World peace - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

World Peace is an ideal of freedom

Freedom (political)

Political freedom is a central philosophy in Western history and political thought, and one of the most important features of democratic societies...

, peace

Peace

Peace is a state of harmony characterized by the lack of violent conflict. Commonly understood as the absence of hostility, peace also suggests the existence of healthy or newly healed interpersonal or international relationships, prosperity in matters of social or economic welfare, the...

, and happiness

Happiness

Happiness is a mental state of well-being characterized by positive emotions ranging from contentment to intense joy. A variety of biological, psychological, religious, and philosophical approaches have striven to define happiness and identify its sources....

among and within all nations and/or people. World peace is an idea of planetary non-violence by which nations willingly cooperate, either voluntarily or by virtue of a system of governance that prevents warfare. The term is sometimes used to refer to a cessation of all hostility among all individuals. For example, World Peace could be crossing boundaries via education, engineering, medicine, diplomats and/or an end to all forms of fighting.

Possibility

While world peace is theoretically possible, some believe that human nature

Human nature

Human nature refers to the distinguishing characteristics, including ways of thinking, feeling and acting, that humans tend to have naturally....

inherently prevents it. This belief stems from the idea that humans are naturally violent

Violence

Violence is the use of physical force to apply a state to others contrary to their wishes. violence, while often a stand-alone issue, is often the culmination of other kinds of conflict, e.g...

, or that rational agents

Prisoner's dilemma

The prisoner’s dilemma is a canonical example of a game, analyzed in game theory that shows why two individuals might not cooperate, even if it appears that it is in their best interest to do so. It was originally framed by Merrill Flood and Melvin Dresher working at RAND in 1950. Albert W...

will choose to commit violent acts in certain circumstances.

Others however believe that war is not an innate part of human nature, and that this myth in fact prevents people from reaching for world peace.

World peace theories

Many theories as to how world peace could be achieved have been proposed. Several of these are listed below.
World peace is achievable when there is no longer conflict over resources. For example, oil is one such resource and conflict
over the supply of oil is well known. Therefore, developing technology that utilizes reusable fuel sources may be one way to achieve world peace.

Various political ideologies

World peace is sometimes claimed to be the inevitable result of a certain political ideology

Ideology

An ideology is a set of ideas that constitutes one's goals, expectations, and actions. An ideology can be thought of as a comprehensive vision, as a way of looking at things , as in common sense and several philosophical tendencies , or a set of ideas proposed by the dominant class of a society to...

. According to former U.S. President George W. Bush

George W. Bush

George Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 43rd President of the United States, from 2001 to 2009. Before that, he was the 46th Governor of Texas, having served from 1995 to 2000....

: "The march of democracy

Democracy

Democracy is generally defined as a form of government in which all adult citizens have an equal say in the decisions that affect their lives. Ideally, this includes equal participation in the proposal, development and passage of legislation into law...

will lead to world peace." Leon Trotsky

Leon Trotsky

Leon Trotsky , born Lev Davidovich Bronshtein, was a Russian Marxist revolutionary and theorist, Soviet politician, and the founder and first leader of the Red Army....

, a Marxist theorist, assumed that the world revolution

World revolution

World revolution is the Marxist concept of overthrowing capitalism in all countries through the conscious revolutionary action of the organized working class...

would lead to a communist world peace.

Democratic peace theory

Proponents of the controversial democratic peace theory

Democratic peace theory

Democratic peace theory is the theory that democracies don't go to war with each other. How well the theory matches reality depends a great deal on one's definition of "democracy" and "war"...

claim that strong empirical evidence exists that democracies never or rarely wage war against each other. (the only exceptions being the Cod Wars, the Turbot War

Turbot War

The Turbot War of 1995 was an international fishing dispute between Canada, and Spain in which Canada stopped a Galician fishing trawler in international waters and arrested its crew...

and Operation Fork - all of which had no casualties) Jack Levy (1988) made an oft-quoted assertion that the theory is "as close as anything we have to an empirical law in international relations".

