0:00 hello to you I do hope you're well welcome to the theme day peace and conflict revision walkthrough I'm Ben Wardle and we are covering everything you need to know for theme day peace and conflict this is of course for the AQA paper 2 exam in which you need to answer questions on four themes remember you need to answer the questions on the four themes you have been studying in your re lessons do not try and answer every theme in the booklet focus on those four themes that you are an expert on and so we're going to work through all of the topics that could come up on theme D today do make sure you have clicked on the link below to get the revision walkthrough booklet and also this PowerPoint we'll start for example by
0:47 filling in the keywords for theme D and then we will be going through each of the topics that could come up in the exam and you'll be able to fill in your Christian beliefs on the left and then your Islamic belief on the right so yes lots to talk about let's get started shall we with a quick overview of the theme D specification so remember we will be asked five questions on BD total in 24 months and these are the topics that could come up so we've got peace Justice forgiveness and Reconciliation we need to know what those keywords mean and also their significance we need to talk about violence and different attitudes towards violence including violent protest should violent protests ever be used for example we'll be
1:34 looking at terrorism and religious responses to this we're then looking at War really important topic we'll be looking at reasons for war we'll be looking at just War theory in both um Christianity in the work of Saint Thomas Aquinas and also the Quran in terms of Surah 2 and the Lesser Jihad and we'll be looking at Holy War as well we'll be taking a look at pacifism and contrasting beliefs about pacifism and we'll also be looking at religious and belief of a cause of war and violence in the Contemporary world today we're then looking at weapons of mass destruction another contrasting beliefs topic including nuclear weapons and nuclear deterrence and then the use of weapons of mass destruction and will then conclude with a nice look at religion
2:19 and peacemaking and that's a great chance to look at some case studies we'll be looking at individuals and organizations that work for peace and will be looking at the religious teachings and scriptural quotes that Inspire them to do so so we've got a lot to talk about and I thought we could start by having a look at how we're actually going to apply this because there is no point if they're going through all these topics and not actually considering how we'll apply them in the exam to secure all the marks we want for a grade nine so remember you are going to be asked five questions on theme D your one mark question where you've got to tick the correct word your two marker where you've got to give two bullet point about the topic we've then of course got the four marker which is where we have to explain two similar or
3:06 contrasting and obviously that means clearly different views on an issue we've then got our five marker where we explain two different beliefs about the issue but this time with explicit reference to scripture for one and then of course our 12 marker where we have got to evaluate the statement and for this we need to give two evidenced and explained reasons to agree with the statement to evidenced and explained reasons to disagree with the statements before reaching our own Justified conclusion and if you do all of those things you are going to secure 24 out of 24 and get that grade nine so let's start shall we with a look at the key terms and remember these key terms are important not just for question one where you've got to tick the correct word but also throughout the theme
3:52 defection because they'll be coming up in the questions and we will want to use them in our answers so on page three of the booklet if you are following along you will find this table here and you will find that the keywords are actually missing because you might like to actually see how many of the keywords you can remember the only clue I'm going to give you is that they are in alphabetical order that might help you with your recall so yeah pause the video if you like see how many of the keywords you already know and then we shall talk through them today so let's talk through them shall we here they are on the screen for you your first keyword is conflict and that means dispute between sides and it can be between individuals groups or nations
4:37 we've then got forgiveness which means letting go of blame against a person for wrongs they've done and moving on and we'll be looking at the difference between forgiveness and Reconciliation because whereas forgiveness is about letting go and moving on reconciliation is about going one step further and then actively rebuilding that relationship our next key word is uh holy war which is war that is believed to be sanctioned by God we then have Justice which means bringing fairness back to a situation just War then is a set of rules for fighting a war in a way believed to be justified and acceptable to God nuclear deterrence is the next key word it means having nuclear weapons with the aim of deterring or preventing other states attacking for fear of retaliation and
