Friday, November 22, 2002
On Monday evening, October 22, Dr. Lloyd Steffen, chairperson of the Religious Studies Department of Lehigh University will give a public lecture entitled, "On Holy and Unholy Wars: Religious Resources for the Justifiable Use of Force and Restraint of Violence." In this presentation, he will speak about some of the religious resources available that are meant to restrain violence and the use of force. He will focus on such notions as Jihad, holy war, non-violent resistance, and non-resistance, This will lead to a discussion of just war theory, not only as it applies to the use of force in military engagements, but as a model for evaluating the morality of other uses of force, such as the state execution power. Dr. Steffen will close by applying the model he has formulated to the current hunt for Bin Laden and other terrorists.
This lecture will take place in Sprawls Auditorium at 7:00 pm on Monday, October 22. All are invited to attend. Furthermore, Dr. Steffen will be available to attend one or two classes during Monday. If anyone is teaching a course in which it would be appropriate to have a discussion of the ethics of capital punishment or other lethal uses of force, please contact Stuart Chandler (assistant professor in the Department of Philosophy of Religion) at 7-5612 or chandler@grove.iup.edu