US Engagement with Religion in Conflict-Prone Settings

[Jedburgh]

CSIS, 20 Jul 07: Mixed Blessings: U.S. Government Engagement with Religion in Conflict-Prone Settings

....Global religious dynamics increasingly influence U.S. involvement overseas. Faithbased groups in the United States have driven foreign policy in places such as Sudan and China, while religiously motivated transnational groups such as al Qaeda have threatened U.S. national security. International religious movements have also mobilized at unprecedented levels to do important development work overseas. For its part, the U.S. government has recently undertaken reconstruction efforts in societies where religion plays a critical role, notably in Iraq and Afghanistan.

In a world heavily influenced by religion, U.S. government intelligence, military, diplomatic, and development tools must be properly prepared to engage these religious elements. Although so-called religious conflicts are often driven by a number of other, underlying factors, religion is a strong source of identity that can be used to mobilize constituencies and called upon to justify extreme action....

[marct]

Some interesting articles here, although people will need subscriber access to get them.

Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies: Volume 33 Issue 6 (http://www.informaworld.com/openurl?...ue_alert,email) is now available online at informaworld (http://www.informaworld.com).
Special Issue: Governing Islam in Western Europe%3a Essays on Governance of Religious Diversity

This new issue contains the following articles:

The Governance of Islam in Europe: The Perils of Modelling p. 871
Authors: Veit Bader
DOI: 10.1080/13691830701432723
Link: http://www.informaworld.com/openurl?...ue_alert,email

Democracy and Religion: Theoretical and Empirical Observations on the Relationship between Christianity, Islam and Liberal Democracy p. 887
Authors: Michael Minkenberg
DOI: 10.1080/13691830701432731
Link: http://www.informaworld.com/openurl?...ue_alert,email

Europeanising the Governance of Religious Diversity: An Institutionalist Account of Muslim Struggles for Public Recognition p. 911
Authors: Matthias Koenig
DOI: 10.1080/13691830701432756
Link: http://www.informaworld.com/openurl?...ue_alert,email

Religious Institutions, Church–State History and Muslim Mobilisation in Britain, France and Germany p. 933
Authors: J. Christopher Soper; Joel S. Fetzer
DOI: 10.1080/13691830701432780
Link: http://www.informaworld.com/openurl?...ue_alert,email

The Political Accommodation of Immigrant Religious Practices: The Case of Special Admission Rules for Ministers of Religion p. 945
Authors: Albert Kraler
DOI: 10.1080/13691830701432822
Link: http://www.informaworld.com/openurl?...ue_alert,email

New Challenges for Islamic Ritual Slaughter: A European Perspective p. 965
Authors: Florence Bergeaud-Blackler
DOI: 10.1080/13691830701432871
Link: http://www.informaworld.com/openurl?...ue_alert,email

Islamic Presence and Mosque Establishment in France: Colonialism, Arrangements for Guestworkers and Citizenship p. 981
Authors: Marcel Maussen
DOI: 10.1080/13691830701432889
Link: http://www.informaworld.com/openurl?...ue_alert,email

A View from France on the Internal Complexity of National Models p. 1003
Authors: John Bowen
DOI: 10.1080/13691830701432905
Link: http://www.informaworld.com/openurl?...ue_alert,email

Reviews p. 1017
DOI: 10.1080/13691830701432913
Link: http://www.informaworld.com/openurl?...ue_alert,email

[skiguy]

Thanks for this. I'll have to read this in its entirety seeing that it's a huge interest of mine and something I hope to be involved in the near future.

American interests will be better met through increased awareness and recognition of how religion affects international affairs...

[Jedburgh]

USIP, 5 Feb 08: Religion in World Affairs: Its Role in Conflict and Peace

Summary

• No major religion has been exempt from complicity in violent conflict. Yet we need to beware of an almost universal propensity to oversimplify the role that religion plays in international affairs. Religion is not usually the sole or even primary cause of conflict.

• 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. Not infrequently, 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.

Complete 8 page paper at the link.

