Different Christian organisations have taken what the Bible teaches about pacifism and interpreted it to be part of what their faith teaches. For example Jehovah’s witnesses refuse military service as a matter if conscience, as their belief is that God demands pacifism from them as his followers, regardless of any hostility they may face or cost it may bring to them in other words their lives being taken. They believe the state do not have the authority to go against God and make anyone kill another human being. Then there is the Society of Friends or the Quakers who believe under no circumstances must force be used by armed forces, there should be no war weapons of any kind and violence should never be met with violence. They say God has given everybody an inner light to live by, and the inner light will help us see the true reality of the situations we find ourselves in.
Finally properly the best arguments for the idea of pacifisms are examples of when it has been used and has worked to chance an injustice. There are two main examples of this Martin Luther King the civil rights leader who in the fifties and sixties used peaceful methods to gain full civil rights for American Negro. The second example is that of the Hindu, Indian leader Mahatma Gandhi who through peaceful methods fought to overcome British rule in India. Both these men however did lose their life.
Arguments against it come from such people as Jeff McMahan, the Roman Catholic Church and the just war theory.
Then there are the arguments against pacifism the first of these comes from Jeff McMahan who insists that pacifism is difficult to maintain. He believes this to be the case as it takes away the decision of a victim whether a violent response is just. Pacifism expects a person to stay non-violent in every situation. Which can be very difficult if you are faced with violence against you. So another problem which arises from this is that pacifism treats every situation as the same whereas in fact situations are very different and unique.
The argument against pacifism put forward by the Roman Catholic Church. They say that it is your duty to try and stop sin or wickness if it arises using whatever means necessary to overcome it. And if fail to do your duty and act against it you are indirectly promoting it and this cannot be morally right.
The main argument against pacifism comes in the shape of the just war theory which is a theory devised by Christians as to decide whether war is justifiable or not. It sets out rules on how a war can be just. These include war must be declared by legitimate authority, war is only to be fought to confront a real and certain danger, war should only be fought for the advancement of good or avoidance of evil, war must be a last resort with all peaceful methods used to try and resolve the problem first. The just war theory does have many things in common with pacifism such as the fact it believes all peaceful methods should be tried to avoid conflict first also in the way it believes war is the last resort. So the main argument it puts against pacifism is that there are occasions where all peaceful means of trying to resolve the conflict have been exhausted and war is the only way of over turning the evil so should be fought according to the rest of the criteria put forward in the just war. Pacifism fails to recognise the fact that peaceful methods will not always work and gives no help in what to do if peaceful methods fail.
So in conclusion pacifism is a very good idea and if it could be put in to total practice in a society, we would live in a much-improved society. However for it to be able to exist you need a society where every evil or conflict can overcome by using peaceful means. Seen, as we don’t live in a society like that it would be very difficult to live by pacifisms principles, about the best means of achieving peace is always through peaceful methods, making conflict inevitable as it is the only way of dealing with many of the evils in today’s society. So as it has been said "to secure peace, is to prepare for war". Also how realistic is it to be able to stay peaceful when you are faced violence either against you or you property. I know if I found my self in a situation where I was faced with violence I would feel that meeting violence with violence was justifiable. So basically I pacifism is a great idea but putting it into practice in the type of society we live in today just wouldn’t we are faced with to many evils that wont be removed by peaceful means.
