Religion, Peace, War and Justice

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Rohit Prasad
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Religion,
Peace, War
and Justice
Hinduism

Religion, Peace, War and Justice
Hinduism

Table of Contents
Chapter 1 – War
 What is war?
 Different types of war
 Causes of War
 Effects of War
 Hindu attitudes to war

Chapter 2 – Violence and Pacifism
 What is Pacifism?
 Hinduism and Pacifism
 Pacifist in Hinduism

Chapter 3 – Crime and Punishment
 What is crime?
 What is punishment?
 Five aims of Punishment

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 Restorative justice.
 Hinduism and Criminality

Chapter 4 – Social Injustice
 What is social injustice?
 What is social justice?
 Hinduism and Social Injustice

Chapter 5 – Bibliography
Chapter 6 – Self Evaluation

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Chapter 1 - War
What is war?
War is a state of
armed conflict
between different
nations or states or
different groups
within a nation or
state through the
means land, sea or air.

Different types of war
There are several types of war and some
are more common than others, but they all
have negative effects on us. First the
different reasons people go to war for.
Civil War – The characteristic to this type of
war is that a large amount of people goes
to war with another large part of the same
country’s population, in open conflict.
Revolutionary War – Characterized by a lot
of unsatisfied people, who are ready to
change the situation they are living in and
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decide to rise up against its own
government, in order to replace it.
Wars of Religion – Occurs when a large
number of people, living in the same
country, but not necessarily, attack people
of another religion or a sect of the same.
World War – So far, there have been two
world wars and they affected the lives of
many people. They changed the system of
many countries and their territory. World
War is when many countries all over the
world go to attack each for their own
motives, until they ally and fight to win.
Wars of Nationalism – These occur when the
people of one country feel that they are
better than the people of another and they
have a right to rule them.
What methods of war do these people use?
Biological Warfare – It is the use in war of
pathogenic organisms or toxins to disable
an enemy or destroy resources.
Chemical Warfare – Military warfare in
which chemicals other than explosives are
used as weapons.

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Nuclear Warfare –
Military warfare in
which nuclear
weapons are
employed.

Causes of War
There can be many reasons that a country
goes to war for, but there are 4 main types.
Nationalism – The belief that your country
is better than others. This has made
nations assertive and aggressive in the
past.
Imperialism – Imperialism is the desire to
conquer colonies. For example, in World
War 1, Germany wanted a colony. France
and Britain already had colonies and
Germany felt that they had right to make
one.
Militarism – This is also known as an arms
race. This creates war when nations build
up a strong navy and army which incite
other nations to do the same.
Alliances – Believe it or not, having an
alliance with another country can incite
war. For example in World War 1, Germany,
Italy and Austria-Hungary formed an
alliance which was called the Triple
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Alliance.
This alarmed
Britain,
France and
Russia so in
return, they
formed their
own alliance
called the
Triple
Entente. Countries in alliances help each
other out in case of war.

Effects of War
There are many negative effects of war.

Effects on Children
Children die as a result of fighting but it is
not the only form of violence to which
children are exposed to. Millions of children
live with injuries and scars with an
abundance of disabilities caused by armed
conflicts and political violence.

Effects on Women
Women and girls experience conflict and
displacement in different ways that men
do. It is because of differences in gender
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responsibilities and also because armed
forces target women more often than men.

Effects on the Environment
After war, there
is actual physical
disruption to the
landscape. The
weapons that
are used kill
wildlife, shatter
soil systems and
destroy plant life
leaving the different ecosystems in a bad
state. Concentration camps lead to
deforestation and there is a lot of pressure
put on resources in those areas.

