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The Relevance of Interreligious Collaboration in Peacebuilding

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International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science (IJRISS) | Volume III, Issue IV, April 2019 | ISSN 2454–6186

The Relevance of Interreligious Collaboration in Peacebuilding

Emmanuel Chiwetalu Ossai
Department of Religion and Cultural Studies, University of Nigeria, Nsukka

IJRISS Call for paper

Abstract-This paper closely considers how interreligious collaboration between religious peacebuilders could help to make religious peacebuilding in cases where religion is (part of) the problem more effective. Considering how interreligious collaboration applies to some peacebuilding mechanisms such as conflict mediation and workshops, I identify and discuss four major advantages, which include the following: (i) bolstering the legitimacy and influence of religious actors,(2) enhancing the capacity of religious resources, (3) providing a platform for the combination of intra-/intercommunal human, intellectual and material resources, and (4) sending unspoken and influential messages of love, tolerance and reconciliation to the public.

Keywords: religious peacebuilding, religion-related or religious conflict, conflict mediation and workshops, interreligious relations, collaboration in peacebuilding.

I. INTRODUCTION

Examples of religious peace actions and peacebuilders have been presented in a number of texts, including Little (2007) and Appleby (2000), but the advantages of interreligious collaboration for peacebuilding have not been itemised yet as a way of promoting it as an approach to religious peacebuilding in cases where religion is (part of) the problem. As a way of increasing our understanding of approaches to religious peacebuilding, this paper aims to address the following major question: in what ways can interreligious collaboration between religious peacebuilders help to facilitate settlement in conflict situations where religion is (part of) the problem, for example where the conflicting parties belong to two or more different religious groups or where the object of dispute is a religious one? I suggest here that interreligious collaboration is a deeply helpful approach to peacebuilding or peacemaking, especially in conflicts over religious issues, sacred objects or space, or conflicts between religiously different groups.