5:24 nuclear war possibly leading to what we call mutually assured destruction which is important and we'll talk about later we then have um nuclear weapons a weapon of mass destruction which causes widespread damage and loss of life nuclear war would be a war for using these weapons pathfism then is belief that all violence is wrong which then affects all behaviors peace means the opposite of War it's Harmony between all in society peacemaking is then the Practical step of working to bring about peace and Reconciliation protest is a statement or action to express disagreement it can be an organized event to demonstrate disagreement with a policy or political action
6:09 reconciliation means taking up and rebuilding relationships between two sides or groups after disagreement retribution means to pay someone back for their harmful actions so the idea of an eye for an eye which could be a reason people use violence terrorism means the use of violence and threats to intimidate others used for political purposes to build fear in the ordinary population and to secure demand from government victims of war are those who are harmed during a war for example those killed injured or left homeless violence means Behavior involving physical Force which intends to hurt kill or cause damage war is um conflict between two or more sides and then weapons of mass destruction are weapons which can cause widespread
6:55 indiscriminate damage for example nuclear weapons which we focused on but also chemical and biological weapons so let's start with our first topic if I can get the PowerPoint to work there we go guys through technical difficulties but we can now get get started because we need to know about peace Justice forgiveness and Reconciliation and why they're important for both Christians and Muslims so why do Christians believe these four things are important well peace is important because Jesus said blessed are the peacemakers and he said that in his very important Sermon on the Mount which he delivered to his followers and it has inspired many people as we will see when we look at our case studies to work for peace in the world today Justice then is very
7:41 important because Isaiah the book of Isaiah teaches to seek justice so a really easy quote to remember there forgiveness wife forgiveness important well Jesus said to forgive not seven but 77 times and he's not telling his followers to keep an exact tally but the message behind that quote is that you should not Tire of forgiving yeah you should always be ready to forgive others don't limit how many times you will forgive he also taught that if you forgive others your heavenly father will also forgive you so really important you know that if you want to be forgiven by God and remember Christians believe that all people are sinful and so they all do need forgiveness if you want to be forgiven by God you've got to be prepared to forgive others and then
8:27 reconciliation why is rebuilding relationships important well it is of course another example of peacemaking but it's also important because God reconciled himself to us through Christ as Saint Paul writes yes though Christians are inspired by you know the act of atonement on the craft and the reconciliation that is brought about between God and Humanity which emphasizes the importance of reconciliation in Christianity you know reflecting the fact that Jesus is the Incarnate Son of God he is the ultimate teacher the ultimate role model for Christians so you know reconciliation rebuilding relationships is really important in terms of your Islamic beliefs on these key four Concepts p Heath well sir at 23 says to say words
9:12 of Peace so you know you need to be going out there saying words of Peace working for peace in the world today in terms of just death there are fourth that's to stand up firmly for justice you need to stand up for justice empathizing its importance the Hadith stay on the topic of forgiveness that you should forgive others and God will also forgive you remember the Hadith are the sayings of prophet Muhammad and finally reconciliation the Hadith say that whoever makes reconciliation his reward is from God so obviously it's something that God wants to encourage that he wants to see because he will then reward it so of course it's something you will actively want to do and bring about in your everyday life let's talk about violence then shall we
9:57 and we're going to start with your Christian beliefs on violence including violent protests so what negative attitudes towards violence can we see in Christianity well Jesus taught that those who live by the sword Die By The Sword emphasizing that if you use violence you will ultimately meet a violent end for you are risking your own life yeah so he said you should avoid it because it will ultimately cause you considerable harm he also taught that you should not use violence but that instead you should turn the other cheek so even if somebody has used violence towards you you should not respond with violence violence is wrong in all circumstances including as retaliation if we look in the Old Testament Exodus
