Clash of Civilizations?

I explored the Indian conflict recently with one of India's religious rebels and activists: Swami Agnivesh. His orange-swathed figure is well known in global interfaith circles and indeed he was en route from Guyana where he participated in a UN meeting on HIV/AIDS. We are collaborators on many issues of common concern - bonded labor, the "disappearance" of female children in India and elsewhere, and social justice.

We went together to visit our common friend Akbar Ahmed and his family. Ahmed is the former Pakistani High Commissioner to the Court of St. James, now at American University. The two friends and Akbar's family were looking for answers in territory where nothing is clear and simple.

The good news, we all agreed, is that the Mumbai attacks inspired wide revulsion, going well beyond intellectuals and activists. Indian Muslims demonstrated against terrorism and an interfaith mobilization to contest terrorism is taking form especially in India. In Pakistan, the group had heard, many leaders are embarrassed by the shadowy links of official bodies to the terrorists of Mumbai.

But there is plenty to be gloomy about. Even at our sub-continental tea, some viewed terrorists as evil people akin to savage beasts, but others cautioned that there are reasons for their anger, and that unless those reasons are addressed the fringe elements will always be ready to rise up. Sam Huntington's theory--that tension between cultures and religions will define the conflicts of the future--hovered in the atmosphere.

So it comes back to the classic dilemmas of our times: the tight interconnectedness of today's world coupled with its diverse beliefs. The change that disorients, spelling hope for some and despair for others.

Swami Agnivesh gave up a prosperous life as a professor from an elite family to fight for social justice. I remember a meeting on the eve of the U.S. invasion of Iraq when, among prominent ex heads of state and religious leaders, he suggested that we all go to Iraq as a human shield, in the name of social justice and perhaps to halt what seemed the inevitable coming clash. Everyone, myself included, blanched, and the idea did not go forward. But he like others is wrestling with the Huntington theory - is a clash of civilizations that pits religions against one another inevitable? Or can a more just world forestall those conflicts?

As we look to 2009, that's a question that really demands our hearts, minds, and souls.