Violence Committed in the Name of Religion
←
→
Page content transcription
If your browser does not render page correctly, please read the page content below
PhD Course (3 ECTS) – Professional Training Course
Violence Committed in the Name of Religion
Phenomena, root-causes and practical responses
Violence incited, perpetrated and justified in the name of religion is a shocking reality in
different parts of the globe, and the brutality displayed in such acts frequently leaves
observers speechless. Violence with religious undercurrents, moreover, is an extremely
multifaceted phenomenon; it inter alia exists in the shape of terrorism, communal violence,
civil war and even international aggression.
While attracting much public attention in political debates and media reports, violent
incidents occurring in the name of religion at the same time puzzle observers and
commentators. What is the actual role of religion in such violent acts? Do certain religions,
e.g. the monotheistic religions, display an inherent propensity towards violence, possibly
originating from their dogmas, superiority claims and foundational scriptures? Or are acts of
violence always “political” in nature? Do political and other entrepreneurs of violence merely
“abuse” religion for justifying acts of aggression whose real causes lie elsewhere? If so,
however, how can politicians utilize religion to whip up aggression without receiving some
support from within the respective religious communities themselves?
The PhD course (professional training) organized by the Norwegian Centre for Human
Rights tackles such questions consistently from a human rights perspective. This specific
perspective is not only relevant when it comes to sketching out practical answers on how to
cope with violence occurring under the auspices of religion. Already the description of
relevant phenomena and root-causes of violence requires a particular sensitivity based on
human rights, including the right to freedom of religion or belief. One important contribution
of the human rights approach is that it takes human agency systematically seriously, thus
avoiding essentialist ascriptions.
In discussions on religion and violence, one frequently faces two attitudes, both of
which obfuscate human agency. The first reaction can be called “evasive”, as it denies any
substantial involvement of the religions, thereby trivializing the responsibility that religious
communities – their members, representatives and intellectual supporters – have to face in the
fight against violence. The second type of reaction, by contrast, reads an inclination towards
violence immediately into the “essence” of certain religions, in particular Islam. While
pushing religion into the centre of the critical debate, this essentialist approach is in danger of
nourishing fatalistic thinking, since it ascribes a propensity for violence to the very “DNA” of
the followers of certain religions, thereby marginalizing the relevance of internal diversity,
reform movement, theological learning and societal adaptation processes.
The title chosen for this PhD course, “Violence Committed in the Name of Religion”,
signals critical distance towards both of these typical reactions. While there is in fact a
relevant relationship that should not be dismissed, this relationship cannot be reduced to a
simple equation between only two factors: religion and violence. The passive wording
“committed in the name” accommodates additional factors, the most elementary of which is
1human agency. Just as it is human beings who bring about the connection between religion
and violence, it is again human beings, who can also actively challenge and overcome this
connection.
A comprehensive and contextual analysis of diverse root-causes of violence occurring
under the auspices of religion is important in order to become aware of the different facets of
human agency and thus responsibility in this field. Religious communities – their leaders,
intellectual supporter and ordinary followers – face a particular responsibility to speak out
clearly against any acts of violence perpetrated in the name of their faith. However, the
responsibility of religious communities cannot be exclusive, because in virtual all cases of
violence political factors and variables, too, play important roles.
Depending on specific situations, political factors can include difficult historic
legacies, a climate of authoritarianism, social inequalities or caste hierarchies, ethnic
fragmentation, rapid demographic changes, migration processes, a widening gulf between
urban and rural development, the break-down of meaningful public discourse, precarious
political legitimacy, a misogynic and homophobic “macho” culture, the weakness of civil
society organizations, experiences of racist exclusion, fear of economic and social decline in a
shrinking middle class, lack of perspectives for youths in the face of mass unemployment,
endemic corruption and political cronyism, a general loss of trust in public institutions, a
climate of impunity as a result of inefficient State reactions, international arms trade, proxy
wars and other problems.
Religious communities may function as additional actors and factors of violent
escalation, for instance, when turning group loyalty into a sacred duty, celebrating the
“martyrdom” of war heroes and invoking apocalyptic pictures of perpetual enmity. Religious
images of heroes, martyr and demons can become the matrix for interpreting contemporary
conflicts, which often leads to far-reaching and dangerous misperceptions. In extreme
situations, political hysteria and religious apocalypse may mutually reinforce each other,
thereby speeding up the vicious spiral of mistrust, paranoia and violent escalation. Religious
communities should therefore engage in a self-critical scrutiny of their own history of
involvement with intolerant attitudes, aggressive superiority claims, national hegemonies and
entanglement with power politics. A comprehensive analysis of the issue will also pay
adequate attention to positive examples of peace work undertaken by religious actors or
organizations, such as the movement Sant’ Egidio, the Interreligious Council of Sierra Leone
or the World Conference on Religions for Peace, to name only a few examples.
