Arguments Against Pacifism

Christian pacifism demonstrates how Jesus indicates rejection of all violence. This is demonstrated in 1 Peter 3:9 “Do not repay evil with evil or insult with insult, but with blessing….” This is further evidenced with a Christian denomination known as the Society of Friends, or Quakers, who have a main focus on pacifism, which is to accomplish personal peace. This is indicated through their thoughtful ways of ritual worship. Quakers believe that war and conflict are against God's desires, thus, they are committed to pacifism and actively refuse to fight in war, but instead contributed doing nonviolent

War is Peace – If there was no war the citizens would not have peace, war is used as a way to control and regulate peace.

George Orwell states “if you hamper the war effort of one side you automatically help the other” (283). If we do not prepare for any war that comes toward our way because of pacifism we are automatically helping the enemy defeat us. If we just follow the pacifist believes many historical wars that were won would have resulted in defeat. War preparation is a key that helps win any war and defeats the enemy.

Throughout history, many conflicts have happened, some with resolution, and other without. We often tend to think of solving conflicts with war, since most of our history classes are based around World War I, World War II, and so forth, but many conflicts were fought, and successfully won using nonviolent resistance. Many people would use Gandhi as a well known example. Gandhi’s plan of civil disobedience revolved around this big idea called “satyagraha,” which he explains as, “a satyagrahi should always possess civility and humility, qualities that indicated self-control and an humble approach to truth” (Gandhi 50). He later explains that satyagraha is “truth-force” and that truth is soul and spirit, or “spirit-force.” “It excludes the use of violence because man is not capable of knowing the absolute truth and, therefore, not competent to punish” (51). He used this strategy to fight for indian independence. Many other incidents in the world have been fought using civil disobedience, including Women’s Suffrage.

In these past couple stories we have been reading their is three different types of responses to conflict, Passive, Peaceful, and Violent. The characters I chose to represent this are Spear from “Spear” he will be representing the Peaceful response. Julian from “Everything that rises must converge” he will be representing the Passive response, and representing the Violent response is baldwin from “What’s so proudly we hail”

Would a peaceful pacifist support the American Revolution? Although many would believe it would impossible for a pacifist to support the American Revolution since it involved violence, it is possible because Americans used other methods besides violence to revolt against the British government. After studying “Civil Disobedience” by Henry David Thoreau and the American Revolution, I learned that although Thoreau was a pacifist, he would still support the American Revolution.

In the 1960s, many of the colonial nations of Africa were gaining independence. The ANC was encouraged and campaigned for democracy in South Africa. They were mild campaigns at first, but as the government became more hostile, so did ANC protests. In November 1961, a military branch of the party was organized with Mandela as its head. It authorized the limited use of arms and sabotage against the government, which got the government’s attention—and its anger! Mandela went into hiding in 1964, he was captured, tried, and sentenced to life imprisonment. It was a sad day for black South Africa.

The question about payment to college athletes is consistently raised in discussions because the decision is extremely controversial. It is important to mention that there are both pros and cons on this matter. Payment to college athletes can be perceived as a positive opportunity or negative drawback of involvement in professional sports that distracts them from learning. Young people should be able to develop their individuality, socialize and learn instead of being focused on the job before getting a diploma. In fact, the vast share of research sustains the idea. A payment to young athletes for their sports achievement should be perceived as an issue because they are not yet responsible for spending wisely, they get distracted from academics and could start living a frivolous life that would deteriorate not only their professionalism but also damage the future.

Pacifism covers an array of views and there are many subcategories of pacifism, some of which I will cover, but the main definition of the word pacifism is the opposition to war and/or violence. Perhaps the most famous use of the word pacifism is found in the “Sermon on the Mount”, where Jesus claims the “peacemakers” are blessed. In this passage, the Greek word eirenopoios is translated into Latin as pacifici, which means those who work for peace. One common and simple argument for pacifism among religious groups or god fearing people is the argument that god’s revealed words says, through the bible, “Thou shalt not kill.”

All Christians should be pacifists because Jesus has told us to live in peace and that God is the one to judge. However, god also has told us to prepare for war in the Old Testament which means all Christians cannot be pacifist if they are preparing for war.

The Just War Theory is a doctrine founded by Saint Augustine which has helped bring much discussion and debate to wars and the morality to fight in them. Wars and fights between people have gone on forever and are not perceived to stop anytime soon so it is important that some people thought about when and why they should ever fight. For many years Christians never part toke in this fighting due to teachings of the Bible and Jesus' teaching on 'turning the other cheek' and 'live by the sword, die by the sword'. Saint Augustine would be one of the first to talk about how a Christian could be a soldier and serve God at the same time. Through this thought we would receive the Just War Theory which gave a set of requirements for someone to partake

As explained by William Hawk in his essay “Pacifism: Reclaiming the Moral Presumption”, the pacifist is a person that refuses to participate in war for in any circumstance for two reasons; the grounding belief that war is wrong, and the belief that human life is sacred and invaluable. Many pacifist

Many of the core beliefs of conscientious objection derive from the teachings or beliefs of pacifism. Pacifism has been a system of thinking and living for hundreds of years, and, in the 20th century many objection and pacifistic movements have sprung up all around the nation, more so than in any other time. Pacifism and conscientious objection in the United States have been moral issues that have fallen under question due to the belief of the participants that killing, war, and the act of violence is wrong and immoral.

There are, however, various categories of ‘pacifist’. A ‘total pacifist’ is someone who completely avoids violence and believes it can never be justified, not even in self-defence or to protect others – this they see as the only morally correct view of war. A relative pacifist is someone who may use violence in certain situations but who supports disarmament. They are discriminating about WW1 but agree that WW2 had to be fought. Nuclear pacifists believe that conventional weapons are acceptable as a last resort if war is inevitable, as it is, but nuclear

Slavery is a major part of American history that many would like to forget ever happened. The ramifications of slavery are still apparent in the world today with black men accounting for the majority of incarcerated persons in the U.S. prison system. The black population also has the highest poverty rate among racial and ethnic groups. One cannot help but think about how these rates of incarceration and poverty among blacks are directly related to America's long history of slavery. Octavia Butler explores the world of slavery through the perspective of a twentieth century black female writer, Dana Franklin. Butler uses the science-fiction device of time travel to transport Dana and the reader back to the nineteenth century. Through Danas first person narration the reader is able to experience the atrocities and brutality of slave life firsthand.