Christians Should Never Use Violence To Put Injustices Right Essay, Research Paper

I believe Christians

should not use violence to put things right. The ten

commandments tell us thou shall not commit murder. If you resort to violence, you

can not be sure that you are not going to kill someone. There are other ways of

solving situations, such as compromises, talking things through and sometimes

realising situations are not really as bad as they seem. In South Africa

instead of beating and killing the white farmers for their land and starting a

race war, they could come to a compromise where as both of the parties are

happy. They could make an agreement where the white farmers offer a small part

of their land to the black workers. The workers can work on the land, grow vegetables

and build a home for himself and his family. ? I do not agree with

Desmond Tutu when he said ?that if all else fails I can understand Christians

resorting to violence? I feel that this was wrong of a man who has lots of

people who look up to him. He should of been telling people to look for other

ways than using violence for what they want. Violence has never solve anything,

just increases situations. Violence breeds violence, the other people are going

to do the same back until someone is killed. These people are not following

Gods commands and should not call themselves Catholics. Christians should condoned

violence and Desmond Tutu needs to think before he speaks about violence the

next time.A modern day

example of violence being used as a means to solve a problem is the situation

in Northern Ireland and the IRA. Essentially, the British Empire took parts of

Ireland for their own. This incensed a number of the inhabitants, and rightly

so. The Catholics of Ireland generally put up the greatest resistance, where as

it can be said the Protestants generally accepted this. The Catholics, although

is must be said not exclusively all Catholics, were not going to surrender what

they thought rightfully theirs. They could not get their voice heard and so

resorted to violence, hence the forming of the IRA. However, despite decades of

conflict, bombings and violence very little has changed. The occasional peace

treaty is agreed upon but this agreement has proven to be very fickle. Bombings

still take place in important places such as Central London and many lives have

been taken and families torn apart in the quest for some sort of conclusion to

this matter. Things do not look especially bright for the future as neither

side will back down. ??????? As Catholics we can

sympathise with the situation in Northern Ireland, but equally as Catholics we

cannot condone the actions that have been taken and their consequences. As we

can see all the violence and lives taken have done little to change the

situation in Northern Ireland. The possibility is that if there was no violence

and conflict at all and this was replaced with negotiations and compromises on

both sides, then it is likely things would be in a healthier state than they

are now. I know this has obviously been tried, though clearly not kept or

pursued. As Catholic people, they should not resort to any means of violence as

it evidently goes against the teachings of Jesus, even if they feel they are in

the right.This is situation

is also apparent in the Third World, where some scenes are almost sickening.

Young boys are being trained to kill and the majority of these already poor

country?s economy is being focused on military. The developed world, despite the

aid they give to such countries, are not innocent. Often it is them that sell

the firearms to these poor countries. This emphasis on violence will surely do

little to improve their situation or relations amongst the appropriate

countries. There must surely be another alternative to violence. It does not

make sense to achieve a good end by carrying out ?bad actions, because then the manner in which the good was

achieved goes against it.???????? PREJUDICE AND

DISCRIMINATIONPrejudice and

Discrimination are sometimes shown in term of colour, race, gender or

disability.I have chosen race and

David Copeland as my subject. I will explain what the Roman Catholic attitudes

to this might be and suggested ways for which the Catholic church can ?support the victims of race crimes.??David

Copeland was given the nick name the nail bomber because of the type of bombs

he used, he bragged to the police that he was a Nazi and ?hoped to trigger a race war. The twenty four

year old man targeted Blacks in Brixton, Asians in the East end of London, then

his final bomb before he was caught was in a gay pub in the heart of the Gay community

of Soho. The pub was packed

at the time not just with gay people, married couples and friends out for a

drink after work. People just enjoying themselves regardless of colour, race

and sexual preferences. David Copelands final

bomb killed three people one of which was a pregnant women. She was at the pub

with her husband who was seriously injured by the bomb but survived and a male

friend who died. David Copeland showed no remorse. His next targets according

to him were the Jewish community of Stamford Hill, the Greek and Turkish

communities of Haringey. The Roman Catholics

views to this would be that it is totally unacceptable and things like this

should never happen, this is portrayed in many parts of the bible e.g.After a vision from

God Peter said ?I now really understand that God has no favourites but that

everybody of any nationality who fears him and does what is right is acceptable

to him? {Acts 10;34} Paul tells us ?From

one single principle he not only created the whole human race so that they

could occupy the entire Earth, but he decreed the times and limits of their

inhabitation to him? {Acts 17;26}For all of you are

children of God, through faith in Christ Jesus, since every one of you has been

baptised has been clothed in Christ. There can be neither Jew nor Greek, there

can be neither slave nor freeman, there can be neither male nor female for you

are all one in Christ Jesus.The best source to

explain the Roman Catholic teaching on racial harmony is the parable of the

Good Samaritan. This teaches us to be loving to all regardless of colour, race

or sexual preference. If people do not believe in this they are not following Gods

commands to ?love thy neighbour as yourself.} {Luke 0;25-37}David copeland

broke many of the commands by what he did. ?