10:43 teaches do not kill and of course violence could lead to the loss of life which goes against that commandment so obviously it would be seen as wrong Saint Paul taught that your body is the Temple of the Holy Spirit it and so your body should not be harmed but should be looked after and of course that length in with that key Christian belief that all people are made in magoday in the image of God and then Pope not Pope Francis don't know where his name came from always thinking of him you thought we've got something to say I meant to say Martin Luther King Jr do you excuse me just as important he said we must pursue peace through peaceful means and so even in the case of protest you should never resort to violence because we can only achieve peaceful Ends by using peaceful means and he said we must
11:30 only ever use the weapon of love so in order to pursue peace we have to use peaceful means so that would be against violent protest as well in terms of more positive attitudes towards violence then the Old Testament teaches eye for an eye yeah so you could use violence in Revenge or retaliation and think Thomas Aquinas used his doctrine of double effect to justify using violent in self-defense for example if your intention is to protect yourself from harm rather than cause harm to somebody else you could be justified in youth in violence if your intention is self-defense if you're acting to protect yourself rather than harm the person and then Jesus himself on the subject of
12:15 violent protest actually violently protested that we didn't harm anybody when he did this but according to Matthew 21 he overturned the tables of money changes in the temple in protest that the commercialization of the temple he said you have made my father's house a den of Roberts and so it could be argued that violence is sometimes Justified as part of protest in reaction to Injustice in order to make a bold statement to make a point about how wrong something is that you can't just stand by in terms of your Islamic beliefs then we're going to start again with your negative attitude so Sarah 23 teaches to say eight words of peace and Islam is often described as a religion of Peace you know peace is seen as the priority and so that must be the
13:02 priority in your life that you should be saying words of Peace you should seek peaceful resolutions there are two teachers that God gave you life so of course this again is about sanctity of Life all life is sacred and holy because it has been created by God and so you should not cause harm to anybody of their life is sacred you know we also read in the Quran do not kill yourself or others and then Series 7 teaches God created you from a single soul and that of course emphasizes the Oneness of humanity we should live in harmony and not youth violence yeah and you can link that to the idea of the ummah the worldwide Islamic community as well that it's all about unity and togetherness in terms of more positive attitudes to violence though there are two which we'll talk about a lot today teaches to
13:48 fight in the way of God those who fight you so that suggests there are times when violence may be justified for example for self-defense or in defense of the religion and we will talk about lethar Jihad and just what theory later on oh no we'll actually talk about it now didn't notice that bullet point there don't excuse me guys I need some green tea because lethar Jihad means to fight in defense of the religion you excuse me so it shows that violence May sometimes be justifiable you know it is an option it is something that can happen but there are strict conditions for that you know Surah 2 says do not transgress do not overstep the limits but as I say more on that to come very soon for now we're going to look at terrorism and terrorism is really important um on the topic on the exam
14:35 because um all Christians and Muslims agree that it's always wrong and so we're going to have a look at some of the reasons why it is always condemned by Christians and Muslims so why do Christians believe it is wrong well Exodus teaches do not kill and of course the intention behind it is to kill innocent civilians going about their everyday lives Genesis teaches that God said let us make man in our image and likeness and of course that leads to the Imago day doctrine that all humans are made in the image of God and so again you know innocent civilians should never be killed Saint Paul Wright that your body is the Temple of the holy spirit so that idea that life is sacred the sanctity of Life argument and so it needs to be protected and cared for
15:21 nobody should be killed Saint Paul writes to live at peace with everyone and you know you're not living at peace with them if you're trying to blow them up as they get on a bus or they go on a tube train for example with the London 2005 bombings and then Pope Francis you say there he is I knew he was coming up somewhere he said we cannot be silent when terrorism abuses religion and of course he's acknowledging that that many terrorists use religion as the reason for their actions and he is saying that that is an abusive religion that actually we cannot be silent when people do this so we need to stand up and say this is not true to the religion yeah it's not um an accurate representation of this religion's values and teachings that