An increasing number of nations have become democratic since the Industrial Revolution

Industrial Revolution

The Industrial Revolution was a period from the 18th to the 19th century where major changes in agriculture, manufacturing, mining, transportation, and technology had a profound effect on the social, economic and cultural conditions of the times...

. A world peace may thus become possible if this trend continues and if the democratic peace theory is correct.

There are, however, several possible exceptions to this theory.

Capitalism peace theory

In her "capitalism peace theory," Ayn Rand

Ayn Rand

Ayn Rand was a Russian-American novelist, philosopher, playwright, and screenwriter. She is known for her two best-selling novels The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged and for developing a philosophical system she called Objectivism....

holds that the major wars of history were started by the more controlled economies of the time against the freer ones and that capitalism

Capitalism

Capitalism is an economic system that became dominant in the Western world following the demise of feudalism. There is no consensus on the precise definition nor on how the term should be used as a historical category...

gave mankind the longest period of peace in history—a period during which there were no wars, involving the entire civilized world—from the end of the Napoleonic wars in 1815 to the outbreak of World War I in 1914.

It must be remembered that the political systems of the nineteenth century were not pure capitalism

Laissez-faire

In economics, laissez-faire describes an environment in which transactions between private parties are free from state intervention, including restrictive regulations, taxes, tariffs and enforced monopolies....

, but mixed economies. The element of capitalism, however, was dominant; it was as close to a century of capitalism as mankind has come. But the element of statism

Statism

Statism is a term usually describing a political philosophy, whether of the right or the left, that emphasises the role of the state in politics or supports the use of the state to achieve economic, military or social goals...

kept growing throughout the nineteenth century, and by the time it blasted the world in 1914, the governments involved were dominated by statist policies.

However, this theory ignores the brutal colonial wars waged by the western nations against countries outside Europe; as well as the German and Italian Wars of Unification, the Franco-Prussian war, the Crimean War, and other conflicts in Europe. It also posits a lack of war as the barometer for peace, when in reality class antagonisms were ever present.

One could argue that the argument is based on a non-sequitur fallacy since it may not have been capitalism that was the cause but rather the little state authority (also, see: correlation does not imply causation

Correlation does not imply causation

"Correlation does not imply causation" is a phrase used in science and statistics to emphasize that correlation between two variables does not automatically imply that one causes the other "Correlation does not imply causation" (related to "ignoring a common cause" and questionable cause) is a...

), which would make it an argument for anarchism in general, ranging from anarcho-capitalism

Anarcho-capitalism

Anarcho-capitalism is a libertarian and individualist anarchist political philosophy that advocates the elimination of the state in favour of individual sovereignty in a free market...

to anarcho-communism, and not necessarily capitalism.

Cobdenism

There are proponents of cobdenism

Cobdenism

Cobdenism is an economic theory, focusing on the free market and free trade named for the British statesman and economist Richard Cobden.Whilst the term Cobdenism is largely unused nowadays, Cobdenism traditionally has a stronger focus on international free trade and a belief that a result of free...

who claim that by removing tariffs and creating international free trade

Free trade

Under a free trade policy, prices emerge from supply and demand, and are the sole determinant of resource allocation. 'Free' trade differs from other forms of trade policy where the allocation of goods and services among trading countries are determined by price strategies that may differ from...

, wars would become impossible, because free trade prevents a nation from becoming self-sufficient, which is a requirement for long wars. An example is, if one country produces firearms and another produces ammunition

Ammunition

Ammunition is a generic term derived from the French language la munition which embraced all material used for war , but which in time came to refer specifically to gunpowder and artillery. The collective term for all types of ammunition is munitions...

, the two could not fight each other, because the former would be unable to procure ammunition and the latter would be unable to obtain weapons.