[Jedburgh]

USIP, 8 Oct 08: Abrahamic Alternatives to War: Jewish, Christian, and Muslim Perspectives on Just Peacemaking

Summary

• Jewish, Muslim, and Christian sacred texts all contain sections that support violence and justify warfare as a means to achieve certain goals. In particular historical circumstances, these texts have served as the basis to legitimate violent campaigns, oftentimes against other faith communities.

• Many of the passages from sacred texts in all three religious traditions that are misused in contemporary situations to support violence and war are taken out of context, interpreted in historically inaccurate ways, or can be better translated. Finally, all of these passages need to be understood within (and constrained by) the primary spiritual aims of the individual faith.

• There are also a great many teachings and ethical imperatives within Jewish, Christian, and Muslim scriptures that promote peace and present the means to achieve it. These include mandates to strive for political, social, and economic justice; tolerant intercommunal coexistence; and nonviolent conflict resolution.

• The three religious delegations that participated in the conference leading to this report presented slightly different and yet overlapping methods for peacemaking articulated by their sacred scriptures. The considerable overlap led the scholars to affirm the existence of a coherent “Abrahamic Just Peacemaking” paradigm, which began to take focus through their rigorous interfaith debate.

• Further work is needed to articulate fully this Abrahamic Just Peacemaking paradigm. The conference scholars committed themselves to continued development of this model in pursuit of a rigorous and effective faith-based program to promote alternatives to war.

[Jedburgh]

USIP, 21 Jan 09: Islamic Peacemaking Since 9/11

Summary

• Muslims in general and Muslim leaders particularly have often been severely criticized for not more energetically condemning the violent acts of Muslim extremists.

• Violent extremists are on one edge of the Muslim community. They are counter-balanced by a growing movement of Muslim peacemakers.

• Equally as notable as Islamic militancy but less noted are Muslims’ 1) widespread condemnation of terrorism and other violent acts; 2) promotion of interfaith dialogue; 3) education of Muslim youth and reeducation of extremist Muslims; and 4) promotion of peaceful conflict resolution.

[Rex Brynen]

Haaretz - 13:17 26/01/2009

IDF rabbinate publication during Gaza war: We will show no mercy on the cruel

By Amos Harel, Haaretz Correspondent

An overview of some of the army rabbinate's publications made available during the fighting reflects the tone of nationalist propaganda that steps blatantly into politics, sounds racist and can be interpreted as a call to challenge international law when it comes to dealing with enemy civilians.

Haaretz has received some of the publications through Breaking the Silence, a group of former soldiers who collect evidence of unacceptable behavior in the army vis-a-vis Palestinians. Other material was provided by officers and men who received it during Operation Cast Lead. Following are quotations from this material:

"[There is] a biblical ban on surrendering a single millimeter of it [the Land of Israel] to gentiles, though all sorts of impure distortions and foolishness of autonomy, enclaves and other national weaknesses. We will not abandon it to the hands of another nation, not a finger, not a nail of it." This is an excerpt from a publication entitled "Daily Torah studies for the soldier and the commander in Operation Cast Lead," issued by the IDF rabbinate. The text is from "Books of Rabbi Shlomo Aviner," who heads the Ateret Cohanim yeshiva in the Muslim quarter of the Old City in Jerusalem.

The following questions are posed in one publication: "Is it possible to compare today's Palestinians to the Philistines of the past? And if so, is it possible to apply lessons today from the military tactics of Samson and David?" Rabbi Aviner is again quoted as saying: "A comparison is possible because the Philistines of the past were not natives and had invaded from a foreign land ... They invaded the Land of Israel, a land that did not belong to them and claimed political ownership over our country ... Today the problem is the same. The Palestinians claim they deserve a state here, when in reality there was never a Palestinian or Arab state within the borders of our country. Moreover, most of them are new and came here close to the time of the War of Independence."

The IDF rabbinate, also quoting Rabbi Aviner, describes the appropriate code of conduct in the field: "When you show mercy to a cruel enemy, you are being cruel to pure and honest soldiers. This is terribly immoral. These are not games at the amusement park where sportsmanship teaches one to make concessions. This is a war on murderers. 'A la guerre comme a la guerre.'"

Needless to say, I'm sure Hamas didn't have any issues mixing religion and politics.