Colflict Justice And Reconciliation

GCSE Religious Studies (Philosophy & Ethics)

Conflict, War and Peace

Catholic Beliefs about Justice, Forgiveness, and Reconciliation are quite simple although sometimes to outsiders they appear difficult. This I think is because many people dislike others and so act against them; they hold grudges and will exact revenge because they feel they have been treated badly. Peace can only happen when people are prepared to give to others the things they demand for themselves - to love their neighbour as themselves. This often requires people to go against their basic nature.

A basic principle of Catholic belief is that forgiveness is an essential aspect of love. When someone does an injustice to you, you should, if you are a Catholic, forgive them. When you forgive someone you do not hold the person's offence against him or her , and you also do not seek revenge nor treat them as an enemy. Christians are instructed not to do evil to their enemies, but instead to be kind towards them, and to pray for them. True Christians also have a forgiving attitude towards those who have offended them and must always be prepared to be reconciled with them.

When we are hurt or injured, we often feel rather angry and
resentful. These feelings are often difficult to get rid of those feelings
even if that’s what we want to do. To overcome this, Christians should always
remember that forgiveness is an aspect of love for our neighbour. The
Catholic Church says that works of mercy are charitable actions by which we come to the aid of our neighbour, in spiritual and bodily requirements. These are acts of love and from this we see that forgiveness is an aspect of love.

Catholic teachings tell us that Justice ...

This is a preview of the whole essay

Catholic teachings tell us that Justice is the moral advantage that
exists in the constant good that we do for the love of God and our neighbour. This teaches us that justice is a kind of fairness - it means that we give to others what is their right. Justice is a basic way of putting into practice the command to love your neighbour as you love yourself. You do not want your neighbour to steal your possessions, therefore you should not steal the possessions of your neighbour. The seventh commandment is ' You shall not steal'. In this commandment, God commands justice and charity, and in my opinion, respect for others in the care of earthly goods. The catholic teaching tells us here that it’s for the sake of common good to respect others' right to private property as we expect them to respect our rights.

In today’s world there is a clear lack of justice. It’s a well known
fact that the resources in the world are unequally shared out. In many
areas the rich are getting richer and the poor are becoming poorer.
There are more than enough resources to provide for the world, yet 80% of
the world’s population have access to only 20% of the resources, and 20% of the
world’s population have 80% of the recourses. This is a serious
injustice in the world today and it’s not improving in some Third World countries, particularly India, Pakistan, most of South America and Palestine.

Reconciliation is usually seen as the repair of friendship. Friendship is usually a mutual relationship between people. I may wish to be a friend to someone, but if he/she does not wish to be my friend, there is no direct relationship between us. However, that does not mean that I should treat him or her as an enemy, simply because they do not wish to be my friend. It is still necessary for me to treat them with respect and to treat them as I would wish to be treated. Conflict can only exist where people see others as their enemy, the fact that I do not get along with someone does not remove my responsibility to treat him or her with justice and courtesy.

Justice, forgiveness and reconciliation are therefore all essential ingredients in Christ's instruction to 'love your neighbour as yourself'.

Haakam Sandhu

R.E Mr Wilkin

Poetry