Good Practices to Reduce, Resolve and Prevent Religious Conflict

Introduction

This project was inspired by the clear needs which surfaced through research. One clear example comes from an article in International Journal for Religious Freedom. In the article, “Resilience to Persecution: A Practical and Methodological Investigation” Petri surveys research done on religious communities and their response to persecution. He proposes a resilience assessment tool to categorize how vulnerable communities respond to persecution, then uses empirical research in three Latin American contexts to illustrate the importance of helping vulnerable populations. In the conclusion he states: “As Stout (2010) argues, grassroots religious groups, if they adopt effective strategies, can exercise real influence over policy and promote social justice. Compiling a manual of best practices of the application of coping mechanisms, similar to Gene Sharp’s (1993) catalogue of 198 ‘methods of nonviolent action,’ could also serve a didactic purpose” (Petri 2017:82).

Petri’s understanding of coping mechanisms draws on several previous studies, two of which present broader categories for understanding and analyzing responses to conflict. The first is the book Under Caesar’s Sword which groups Christian responses to persecution in categories of “survival, association, and confrontation” Under Caesar’s Sword: How Christians Respond to Persecution (2018). The second study follows uses a human security lens. Glasius focuses on citizen’s own survival responses to violent conflict through categories of “avoidance, compliance, collective action, and taking up arms” 2012. These categories are indeed helpful places to begin, but additional work is needed to compile best practices in the spirit of what Petri has proposed.

This is the gap this project seeks to fill. We have used the term to “good practices” instead of “best practices” as this acknowledges the complicated problem we are addressing, in alignment with the Cnyefin framework. The name change avoids universalizing any specific practice as fitting for any context and acknowledges the reality that responding to the problem of conflict requires a range of responses.

Researchers and actors in the field of religious studies have access to many streams of information from a plethora of perspectives. Studies of conflict, their sources and contributing factors should and will continue, however this project aims to investigate practices that help prevent, de-escalate, or resolve conflict. This inevitably involves building resiliency, local and foreign actors, and multiple domains of society working together.

This research endeavor has followed a case study approach. Rooted in studies on religious freedom, this study attempts to generate and collect information on good practices for mitigating conflict that involves religion. The researcher has interviewed individuals and organizational in diverse regional contexts with known pressure against religious communities. This is a first step in an ongoing process of compiling good practices. This initial report follows pilot research in the following areas: Vietnam, Iraq, Nigeria, Columbia, and Mozambique. The case studies aim to generate descriptions of practices that might be profitably replicated and adapted by religious groups in different contexts to promote the cause of religious freedom. This initial report highlights a practice from one of the case studies and mentions next steps.