Critics argue that free trade does not prevent a nation from establishing some sort of emergency plan to become temporarily self-sufficient in case of war or that a nation could simply acquire what it needs from a different nation. A good example of this, is World War I

World War I

World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

. Both Britain and Germany managed to become partially self-sufficient during the war. This is particularly important, due to the fact Germany had no plan for creating a War Economy

War economy

War economy is the term used to describe the contingencies undertaken by the modern state to mobilise its economy for war production. Philippe Le Billon describes a war economy as a "system of producing, mobilising and allocating resources to sustain the violence".Many states increase the degree of...

.

More generally, other proponents argue that free trade—while not making wars impossible—will make wars, and restrictions on trade caused by wars, very costly for international companies with production, research, and sales in many different nations. Thus, a powerful lobby—not present if there are only national companies—will argue against wars .

Mutual assured destruction

Mutual Assured Destruction, or mutually assured destruction , is a doctrine of military strategy and national security policy in which a full-scale use of high-yield weapons of mass destruction by two opposing sides would effectively result in the complete, utter and irrevocable annihilation of...

(sometimes known as MAD) is a doctrine

Doctrine

Doctrine is a codification of beliefs or a body of teachings or instructions, taught principles or positions, as the body of teachings in a branch of knowledge or belief system...

of military strategy

Strategy

Strategy, a word of military origin, refers to a plan of action designed to achieve a particular goal. In military usage strategy is distinct from tactics, which are concerned with the conduct of an engagement, while strategy is concerned with how different engagements are linked...

in which a full-scale use of nuclear weapons by two opposing sides would effectively result in the destruction of both the attacker and the defender. Proponents of the policy of mutual assured destruction

Mutual assured destruction

during the Cold War attributed this to the increase in the lethality of war to the point where it no longer offers the possibility of a net gain for either side, thereby making wars pointless.

Globalization

Some see a trend in national politics by which city-states and nation-states have unified, and suggest that the international arena will eventually follow suit. Many countries such as China

China

Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...

, Italy

Italy

Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...

, the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

, Germany

Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

, India

India

India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...

and Britain

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

have unified into single nation-states, with others like the European Union

European Union

The European Union is an economic and political union of 27 independent member states which are located primarily in Europe. The EU traces its origins from the European Coal and Steel Community and the European Economic Community , formed by six countries in 1958...

following suit, suggesting that further globalization

Globalization

Globalization refers to the increasingly global relationships of culture, people and economic activity. Most often, it refers to economics: the global distribution of the production of goods and services, through reduction of barriers to international trade such as tariffs, export fees, and import...

will bring about a unified world order

World order

- International relations :* The international system, which includes:** International relations , or International studies , the study of foreign affairs and global issues among states within the international system...

Isolationism and non-interventionism

Proponents of isolationism

Isolationism

Isolationism is the policy or doctrine of isolating one's country from the affairs of other nations by declining to enter into alliances, foreign economic commitments, international agreements, etc., seeking to devote the entire efforts of one's country to its own advancement and remain at peace by...

and non-interventionism

Non-interventionism

Nonintervention or non-interventionism is a foreign policy which holds that political rulers should avoid alliances with other nations, but still retain diplomacy, and avoid all wars not related to direct self-defense...

claim that a world made up of many nations can peacefully coexist as long as they each establish a stronger focus on domestic affairs and do not try to impose their will on other nations.

Non-interventionism

Non-interventionism

should not be confused with isolationism

Isolationism

. Isolationism

Isolationism

, like non-interventionism

Non-interventionism

advises avoiding interference into other nation's internal affairs, but also emphasizes protectionism

Protectionism

Protectionism is the economic policy of restraining trade between states through methods such as tariffs on imported goods, restrictive quotas, and a variety of other government regulations designed to allow "fair competition" between imports and goods and services produced domestically.This...

and restriction of international trade and travel. Non-interventionism

Non-interventionism

, on the other hand, advocates combining free trade

Free trade

(like Cobdenism

Cobdenism

) with political and military non-interference.

