ABSTRACT
One of the most shocking and disconcerting features of many recent social conflicts is the extent to which they involve clashes of passionately held religious beliefs and cultural values. Frequently, one hears even knowledgeable observers declare that, while many sorts of violent struggles are difficult to resolve, religious or cultural conflicts are virtually impossible to settle peacefully. Why? Because of the parties’ fanaticism, their dogmatic conviction that only they possess the Truth, their ‘all or nothing’ absolutism, and their conviction that theirs is a holy cause, or, as the analyst Mark Juergensmeyer puts it, that they are fighting a “cosmic war” under God’s command.1 One can answer, quite correctly, that secularist movements have been far more violent than any religiously motivated campaign, but there is clearly something especially terrifying – especially to the inhabitants of wealthy nations who are used to employing impersonal, hi-tech weapons of war – about facing a Godintoxicated warrior seeking martyrdom. Moreover, it is not just their violence that makes religious or cultural-nationalist movements seem resistant to conflict resolution, but their apparent unwillingness to engage in reasonable discussion and to make compromises. “Gott mit uns!” (God is on our side) is not an invitation to bargain.
