Peacemaking and the Role of Religion

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In this article by Dr. Scott M. Thomas (December, 2010), Thomas notes several ways in which religion plays an active role in shaping ideology that informs foreign affairs within and between nation states.  (Full PDF here.)  (More about Dr. Scott M. Thomas here.)

If you are young or old - and associated with the Eupan Global Initiative and are thinking about being a peacemaker in our world - you may want to consider ways that you can become an expert on issues of religions and nations states as a means to shaping global peace - bringing the good for the all.

The final paragraph of Scott Thomas' articles reads:

Faith informs the daily struggles of millions in confronting larger political conflicts regarding democracy, human rights, and economic development. Ethnic and religious diasporas in the global South are connected to the West in ways that can create or reinvigorate collective identities, whose influence can both promote social welfare and fuel terrorism and interreligious conflict. As a result, understanding religions worldwide -- their beliefs, values, and practices and the way they influence the political goals, actions, and motivations of states and religious communities - - will be an important task for U.S. and international foreign-policy makers in the coming decades. If the United States recognizes and utilizes the worldwide religious resurgence, it can harness its power to improve international security and better the lives of millions. If the United States fails to confront the implications of this religious rise properly, however, the potential for religiously motivated violence across the globe may increase dramatically over the next century.  Copyright © 2002-2010 by the Council on Foreign Relations, Inc. All rights reserved.


Toward eupan.


~ marty alan michelson, ph.d.

Posted via email from Eupan Global Initiative

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