ABSTRACT
In coastal Tanganyika during the 1950s the colonial government ordered mission hospitals to remove Christian images and end practices that might alienate the largely Muslim local population. Contrary to expectations, a Muslim chief made representations to the administration asking for the order to be rescinded, explaining that far from the overt Christian elements angering the Muslim population, its acknowledgement of God and spiritual power was preferable to the stark secularity of government health services (Informant A). Although mission relations with Islam in the colonial period were characterised more often by competition and suspicion than by cooperation, the boundaries between the two were not impermeable. Where common interests existed, these ‘religions of the book’ could unite. In 2015, a prominent British Muslim non-governmental organisation worked with a range of Christian and other non-Muslim religious partners across projects in a number of countries. Partners included Christian Aid and DanChurch Aid in Bangladesh; LDS Charities (the humanitarian services of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints) in Bosnia; Catholic Agency for Overseas Development (CAFOD) in the Central African Republic; Wonder Years Centre for Excellence in Gambia; United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR) and World Vision International in Pakistan (and WVI also in Somalia). The organisation also forms part of a multi-faith initiative in Sri Lanka, the North Interfaith Forum for Reconciliation (Informant D). Crossing faith boundaries – whether as members or leaders of a religion, as a formal element of an intervention (like the Muslim NGO), or in a more nebulous sense of a shared worldview embracing spiritual realities as much as temporal (as in the mission hospital in Tanganyika) – is not new. Faith-based organisations have found value in working across faiths throughout the twentieth century and before. Yet despite this, much political science literature on religion in society remains fixed, in large part, upon a narrow perspective which emphasises the threat religion presents to cosmopolitan ideals of unity, cooperation and ‘modern’ forms of identity. The boundaries along which religions meet – whether through direct communal and individual proximity as in northern Nigeria, coastal Kenya or Bosnia in the 1990s; as adversarial ideologies
competing for regional or global dominance; or as virtual ones, where preachers, prophets and pedlars of hate push their visions on a cross-section of believers, would-be converts and enemies – are characterised by tension, immutable identities that reject the ‘other’ and their views and beliefs, and the potential for hatred and ignorance to spill over into conflict. Despite the stereotypes, the idea of religions as walled gardens, butting up against one another but rarely sharing each other’s space, has never held much traction historically. And whilst this is true in a general sense, it is especially so in the realm of development and welfare activities, areas in which religions have historically played a dominant role, as they continue to do. Crossing boundaries has been a characteristic of religious action in development and welfare for pragmatic reasons, for ideology/principle, as well as for political purposes. This chapter argues that in seeking to understand the motivations and significance of ‘crossing boundaries’, we need to consider faith-based development organisations (FBDO) as distinct from religious institutions. But in both cases, we can see a mixture of internal and external drivers shaping the extent and type of multi-faith engagement. An historical perspective also shows how these alliances and partnerships have evolved over time, reflecting the contexts in which they took place, the extent to which individual actors recognised themselves as belonging to a wider ‘sector’ with shared broad values and interests, and the availability of actors with whom to engage. Within the FBDO sector, many of whose organisations have emerged along what we might call the ‘NGO track’, such multi-faith action is commonplace, reflecting internal principles but also the wider networked nature of the NGO movement. Non-state development actors have historically been characterised by their networked nature, formal and informal alliances and partnerships for funding and running projects, for advocacy, and for defending sector interests. The early modern NGO movement was created and evolved through such partnerships; and the creation and maintenance of such networks is regarded internally and externally as a hallmark of voluntary sector engagement in processes of development. The NGO sector is, then, characterised by fluid and shifting boundaries. Crossing boundaries within the FBDO sector also reflects a separate track of recognition of the importance of multi-faith action in promoting understanding, social justice and peace, and working for a set of common (religiously inspired) values. FBDO boundary crossing reflects, first, the collaborative logic of the wider NGO sector in which cooperation makes activities more effective. But it also reflects external (donor) and internal (supporter) demands, each exerting a tidal influence on such activities, sometimes pushing them forward, sometimes pulling them back. These considerations are also true for development activity undertaken by religious institutions (for which ‘development’ may constitute one element of their activity but not a defining one, as it is in the case of the FBDO). Many have created their own patterns and rationales of engagement with other faith
(and non-faith) institutions and leaders. Issues of power are especially important for these institutions, for whom crossing boundaries reflects internal perceptions of how best to protect their own interests within society, as much as reflecting principles of solidarity and shared religious values. One of the main stories of religions across the twentieth and into the twenty-first centuries has been their efforts to establish and maintain spiritual and temporal authority. And multifaith action must be seen as one element of that strategy. This chapter explores these ideas through a focus on eastern Africa. It begins by looking at cross-faith action in the FBDO sector, and then reflects on such action amongst religious institutions.
