This report seeks to demonstrate the nature of the religious dimension of international conflict, which is sometimes neglected, often misunderstood, and frequently exaggerated. It also illustrates how religious leaders have addressed conflict and injustices confronting their societies. Religious leaders have employed a variety of peacemaking techniques, ranging from mediation and facilitation to interfaith dialogue, to address conflict around the globe and make the world a more peaceful place.
Key findings:
- No major religion has been exempt from complicity in violent conflict. Religion is an important factor in conflict, often marking identity differences, motivating conflict, and justifying violence. Religion is however not the sole or primary cause of conflict. Yet there is an almost universal propensity to oversimplify the role that religion plays in international affairs. Religion becomes intertwined with a range of causal factors—economic, political, and social—that define, propel, and sustain conflict. Religious disagreements must be addressed alongside these economic, political, and social sources to build lasting reconciliation. Many of the avenues to ameliorate religious violence lie within the religious realm itself.
- With so much emphasis on religion as a source of conflict, the role of religion as a force in peacemaking is usually overlooked. Religious affiliation and conviction often motivates religious communities to advocate particular peace-related government policies. Religious communities also directly oppose repression and promote peace and reconciliation. Religious leaders and institutions can mediate in conflict situations, serve as a communication link between opposing sides, and provide training in peacemaking methodologies. This form of religious peacemaking garners less public attention but is growing in importance. Interfaith dialogue is another form of religious peacemaking. Rather than seeking to resolve a particular conflict, it aims to defuse interfaith tensions that may cause future conflict or derive from previous conflict. Interfaith dialogue is expanding even in places where interreligious tensions are highest. The most contentious interfaith relationships can provide the context for the most meaningful and productive exchanges.
- Given religion’s importance as both a source of international conflict and a resource for peacemaking, it is regrettable that the U.S. government is so ill equipped to handle religious issues and relate to religious actors. If the U.S. government is to insert itself into international conflicts or build deeper and more productive relationships with countries around the world, it needs to devise a better strategy to effectively and respectfully engage with the religious realm.
