Religion, War and the Institutional Dilemma: a Sociological Interpretation

Religion, especially in its institutionalized church form, has always prescribed universal love and brotherhood and proscribed against killing and violence. Yet the institu tionalized church has always rationalized and come around to the support of the war and institutionally organized killing by its national community. This disparity between religious norms and practice has historically disturbed idealists and intrigued students of religion. This paper is concerned with how a universalistic religion confronts and resolves the dilemma of war vis-a-vis a particularistic socio-political system. It discusses (1) the theoretical bases for the non-pacifist attitudes and behavior of the institutional churches within the framework of the sociological 'Church-Sect' concept, and (2) the available data to lend support to the major hypothesis, that the church as a social institution (as opposed to the sect) is both reflective and supportive of society's values and practices and that the church, therefore, functions primarily as an agent of conservation rather than as an agent of social change. These postulates are strongly supported by four sets of data and empirical evidence. The first fully supports the implication that outright opposition to war - conscientious objection - would be more evident in the sects than the churches. The second study supports the thesis that the church, through the chaplaincy system, resolves the value conflict in favor of society in a manner to support the values and objectives of the socio- political system in war. The third study supports the postulate that the church is ac commodative in that its stand on social issues depends largely upon the mood and senti ment of its parishioners rather than standing upon its own religious values. The last set of evidence sheds light on the thesis that the church remains essentially a conservative force by compartmentalizing its radicalism within the campus ministry - i.e., the church is a conservative rather than change-inducing agent vis-a-vis society.