ABSTRACT
Introduction In order to address the overall topic of this conference, “Politics and the Religious Imagination,” I want to suggest that, at a political level, most wars are and always have been inspired by a certain religious passion, and that this has not gone away. One thinks of Belfast; one thinks of the Balkans; one thinks of the west Bank, of Burma. Although examples for religiously inspired wars are almost endless, in our post-Enlightenment era and in this secular world, most people would prefer to think that religion has nothing to do with it. But if it is true that religions or religious passions inform many of the conflicts that persist in our world, I’m going to argue that there are resources within religion to serve as an antidote, and that, in fact, without religion as an antidote to these perverted religious passions that cause wars, no economic, military, or political solution will find a lasting solution to these conflicts.