Nations like Japan

Japan

Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

are perhaps the best known for establishing isolationist policies in the past. The Japanese Edo

Edo

, also romanized as Yedo or Yeddo, is the former name of the Japanese capital Tokyo, and was the seat of power for the Tokugawa shogunate which ruled Japan from 1603 to 1868...

, Tokugawa, initiated the Edo Period

Edo period

The , or , is a division of Japanese history which was ruled by the shoguns of the Tokugawa family, running from 1603 to 1868. The political entity of this period was the Tokugawa shogunate....

, an isolationist period where Japan cut itself off from the world as a whole. This is a well-known isolation period and well documented in many areas.

Self-organized peace

World peace has been depicted as a consequence of local, self-determined behaviors that inhibit the institutionalization of power and ensuing violence. The solution is not so much based on an agreed agenda, or an investment in higher authority whether divine or political, but rather a self-organized

Self-organization

Self-organization is the process where a structure or pattern appears in a system without a central authority or external element imposing it through planning...

network of mutually supportive mechanisms, resulting in a viable politico-economic social fabric. The principle technique for inducing convergence is thought experiment

Thought experiment

A thought experiment or Gedankenexperiment considers some hypothesis, theory, or principle for the purpose of thinking through its consequences...

, namely Backcasting

Backcasting

Backcasting starts with defining a desirable future and then works backwards to identify policies and programs that will connect the future to the present. The fundamental question of backcasting asks: "if we want to attain a certain goal, what actions must be taken to get there?"Forecasting is the...

, enabling anyone to participate no matter what cultural background, religious doctrine, political affiliation or age demographic. Similar collaborative mechanisms are emerging from the Internet around open-source projects, including Wikipedia

Wikipedia

Wikipedia is a free, web-based, collaborative, multilingual encyclopedia project supported by the non-profit Wikimedia Foundation. Its 20 million articles have been written collaboratively by volunteers around the world. Almost all of its articles can be edited by anyone with access to the site,...

, Need4Peace, and the evolution of social media.

Economic norms theory

Michael Mousseau

Michael J. Mousseau is an American political scientist whose research and teaching is focused on international relations and comparative politics, in particular the link between economic conditions, institutions, and conflict...

links economic conditions with institutions of governance and conflict, distinguishing personal clientelist

Clientelism

Clientelism is a term used to describe a political system at the heart of which is an assyemtric relationship between groups of political actors described as patrons and clients...

economies from impersonal market-oriented ones, identifying the latter with permanent peace within and between nations.

Through most of human history societies have been based on personal relations: individuals in groups know each other and exchange favors. Today in most lower-income societies hierarchies of groups distribute wealth based on personal relationships among group leaders, a process often linked with clientelism and corruption. Michael Mousseau

Michael Mousseau

argues that in this kind of socio-economy conflict is always present, latent or overt, because individuals depend on their groups for physical and economic security and are thus loyal to their groups rather than their states, and because groups are in a constant state of conflict over access to state coffers. Through processes of bounded rationality

Bounded rationality

Bounded rationality is the idea that in decision making, rationality of individuals is limited by the information they have, the cognitive limitations of their minds, and the finite amount of time they have to make a decision...

, people are conditioned towards strong in-group identities and are easily swayed to fear outsiders, psychological predispositions that make possible sectarian violence, genocide, and terrorism.

Market-oriented socio-economies are integrated not with personal ties but the impersonal force of the market where most individuals are economically dependent on trusting strangers in contracts enforced by the state. This creates loyalty to a state that enforces the rule of law and contracts impartially and reliably and provides equal protection in the freedom to contract – that is, liberal democracy. Wars cannot happen within or between nations with market-integrated economies because war requires the harming of others, and in these kinds of economies everyone is always economically better off when others in the market are also better off, not worse off. Rather than fight, citizens in market-oriented socio-economies care deeply about everyone’s rights and welfare, so they demand economic growth at home and economic cooperation and human rights abroad. In fact, nations with market-oriented socio-economies tend to agree on global issues and not a single fatality has occurred in any dispute between them.

