The Florentine Comedy

Through the centuries of church history war-fighting popes combined the rules of military ethics and religious ethics. Augustine of Hippo established five fundamental conditions that were mandatory for declaring just war, namely legitimacy, justification, commensurability, intent, and proportionality. Under these conditions the bestiality of war became a noble act. It also justified that the proportionate nature of military brutality may only be claimed by the morally good. The heritage of European history has the bitter taste of violence and systematic deception. According to the assessment of Machiavelli in the early 14th century morality, law and religion serve only as a façade. What is regarded right and acceptable differs between the societies and changes over the centuries. Ethical values are subject to constant change. Nowadays, the diversity of perspectives allows for a diversity of ethical interpretations. The difficulty lies in how to formulate generally binding rules of coexistence in an open-minded community.

Keywords: Military Ethics, Social Ethics, Religious Ethics, Freedom of Religion.