Religious and Inter-Religious Reconciliation and Peace

“Historically and currently, we all realize that religious differences have often been a cause or a pretext for war. Less well known is the fact that the actions of many religious persons and communities point in another direction. They demonstrate that religion can be a potent force in encouraging the peaceful resolution of conflict.”

Religious representatives need to exercise their moral authority and mobilize the vast human resources of their communities in the service of peacemaking. The rest of us, in turn, must recognize the growing importance of religious factors for peacemaking and develop ways, both informal and formal, to cooperate with religious leaders and communities in promoting peace with justice.”

US President Jimmy Carter, Foreword to the book ‘Religion, The Missing Dimension Of Statecraft' (edited by Douglas Johnston and Cynthia Sampson, Oxford University Press, 1994)

“I am pleased that many of you have shown a commitment to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which has core values

in common with great world religions. Your work to mobilize communities to support suffering people contributes to our shared development goals. And the power of religions to promote reconciliation through forgiveness can significantly advance our work to address the root causes of conflicts and achieve lasting peace.”

Message of UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to Religions for Peace World Assembly, 20 November 2013

About the pillar

Head of pillar - Dr. Josef Böhle

Dr. Josef Böhle
Image: Dr. Josef Böhle

Dr Josef Boehle, University of Birmingham, United Kingdom: https://www.birmingham.ac.uk/staff/profiles/tr/boehle-josefExternal link

Peace Charter for Forgiveness and Reconciliation: https://www.charterforforgiveness.orgExternal link

Religions for Peace International: https://www.rfp.org/External link
Introduction

Since the mid 1990s, growing attention has been given in the scholarly debate and in the public sphere to forgiveness, restorative justice and reconciliation in peacebuilding. These concepts and values have been reflected upon and highlighted as core components of restoring right relationships, rebuilding communities, and in enabling sustainable peacebuilding: at first academic and public debates focused more on individuals and relations between them, and later as well on relations of religions, communities and states in the public sphere. Attempts to better understand forgiveness and reconciliation in relation to peacebuilding have to address also the critical issue of how to safeguard and integrate processes of justice into peace processes.

In recent decades religious and inter-religious efforts for reconciliation and peace have found prominent support among religious leaders, senior politicians and international institutions; and they are increasingly being taken seriously in the academic world.

In order to prevent major future wars, civil wars and growing divisions in societies, and being aware of the past terrible history of war and violence of humankind, it is imperative to develop commitments in all areas of life to building peace, to dissolving and preventing potential for conflict and to supporting processes of reconciliation. In religious contexts, it is therefore imperative to build bridges of intercultural and inter-religious understanding, dialogue and cooperation, both in private and in public settings, to overcome the cultural and religious dynamics that increase the risk of wars and conflicts.

In order to foster more peaceful societies and international relations, it remains crucial to support the creation of cultures of reconciliation, peace and justice and for educational institutions to play their foundational role in this regard in education, research, analysis and policy recommendations.

To ensure that positive and peaceful change is sustainable and embodied in public life, is vital to create and sustain the national and international structures which are needed to facilitate and coordinate dialogue and cooperative efforts across civilisations, cultures and religions.