8/11/2019 Abrahams Table The Basis of War
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Peace Islands Institute | Event Report
Issue 08 | Sep 17, 201
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ABRA
HAMSTA
BLE
FORUMS
ERIES
TheBasis
ofWar
Accordingto
Judaism,C
hristianity
andIslam
The Basis of War according to
Judaism, Christianity and IslamAbrahams table is a forum series
organized by the center forinterfaith affairs of Peace Islands
Institute. It aims to establish acommon ground among Abrahamic
traditions.
In this session of Abraham's table principles of justification
of wars inAbrahamic traditions will be examined. Can war have an
excuse? Is war just?Under what circumstances? What are principles
of war?
Rabbi
Jack BemporadProfessor
Andrew SkotnickiMr
Ibrahim SayarDirector of the Center
for InterreligiousUnderstanding
Chair of the ReligiousStudies department at
Manhattan College
Director of the Centerfor Interfaith Affairs atPeace Islands
Institute
8/11/2019 Abrahams Table The Basis of War
2/2
Peace Islands Institute | Event Report
Issue 08 | Sep 17, 201
Peaceislands.org
Rabbi Jack Bemporadis the director of the Center for
Interreligious Understandingas well as the director of the John
Paul II Center. As the first speaker of the nightRabbi Bemporad
spoke about the many ways that the Old Testament discourageswar. He
stated, War is something that you have to avoid; the real goal
should bepeace. Deuteronomy, chapter 17 was quoted, giving basis to
Bemporads argumentThou shall not multiply horses, wives, nor silver
and gold, as well as other biblicapassages. He examined war
historically from the Judaic perspective. He defined waras the
worst possible thing in the world. He talked about the doctrine of
just warand underlined that there is no Just war; however, there
are some instances thatpeople have to defend themselves which we
can call the least unjust war. More thanthat he added, we have
prevent humanity from roots that may lead us eventually to awar
before it is too late.
Andrew Skotnicki was our second speaker of the night. A
professor of ChristianEthics and Chair of the Religious Studies
department at Manhatan College, ProfessorSkotnicki emphasized on
how the message of love and Jesus Christ has leftChristianity. He
started with the quote Christians are supposed to love everyone;
youdont kill the one you love. Connecting the 1,700-year
relationship between war andChristianity after Emperor
Connstantines famous battle, Professor Skotnicki notesthat Jesus
Christ himself has never been used to justify war, nor can he
everbecause of his image and message of love. He gave examples of
wars throughout the
history committed in the name God, religion or Land. Then he
studied the term loveaccording to Christian tradition which teaches
its followers to love the enemy. Howcan you fight with someone you
love he asked.
The third speaker of the night was our very own Director of the
Center for InterfaithAffairs of PII, Mr. Ibrahim Sayar. He talked
about the faith based categorization oman according to Quran. He
gave the general judiciary structure of Islam which is toprotect
five given rights. Mr. Sayar gave the rules and principles of war
beforestarting it and added I do not know either if there is a just
war with the weapons thatpeople are holing which do not
differentiate between innocent and combaters.
BIOGRAPHIES
Rabbi Jack Bemporadhas been Director ofthe Center for
Interreligious Understandingsince its inception in 1992. He is
also
Director of the John Paul II Center andProfessor of
Interreligious Studies at theVaticans Angelicum University in Rome,
aswell as Senior Rabbinic Scholar at ChavurahBeth Shalom in Alpine,
NJ. Promoting inter-faith dialogue for more than 30 years, he
hasmet with world religious leaders from PopeJohn Paul II to the
Dalai Lama, and formerIranian president Mohammad Khatami. In2010,
he led eight leading American Imamsand Moslem leaders to Auschwitz
under agrant from the Adenauer Foundation, and asa result of their
experience, the Imamsissued a public statement condemningHolocaust
Denial. Most recently, the CIUhosted a groundbreaking conference in
New
York attended by scholars, Rabbis and
Imams, in which the methodology ofinterpreting their religious
tests wasexplored. Author of Our Age: The HistoricNew Era of
Christian-Jewish Understanding,and editor of The Inner Journey:
Views fromthe Jewish Tradition, Rabbi Bemporad alsocontributed the
chapter on Norms of War inJudaism for World Religions and Norms
ofWar, published by the United NationsUniversity Press. In
addition, he authored thearticles on Soul in Judaism and
Sufferingin Judaism, Christianity, and Islam for the Encyclopedia
of Religion, as well as beenhonored with The Pave the Way
FoundationsInter-Religious Dialogue Award, SriChinmoys Lifting Up
the World with aOneness-Heart Award, and The Peace and
Tolerance Award from the (Muslim)Interfaith Dialog Center.
Andrew Skotnicki is a Professor of ChristianEthics and Chair of
the Religious StudiesDepartment at Manhattan College. He also
taught Christian Ethics at GeorgetownUniversity in Washington,
DC. He did hisundergraduate work at Marquette Universityand
received my Ph.D. in Religion and Societyfrom the Graduate
Theological Union inBerkeley, California. He has written
threebooks, Religion and the Development of theAmerican Penal
System, Criminal Justice and
the Catholic Church, and, most recently, TheLast Judgment:
Christian Ethics in a LegalCulture.
Ibrahim Sayar is the Director of the Centerfor Interfaith
Affairs at the Peace IslandsInstitute. He has his theological
ordinationfrom Harran University in Turkey and studiedmasters
degree in Psychology at ConcordiaUniversity in Chicago. He has been
involved ininterfaith and intercultural dialogue activitiesfor the
last 10 years in Chicago, Boston andNew York. He is happily married
with twochildren named Abdurrahim and OmerRasim.
KEYNOTES
"War is something that you have to avoid; the real goal should
be peace"Rabbi Jack Bemporad
"Christians are supposed to love everyone... you don't kill the
one you love"Andrew Skotnicki
"The definition of darkness is the absence if light"Ibrahim
Sayar
