The Just War Theory

"True religion looks upon peaceful wars that are waged,
not for the motives of anggrandisement, or cruelty,
but with the object of securing peace, punishing those who do evil,
and supporting the good." Saint Augustine. (source)

Saint Augustine, referred to as the theologian of war, really pushed the Just War theory in his time. The principle of Just War basically deals with justifying why we fight wars and the way we fight, or should fight, them.
Saint Augustine was given a false title. In reality, he should be called the theologian of peace. He was not unfamiliar with violence, but he mourned the cruelty of war. He wrote letters against such cruelty. He hoped that this principle of justice would be adopted. One time, he even wrote, "it is better to kill war with words than human beings with swords." (source)
This theory basically says that war is fair and just when executed with right intentions, a just cause, and based on the military of both. All of these requirements are listed in the Jus ad bellum of the Just War theory. Once a war has begun, this theory also outlines how it shoud play out. These requirements are stated in what is called the Jus in bello. Last is the end of the war. There must a be a just cause to why the war is ending and good intentions in ending the war are required. Even truth and reconciliation can play a role in the end of the war. The full list is called the Jus post bellum.
Just War is pretty much the keeping of peace through controlled and fair fighting. Without a principle like this, wars would have destroyed us a long time ago. Civilizations would have been crushed. Without Just War, our world would be chaos.

Current Events blog-Islam Day (Hawaii)

On the islands of Hawaii, the Hawaiian legislature decided to declare September 24th of every year, Islam Day. Despite being a small slam to other religions, is this a clear breech of the First Constitutional Amendment? Or just appreciation for a favored religion?

Islam Day clearly is appreciation for a certain religion. What's wrong with that? To answer that question, it's wrong because they do not have a "Christianity Day", a "Buddhist Day", or a "Zoroastrianism Day." If they are going to tolerate this religion, they need to tolerate all of the others. They take Christianity out of schools and give the Muslim religion it's own holiday?

This also goes against the First Amendment of the United States Constitution. This Amendment reads;

"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances."

Notice the first fragment. Islam Day is a clear establishment of a religion. Yes, appreciation surely is okay but this move seems to be the establishment of a certain religion in the Hawaiian government and among it's civilization.

I certainly can appreciate that they have respect for this religion. Even if I personally believe that it is false, I will respect it and it's followers. Yet, this is crossing a line. If you are going to respect one, you should respect all. Religious tolerance is not religious favoritism.

Not only is this one person's opinion but it's fact. The First Amendment clearly states that their can be no establishment of a certain religion among a state. Yet, this favoritism seems to be that way. Just as we have days for our leaders, Hawaii now has a day for it's religion. This may not be true, but it certainly has come across that way.

Roman and Greek Pantheon

in progress

Greek mythology is full of gods and goddessses. These divine creatures were constantly intervening the lives of the humans they governed. They were all unique and had different aspects of life that they governed. Some controlled the air, the sun and the ocean, while others were in control of things like love, fertility, marriage and harvest.
The Roman gods/goddesses were no different. They had some of the same exact gods just different names. Here are a few examples;

Greek name: Zeus. Roman name: Jove. He was the king of all gods and ruler of the sky and human destiny.
Greek name: Hera. Roman name: Juno. Queen of the gods, goddess of marriage.
Greek name: Ares. Roman name: Mars. One of the most famous gods, god of war and son of Zeus (Jove).
Last one. Greek name: Artemis. Roman name: Diana.

These are just a few of the gods and goddesses that are shared by both Greek and Roman religions. Despit their many similarities, there are alot of differences. In Greek mythology, things such as The Iliad and The Odyssey, the epic poems written by Homer. Greek gods were much more aggressive and intervended in different ways than the Roman gods. Take the Odyssey for example, Athena is constantly with Oddysseus on his journey home, in a human form. Also, the gods of Greece constantly picked favorites to bless and motal enemies to curse.
The Roman gods were much different. They did less intervening and play the Favorites Game a little less. They did things such as send thunderstorms or floods upon the humans. Signs like these would show the mortals that they were doing something wrong or impeech/gove more power to a ruler.
The differences and similarities are not so vast between the two. It seems as if they adopted their prinicples off of eachother. Both religions are polytheistic and both seems kind of seem like nothing but mythology.