Case Study: Genocide in Cambodia

The Cambodian Genocide occurred throughout 1975-1979. 1.7 million People were killed, which is approximately 20% of Cambodia's population. It was politically motivated genocide, in which all religious leaders, intellectuals, former members of the (non-Communist) government and military, and even those who were simply literate were targeted. Pol Pot, who was the leader of the largest faction of the Khmer Rouge (Cambodian Red) Communists, felt that, in order the make a communist utopia, he would have to eliminate all traces of the corrupt former regime and start fresh at year zero.

Throughout the genocide, all political and civil rights were abolished. Children were taken from their parents and placed in separate forced labour camps. Factories, schools and universities were shut down; so were hospitals. Lawyers, doctors, teachers, engineers, scientists and professional people in any field (including the army) were murdered, together with their extended families. Religion was banned, all leading Buddhist monks were killed and almost all temples destroyed. Music and radio sets were also banned. It was possible for people to be shot simply for knowing a foreign language, wearing glasses, laughing, or crying. One Khmer slogan ran 'To spare you is no profit; to destroy you is no loss.'

More than 20 years later, the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC) is bringing the former leaders of the Khmer Rouge to trial for their crimes against humanity. On June 26, 2010, the ECCC found Kaing Guek Eav, alias Duch, guilty of crimes against humanity and grave breaches of the Geneva Conventions of 1949, sentencing him to 35 years in prison. Kaing Guek Eav, a Khmer Rouge deputy and chairman of S-21, is the first of four former leaders charged to stand trial before the ECCC.

Why is their suffering?

The notion of suffering is a difficult concept for us to understand. We can start to ask difficult questions and there are not a lot of easy answers. We do, however, have the promise that God will always be with us.

I deal with the concept of suffering by thinking though what I am suffering and talking about it with someone. I think suffering exists because no one is perfect and at a time in every ones lives each and every person has a time of suffering whether it is little suffering or whether it is a lot of suffering. It does not really affect my understanding of God but it does make me wonder why people suffer is God is there for everyone.

Some suffering is hard for us to solve, but there is some suffering in the world that we can help alleviate. The one thing that I would always stand up and fight against is my family and friends as they are the one thing that really matters in life.

Virtue and Vice

No one person can be all good or all evil. We each struggle to make right choices in the different situations of our lives. The Catholic Church teaches us about seven different motivations for sin in our lives – The Seven Deadly Sins. It also teaches about the Seven Virtues we should aspire to.

The seven deadly sins are Pride, Envy, Gluttony, Lust, Anger, Greed and Slothfulness. The seven Virtues are Faith, Hope, Charity, Prudence, Justice, Fortitude and Temperance.

In life pride would look like a human being that walks with pride with their head held high and they are stood tall. In life today, envy would look like someone that is never happy with what they have in life. I believe that gluttony would look like somebody that is always littering and can just never throw there rubbish in the bin. In life lust would look like someone who is always raping people and sexual abuses them. In the world anger would look like a lion that is ready to pounce onto a human being. In life today, greed would look like someone who never shares and just hogs everything to themselves. I believe that slothfulness would look like someone who always bullies others and just watches bulling go on without stopping it.

In life faith would look like someone who is always concerned about things revealed by God. To me hope looks like someone who is always looking into the future. In life charity would look like every human being in the world donating one thing to a charity for the poor that have nothing. In life prudence would look like people being able to make their own decisions in life. Justice in the world would look like every living thing in the world being nice, kind and generous to each other. To me fortitude would look like someone that can curb their fears and moderate their daring. In life temperance would look like someone that can eat and drink with pleasure.

 

Conscience and Moral Judgement

We have explored the ideas of conscience and moral decision-making. Decision-making should be a process that we follow in order to check that our lives are consistent with our own moral code.

A friend of yours, who is also a popular and well-known student, boasts to you that he/she has managed to steal a copy of the semester science exam. He/she is prepared to sell it to anyone for $10.00. This test has a 50% weighting on the overall result. What do you do? Would you buy a copy for yourself? Would you report the incident?

If I was put in this situation, I would not but a copy of the exam for myself as that is just going to get me in trouble as well as I would have just gone along with the incident. I would definitely report this incidence to either a teacher or my parents as this is a very bad decision that my friend has made.

Free will and Determination

We have explored the ideas of free will and determinism. Free will is a gift given to us from God and allows us to make choices according to our moral code, but which also brings with it responsibility for the consequences of those choices. Determinism states that external factors determine our behaviour and actions and we therefore have no responsibility for our choices.

If God doesn't exist then good and evil do not exist as there is no goodness and nobody is evil in the world if there is no god.

If there is no free will then we are to blame for our all of our actions.

If our lives are completely undetermined then we will never know what will happen next in life and will never know how we will live.

Good and Evil in Art

Adam and Eve by Lucas Cranach the Elder

In this artwork of “Adam and Eve by Lucas Cranach the Elder”, some of the religious themes that are present in the work are truth as it shows a well detailed piece of what they would actually have looked like. Another theme is beauty as it shows the true beauty of Adam and Eve as they are naked but they do not care. The artist has covered up Adam and Eve’s private parts with vines so the viewers are not disturbed by the image. The artist has shown many little details such as all the animals and even the fruits on the tree. The artist has made the tree fairly large with Adam and Eve leaning on it. The animals all look like their actual size. In my opinion, I think that the themes have been presented really well. The artist has created a very good piece of Artwork.

