How religions regard and justify war was the subject of a panel discussion last week at the Cyber CafCB) in Ben Cherrington Hall.
The event titled, “Rules of War: Religious Perspectives,” was designed to give four different perspectives of four different religions on when it is right to wage war and on how the combatants are to conduct themselves.
Four panelists presented the views on war from perspectives of Judaism, Christianity, Islam and Hinduism.
Sarah Pessin, professor in the Philosophy Department presented the Jewish perspective, discussing rabbinical writings that give a standard for the protocol of war in Judaic culture. War is at times “a necessary reality…an absolutely necessary part of worshipping God,” she said.
Pessin said that defending oneself from attack is sanctioned, adding that “Jewish ethics make a clear call to mercy,” meaning that warfare should be used to seek peace and that soldiers should not be barbaric.
Jewish soldiers should not rejoice at the death of an enemy, there needs to be an “appropriate mood of solemnity,” Pessin said. “But the most important rule of war is one that is stated twice-“remember that you are a human being.”
Gregory Robbins, professor in the Department of Religious Studies presented the Christian perspective of war. He detailed the “Just War Doctrine,” which sanctions war if “the damage inflicted by the aggressor on the nation or community of nations must be lasting, grave and certain; all other means of putting an end to it must have been shown to be impractical or ineffective, there must be serious prospects of success, and the use of arms must not produce evils and disorders graver than the evil to be eliminated.”
“The power of modern means of destruction weighs very heavily in evaluating this condition,” Robbins said.
According to this doctrine, civilians living in the war zone, should be neither blamed nor harmed by soldiers and there should not be excessive collateral damage.
Liyakat Takim, professor in the Department of Religious Studies, presented the Islamic perspective of jihad.
Takim stated that, “in order to truly understand the jihad, you must first differentiate between just war and unjust war.”
He stated that “jihad” is a “generic term meaning any kind of struggle.” In the Islamic world, there are “different levels of jihad…you are obligated to fight because you have been evicted from your home.”In a jihad, according to Islamic rules of war, one is expected to “impose a certain mode of restraint…if an enemy stops fighting, then you must stop fighting, too. If an enemy is inclined to peace, you must give them peace.”As in Judaic and Christian rules of combat, Islam has a similar law about civilians. Takim said that the Koran says “one who has killed an innocent soul has killed all of humanity.”Also, he pointed out that the Koran states that “one needs a true reason to declare jihad.” There is a process, and the proclamation must be accepted. The main reason for declaring a jihad, however, is that Islam is being threatened in some way, Takim said.”You fight because you are being fought against. The jihad eradicates oppression and is a form of resistance to aggression,” he said.Vice Provost Ved P. Nanda, representing the Hindu perspective on war, stated Hinduism is based on the Dharma, which is a code of righteous conduct for followers of the religion, one that “signifies the eternal laws which sustain the universe.” In the Hindu religion, war is used only as a last resort when one group needs to defend itself from an attack and negotiations have not worked.Before declaring war, one should go to great lengths to solve the problem first, using “conciliation, mediation, gifts, negotiation… but if that fails then war may be inevitable.”Hindu rules of war state that those not directly involved in the war should not be harmed.Nanda said, there are also rules which pertain to the combatants. For example, the wounded should not be killed by the enemy. As for fighting in general, “force must not be used to cause excessive harm beyond what is absolutely essential,” Nanda said.A brief question-and-answer period followed the panel presentation.