Hindu attitudes to war
The Bhagvad Gita describes the rivalry
between two families, which are called the
Kauravas and Pandavas. Arjuna the prince
of the Pandavas is troubled by the thought
of fighting against members of his own
family and even possibly killing them. In
the Gita, there is a conversation that takes
place between Arjuna and his charioteer,
who is actually the God Krishna paying a
visit to the earth in the form of a
charioteer. Krishna tells Arjuna that he
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must fight as it is his Dharma. He must
discard natural feelings and also points out
that the soul (Atman) cannot be killed.
“Think thou also of thy duty and do not
waver. There is no greater good for a
warrior than to fight in a righteous war.
There is war that opens the doors of a
heaven. Arjuna! Happy the warriors whose
fate it is to fight such a war”
Bhagvad Gita 2:31
Krishna’s advice is conflicted. Arjuna, like
all Hindus, believed in the way of “Ahimsa”
which is the way of non-violence, but
against this is the Dharma to which ever
Hindu has to respond.
Although some Hindus are opposed to war
in any form the majority believe that in
many cases it can be justified, if it is fought
in self-defence. Ahimsa refers to the fight
against injustice. Evil should always be
overcome by peaceful means if possible.

Chapter 2 – Violence
and Pacifism
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What is Pacifism?
Pacifism is the belief that war and violence
are unjustifiable under any circumstances
and that all disputes should be settled by
peaceful means.

Hinduism and Pacifism
In Hinduism there are two ways of looking
at violence.

The Way of Ahimsa
This is the way of denying oneself comforts
to gain spiritual benefit. The best example
of Ahimsa is in the life Mahatma Gandhi. He
said that Ahimsa is the basic rule of life. He
also said that no-one is totally non-violent
as all life must eat and that cannot be done
without killing life. A person should live
carefully without inflicting pain on other
forms of life.
The Way of the Householder
This also encourages non-violence but it
allows violence to be used certain
circumstances. The Laws of Manu says that
a person is not guilty if he/she kills an
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assassin. Killing and other forms of nonviolence are allowed in two situations.



To prevent something much worse
happening.
If it is necessary to maintain law and
order.

The rule of non-violence does not include
enemies in a war, violent criminals, wicked
people and offending animals. It also allows
killing an animal for one’s own work or
food.

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Pacifist in
Hinduism
Mahatma
Gandhi is the best example of Pacifist in
Hinduism. His whole life was dedicated to
Pacifism. Gandhi used pacifist means to
wage a campaign against British rule. He
was born on 2nd October 1869 and was
assassinated on 30th January 1948 aged 78.
After his pacifist campaign, India gained
independence on 15th August 1947, but four
years before the day of Independence,
India partitioned into Pakistan and
Hindustan against the will of Gandhi as he
believed in religious unity.

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Chapter 3 – Crime
and Punishment
What is crime?
Crime is an
action or
omission that
constitutes an
offense that
may be
prosecuted by
the state and
is punishable
by the law. A
crime is an illegal action.

What is punishment?
Punishment is the infliction or imposition of
a penalty as retribution for an offense.
There are four aims of punishment which
you will read in the next s section.

Five Aims of Punishment

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Retribution – Retribution means taking
revenge.
Deterrence – Deterring a criminal off doing
a crime is when you put them off doing the
crime as they fear the consequences.
Protection – Protecting the society from
activities of criminals. The usual means of
protecting the society is putting criminals
in prison.
Reformation – Reformation is changing
criminals into law-abiding people. It is
consistent with religious views on
repentance, reconciliation and changing life
for the better.
Vindication – Making sure that the law is
respected by punishing criminals for their
wrongdoings.

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Restorative
Restorative
making
make up for
been
For

Justice
justice is
criminals
what has
lost.

example, community service is a popular
form of restorative justice. For robbers,
returning money stolen is restorative
justice.

Hinduism and Criminality
Hindus believe strongly in justice and this
means that they must:





Treat all people equally
Make sure that there is freedom of
religion
Make sure that everyone has equal
political rights
Work for a fairer distribution of
resources of the world.

