Violence in the Bible and Bhagavad-Gita

by Reposted by Military Truth | May 8, 2018 | Atrocities and War Crimes, Religion in the Military, Research

Repost: Violence In The Bible And The Bhagavad-Glta (.pdf) by Hector Avalos, Iowa State University
“Violence is a primary fact of life for biblical figures in the Hebrew Bible, and the biblical deity is often portrayed as the prime mover for this violence.” AND “If interpreted literally, at least some portions of the Bible are quite explicit in advocating violence as the proper means to settle conflicts that ultimately derive from unequal access to scarce resources, including land, God’s revelation, and human authority.
“Such directives reach back to God himself. If interpreted literally, the BG can also be seen as supporting violence. Krishna directs Arjuna to participate in war. Krishna supports the caste system that in itself may be a sort of violence to those that are in the lower echelons. Krishna devalues bodily suffering and death, which can logically lead to devaluing violence as well.
“If we extend the logic of Schwartz, it might be that all religions, not just monotheistic ones, are ultimately violent. All religions ultimately depend on creating, rather than just addressing, scarce resources. And more importantly, the scarce resources created by religion are generally accepted as unverifiable, which itself leads to violence.”