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[German Version] I. Concept and History – II. International Criminal Law I. Concept and History The German term Völkermord refers to a variety of actions undertaken to annihilate various social groups; the element of “murder” need not be fulfilled nor a ¶ “people” be the sole victims. The term “genocide,” coined by Raphael Lemkin (from Gk γένος/ génos: kind, people, tribe; Lat. caedere: to annihilate, kill) is more precise. Prompted by his study of the Turkish mass murder of the Armenians (Turkey), the persecution of the Assyrian Christians in Iraq at th…

[German Version] I. The term “church politics” usually means either the politics of the state (or a party or social organization) toward the churches, or internal church politics. In a pluralistic community, the former meaning falls under ¶ the heading of religious politics and will therefore not be considered here. In both uses, the origins of the term (though not of the phenomenon itself) are intimately connected with the tendency toward mutual emancipation of church and state. In the 19th century, representat…

[German Version] I. Origin Soon after the outbreak of World War II, the collapse of the League of Nations led to plans for a new world peace organization, as described in the Atlantic Charter, the joint declaration of Franklin D. Roosevelt and Winston Churchill published on Aug 14, 1941. On Jan 1, 1942, its goals were affirmed in the Declaration by United Nations (UN) signed by 26 countries at war with the so-called Axis Powers. The Charter, worked out by representatives of 50 countries, took effect on Oct 24, 1945. II. Goals and Principles According to article 1 of the Charter, the prim…

[English Version] I. Begriff und Geschichte 1.  Begriff Wehrpflicht (W.) bez. ein militärisches Rekrutierungssystem, dem (im Unterschied zum freiwilligen Militärdienst in einer Armee von Berufs- und/oder Zeitsoldaten) eine öfftl.-rechtliche Pflicht aller wehrfähigen Staatsbürger zugrundeliegt. Abhängig von der jeweiligen staatl. Wehrverfassung kann der die allg. W. erfüllende Wehrdienst entweder in Milizverbänden oder in einer ständigen mobilen Truppe geleistet werden. 2.  Geschichte Der Grundgedanke einer W. ist alt; sie erfaßte aber in vormoderner Zei…

[German Version] I. Concept and History – II. Current Legal Situation – III. Ethics – IV. Conscription/National Service of Ministers I. Concept and History 1. Concept Conscription refers to a system of military recruiting based (in contrast to voluntary military ser¶ vice in an army of professional and/or regular soldiers) on the public, legal duty of all citizens capable of serving. Depending on the respective composition of the state's military, conscripted military service can be performed either in militia units or in a standing mobile troop. 2. History The basic notion of …

[German Version] I. History and Law – II. Theological Assessment I. History and Law 1. In Germany – and with some variation also in Switzerland and Scandinavia – church taxes originated with the secularization (II, 1) of the property of the church by the Principal Resolution of the Imperial Deputation in 1803. In compensation, the German princes acquiring this property undertook to meet the financial needs of the church. In the course of the 19th century, the German…

[English Version] I. Kultur- und religionsgeschichtlich Sprachentwicklung und intelligenter Werkzeug- bzw. Waffengebrauch liegen evolutionsgesch. auf gleicher Stufe. Technologisch sind Jagd- und Kriegswaffen zunächst identisch. W. als Grabbeigaben finden sich ab dem Jungpaläolithikum (Bestattung: I., Totenkult/Totenverehrung: I.). Die todbringende Macht der W. erklärt ihre religionshist. Besonderheit. Bei Opferhandlungen (Menschenopfer, Opfer, Ritualtötung) werden bes. geformte Messer verwendet, deren Herstellung und Gebrauch r…

[German Version] I. Religion and Mythology The evolution of language and the intelligent use of tools and weapons ran parallel courses. Technologically, weapons for hunting and weapons of war were initially identical. Weapons as funerary goods go back to the Upper Paleolithic (Burial: I; Dead, Cult of the: I). The deadly power of weapons explains their unique place in the history of religion. Specially designed knives are used in sacrificial rituals (Human sacrifice, Sacrifice, Ritual killing); their crafting and use is reserved to religious s…

