Original scientific paper

ETHICAL/MORAL PERSPECTIVE OF RELIGIOUS VIOLENCE

Josip Grbac ; Theology of Rijeka, Dislocated Studies of Catholic Faculty of Theology, University of Zagreb, Rijeka, Croatia

Abstract

Do monotheistic religions, by their structure, instigate violence? The answer to this question demands an investigation, from a historical perspective, of the fonnation of the relationship between monotheism and violence. The roots of violence legitimated or approved from a religious point of view, stand in a wrong perception of religion. From the ethical perspective, the violence with a religious mark is possible when the relationship between faith and reason is distorted, which becomes evident when observing the differences in this field between Christianity and Islam. Key guidelines in this sense are given by pope Benedict 16th in his speech about the relationship between faith and reason, on which depends also the way of understanding the proper relationship between men and God, but also the interpretation of Holy Scriptures for a everyday life. In its core, religion is the base of the ethics of non-violence. The criteria for this ethics are found in the religious universalism, which encompasses the creation of an authority guaranteeing the efficacy of this ethics, but also the juridical protection of some basic values. From a moral perspective, one has to answer the question whether, and in which way does religion instigate violence? There are also questions indirectly linked to the faith and the practice of faith, to our understanding of sacraments, rituals, fonnulas, everything that in a man awakens the consciousness of faith. Is the violence in the marriage rooted in the understanding of the sacramentality of the marriage, is the violence equated to sin, is the victim of violence and responsible moral subject?

Keywords

monotheism; religious violence; ethics of non-violence; ethical perspective of violence; moral perspective of violence; family; marriage; moral responsibility

Hrčak ID:

124598

URI

https://hrcak.srce.hr/124598

Publication date:

12.1.2009.

Article data in other languages: croatian

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