16:06 someone would go and kill innocent civilians in the name of God for example and the the catechism of the Catholic Church teaches that um terrorism is Gravely against Justice and charity so it's unjust and it's unkind and uncaring because as I say you know you are targeting innocent people as they go about their everyday lives and so you know really clear in that condemnation there in terms of your Islamic beliefs why it's wrong there are four teachers do not kill yourself or others and of course it's significant that many terrorist attacks are suicide attacks so the individual themselves is killed in the process of killing others and so that would go against both parts of that verse there do not kill yourself or others so 17 teachers do not take life
16:53 which God has made sacred so again sanctity of Life arguments you shouldn't be taking life especially in such an unjust way there are seven teachers that whoever is killed a soul it is though he is killed all mankind so again emphasizing why murder and causing death is wrong Muhammad Ali said that Islam is peace and not violence this is is the religion of Peace you know you should be saying words of Peace as um the series also tell us so you know you should not be trying to cause Terror think about it it's not just about taking life it's about causing Terror and disharmony and fear amongst the general population and so it would go against that key core belief in Islam in the importance of bringing about peace and then Surah 2 says do not overstep the limits in terms of a just War so you
17:40 know violence causing death can only be justified you know in a very limited way you should not overstep the limits and arguably you know flying a plane into a tower for example or blowing up a bus or you know whatever it is in terms of your terrorist attack example that is overstepping the limits you know it's not appropriate because you're killing innocent people and you know you're causing Terror and fear and panic the Muslim Council of Britain say that the vast majority of Muslims condemn terrorism whole heartedly unequivocally and they say the Muslim Council of Britain have consistently condemned terrorism and looked for Meaningful ways to challenge terrorism so you know they're a really important Authority on Islamic matters in the UK and and they
18:25 have been very clear in their condemnation saying that um Muslims condemn terrorism and they of the Muslim Council of Britain have consistently condemned terrorism they are very clear that it is wrong and it is their Islamic beliefs and values which tell them it is wrong because you are killing innocent people you know it is very unjust it is not recognizing the sanctity of life and the fact that this is the religion of Peace okay our next topic then is war really important as a topic and we're going to start with our Christian beliefs and we're going to start with just War Theory which we associate with Saint Thomas Aquinas now he didn't invent it but he was very very influential in shaping it into what it is today and remember remember it is
19:12 still used by the Catholic church today the catechism of the Catholic Church there there are strict conditions for legitimate defense by military force and the church says they require rigorous consideration so the key quote you need to know for the exam there is that there are strict conditions when military force may be justified and they are found in aquinas's just War criteria and this is the idea of a set of rules for fighting a war in a just way and we have two sections to this we have just at Bellum which is about the criteria to consult before going to war and then we have just add Bello which is the criteria to consult during the war so these two separate sections of the just War Theory the first one is about the
19:58 criteria to consult before the war so deciding whether we can justify going to war whereas the second set just add Bello is about consultation during the war are we using justifiable methods are the methods we're using justifiable is it just to do this as part of the war so let's start with our just add Bellum our criteria to consult prior to declaring war this is how you decide whether to declare a war whether it should start in the first place and we've got that it's declared by a legitimate Authority we've got that it has a just cause that it has the right intention that it's being for as the last resort you know that you've exhausted all all other options you know negotiation for example and that there
20:45 is a reasonable chance of success we then have the just at Bellow which is to be consulted during the war and this is the innocent civilians must not be targeted and of course that length thing with terrorism and why that is wrong because it is innocent civilians being directly targeted as they go about their everyday life and then the Youth of fourth must be proportionate and that is going to link in when we talk about weapons of mass destruction and whether they are proportionate so that is your criteria they are your seven points and think Thomas Aquinas says this is what you have to consult in terms of working out whether a war can be justified whether it can be fought and if so how it should then be for and as I say your Catholic Church teaching today is that there are strict conditions but they
