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Religion and Non-Violence
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3. Therefore, as Christians, we are forbidden to wage war, and that our loyalty to our country, to humanity, to the Church Universal, and to Jesus Christ, our Lord and Master, calls us instead to a life service for the enthronement of Love in personal, social, commercial and national life;
4. The Power, Wisdom and Love of God stretch far beyond the limits of our present experience, and that He is ever waiting to break forth into human life in new and larger ways.
5. Since God manifests Himself in the world through men and women, we offer ourselves to Him for His redemptive purpose, to be used by Him in whatever way He may reveal to us.
The F.O.R. has branches all over the world now and is following its ideals and propagating them among others.
These and many other such societies of Christians are doing very useful work in teaching and practising, so far as possible, the teachings of Christ.
We now come to the end of the study of different religions of the world so far as it concerns the principle of non-violence. The teachings of the originators, prophets or sages of these religions are clear and precise: 'Observe Non-Violence'.
But has it actually been so?
The Hindu religion, in general, does not condemn injury or violence; more important than observing non-violence is observing one's duty (svadiiarma), keeping in view the caste order (varna) and the stage of life (ashrama): a Kshatriya cannot but fight and destroy the enemy; a house-holder (grihastha) cannot but support the family.
A deplorable feature of Hindu religion has been the violence that it perpetrated upon one of its own caste, namely the Sudra. Even the penal code was different for the Sudras; for an offence, while a Brahmin had only to pay a paltry fine, a Sudra had molten lead poured into his ears or eyes or a limb cut. All this was done and tolerated in the name of religion.
Buddhism preached compassion among human beings. It had among its followers emperors, monks and laymen. Strict adherence to its principles was, however, possible only by the monks. Nevertheless, the message of Buddha converted many a heart to follow the path of non-violence.
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