Military Tribunals and the American Court System Essay

Military Tribunals and the American Court System - Essay Example International agreements define the proper treatment of prisoners and the acceptable treatment of civilians during times of war. This has had a practical reason as it has traditionally prevented field commanders from committing atrocities that would so inflame the enemy that they would seek widespread revenge on their opponent. To assure that armies would keep war civilized, special processes have been set up to deal with those that transgress the rules and prearranged agreements. A court martial is often used to prosecute individuals of one's own armed forces. However, when the enemy is conquered and has violated the principle and sensibilities of the victor, they can become the defendants in a military tribunal, a seldom used process to handle unusual cases in unique situations. This paper will explain the process of the military tribunal. It will discuss the history of US tribunals and their relevance to international events and conventions. It will define the difference between civilian courts, courts martial, and the military tribunal. It will further explore the requirements and rationalizations for holding a military tribunal as opposed to civilian courts. More importantly, it will discuss the constitutional evolution of the military tribunal and will examine key cases from the past. ... This paper will not form any legal opinion on the constitutionality of the military tribunal. It also will not offer a social or political opinion of the process. These are beyond the scope of this research. It will, however, offer the rationale used by the courts and government officials to arrive at their various opinions. It will include both sides of the controversy as seen by those that are most directly involved. It will highlight the unusual cases in history that have created the controversy over congressional and presidential power with respect to military tribunals. To begin a discussion of the military tribunal, it needs to be put into the context of more conventional and familiar court systems. The military tribunal differs from our civilian courts and a court martial in their purpose, approach, rules of evidence, and method of operation. Court martial is used to prosecute members of the military for criminal offenses that may be a violation of the articles of war or crime such as theft, violence, or criminal activity. They are similar to civilian courts in their guarantee of rights except that they make no allowance for a jury of peers. The jury is composed of appointed military officers. They do follow the same rules of evidence and due process for the defendant. Where a civilian court is used to prosecute civilians who violate the civilian law, tribunals have historically been used for the purpose of prosecuting an armed service's personnel who have violated the articles of war or international agreements. However they have occasionally been used in extraordinary situations to control the civilian population. The war on terror has brought about new definitions of 'enemy combatant' and the current

Four ways of evangelism Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Four ways of evangelism - Research Paper Example A conclusion is derived upon which two methods are chosen which I believe is the best method to apply to non-believers in my life. Evangelism, in this study, is defined as the zealous preaching and dissemination of the gospel as through missionary work. 1. A non-believer is described as someone who lacks belief or faith, as in god, religion, an idea or an undertaking. Zoll 2 revealed in his study that there many Americans today are non-believers, or have no religion. In a wide range study done on American religious life, Zoll’s study showed that the percentage of Roman Catholic believers have been declining, while the percentage of those who said they have no religion at all is increasing. In the same way, the percentage of Christians who are not Catholics suffered also a decline. According to Zoll, there are 57 million Catholics in the US today, but its population has declined by percentage point to 25 percent. In 2008, Zoll reported that there is also a dwindling rank of mai nline Protestants including Methodists, Lutherans and Episcopalians that dropped from over 17 percent to 12.9 percent of its population. Four methods of evangelism What then are the most appropriate evangelization methods to bring back or convert these non-believers to the Catholic fold or to other denomination? Is it the evangelism explosion, lifestyle explosion, friendship evangelism or the servant evangelism? a. Evangelism Explosion If one chooses Evangelism Explosion, one experiences the concept of â€Å"spiritual multiplication†. In Evangelism Explosion, people are trained how to share their faith in Christ. This approach uses prayer, actual on-the-job training where the â€Å"experienced lead the inexperienced, and applies the principle of spiritual multiplication.† The EE is a continuous process wherein it is not only winning people to the Lord on a one on one process but training those who have been won to the Lord to win and train others. EE is like being on a n real life work experience as one is expected to have an â€Å"on the job training† wherein non believers are invited to go with experienced trainers and be able to witness situations wherein people learn how to share their faith. EE based their mission strategy on Jesus’ own strategy wherein He trained 12 disciples and taught them how to train others and so on, thus the theory of spiritual multiplicity started. 3 The advantage of this approach is that EE believes that by learning small parts of the Gospel each week, including Bible verses and illustrations, people will have a hold of the Gospel tool that will eventually become its lifelong mission The difficulty I see in this approach is in doing the outreach or getting to the people one wants to convince. Often enough, non believers are steadfast in their attitude and do not welcome evangelists in their home or area. I relate this from my own experience from a group of foreign evangelists who knocked on my door one day wanting to talk to me about the gospel and Christian Faith. I did not let them in, first because I could not readily understood the way they communicate, second, I was so busy with something else at that time. So they just left me with some literatures about religion that I could read later on. So here, communication, time and attitude are the concerned problems so that it will take time and patience to be able to teach people