21:32 require rigorous consideration you know you have to be able to meet that criteria you can't just go to war or support a war on a whim because you feel like it because you've woken up in a bad mood you know there is a really clear set of rules for Consulting before and then during thank Paul at another Point said that you must submit to the governing authorities and you could use it if you're writing about war because you could say if the government has declared war you should support the war effort you should submit to the governing Authority now we're going to talk about conscientious objectives when we talk about pacifism but the idea here is that if the government if your MPS if the Prime Minister have decided they have voted they have decreed that a war is
22:18 required then it's your job of the good citizen in that country to submit to their decision so for example if there's conscription you know you must go and fight you must Play Your Part in the war effort as required by your government in terms of opposition to war however and we will talk about this more when we discuss pessimists pacifists Stephen can't speak today excuse me we've got the Quakers they are Christian pacifists who utterly deny all outward Wars we've also got Martin Luther King Jr who said we must use the weapon of love so the only weapon you can use is love because he said we must pursue peace through peaceful means and so he believed you could never achieve peace if you don't use peaceful methods and so War would be seen as wrong and as futile as pointless
23:06 in terms of your Islamic beliefs then um the idea of the left the Jihad is so important for us here and we find this in Surah too which teaches to fight in the way of God those who fight you but do not overstep the limit so this is again a kind of Islamic version of just War Theory because its teaching War can be justified in self-defense or in defense of the religion but it must be thought in the correct way do not overstep the limits as Surah 2 says in the same way that you know Aquinas was saying innocent civilians cannot be targeted and that the Youth of fourth must be proportionate you know it must be fought in the right way do not go too far and of course Muhammad who is described by the Quran as the perfect man here is the key Exemplar and role model for Muslims he himself fought in
23:53 Holy Wars for example the conquest of Mecca in the earliest days of the religion and so if he fought in war that could suggest couldn't it that Muslims can follow in his footsteps because they turn to the Hadith to see what he said but then to the Sunnah to see his actions so he is clearly a key role model so if he's done something that would suggest that you can do it as well in terms of living a good Islamic life so there are times there are circumstances when War can be justified however if we are talking about Islamic attitudes um against war or Islamic opposition to war you could use Muhammad Ali he refused to fight when he was required to in a war um and so he lost his boxing license he would not go and fight in the Vietnam
24:40 War and so he was stripped of his professional boxing license he said that Islam is peace and not violence so he said his religious beliefs meant he wouldn't not youth violence obviously I know the irony that he was a boxer and but he said you know I will not fight in the war Surah 4 says do not kill yourself or others so of course you know in war there is risk that you will die but you will also cause other people to die as well and Surah 5 says whoever kills the soul it is though he has killed all mankind and again it is that idea that war inevitably is going to involve death in terms of Holy Wars then which Awards us we know believed to have been sanctioned by God we do have key case studies from history that we need to
25:25 know and we've got to consider about you know how religion has been a cause of um violence in the past how it's been a cause of war in the past and also the situation today when religion might be a cause of violence the war in the world today so in terms of your Christian examples of holy war we've got the Crusades um and a quote from the Bible which could be seen as supporting holy war is number 31 in the Old Testament which says take Vengeance in terms of your Islamic Holy Wars then obviously we've mentioned Muhammad's conquest of Mecca yeah that violent that war in the earliest days of the religion where Muhammad obviously after the Hijra where he fled to Medina did then return to Mecca and then with the conquest of
26:10 Mecca he did actually um obviously win that war and that is seen as being with God help yes and that's why it's seen as the holy war that it was with God's help and Surah 9 is key here because um 09 says kill the polytheists wherever you find them so obviously that reflected the holy water of the time that Islam was a monotheistic religion um in a very polytheistic context and that religion was the cause of War you know and we see that a lot in those um early days of religions yeah I remember mono three of them today is the the mainstream religious um approach if I can call it that isn't it you know our abrahamic faith Christianity Islam and Judaism are you know dominant in the world today but
