Under what conditions do religious actors become violent? Under what conditions do they reject violence? How do non-violent religious actors become agents of peacebuilding? This book from the Carnegie Commission on Preventing Deadly Conflict examines these questions using a number of case studies from different religions. It argues that a new breed of religious peacemakers have the capacity to advance the cause of peacebuilding in troubled regions, and deserve greater recognition and support.
The book defines religious militants as those who are engaged in warfare, whether actual or figurative, and who undertake extreme self-sacrifices in devotion to the sacred. Two types of militant are distinguished: The extremist, a violent exclusivist who practices violence as a means of purifying the community and waging war on threatening outsiders; and the peacemaker, who embraces tolerance and religious freedom and strives to sublimate violence, resisting efforts to justify it on religious grounds. Religious extremists are a minority within every major religion. By integrating the entire truth about religion into thinking about conflict, it will be easier to work towards sustainable reconciliation in societies divided along ethnic and religious lines.
The main body of the book provides a commentary on various case studies, using the following analytical categories:
- Religious violence: This occurs when extremist leaders successfully employ religious arguments to mobilize religious actors to retaliate against enemies.
- Religious resistance to violent forces: This occurs when religious leaders succeed in promoting non-violent militancy as a norm and strategy to oppose and redress injustices.
- Religious peacebuilding: This occurs when non-violent religious militants acquire skills in elements of conflict transformation.
- Religious leaders are key in advancing extremism or peacebuilding. They draw on sacred texts to advance religious arguments intended to shape their community’s behaviour.
- These arguments are shaped by the leader’s preferences and judgments. These are in turn determined by the interaction between the leader’s experiences; spiritual-moral formation; education; the internal dynamics of the religious community; and the constraints and opportunities presented by the external conditions of society.
- The most important external condition determining the behaviour of religious actors regarding violent conflict is the degree of autonomy enjoyed by religious leaders and institutions. The most important internal condition is the quality and nature of spiritual-moral formation provided by the host religion.
Historically, under the proper conditions, non-violent religious militants have been powerful agents of justice and peace. Appropriately targeted contributions from NGOs, governments, private citizens, the media and official religious bodies can turn “religious actors” into “active religious peacebuilders”.
- Religious authorities must prioritise religious and spiritual education for the largest possible pool of believers; dedicate resources to developing conflict transformation methods; and collaborate with trainers from outside the community.
- Religious non-governmental organisations (NGOs) are well placed to collaborate fruitfully with secular governmental and non-governmental organisations. Diplomacy can often not succeed without the support such organisations provide.
- Religious NGOs can build intra-societal networks to pursue peace and economic development. This advances both civic stability and the internal transformation of the religious order.
- Opportunities exist for the formation of long-term alliances between scholarly institutes, the media and religious actors that would considerably strengthen the efforts of religious peacemakers.
- The existence of various agents of inclusivity and non-violent social change does not guarantee their convergence in the cause of peacebuilding. The establishment of regional institutions to co-ordinate the expertise of religious and other actors and to provide a point of orientation and local knowledge could solve this problem.
