Philosophies: war and religion

Philosophies: War and Religion

I realized that it is quite possible that I am really confused about the subject of war. As a former U.S. Marine I would not hesitate to go, fight, or even die for my country's principles. Yet as a spiritual person the resolution is not as simplistic. Being brought up in Judeo-Christin culture, the Roman-Catholic "Holly" Church, experiencing Buddhism in Asia and Hinduism in my previous job at the Yoga Temple, also learning about Poland's many millenia of war with Islam (Ottoman Empire) and current struggles against fanatical Muslim terrorist groups, they all shine different and quite contradictory lights on the subject.

Let me break it down into separate believes.

Christianity: No war. Very clear position. If you are a true follower of Jesus you should never engage in war. Jesus repeatingly preached that we are here not to judge others, he refused to defend himself, and willingly went to death. This philosophy has it's obvious merits, if everyone was like him life would be full of love and without violence. As an utopian idea, I can put it on the shelf together with communism. No Christian nation lives up to their religion. Crusades in the name of God against Muslim world are some of the most shameful moments in history. What's worse they are not that remote in the past, currently there is a multitude of Christians that trully believe that the only righteous way to live is their own way.

Judaism: War is permittable. Stresses justice, Torrah is full of wisdom of how people (a tribe) should look after God's law and their own survial. Being righteous, peaceful, yet punishing your enemies. A good reality four thousand years ago, works wonders in current times in "us vs. them" (US vs. Al Qaeda) scenarios. All good unless you are on the other side of the fence (Palestinians?).

Islam: War is permittable. As any other mentioned religions, if interpreted correctly, works wonders. It is probably one of the religions clossest to Allah's true ways of good living and justice. Being not as twisted as Christianty became, it still has its fundamental flow of being too judgmental; if you are not Muslim you are wrong. Again, if you are "on the other side of the fence" you are in the lost position from the get-go. Loose-loose situation? A follower of the Bible (Torah) and follower of the Qur'am both believe in the same God ( Allah ), they share same tradition of God creating Adam, Abraham, Moses, Jesus and many others that were true followers and proffets of the God. Yet all of them think about other religions as wrong. Objectively, one, or both must be wrong. Personally, I thing both (all three actually) are wrong. Being a spiritual person and respecting other spiritual people, as equally right, is the only solution.

So far if I was to follow any of the fore-mentioned faiths, I would choose to become a Muslim mystic, a Sufi. Open-minded, yet spiritual, full of love of God and people.

    "It's not always a blind man
who falls into a pit. Sometimes it's one who can see.

A holy one does sometimes fall,
but by that tribulation, he or she ascends,
escapes many illusions, escapes
conventional religion, escapes
being so bound to phenomena."

     by Rumi (Sufi mystic and a poet, sometime around year 1220 AD)



Hinduism: All in one. Full of philosophies and good lessons to follow. As a whole it failed miserably in the context of history. (Persecutions of both Buddhist and Muslim, internal troubles.)

Buddhism: Not a conventional religion. Being not a religion, but rather a philosophy, it can be adopted by any faith. Stresses that all in life is relative, and therefore there is no ultimate good, or wrong, in this life. Yet, most importantly, whatever you do will have a never ending effect on everything else, therefore you should be always mindful of what you do to be the best what can be expected of you. Karma is a philosophy of cause-and-effect. A buddhist, in his mindfulness, will be full of love and compation, will not kill (even animals), will not waste, will work and study hard -- that would be a everyday life of a buddhist, but on the other side of the same coin, there will not be a sin in waging a war by a buddhist, yet no buddhist will wage a war if there is another resolution to the problem, as there usually are.