26:56 actually when those religions were first originating it was a very radical belief so it was a cause of violence but you could argue in an essay that actually today when the majority of the world's theists are monotheists they believe in one God religion is no longer such a cause of conflict although of course we do have conflicts for example people you know in many countries in terms of different denominations of the same religion you know different groups we then also have people youth in religion as an excuse for violence as Pope Francis said we cannot be silent when terrorism abuses religion so in terms of if you did get a question on religion and belief as the cause of Silence you could absolutely talk about Holy Wars in the past and how unique monotheism
27:41 wealth at one point but now the fact so many people are monotheists means that that is no longer a cause of War however you could have caused then Link in that those denominational conflicts that still take place and you know how people's beliefs are so important to them that ultimately you know religion can become a cause of War um and so that's where you bring in holy war okay we're going to talk about pacifism and this is a key belief because it's the idea that um War violence are always wrong under all circumstances under any circumstances you cannot ever use violence you cannot ever go to war we're going to start with our Christian beliefs and we're going to ask why a
28:26 Christian would be pacifist and remember our key case study here is the Quakers our key man is of course Martin Luther King Jr so let's start with our Quakers they are Christian pacifists they utterly deny all outward Wars so you can have you know an inner struggle for self-discipline and to be a good person but in terms of outward Wars physical Wars they are utterly denied and so a Quaker may be a conscient conscientious objector excuse me to conscription so you know if there was conscription in place if the government declared a war a Quaker May um conscientiously object the way you object to being conscripted on the grounds of your belief you could say I refuse to fight because of my belief and so they are a denomination who are
29:12 pacifist Jesus himself is known as the prince of peace and he taught his followers that those who live by the sword will die by the sword so that does suggest doesn't it that you shouldn't use your sword you shouldn't use violence and because you know it's ultimately going to harm you nothing good can come of it Saint Paul writes to live at peace with everyone so that could suggest you must always prioritize peace you should never resort to violence and in this case war and then Martin Luther King Jr said that you must pursue peace through peaceful means and that you must use the weapon of love so the only weapon you can ever use is love and of course he's faith in that on Jesus himself elf who you know focused on love didn't he in terms of negative attitudes to pacifism then the Catholic Church of course as we now know believes
29:59 that there are strict conditions when war is justifiable Saint Thomas Aquinas for example set out criteria for when War may be justified so although they're not encouraging it they wouldn't agree with the path of this view that it's never Justified because there are certain circumstances there are strict conditions when War may be justifiable and then Jesus said I have not come to bring peace but a sword so actually you could then use Jesus again to be arguing well at the same time he also seemed to support the use of violence in certain cases you know for certain causes so you know a bit ambiguous there you can definitely be using Jesus to both support pacifism but also then to question whether it's the right approach in terms of a secular position you could
30:44 talk about utilitarianism the idea that uh the greatest good to the greatest number is the measure of right and wrong and so you could say that the end May sometimes justify the means when it comes to war that sometimes going to war can be justified by what you're going to achieve by doing so yeah through the greatest good to the greatest number um is to be the measure of right and wrong and that is from Jeremy Bentham a key figure um in developing utilitarianism alongside John Stuart Mill who developed it later on and you could say from that secular Viewpoint that sometimes it is Justified and we call that teleological ethics where you assess whether something is moral based on the outcome based on the you know the end product of that and you could say you know if the
31:30 war is being fought to get rid of some awful evil dictator for example could it be justified because it's the greatest good to the greatest number in terms of your Islamic beliefs then what about your positive attitudes to pacifism well Muhammad Ali said that Islam is peace and not violence therefore as we know teachers do not kill yourself or others and Series 7 says God created you from a single soul and so you should live at peace with all people avoid conflict and any disharmony however we need to know that the majority of Muslims although they wouldn't encourage War they would not be pacifist um so why is that well the lethargy had is the idea of it is sometimes necessary to fight in war for example for self-defense Muhammad himself who is the perfect man and Exemplar for Muslims for