[German Version] I. Law – II. Ethics – III. Practical Theology I. Law The right to conscientious objection in Germany, which long existed only as a special privilege granted to the members of the historic peace churches (e.g. the Mennonites in Prussia; see II below), today enjoys special constitutional protection through art. 4 III of German Basic Law (“No one may be forced into armed military service against his conscience”) as the most common example of freedom of cons…

[English Version] I. Geschichtlich Die Lehre von Widerstand und W. ist seit der Antike untrennbar mit dem Verständnis von Hoheitsgewalt im weltl. wie kirchl. Bereich und deren Grenzen verbunden. 1. In den germ. Stammesreichen West-, Mittel- und Nordeuropas überkreuzen sich in der Legitimation eines W. drei Rechtsgedanken: einmal die Überzeugung, daß der Herrscher nicht über, sondern unter dem Recht (d.h. einer traditionsbegründeten Rechtsüberzeugung der adelsgeführten Dinggenossenschaft aller Wehrfähigen) steht, zum andere…

[German Version] I. History Ever since classical antiquity, the theory of resistance and the right of resistance have been linked inseparably to the understanding of sovereignty and its limits in both civil society and the church. 1. In the Germanic tribal kingdom of Western, Central, and Northern Europe, three overlapping legal concepts legitimated a right of resistance: (1) the conviction that the ruler is not above the law but subject to the law (grounded in the tradition of the administration of justice by the community of all …

[German Version] I. Ancient Near East and Old Testament – II. Islam – III. Ethics I. Ancient Near East and Old Testament The theory that ancient Israel was, under certain circumstances, accustomed to wage “holy wars” in addition to profane ones goes back to G. v. Rad (1947/1951), at least in the form that became a milestone of scholarly research. Drawing on the depictions of war in the OT, he developed a “theory of the holy war” based on three constitutive features: 1. the embedding of the war in rituals that made…

[English Version] I. Zum Begriff 1.  Rechtlich V. ist der Inbegriff der die hoheitlichen Beziehungen zw. den Völkerrechtssubjekten regelnden Rechtsnormen. Völkerrechtssubjekte sind in erster Linie die Staaten, außerdem traditionell der Apostolische Stuhl, die von Staaten auf vertraglicher Grundlage geschaffenen und mit (auf ihren Aufgabenkreis begrenzter) Völkerrechtsfähigkeit ausgestatteten Internationalen Organisationen sowie Individuen und Menschengruppen, soweit sie nach dem Willen der Staaten sel…

[German Version] I. Social Sciences 1. Concept. War is conflict between large groups, peoples, nations, and states conducted by force of arms. The more precise definition of the term and its differentiation from peace are disputed. Behavioral science tends toward a broad definition: war is a specifically human form of intergroup aggression, functional in the context of competition for scarce resources; in it the use of weapons decreases our instinctive inhibition against killing. The theory that war is…

[German Version] I. Conception – II. Greco-Roman Antiquity – III. Ancient Near East and Israel – IV. Church History – V. Fundamental Theology – VI. Ethics – VII. Church in International Law – VIII. Islam I. Conception 1. Legal conception International law is the quintessence of the legal norms that regulate sovereign relations between the international legal subjects. International legal subjects are primarily states, traditionally also the Apostolic See, the international organizations created by the states on a contractual b…

[German Version] I. Religious Studies Peace (negatively: absence of fighting and war; positively: security, wellbeing, and harmony) is considered desirable in all traditional religions, although they also have their specific legitimations of war. In archaic religions, peace is primarily related to the community and understood as a present reality. However, from the beginning of the Christian era, religious developments produced stronger differentiations. Peace is no longer seen as a social phenomenon…