The Justifications for War and Peace in World Religions: Part II: Extracts, Summaries and Comparisons of Scriptures in Indic Religions (Buddhism, Hinduism, Jainism and Sikhism)
Abstract
One of the most important decisions of any nation or armed group is when, if ever, to wage war or apply armed force. Such life-and-death judgements are informed by and sometimes determined by ethical principles and religious beliefs. World religions all provide guidelines on when armed force is justified. Are the permissions and prohibitions similar among religions? The present work seeks to map out the spectrum of religious approaches to armed force, as expressed in the scriptures of the world's largest religions. Though the interpretations of religious scriptures vary considerably, the texts themselves provide a sense of each religion's approach to the issue. Covering values from absolute pacifism where armed force is not permissible under any circumstances, to strong militancy, where armed force is readily adopted, this research compiles, compares and contrasts important scriptural passages. Along with the associated DRDC reports, it presents a tour d?horizon surveying scriptures from seven world religions. The previous report, constituting Part I of the work, analyses three Abrahamic religions (Christianity, Islam and Judaism) while this report, Part II, covers religions of Indic origin (Buddhism, Hinduism, Jainism and Sikhism). The important scriptures from each religion are briefly introduced and the relevant verses are extracted, categorized and summarized. This makes possible, in each religion, the juxtaposition of passages justifying the use of force with passages suggesting the opposite. More broadly, a comparison is presented in Part III in both a descriptive and a schematic fashion to illustrate the differences between the scriptures within each religion and the differences between the religions. The religious approaches are compared by examining how they answer the basic questions about war: Why? Who? When? Where? What? How?
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Apr 01, 2010
- Accession Number
- ADA536706
Entities
People
- A. W. Dorn
- David R Mandel
- Raj Balkaran
- Seth Feldman
- Stephen Gucciardi