Christ of St John of the Cross by Salvador Dali

In this artwork work of “Christ of St John of the Cross by Salvador Dali”, some of the religious themes that are present in the work are, beauty as it shows a detailed artwork of Christ on the cross. The artist has created a different kind of atmosphere. Another theme at present is hell as it shows the pain that Christ when through when he was on the cross. The artist has created the artwork from a different perspective of what many of us thought that happened when Christ was placed on the cross. Christ is the main object in this artwork. In my opinion, I think that the themes are presented very well. The artist has created a different perspective of what happened when Christ was on the cross.

The Gates of Hell by Rodin

In this artwork of “The Gates of Hell by Rodin”, some of the religious themes that are present in the work are hell and Evil as the artwork shows a different piece of artwork as it is fairly dark, and grey. This makes the artwork look like hell and evil. The artist has created a new type of art. The artist has made the work only grey to show these themes. The artist has also made the piece of work have many different types of surfaces to make them look evil. The artist has made the doors really large and the people on top fairly small. In my opinion, I think the artist has created a piece of work that the themes have been presented ok but could have been presented better. The artist has created a new type of art.

The Temptation of Christ on the Mountain by Duccio

 In this artwork of “The Temptation of Christ on the Mountain by Duccio”, some of the religious themes that are present in the work are, Temptation as Christ is tempted to harm others on the Mountain of Duccio. Another is beauty as the artist has made the piece of artwork very detailed showing the true beauty of all. The artist has made the work very colourful, with many different objects of many different sizes. The artist has all made the piece of work very detailed. Christ is the main object in the work as it is the largest. In my opinion, I think that the themes are presented very well. The artist has created a piece of work that truly shows temptation and beauty.

 

The artwork of Adam and Eve by Lucas Cranach the Elder best describes truth as it shows what life would have been like back then. This is a well-produced artwork that describes truth. The influences of religious art on contemporary expressions of good and evil are quite similar to the influences of just art on good and evil.

Good and Evil in 'The Lion King'

1.       Who are the ‘good’ characters from the film? List them.

Simba, Zarzoo, Siar, Nula, Simone and Pumba

 

2.       Who are the ‘evil’ characters from the film? List them.

Scar, Bonsai, Shanzee, Ed and Hyenas

 

3.       What qualities help define Simba as a ‘good’ character? Explain some of his    personality traits and things he does in the film that demonstrates his ‘goodness’.

Simba tries to save his dad. He stops eating mammals and starts eating grubs instead. Simba starts living a whole different life with Simone and Pumba. He saves Simone and Pumba from another Lion.

 

4.       What qualities help define Scar as an ‘evil’ character? Explain some of his personality traits and things he does in the film that demonstrates his ‘evilness’.

Scar tricks Simba about the bad side making him go into the bad side. He sets a trap for Simba that traps him in a stamped. Scar kills his brother by pushing him off a cliff. He sets the Hyenas up to try and kill Simba.

 

5.       What is the ultimate evil act that Scar does? Why does he do this? What does this make you think or feel about his character?

Scar kills his brother Siar by pushing him off a cliff because he wants to be King. This makes me feel very sad as Scar actually killed his own brother on purpose.

 

6.       What do you think the overall moral or message of the film is? What is it trying to explain to us about life? How do these morals or messages relate to the themes of good and evil?

I think the moral of the story is that in life you do not always know who is good and who is evil. In life family is the only thing that truly matters. You do not always know your true friends; they may be evil without you knowing that they are.

Where does evil come from?

Today we studied the first three chapters of Genesis, which explain the Christian understanding of HOW evil came into the world.

When I first heard these stories, I thought that these were not real. Even though they may not be true, many people believe these stories.

We then created Wordles to see how the language changed in each chapter.

In the Wordle for chapter 1, the main words and ideas were God, earth, according and day.

In the Wordle for chapter 2, the main words and ideas was man, Lord and God.

In the Wordle for chapter 3, the main words and ideas were God, eat, woman, tree and Lord.

The ideas in each chapter changed from earth and according to man and to eat woman and tree.

I think this means that throughout each chapter a new meaning or word was introduced.

I think the word temptation means a desire to do something unwise or wrong.

If I had to connect temptation with good and evil, I would say temptation is being a good person but wanting to do something evil.

Studying Genesis has helped in my journey to discover good and evil by how God created the world and what he made good and what he made evil.

Wordles

Religion and Philosophy

We have now found out about the beliefs of Christianity (religion) and Plato (philosopher) regarding good and evil.

Christianity believes that good is created by god as he created everything.

Christianity believes that evil is any action, thought or attitude that is contrary to the character of God.

This is different to what Plato believed.

Plato believed that no evil could happen to a good man, either in life or after death. 

When I look at these different ideas, the one that makes most sense to me is Christianity’s beliefs on good and evil.

This is because today in life this is what we go by.

After studying these new ideas, I think that good and evil could be described as two totally different things.

Y Charts