Religion, War and the Institutional Dilemma: a Sociological Interpretation
| Date | 01 June 1968 |
| Published date | 01 June 1968 |
| Author | Toyomasa Fusé |
| DOI | 10.1177/002234336800500206 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
RELIGION,
WAR
AND
THE
INSTITUTIONAL
DILEMMA:
A
SOCIOLOGICAL
INTERPRETATION*
By
TOYOMASA
FUSÉ
Université
de
Montréal
1.
Introduction
The
twentieth
century
has
been
char-
acterized
by
agonies
of
socio-political
con-
flict
at
all
levels,
ranging
from
inter-group
strife
to
internationally
organized
violence
such
as
war.
Within
the
short
span
of
the
present
century,
man
has
already
witnessed
two
devastating
major
wars
and
countless
armed
conflicts.
Religion
in
complex
society’
has
always
preached
love
and
brotherhood,
and
firmly
supported
the
societal
proscription
against
killing
and
violence.
Yet
even
a
casual
perusal
of
man’s
history
gives
ample
evi-
dence
that
religion
somehow
has
always
managed
to
rationalize
and
come
around
to
the
support
of
wars
by
its
national
com-
munity.
Religion’s
strict
application
of
the
admonition
against
killing
has
been
con-
fined
to
members
of
the
in-group
and
has
seldom
been
extended
to
out-group
mem-
bers.
This
glaring
disparity
between
re-
ligious
norms
and
practice
has
historically
disturbed
idealists
and
intrigued
students
of
religion.
The
influence
of
church
and
state
on
each
other,
the
great
variability
of
the
relationships
between
churches
and
po-
litical
institutions,
and
the
manner
in
which
religious
values
reflect
the
general
culture,
are
best
illustrated
by
the
history
and
the
examples
of
the
churches’
attitude
and
behavior
toward
war.
Though
churches
have
passed
through
pronounced
waves
of
pacifism
in
peacetime,
they
have
never
failed
to
come
around
to
the
support
of
the
nation
in
time
of
war.
The
church
-
i.e.
the
institutionalized
form
of
religion
-
in
its
concern
with
the
problems
of
war
and
peace
seems
to
reflect
its
society
and
values
even
more
than
it
influences
it:
as
a
result,
it
has
failed
to
apply
universally
the
Judaeo-Christian
teachings.2
The
con-
tinuation
of
the
war-oriented
spirit
of
power
politics
in
the
Cold
War
since
1948
reflects
the
churches’
failure
to
indoctri-
nate
the
majority
of
the
church
population
with
values
antithetical
to
war
and
violence.3
Thus
the
relationship
between
religion
and
the
socio-political
system
be-
comes
salient
and
sharply
focused
in
the
analysis
of
religious
attitudes
toward
war,
for
the
position
of
the
church
vis-a-vis
war
is
one
of
the
strongest
evidences
that
the
church
as
a
social
institution
is
a
part
of
society,
not
apart from
it.
This
is
why
religion
(especially
church
as
opposed
to
sect)
is
likely
to
render
institutional
support
to
polity
at
times
of
serious
threats
such
as
war
and
revolution,
by
sanctifying
private
property
and
by
upholding
the
virtues
and
aims
of
its
own
national
community,
and
conversely,
by impugning
the
motives
and
objectives
of
its
adversary.4
This
paper,
therefore,
is
concerned
with
how
a
universalistic
religion
confronts
and
resolves
the
problems
of
war.
We
will
discuss
following
problems:
( 1 )
the
the-
oretical
bases
for
the
non-pacifist
attitudes
and
behavior
of
the
institutionalized
churches,
and
(2)
the
examination
of
available
data
to
support
our
major
hy-
pothesis,
that
the
church,
as
a
social
institution,
is
both
reflective
and
supportive
of
society’s
values
and
practices
(especially
in
time
of
war) ;
and
that
the
church,
therefore,
functions
primarily
as
an
agent
of
conservation rather
than
as
an
agent
of
social
change.
To continue reading
Request your trial