A Buddhist monk...must renounce all violence, all killing, all bloodshed. Buddhists believe positive reincarnation is the result of compassion and compassionate acts for all living creatures. (page 46)

Everyone is afraid of violence: everyone likes life. If we truly see ourselves to others, no one would never take a life or be involved in the taking of life. This applies to war, murder and the killing of animals for food or ritual sacrifice. (page 47)

The injunction [against killing] is absolute: "Do not kill a living being. You should not kill or condone killing by others. You should abandon the use of violence. You should not use force either against the strong or against the weak. The consequence of taking the life of any being [will result] in his next birth meeting death unexpectedly while in the prime of life, even though he is possessed of all amenities of life, wealth and beauty." (page 47)

The main scriptural justifications for killing [come from a story] of how Buddha, in one of his former lives, killed some Brahmin heretics in order to protect the Doctrine. When the Doctrine is in danger, the Five Precepts, including taking of life, may be ignored. (page 55)

A second justification is that it was good to kill one in order to save two. (page 55)

Repay no one evil for evil, but take thought for what is noble in the sight of all... Do not overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. Paul in Rom. 12.17-21 (page 102)

Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the sons of God. Jesus in Matt. 5.9 (page 103)

The simple fact is that, for something like a century and a half after the ministry of Jesus, Christians would not touch military service, and, for more than another century, the predominant sense continued that Christianity and war were incompatible. Christians believed they were the race given over to peace, that God prohibits killing even in a just cause, without exception, and that the weapons of the Christians were prayer, justice and suffering. (page 103)

St. Thomas Aquinas's...basic criteria for a Just War? 1) It must be proclaimed by a lawful authority. 2) The cause must be just. 3) The belligerent should have a rightful intention, to advance good or avoid evil. 4) The war must be fought by proper means. 5) Action should be against the guilty. 6) The innocent should not suffer. 7) War must be undertaken at last resort, and 8) There must be reasonable chance of success. These are the considerations and values that have been observed by the majority of Christians for most of the history of the Church. (page 110)

The historic association of the Christian faith with notions of commercial enterprise, imperialistic expansion and technological advancement has meant that Christian peoples, although their faith is one of the most pacifistic in origin, yet have a record of military activity second to none. (page 122)

Men kill countless creatures that live on the ground when they trample them underfoot. The wisest and best-instructed men kill many creatures in various ways, even while sleeping or resting. Both earth and sky are full of living organisms which are killed by men quite unconsciously in their ignorance. (page 29)

You should not retaliate when another does you injury. Good conduct is the adornment of those who are good. Even if those who do wrong deserve to be killed, the noble ones should be compassionate, since there is not one who does not transgress. (page 29)

The killing of living beings is not conducive to heaven. (page 30)

The JIHAD, or holy war, originated when Muhammad established the new community of Islam. At that time many Arabs engaged in frequent intertribal raids, and he banned intertribal raiding within the community of Islam. Because those who accept the faith were protected against raiding, this
doctrine was a means of spreading the faith as Islamic members had to go further and further away to raid non-Islamic tribes. (page 125)

The chief instrument for the spreading of Islam and for establishment of a world-state was the JIHAD. (Page 130)

The doctrine of the JIHAD was in its own way the definition of a just war, directed against polytheists, apostates and enemies of Islam, and positively towards the establishment of a universal theocratic state. (page 131)

It explicitly states in the Qur'an that not all believers (i.e., women, children, elderly and sick) should actively participate in war. (page 131)

The jurists laid down certain rules of war...they agreed that non-combatants should be spared unless they were indirectly helping the enemy cause. (page 134)

Pacifism is not unknown in Islam, but is the exception and is to be found mostly among Sufi mystics. (page 136)

To seek peace and pursue it became a central tenet of later Judaism. (page 86)

The Talmud states...seek peace wherever you happen to be, and pursue it if it is elsewhere. (page 86)

Great is peace, because if the Jews were to practice idolatry, and peace prevailed among them at the same time, God would say, "I cannot punish them, because peace prevails among them." (Page 87)

Another great principle is that destructive action must be avoided if a less destructive action will suffice for the good end desired. (page 89)

If destruction is ever necessary it is a tragic necessity and an occasion for sorrow, not for triumph. Life is sacred. Whoever sheds blood diminishes God's presence in the world. (page 90)

The main grounds for a just war rest in attack from outside, and such a war is obligatory. There is much discussion among the rabbis as to whether preventive war fell in this category. The majority view was that it did not. (page 91)

There is in fact a duty to act to help others in need. "Whence do we know that if you see your fellow drowning in the river or attacked by robbers or by a vicious animal that it is your duty to save his life?" It says, "You shall not stand idly by the blood of your neighbor." Here "neighbor" means "fellow human" and not only Jew. (page 96)