Generolo Jono Žemaičio Lietuvos karo akademija

Despite rich experience indicating that waging wars is risky and not very ‘profitable’, particularly from the last decades’ perspective, and it also has a demoralizing effect on societies engaged in the conflict strengthening the tendency to aggression, nationalism, at the same time destroying the natural environment, it is difficult to imagine the world without an armed confrontation in the future. Such a course of action is proven by ‘the Ukrainian scenario’, or the situation in the Middle East. Motives pushing people to armed confrontations are quite complex and do not result from a simple need of domination and possession. War is quite closely connected with the domain of the sacred. Violence and religion are placed in close neighbourhood. Thus can values represented by great monotheist religions be ‘useful’ in the conducted polemological-irenological discourse and in the process of building a desired international security system? Do the components fostering war aggression dominate over ‘pacifist reflection’ in Judaic-Christian and Islamic spirituality? One may risk a statement that religion regardless of time and latitude, is not an indifferent factor from the point of view of waged conflicts.

The author of this article, using the heritage of history, analyzes some themes that shape Polish penitentiary policy. The issuses are connected with the religious context in the area of remedial influence on people isolated in prison. Religion, which is now present in social area, was not always accepted by people who play important roles in the state and in the prison system due to their views. Therefore, the author asks the question of a potential factor that would affect the people in order to be able to function according to social expectations. It can be considered that remedial actions on the basis of religious or secular methods may be a starting point for developing an expected repair model. It is also noticed that faith and religiosity can cause the transformation of imprisoned people, initiate it.