Economic norms theory should not be confused with classical liberal theory. The latter assumes that markets are natural and that freer markets promote wealth. In contrast, Economic norms theory shows how market-contracting is a learned norm, and state spending, regulation, and redistribution are necessary to ensure that most everyone can participate in the “social market” economy, which is in everyone’s interests.

Religious views

Many religions and religious leaders have expressed a desire for an end to violence and/or world peace.

Bahá'í Faith

With specific regard to the pursuit of world peace, Bahá'u'lláh

Bahá'u'lláh

Bahá'u'lláh , born ' , was the founder of the Bahá'í Faith. He claimed to be the prophetic fulfilment of Bábism, a 19th-century outgrowth of Shí‘ism, but in a broader sense claimed to be a messenger from God referring to the fulfilment of the eschatological expectations of Islam, Christianity, and...

of the Bahá'í Faith

Bahá'í Faith

The Bahá'í Faith is a monotheistic religion founded by Bahá'u'lláh in 19th-century Persia, emphasizing the spiritual unity of all humankind. There are an estimated five to six million Bahá'ís around the world in more than 200 countries and territories....

prescribed a world-embracing collective security

Collective security

Collective security can be understood as a security arrangement, regional or global, in which each state in the system accepts that the security of one is the concern of all, and agrees to join in a collective response to threats to, and breaches of, the peace...

arrangement as necessary for the establishment of a lasting peace. The Universal House of Justice

Universal House of Justice

The Universal House of Justice is the supreme governing institution of the Bahá'í Faith. It is a legislative institution with the authority to supplement and apply the laws of Bahá'u'lláh, the founder of the Bahá'í Faith, and exercises a judicial function as the highest appellate institution in the...

wrote about the process in The Promise of World Peace.

Buddhism

Many Buddhists believe that world peace can only be achieved if we first establish peace

Peace

within our minds. Siddhārtha Gautama, the founder of Buddhism, said, “Peace comes from within. Do not seek it without.” The idea is that anger

Anger

Anger is an automatic response to ill treatment. It is the way a person indicates he or she will not tolerate certain types of behaviour. It is a feedback mechanism in which an unpleasant stimulus is met with an unpleasant response....

and other negative states of mind

Mind

The concept of mind is understood in many different ways by many different traditions, ranging from panpsychism and animism to traditional and organized religious views, as well as secular and materialist philosophies. Most agree that minds are constituted by conscious experience and intelligent...

are the cause of wars and fighting. Buddhists believe people can live in peace

Peace

and harmony

Harmony

In music, harmony is the use of simultaneous pitches , or chords. The study of harmony involves chords and their construction and chord progressions and the principles of connection that govern them. Harmony is often said to refer to the "vertical" aspect of music, as distinguished from melodic...

only if we abandon negative emotions such as anger in our minds and cultivate positive emotions such as love

Love

Love is an emotion of strong affection and personal attachment. In philosophical context, love is a virtue representing all of human kindness, compassion, and affection. Love is central to many religions, as in the Christian phrase, "God is love" or Agape in the Canonical gospels...

and compassion

Compassion

Compassion is a virtue — one in which the emotional capacities of empathy and sympathy are regarded as a part of love itself, and a cornerstone of greater social interconnection and humanism — foundational to the highest principles in philosophy, society, and personhood.There is an aspect of...

