Religion and Violence:
The Examples of Christianity and Islam

Jointly organized by Religion Research Cluster, FASS and University Scholars Programme, NUS.

Speakers:

The forum identified the reasons for increasing tensions in international relations on religious lines since the beginning of the ‘war on terror’ and located the creation of new stereotypes based on religion. It also analyzed the polemical western discourse on religion and underlined that the renaissance of religious awareness and the search for civilizational identity by a religious community are not necessarily identical with an aggressive attitude towards other religions or civilizations. The forum stressed that a clear distinction has to be made between actual and perceived threats emanating from a given religion or civilization.

 

The forum also explored the problems arising within the discourses on the political role and global impact of a religion, which makes critical analysis and comparison of the conflict potential of religions and competing worldviews very difficult. It also discussed the importance of philosophy in analyzing the inherent social, ethical and anthropological implications of every religion and in distinguishing between a potentially violent message of a given religion and the abuse of religion (or ideology) for the purposes of violence, and in defining the proper criteria based on rational principles.

 

The forum was a huge success and met all the objectives stated in the original proposal and the participation of students, scholars and religious figures was overwhelming. It not only lead to a questioning of the various stereotypes on religion but an understanding of differences between the adherents of various faiths and underlined the need to foster a better understanding between various religious denominations in a world marred by the war on terror’