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Docta Ignorantia LXXVIII "Religious War" And Pacifism There may be some question about this term "religious war." It is an oxymoron. Religious people are pacifistic. They do not wage war. So there are never any religious wars. However, religious people do have the right of self-defense and the duty to protect their nation and all of the weak/abused, no matter where they are. When religious people take up arms for these purposes -- which are religious purposes -- they are still being pacifistic because they are using force to support Dharma, to protect themselves, their nation and/or the abused. We call such action war and it is -- appropriate or justified war -- but it is not aggressive or harming activity and so it is still religious in the sense of being pacifistic: it's aim is peace and happiness. The term "religious war" in wide use today is used to demean religion and so spread misunderstanding and confusion about religion and Dharma. Don't let people use this term. Tell them that it's an oxymoron. When religious people fight it is for a pacifistic purpose, to protect, and not for an aggressive purpose, to lord it over someone. So the term as used is actually a diatribe against religion, totally intellectually dishonest, and should be charged as an oxymoron from the start. Let me try to articulate this better. There is never a religious war. The term is an oxymoron. However, religious people go to war for defensive purposes: self, nation, weak/abused. And this is entirely Dharmic for religious people to do. It is their duty to protect by defensive warfare when that is indicated by circumstances -- and the best defense is always an offence, so they will conduct offensive operations to end the war quickly and cheaply in terms of lost life and property. But this offense is not aggressive, it is tactic/strategy in service of a fundamental defensive intent. Religious people never have an aggressive intent per se. If they go offensive it is only to conduct a proper defense, their true calling, and the best defense is offense. So great care has to be taken when we eveluate battle activity. The eveluation rests on the nature of the action. If it is fundamentally defensive (which includes offense but only for the purpose of good defense) it is Dharmic. It it is fundamentally offensive -- aggressive, self-aggrandizing -- it is a-Dharmic. When religious people conduct war -- definitionally for defense -- they are still pacifists. Their intent is pacifistic so their actions have to be evaluated as pacifisitc. This is an extremely important point. Mark it very well. The conduct of war is pacifistic conduct, by definition, when religious people are doing it. War and pacifism are not mutual exclusives. They can be exactly the same thing. This is extremely important for one to understand. The opposite of pacifism is not war but aggression or aggressive war. Defensive war and pacificism are exactly the same thing. Religious people never go to war for religion. Religion is one of the only things that cannot be traduced and is always therefore safe from aggression and never needs defending. Religion is as the air and the sun, immutable and omnipresent. Religious people go to war only to defend themselves, their nation or the weak and/or abused. When religious people kill during war (defensive) they incur no blame or guilt. This, too, is extremely important to understand. They are doing their religious duty by conducting defensive warfare, protection those who need protection. The word Islam, incidentally, is from the Semitic root salem which is in Jerusalem and Solomon and Shalom and means sun and also peace. Islam means the peace of the perpetually gracious sun. Religious people are always pacifists, even and especially when waging war. It is their nature. The caste system is something the folks there will probably grasp intuitively but slowly with the articulation. instead of using the Sanskrit words, use the English: Teacher/Clergy/Doctor for Brahmin, Soldier/Judge/Lawyer/Police for Kshatryia, Farmer/Businessperson for Vaisya and Artist/Engineer/Laborer for Sudra.
Adwaitha Hermitage
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