Berkley Center

In addition to their contingencies, religious conflicts demonstrate regularities, as they arise from elemental predicaments of the human condition and human nature. By understanding these patterns, peacemakers can design interventions to build a more harmonious future. Beyond emergent needs for peacemaking is the importance of preventing future clashes. The comparative study of theology and religion suggests logical and philosophical regularities that may apply across many religious traditions and could be cultivated as a prophylaxis against religious violence.

At this Religion, Culture, and Politics Workshop, Omar Sultan Haque, a faculty member in Harvard University's Department of Global Health and Social Medicine and Program in Psychiatry and the Law, drew from the social scientific literature to propose three interventions for diffusing acute religious conflict. He also described eight philosophical and theological concepts that are resources for peace from within religious traditions and could serve as preventative interventions against religious conflict. 

Lunch was served.