World Religions and Norms of War: Exploring the Links

Recent armed conflicts— domestic and international— have drawn fresh attention to age-old questions concerning when war can be justified, and what methods and targets are permissible during war. Over more than two millennia, the world’s leading religious traditions— Hinduism, Judaism, Buddhism, Christianity and Islam— have provided guidance in these contested domains. The recent release of World Religions and Norms of War, a volume examining how the religions have responded to pressing moral challenges such as offensive and defensive war, the protection of noncombatants, asymmetric tactics, terrorism, and weapons of mass destruction, opens the door for a greater in depth discussion on the issue.

This roundtable brings together distinguished experts from the United States Institute of Peace (USIP), the International Peace Research Institute Oslo (PRIO) and the United Nations University (UNU) to explore the topic of religion and the use of force in modern armed conflicts.

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