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Hindus recognise that people who have
been badly treated are more likely to
commit crime, but that doesn’t mean that
they are not punished. Originally,
punishments in Hinduism were extremely
severe. Forgers of documents, robbers,
thieves, adulterers and those who had sex
with people of the lowest caste were
treated the worst. In some cases the death
penalty was imposed. However, over time,
the punishments grew more and more
lenient. Hindu laws began to take into
account of the caste of the criminal and the
caste of the victim. Murderers of a Brahmin
had committed the most serious crime and
no capital punishment could be imposed on
a Brahmin even if he had committed the
crime. In that time, the most popular
punishment that was imposed was a
reduction of caste, which meant a lot as
Hindus believe in reincarnation. Reduction
of caste could be very serious in their next
life.

Chapter 4 – Social
Injustice
What is Social Injustice?

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Hinduism
Social injustice generally refers to unfair
inequalities felt by various classes within a
country, which are inequalities of wealth
and other necessities.

What is Social Justice?
Social justice is the opposite of social
injustice. It is the concept that everyone in
a country has the same rights and
opportunities, from the poorest man to the
wealthiest man.

Hinduism and Social Justice
There has always been a significant gap
between the rich and the poor in Indian
society. The privileges enjoyed by the rich
are enormous, but the chances of the poor
to improve their wealth and status are
close to non-existent. Different varnas in
Hindu society are fixed with no movement
between them. All a person can hope for is
that if they perform good deeds in their
current life, they will be reincarnated as
part of a higher caste. Everything in a
person’s life is because of past actions. For
example, if they are poor or disabled, it is
because of the way they have lived. If they
are rich and well respected, it is because of
the way they lived in their past life. To non17 | P a g e

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Hindus, this seems extremely unfair. To a
Hindu, what they receive is what they
deserve, which means that there is very
less incentive to improve their status.
The fifth and lowest category of the Hindu
caste system were the Untouchables. The
people in that caste were people with
defiling jobs, for example leather worker
and dead body disposers and cleaners.
Until 1950, people avoided all contact with
this group but a law was then passed
making this illegal. Now members of the
Untouchable caste are allowed to live in the
same houses, to use the same medical
facilities and go to the same schools like
everybody else. In many rural areas, this
law is not practiced.

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Chapter 5 –
Bibliography
I used the OCR GCSE Philosophy and Ethics
book as a main source and the following
websites helped.












http://emmawilson.hubpages.com/hub/Typ
es-of-wars
http://www.wisegeek.org/what-is-socialjustice.htm
http://www.thefreedictionary.com/war
http://www.thefreedictionary.com/biological
+warfare
http://www.icrc.org/eng/war-andlaw/conduct-hostilities/methods-meanswarfare/overview-methods-and-means-ofwarfare.htm
http://www.thefreedictionary.com/chemical
+warfare
http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/gcsebitesize/
history/mwh/ir1/underlyingcausesrev1.sht
ml
http://cultureofpeace.org/impactofwar
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Restorative_jus
tice
http://www.ndre.co.uk/aims_of_punishment
.htm#Retribution

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http://home.page.ch/pub/[email protected]/punis
hment.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mahatma_Gan
dhi

Chapter 6 – Self
Evaluation
My booklet took me 8 hours to complete
and is a concise 2000 words about Religion,
Peace, War and Justice. This is a brilliant
revision guide for my assessment on the
topic of which now, I am very familiar with.
In my last booklet, my main source of
information was websites with little
relevant information. The OCR GCSE
Philosophy and Ethics book has given me
much more relevant and to the point
information. In my last booklet, I wasn’t
able to get any quotes from the Bhagvad
Gita, but in this GCSE revision book I
obtained from the LRC, findings quotes is
much easier.
I feel that working alone is much easier
than working in group to make a booklet as
being in a group and giving the leader the
info is easy. Being that leader and trying to
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get everyone to do the work is much
harder. This topic was hard to write on, but
with the aid of my GCSE coursework
revision guide I was able to complete it.

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