Christianity

The basic Christian

Christian

A Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as recorded in the Canonical gospels and the letters of the New Testament...

ideal promotes peace

Peace

through goodwill and by sharing the faith

Faith

Faith is confidence or trust in a person or thing, or a belief that is not based on proof. In religion, faith is a belief in a transcendent reality, a religious teacher, a set of teachings or a Supreme Being. Generally speaking, it is offered as a means by which the truth of the proposition,...

with others, as well as being proactive and doing good works and forgiving

Forgiveness

Forgiveness is typically defined as the process of concluding resentment, indignation or anger as a result of a perceived offense, difference or mistake, or ceasing to demand punishment or restitution. The Oxford English Dictionary defines forgiveness as 'to grant free pardon and to give up all...

those who do try to break the peace

Peace

. Below are selections from two gospels:

"But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless

Bless

Bless may refer to:* Blessing, a religious pronouncement* Bless , hip-hop artist from Montreal* "Bless" , a 2010 single by L'Arc-en-Ciel* Bless, another name for the Swedish group Bubbles* Bless , an album by Bubbles...

them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray

Pray

Pray may refer to:* Prayer, an active effort to communicate with a deity or spiritIt may also refer to:-Places:Italy* Pray, Piedmont, a comune in the Province of BiellaUnited States* Pray, Wisconsin, an unincorporated community-People:...

for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you; That ye may be the children of your Father

God

God is the English name given to a singular being in theistic and deistic religions who is either the sole deity in monotheism, or a single deity in polytheism....

which is in heaven

Heaven

Heaven, the Heavens or Seven Heavens, is a common religious cosmological or metaphysical term for the physical or transcendent place from which heavenly beings originate, are enthroned or inhabit...

: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust." Matthew
Gospel of Matthew
The Gospel According to Matthew is one of the four canonical gospels, one of the three synoptic gospels, and the first book of the New Testament. It tells of the life, ministry, death, and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth...

5:44 - 45

"A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples

Disciple (Christianity)

In Christianity, the disciples were the students of Jesus during his ministry. While Jesus attracted a large following, the term disciple is commonly used to refer specifically to "the Twelve", an inner circle of men whose number perhaps represented the twelve tribes of Israel...

, if ye have love one to another." John
Gospel of John
The Gospel According to John , commonly referred to as the Gospel of John or simply John, and often referred to in New Testament scholarship as the Fourth Gospel, is an account of the public ministry of Jesus...

13:34-35

Due to the words of Jesus Christ in John 14:6, which says, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me., many Christians are unable to accept any other way to God other than Jesus Christ. Therefore, a true act of Christian love would be to proclaim that there is but one God, and one savior

Savior

Savior or Saviour may refer to:*a person who helps people achieve salvation, or saves them from something- Religion :* Mahdi* Mashiach* Messiah* Redeemer * Saoshyant* Soter- Music :* Saviours , a stoner metal band...

. Christians are called to love their enemies, and to preach the good news of the gospel

Gospel

A gospel is an account, often written, that describes the life of Jesus of Nazareth. In a more general sense the term "gospel" may refer to the good news message of the New Testament. It is primarily used in reference to the four canonical gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John...

.

Although Jesus did say "No one comes to the father except by him"
and the Bible teaches that you have to confess with your mouth that "Jesus is Lord," in order to be saved, some people believe that the Bible teaches that everyone will eventually accept Jesus and be saved. verses like Philippians 2:9-11 are used to support this belief "...at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father." Jesus also said "when I am lifted up from the earth (i.e. his death on the cross), I will draw all people to myself." (John 12:32) And while John 3:16 is arguably the most famous Bible verse, it is almost always quoted out of context. the very next verse says "God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him." (John 3:17) In this verse Jesus seems to be saying that the very reason He came to world was to save it. "For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost." (Luke 19:10)

One important topic of discussion when it comes to the concept of world peace and the teaching of Christianity is Christian Universalism which is a school of Christian theology that believes in the doctrine of universal reconciliation. The Doctrine teaches that God will eventually establish world peace and redeem all people unto Himself.
Some Bible verses used to support this belief are (Psalm 22:27-30) "All the ends of the earth shall remember and turn to the LORD, and all the families of the nations shall worship before you. For kingship belongs to the LORD, and he rules over the nations." and (1 John 2:2) "And He Himself is the propitiation for our sins; and not for ours only, but also for those of the whole world." and Colossians 1:19-20 "it was the Father's good pleasure for all the fullness to dwell in Him, and through Him to reconcile all things to Himself, having made peace through the blood of His cross; through Him, I say, whether things on earth or things in heaven."