Human rights provide the binding normative framework for policies aimed at
preventing or overcoming violence occurring in the name of religion. When elaborating the
significance of human rights, the course particularly focuses on the contribution of freedom of
religion or belief. In conjunction with other human rights, freedom of religion or belief is part
of the rule of law, which must guide security measures in the area of anti-violence. Freedom
of religion or belief furthermore calls upon opinion makers in the public debate that they
should avoid all forms of essentialism, which would ascribe to the followers of a religion – in
particular, Muslims – a closed collective mentality, thus obfuscating the relevance of internal
pluralism as well as individual faces, voices and positions. Another crucial function of
freedom of religion or belief is to build or rebuild trust by encouraging inter-religious and
2inter-convictional dialogue. In conjunction with freedom of expression, freedom of religion or
belief finally facilitates reform agendas that subject religious sources and tradition to critical
scrutiny. Many religious reformers working for anti-violence agendas, at the same time,
understand themselves as human rights defenders, which demonstrates yet another facet of the
facilitating role that freedom of religion or belief can play in this field.
Time and venue
The course will take in the premises of the Norwegian Centre for Human Rights from 1 to 3
March, 2018. Participants are expected to study beforehand the course material. These reading
materials will be made available upon registration.
Course fee
Participants to the course will be charged a 3,500 NOK (Norwegian kroner) fee, lunches
included. PhD candidates from Norwegian universities are entitled to a fee exemption, except
for a small payment for lunches of 500 NOK.
Academic assessment
The PhD candidates taking the course are expected to write an essay of 4,000 words on an
assigned, or approved topic by one of the course lecturers.
Target group
While the course is primarily aimed at PhD candidates doing research on this area, it is also
open to professionals (with different backgrounds) who have an interest or are working with
issues concerning religion and violence.
3Violence Committed in the Name of Religion
Phenomena, root-causes and practical responses
Tentative schedule
Thursday, 1 March
09.00-09.30 Lena Larsen: Welcome and general introduction
- Mutual introduction of the participants
- Introduction to the NCHR and the Oslo Coalition
- Overview of the entire course
09.30-10.30 Heiner Bielefeldt: A thorny field full of pitfalls – thematic introduction
- Grave misunderstandings and their fatal consequences
- Human rights violations in the context of fighting “religious extremism”
- The significance of the human rights approach
Coffee break
10.45-12.15 Sturla Stålsett: “The ambivalence of the sacred”
- Topics to be specified.
Lunch break
13.30 -15.00 Iselin Frydenlund & Gina Lende: Case studies from Sri Lanka and Nigeria
- Buddhist militarism beyond texts: The case of Sri Lanka
- Violence and Christian-Muslim Relations: The case of Nigeria
Coffee break
15.15-16.45 Tore Lindholm: The myth of religious violence
Friday, 2 March
09.00-10.30 Bård A. Andreassen: The human rights approach
- Defining characteristics of human rights
- Sketchy overview on standards and procedures
- Why human rights are important for tackling violence in the name of religion
Coffee break
410.45-12.15 Heiner Bielefeldt: the human right to freedom of religion or belief
- Empowering human beings in the area of religion and belief
- Highlighting diversity between and within religions
- Contributions of freedom of religion or belief to efficient anti-violence agendas
Lunch break
13.30-15.00 Parallel working groups: methodologies in human rights research
- Discussion on the basis of selected chapters of the handbook on research methods in human
rights (ed. by Bård A. Andreassen et al.)
- Brief poster presentations by the participants
Coffee break
15.15-16.45 Inga Bostad: Ethics and hermeneutics in human rights research
- Important hermeneutical insights for academic human rights work
- Implication of the human rights approach for research methodologies
- Responsibilities of the researchers
16.45-17.00 Lena Larsen: Concluding remarks of the day
Saturday, 3 March
09.00-10.30 Stener Ekern: Violence at the boundaries: The sacralization of collective identity
Coffee break
10.45-12.15 Margareta van Es – Muslim responses to violence (TBC)
- Internal diversity within religious communities concerning the issue of violence
- Issues for religious and theological self-criticism
- Media representations
Lunch break
13.30-15.00 Gentian Zyberi: Upholding international and domestic law when countering terrorism
- From internal disturbances to armed conflicts with religious connotations
- Counter-terrorism measures and religious freedoms
- Real and imagined tensions between religious freedoms and national security
- Positive contributions of international human rights and humanitarian law to enlightened
security policies
5Coffee break
15.15 -16.45 Heiner Bielefeldt / Trond Bakkevig / Hilde Salvesen: Peace-building potential of
interreligious dialogue
- Different formats of interreligious and inter-convictional dialogue
- Trust-building through communication
- Conservative mobilization against progressive gender provisions
- Experiences from Colombia, Cyprus, Kazakhstan, Lebanon, Moldova, Palestine/Israel, and
Sierra Leone
16.45 – 17.30 General discussion: the tasks ahead of us
17.30- 17.45 Concluding remarks by Lena Larsen
6Required Reading
Bondevik, Hilde & Bostad, Inga: Core principles in argumentation and understanding: hermeneutics
and human rights, in: Andreassen, Bård A. et al., eds.: Research Methods in Human Rights. A
Handbook, Cheltenham: Edward Elgar Publishing, 2016 (pp. 68-93).
