War and Peace Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

War and Peace - Essay Example This paper studies the official catholic teachings on peace and war in the broader perspective of the globalised world. It gives special attention to the prevailing societal set up and emerging trends in the governments. The paper reviews the present teaching of the Roman Catholic Church then follows statements of the church bishop, Pope John Paul II. The Australian Catholic Church social justice council has two documents (already in the market) that outline the statements of the pope John Paul II that contains the teachings of catechism of the Catholic Church on the issue of war and peace. He published these documentaries when the Republic of Iraq was facing the threat of military intervention by a contingent of allied forces. This was because Iraq had failed to meet the inspection resolutions of the UN concerning weapons production and mass destruction of persons through wars (Marc, 2002:46-49). The document by the pope provides a basic source for the local communities on the justi ce groups and individuals seeking information on the stand of the church towards war and peace. It reviews the teachings of the church on the issue of war and peace as contained in the catechism with excerpts from the Holy Father and church leaders from across the world. The responses of the Catholic Church in regard to use of force are in two strands that answers the issues of pacifist and just war. Basing on the gospel values and the experience of the national and global violence, pacifism regards war as being unthinkable and unjustified. The just war tradition opposes the use of force in the engagements of war. The moral conditions resort to protect the innocent and restore justice (Shannon and Thomas, 2003:245-269). The teachings of the church on war and peace have changed over time and continue to do so in response to the emerging trends across the globe. For example the just war theory has formalized by the St Augustine continues to evolve considering the moral framework of th e changing nature and circumstances of war as a form of response to aggression. In the current society, terrorist acts of terror are common as the immediate mode of conflict resolution. In spite of these, the strict church moral requirements demand that war should be the resort and that peaceful diplomatic means should are necessary to curb the issue of war. The Catholic Church has called for peaceful resolutions of differences in order to prevent wars and not constitute the legitimate use of force (Rock, 2011:189-191). The Christian views in the issue of war and peace have diverged widely in the recent past due to the current world events. In the modern society, people hold many different opinions due to the crisis surrounding countries like Iraq. However, the roman church calls for the convergence of the Christian views on the judgments of the secular events formed in the teachings of the church leaders. The catechism has teachings of the Catholic Church on the avoidance of the wa r. The teachings offer total respect to the human life as God given and thus subject to total respect by all humans. This clearly reflects in the commandments documented in the catechism, which calls that You Shall Not Kill (n 2302). The respect for human life paves the need for peace and it only comes in the absence of war. Peace is a tranquility of order, which comes from the respect to human dignity and the respect for the individuals and the entire community (Marc, 2002:77-79). Peace comes out of Justice and love. The