Hinduism

Traditionally Hinduism

Hinduism

Hinduism is the predominant and indigenous religious tradition of the Indian Subcontinent. Hinduism is known to its followers as , amongst many other expressions...

has adopted a saying called Vasuda eva kutumbakam, which translates to "The world is one family." The essence of this saying is the observation that only base minds see dichotomies and divisions. The more we seek wisdom, the more we become inclusive and free our internal spirit from worldly illusions or Maya. World peace is hence thought by Hindus to be achieved only through internal means—by liberating oneself from artificial boundaries that separate us but it is good in acquiring peace.

Islam

According to Islam

Islam

Islam . The most common are and . : Arabic pronunciation varies regionally. The first vowel ranges from ~~. The second vowel ranges from ~~~...

, faith in only one God and having common parents Adam and Eve

Adam and Eve

Adam and Eve were, according to the Genesis creation narratives, the first human couple to inhabit Earth, created by YHWH, the God of the ancient Hebrews...

is the greatest reason for humans to live together with peace and brotherhood. Islamic view of global peace is mentioned in the Quran where the whole of humanity is recognized as one family. All the people are children of Adam and Eve. The purpose of the Islamic faith is to make people recognize their own natural inclination towards their fraternity. According to Islamic eschatology

Islamic eschatology

Islamic eschatology is concerned with the al-Qiyāmah . Like the other Abrahamic religions, Islam teaches the bodily resurrection of the dead, the fulfillment of a divine plan for creation, and the judgement of the soul; the righteous are rewarded with the pleasures of Jannah while the unrighteous...

the whole world will be united under the leadership of prophet Jesus

Jesus

Jesus of Nazareth , commonly referred to as Jesus Christ or simply as Jesus or Christ, is the central figure of Christianity...

in his second coming

Second Coming

In Christian doctrine, the Second Coming of Christ, the Second Advent, or the Parousia, is the anticipated return of Jesus Christ from Heaven, where he sits at the Right Hand of God, to Earth. This prophecy is found in the canonical gospels and in most Christian and Islamic eschatologies...

. At that time love, justice and peace will be so abundant that the world will be in likeness of paradise

Paradise

Paradise is a place in which existence is positive, harmonious and timeless. It is conceptually a counter-image of the miseries of human civilization, and in paradise there is only peace, prosperity, and happiness. Paradise is a place of contentment, but it is not necessarily a land of luxury and...

.

Added October 5, 2009 by IECRC - Islamic Educational & Cultural Research Center's research on religious involvement in world peace and the concept of the World Peace Order is expanded in great detail in its latest publication "World Peace Order - Towards an International State".

Judaism

Judaism teaches that at some future time a Messiah will rise up to bring all Jews back to the Land of Israel

Land of Israel

The Land of Israel is the Biblical name for the territory roughly corresponding to the area encompassed by the Southern Levant, also known as Canaan and Palestine, Promised Land and Holy Land. The belief that the area is a God-given homeland of the Jewish people is based on the narrative of the...

, followed by everlasting global peace and prosperity. This idea originates from passages in the Tanakh

Tanakh

The Tanakh is a name used in Judaism for the canon of the Hebrew Bible. The Tanakh is also known as the Masoretic Text or the Miqra. The name is an acronym formed from the initial Hebrew letters of the Masoretic Text's three traditional subdivisions: The Torah , Nevi'im and Ketuvim —hence...

and rabbinic interpretations.

In addition to this well known idea of a Messiah, there also exists the idea of Tikkun olam
Tikkun olam
Tikkun olam is a Hebrew phrase that means "repairing the world." In Judaism, the concept of tikkun olam originated in the early rabbinic period...