32:17 in Holy Wars such as the conquest of Mecca and then there are two of course your key scripture is to fight in the way of God those who fight you which shows that is sometimes justifiable to fight in a war in terms then of our next topic weapons of mass destruction and this is a contrasting beliefs topic so you must know your contrasting beliefs about weapons of mass destruction which are described by the uh United Nations as the most dangerous weapons on Earth nuclear weapons are described as the most dangerous weapons on Earth and of course lots of conversation and coverage in the news at the moment about weapons of mass destruction the UK government for example has voted to renew the UK government's Trident nuclear submarine
33:03 program so we're going to be looking at why Christians May support weapons of mass destruction even if it's just a nuclear deterrence approach where you have the weapons but you don't want or intend to ever use them and they will also be looking at opposition and then we'll do the same for Islam of course so what about our support for these weapons of mass destruction well Saint Paul writes submit to the governing authorities so Christians should support the UK government's policy of having a nuclear weapons program which they do for example as a deterrent and as I say that is called Trident and it have been renewed so the idea is if the MPS if the Prime Minister think it's needed you should submit to that decision you should support that decision Saint Thomas the quinities just for criteria we can absolutely bring in here it
33:49 includes uh those criteria of Last Resort and just cause doesn't it and so weapons of mass destruction could potentially meet this criteria just to find their possession as a deterrent we could also bring in the Old Testament and that key teaching of eye for an eye so that could justify using weapons of mass destruction in retaliation to someone else using theirs although the problem with that is it could then lead to mutually assured disruption Pope Benedict xvi's for example said in a nuclear war there would be no Victors only victims so the idea there is that if you allowed um someone to use them in retaliation or if the government use them in retaliation would then end up in a nuclear war where we'd all be killed and it wouldn't just kill all human life but
34:35 it would curl all life and the entire planet would be destroyed so you know we have to think would retaliation or Revenge work here but actually is it too late once one weapon has been fired anyway it's all over for all of us so you know those are happy thoughts of the day so yeah we will be talking about this idea of mutually assured disruption emphasizing why they are so dangerous um in terms of your Christian opposition to the men we could actually then return to Thomas the quietness just War Theory because he stipulates in this doesn't he in his criteria that just was must be fought excuse me in a proportionate way and the innocent civilians cannot be targeted obviously these weapons are going to Target innocent civilians they are going
35:20 to be killed hundreds and thousands of them um and of course they're not really proportionate you know so is this really a proportionate weapon of War Pope Benedict xvs as we've mentioned said that in a nuclear war there would be no Victors only victims they lead to mutually assured destruction and so they cannot be justified you could say even as a deterrent you know what's the point of having them if you're never able to use them because their youth would lead to mutually assured destruction um Genesis of course our first book in the Bible teaches that God put man in the garden to take care of it you're not really taking care of it if you're destroying it are you you know nuclear weapons would destroy all life and of course the environment so that idea of being a good Steward is going to be called into question Pope Francis said
36:07 let us be Protectors of God's creation obviously you're not protecting creation in if you're destroying it in a nuclear war and so it would go against stewardship as we've said and then Exodus says do not kill and obviously weapons of mass destruction are weapons of mass destruction you are causing Master yeah you are gonna have an extraordinary death toll potentially eight billion people by the end of that nuclear war so yes it's really not looking good is it in terms of your Islamic beliefs then why might aim of them support this well we read that if someone has attacked you attack him just as he attacked you so it's the idea that you could support the use of weapons of mass destruction in retaliation to their youth against your country by another
36:53 nuclear power yet again Revenge retaliation isn't it but of course we then have the problem of mutually assured disruption in terms of your opposition however in terms of series two we obviously know fight in the way of God those who fight you which would seemingly support wouldn't it the use of these weapons however Surah 2 said do not overstep the limits so you know when when we then add on that bit it changes the understanding because weapons of mass destruction could be seen as overstepping the limits as transgressing they could lead to the math loss of innocent life and obviously mutually assured disruption the loss of all life on the planet so as the reform says do not kill yourself or others well if it's going to lead to mutually assured destruction you
