards the Jews being murdered was to actually go and fight in the war. Fighting in the war was seen as the lesser of two evils. In other words they were relative moralists. Remember that both George Bush and Tony Blair who sent American and British troops to invade Iraq saw themselves as committed Christians who were bringing justice to the world. 6

25) Are there any famous Christians who have felt that violence and war can be justified? Yes, Dietrich Bonhoeffer was a member of the Confessing Church in Germany during the Second World War. He was passionately opposed to Hitler and believed that the most moral and Christian thing to do was to conspire with other people to assassinate (murder) him. The plan failed and Bonhoeffer was eventually executed by the Nazis. Bonhoeffer said that it was better to do evil than to become evil; in other words it is better to engage in violent struggle rather than to let an evil regime like the Nazis take control of our lives. Bonhoeffer might have been inspired by a quote from Jesus: God has sent me (Jesus) to proclaim liberty (freedom) to the captives (those who have no freedom and are suffering). and set the oppressed (those who are being badly treated) free. Luke s Gospel. So for Bonhoeffer truly following the teachings of Jesus sometimes meant resorting to violence. The oppressed in the 2 nd World War were the Jews and the only way to stop the genocide of Jews in the Nazi concentration camps was to use violence and try to kill Hitler. After he blessed a suicide bomber who was going to assassinate Hitler, Bonhoeffer quoted Jesus words Greater love has no man but to lay down his life for his brother. This means that it is sometimes necessary to sacrifice your own life to help other human beings as the suicide bomber was doing in order to stop the genocide of Jews and help bring the Second World War to an end. Note: although all Christians believe in the Sanctity of Human Life - that humans are made in the image of God and are therefore sacred they may interpret this in different ways. For example, a Christian pacifist like MLK might argue that because we are made in the image of God being violent and killing another human being can never be justified, whereas another Christian like Bonhoeffer might argue that violence and killing are sometimes the lesser of two evils. 26) Why is peace such an important concept in Christianity? Because Jesus taught about a God who was loving and compassionate and not vengeful and violent. Even on the cross Jesus did not want revenge but asked God to forgive the people crucifying him. Christians today try to bring peace into a troubled world. They work for reconciliation (bringing peace where once there was conflict). A quote from Jesus that many Christians try to follow is Happy are those who work for peace for God will call them his children, this means if you are working 7

for peace you are at the same time working for God and are therefore close to God like his children. Examples of a Christians who have worked for peace are Irena Sendler, Oscar Romero and Martin Luther King. 27) Who was Irena Sendler and how did she work for peace? Irena Sendler was a Roman Catholic who worked as a social worker in Poland during the Nazi occupation of the Second World War. During this time Jews were severely persecuted and forced to live in cramped ghettoes where many starved to death. Others were sent to their deaths in concentration camps. Irena Sendler was a member of the Polish resistance, an undercover organization working against the occupying forces. She helped create over 3000 false documents so Jewish families could avoid arrest. She also smuggled many Jewish babies and children out of the ghettoes therefore saving their lives. She was eventually arrested, tortured and sentenced to death. Members of the resistance bribed Nazi guards to free her on the way to her execution. She was found by the resistance lying in a wood with broken arms and legs. Even after the war she worked hard to reunite Jewish families who had been split up during the war. 28) Who was Oscar Romero and how did he work for peace? Oscar Romero was an archbishop in El Salvador (South America) in the 1970s. During this time the government was very corrupt and many people were tortured and 8

imprisoned just for speaking out against the government. Archbishop Romero was part of a Christian movement called Liberation Theology which believed that Christians should stand up and fight political injustice. In many of his sermons Archbishop Romero openly criticized the political regime of El Salvador knowing that by doing so he risked assassination. A favourite quote from Jesus that Romero used was: God has sent me (Jesus) to proclaim liberty (freedom) to the captives (those who have no freedom and are suffering). and set the oppressed (those who are being badly treated) free. Luke s Gospel. Romero felt that the oppressed were the people of El Salvador and it was his duty to proclaim liberty that means speak out on their behalf to help bring them justice. In 1980, just after completing mass, Romero was shot dead in his church. He is now considered a Christian martyr (someone who died in the name of their Christian beliefs). 29) What dilemmas would face a Christian joining the armed forces? One of the Ten Commandments is Though Shalt not Kill, but if you are in the armed forces you may be called upon to kill. Although Christianity teaches about peace and love, many Christians feel that the most loving thing to do in certain situations is to fight evil with violence; violence is the lesser of two evils. What would the world be like today if the Nazis had won the Second World War? So Christians have to weigh up very carefully if and when it is right to fight. They might use Thomas Aquinas conditions of a Just War to help them. 30) What are Muslim attitudes towards war? The word Islam comes from a word meaning peace. In fact when Muslims meet the first thing that they say is Peace be on you. Muslims do, however, recognise that fighting is sometimes necessary to maintain justice. This fight for justice is called Jihad (striving). There are two kinds of Jihad: greater jihad is the fight that Muslims wage against their own sinful nature like anger and jealousy and lesser jihad is military struggle. Islam teaches that it is wrong to be aggressive, for example, starting a war by invading another country. They would in fact generally be in agreement with Thomas Aquinas conditions for a Just War and would certainly feel justified in fighting in defense of Islam. War is seen as a last resort and humane treatment of prisoners and reconciliation and forgiveness after a conflict are all spoken about in the Qur an. Paradise is for those who curb their anger and forgive their fellow man The Qur an. 9