Conflict creation

Abstract

In the field of religion we like to suggest that authentic religion is a two‐edged sword. On the one hand, religion has the duty to “comfort the afflicted” while on the other hand, religion must “afflict the comfortable.” Those who comfort the afflicted are regarded as “saints” because of their charity, their compassion, and their ability to sacrifice their own comforts (and life, if necessary) to care for the poor and the socially ostracized. But these good people are only “half” religious. If they do not also challenge the cultural, social, economic, and religious systems that created economically disenfranchised and socially neglected people, they may, ironically, be contributing to the very crisis they are trying to cure. Rich people like charitable people, and politicians love volunteers precisely because they patch the boat instead of rocking it. But few like the boatrockers because they are troublemakers. The troublemakers are people and organizations that hold justice to be the basis of peace and social transformation (rather than social reform), the only truly effective means to cure social ills. Just as in the field of religion, people in the peace movement (activists, educators, researchers) have a dual mission: to resolve conflict but also to create conflict. Because of the woefully inadequate social, legal, and economic systems that dominate our lives, it is inevitable that abundant conflict will exist. Because we almost universally undervalue the human person and fail to recognize innate human rights, we will continue to have “wars and rumors of wars” for many years to come. Internationally, the many crises following the end of the Cold War have dramatically increased the conflict in our world. Hence, conflict resolution is becoming the major growth field in peace studies, especially since it is far easier in education circles to talk about conflict resolution than conflict creation!