37:39 are going to be killing yourself and every other person on the planet and then the Hadith teach that God has appointed you his stewards nuclear war would destroy the environment and the entire world and so it would go against their use would go against that duty to be a Khalifa to be a good Steward so it's not only human life you're destroying but it's all life and that obviously then calls into question that idea of stewardship and being a Khalifa which of course we're familiar with from the day okay we are nearly there now let's have a look at our final topic which is religion and peacemaking and we need to know why Christians work for peace as well as some Christian Peacemaker case studies and uh why Muslims work for peace alongside some Islamic Peacemaker case studies so let's
38:26 start with our Christian beliefs why do Christians work for peace well Jesus taught blessed are the peacemakers brilliant quote that we can use for many topics in theme day and so obviously you're going to be a peacemaker because Jesus in his Sermon on the Mount said that this is an important thing to do Saint Paul taught to live at peace with everyone so of course you're going to want to be a peacemaker to bring about that peace Jesus as we know was known as The Prince of Peace he is the key role model and teacher for Christians because he is divine he is not just a man with an important message he is the Incarnate Son of God in the world he is the word made flesh Saint Teresa of Avila said that Christians should try to put Jesus's teachings into action in the world she said Christ has nobody now but yours so you need to be the change you
39:11 know you need to be christ-like in the way you live your life and that would involve working for peace and of course Martin Luther King Jr the main man of this theme fed to pursue peace using peaceful means so you've got to pursue peace excuse me and do it in a peaceful way I think we call that peacemaking in terms of Christian peacemakers then obviously Jesus we can use because he's known as the prince of peace and in his Sermon on the Mount he taught blessed are the peacemakers which inspires Christians to work for peace putting Christ teachings into action in the world today we of course are going to mention Martin Luther King Jr a U.S Baptist Minister and civil rights activist um now he was a pacifist as we know who used peaceful methods to challenge racism and promote peace and equality
39:57 and he was awarded in a bell Peace Prize in 1964. PAX Christie is a global Catholic movement promoting peace and non-violence since 1945 obviously after the second world war inspired by um Jesus inspired by their Christian values to work for peace and then Christian Aid they promote peace but they also then help the victims of war because they say everything we do is rooted in our Christian beliefs which inspired them to work for peace to be peacemakers in terms of your Islamic beliefs then so why do Muslims work for peace well there are 20 Fruits teachers to say words of peace and the Quran is obviously seen as the infallible and inerrant word of God and so if that's what there are 23 commands that's what you need to do so
40:42 with seven teachers that God has created you from a single soul and so people should live in harmony emphasizing the Oneness of humanity you know the idea of taweed being the Oneness of God and then you've got the Oneness of humanity as well Uma the worldwide Muslim Community for example their deeds say that God has appointed you his stewards Muslims believe based on this teaching from Muhammad they are God's khalifas responsible for looking after creation and that of course involves working for peace you know you don't want for example a nuclear war that then destroys the entire planet so that idea of the ummah that um we have that worldwide Islamic community so working for peace with support and strengthen the ummah the worldwide Islamic community empathizing why it's important Muhammad Ali said that Islam is peace and not
41:29 violence so of course that's why it's important to promote and it for peace and then finally then who are our Islamic peacemakers well Muhammad Ali again another main man of theme day I think you'll agree he was the Muslim pacifist who lost his professional boxing license when he refused to fight in the Vietnam War he undertook charity work promoting peace and equality and then finally Islamic relief they work to tackle the causes and consequences of conflicts as part of their work to help the most vulnerable and they are inspired to support Islamic values such as compassion and Justice into action and that involves as I say tackling not only the consequences of conflicts that are helping those affected by War but also working to prevent it in the first place to tackle those causes and in the
42:16 full theme D video we do have a section on the causes and consequences of War so do make sure you have a look at that as part of your revision as well but that is it from me today thank you for joining me I do hope that's been helpful and I will see you again soon