(Repairing the World). Tikkun olam is accomplished through various means, such as ritualistically performing God's commandments (keeping the Sabbath, kashrut laws, etc.), charity and social justice, as well as through example persuading the rest of the world to behave morally. This would result in the beginning of the Messianic Age.

Jainism

Compassion for all life, human and non-human

Ahimsa in Jainism

Ahiṃsā in Jainism is a fundamental principle forming the cornerstone of its ethics and doctrine. The term "ahimsa" means “non-violence”, “non-injury” or absence of desire to harm any life forms. Vegetarianism and other non-violent practices and rituals of Jains flow from the principle of Ahiṃsā...

, is central to Jainism

Jainism

Jainism is an Indian religion that prescribes a path of non-violence towards all living beings. Its philosophy and practice emphasize the necessity of self-effort to move the soul towards divine consciousness and liberation. Any soul that has conquered its own inner enemies and achieved the state...

. Human life is valued as a unique, rare opportunity to reach enlightenment; to kill any person, no matter what crime he may have committed, is considered unimaginably abhorrent. It is a religion that requires monks and laity, from all its sects and traditions, to be vegetarian. Some Indian regions, such as Gujarati, have been strongly influenced by Jains and often the majority of the local Hindus of every denomination have also become vegetarian.

Sikhism

“All beings and creatures are His; He belongs to all” (Guru Granth Sahib, 425). Gurus furthermore preached to “Sing the Praise of the One, the Immaculate Lord; He is contained within all” (Guru Granth Sahib, 706). “The special feature of the Sikh of the Guru is that he goes beyond the framework of caste-classification and moves in humility. Then his labor becomes acceptable at the door of God” (Bhai Gurdas Ji, 1).

Economic implications

A report in May 2011 on the Global Peace Index

Global Peace Index

The Global Peace Index is an attempt to measure the relative position of nations' and regions' peacefulness. It is the product of Institute for Economics and Peace and developed in consultation with an international panel of peace experts from peace institutes and think tanks with data collected...

highlighted that had the world been 25% more peaceful in the past year, the global economy would have benefited by an additional $2 trillion, which would account for 2% of global GDP per annum required to mitigate global warming

Global warming

Global warming refers to the rising average temperature of Earth's atmosphere and oceans and its projected continuation. In the last 100 years, Earth's average surface temperature increased by about with about two thirds of the increase occurring over just the last three decades...

, cover all costs to achieve the Millennium Development Goals

Millennium Development Goals

The Millennium Development Goals are eight international development goals that all 193 United Nations member states and at least 23 international organizations have agreed to achieve by the year 2015...

, cancel all public debt held by Greece, Ireland and Portugal, and cover the rebuilding costs for the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami

2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami

The 2011 earthquake off the Pacific coast of Tohoku, also known as the 2011 Tohoku earthquake, or the Great East Japan Earthquake, was a magnitude 9.0 undersea megathrust earthquake off the coast of Japan that occurred at 14:46 JST on Friday, 11 March 2011, with the epicenter approximately east...

External links

worldchangeforum.org - striving for world peace through an open, uncensored, global discussion
http://peace.aaditya.org Global Open Peace Initiative (G.O.P.I.) by AADITYA (Mission - Attain Inner Peace to Retain Outer (Global) Peace ~Arun Kumar
PEACE IN THE WORLD IN MINDMEISTER : http://www.mindmeister.com/18150212?title=peace-in-the-world HAMIDREZA ZADEHNAVIRI

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.

Possibility

World peace theories

Various political ideologies

Democratic peace theory

Capitalism peace theory

Cobdenism

Mutual assured destruction

Globalization

Isolationism and non-interventionism

Self-organized peace

Economic norms theory

Religious views

Bahá'í Faith

Buddhism

Christianity

Hinduism

Islam

Judaism

Jainism

Sikhism

Economic implications

See also

External links