Cavanaugh, William T.. The Myth of Religious Violence. Secular Ideology and the Roots of Modern
Conflicts. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2009. (pp. 15 – 56)
Nussbaum, Marta C..The New Religious Intolerance. Overcoming the Politics of Fear in an Anxious
Age. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2012 (chapter 1: pp. 1-19).
Gunn, T. Jeremy: Permissible Limitations on the Freedom of Religion or Belief, in: Witte, John &
Green, M. Christian, eds., Religion and Human Rights. An Introduction. Oxford: Oxford University
Press, 2012 (pp. 254-268).
Appleby, R. Scott: The Ambivalence of the Sacred. Religion, Violence, and Reconciliation. New York:
Rowan & Littlefield, 2000 (concluding chapter).
Juergensmeyer, Mark: Terror in the Mind of God. The Global Rise of Religious Violence. Berkeley:
University of California Press, 2001 (introductory chapter).
Evans, Malcolm D.: Historical Analysis of Freedom of Religion or Belief as a Technique for
Resolving Religious Conflicts, in: Tore Lindholm et al., eds., Facilitating Freedom of Religion or
Belief. A Deskbook. Leiden: Martinus Nijhoff, 2004 (pp. 1-17).
Scheinin, Martin, Characteristics of Human Rights Norms, in: Krause, Catarina & Scheinin, Martin,
eds., International Protection of Human Rights: A Textbook, 2nd rev. edition, Turku: Åbo Akademi
University Institute for Human Rights, 2012, (pp. 19-37).
Patrick Q. Mason, ‘Religious Violence and State Violence’, in R. Scott Appleby, Atalia Omer, and
David Little (eds), The Oxford Handbook of Religion, Conflict, and Peacebuilding Oxford: Oxford
University Press, 2015 (pp. 237-257).
Davis Brown, The Influence of Religion on Interstate Armed Conflict: Government Religious
Preference and First Use of Force, 1946–2002, 55(4) Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion
(2016), pp. 800–820.
Report of the Special Rapporteur on freedom of religion or belief (Focus: Tackling manifestations of
collective religious hatred), A/HRC/25/58 (2014).
Report of the Special Rapporteur on freedom of religion or belief (Focus: Preventing violence
committed in the name of religion), A/HRC/28/66 (2015).
UN Human Rights Committee, General Comment No. 23 (1993) on article 18 of the International
Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (UN Doc. A/48/40, vol. I, annex VI.
7Recommended Literature
Andreassen, Bård A. et al., eds.: Research Methods in Human Rights. A Handbook. Cheltenham:
Edward Elgar Publishing, 2016.
Assmann, Jan: The Price of Monotheism. Redwood City: Stanford University Press, 2010.
R. Scott Appleby, Atalia Omer, and David Little (eds), The Oxford Handbook of Religion, Conflict,
and Peacebuilding Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2015.
Bielefeldt, Heiner & Wiener, Michael: The Power of Religious Freedom. Toward a Holistic Human
Rights Approach, Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press (forthcoming in 2018), chapter IX.
John L. Esposito (ed), Religion and Violence, 6(4) Religions (2015).
Frydenlund, Iselin. Buddhist Militarism beyond Texts: the Importance of Ritual during the Sri Lankan
War, in: Journal of Religion and Violence, 5:1, (2017) pp. 27-48.
ICRC, How Does Law Protect in War, Religion (a short bibliography).
Michael Jerryson, Mark Juergensmeyer, and Margo Kitts (eds), The Oxford Handbook of Religion and
Violence Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2013.
Roy, Olivier. Jihad and Death. London: Hurst Publishers, 2017.
Stålsett, Sturla. Religion i urolige tider. Globalisering, religion og sårbarhet. Oslo: Cappelen Damm,
2017.
Vesselin Popovski, Gregory M. Reichberg and Nicholas Turner (eds), World Religions and Norms of
War. Tokyo: United Nations University Press, 2009.
Annual Reports of the Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Religion or Belief.
8You can also read
