Religion and Ethics in a Globalizing World: Conflict, Dialogue, and Transformation PDF
Preview Religion and Ethics in a Globalizing World: Conflict, Dialogue, and Transformation
RELIGION AND ETHICS IN A GLOBALIZING WORLD RELIGION AND ETHICS IN A GLOBALIZING WORLD CONFLICT, DIALOGUE, AND TRANSFORMATION Edited by Luca Anceschi, Joseph Anthony Camilleri, Ruwan Palapathwala, and Andrew Wicking Palgrave macmillan RELIGION AND ETHICS IN A GLOBALIZING WORLD Copyright © Luca Anceschi, Joseph A. Camilleri, Ruwan Palapathwala, and Andrew Wicking, 2011. Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 2011 978-0-230-10462-4 All rights reserved. First published in 2011 by PALGRAVE MACMILLAN® in the United States—a division of St. Martin’s Press LLC, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010. Where this book is distributed in the UK, Europe and the rest of the world, this is by Palgrave Macmillan, a division of Macmillan Publishers Limited, registered in England, company number 785998, of Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS. Palgrave Macmillan is the global academic imprint of the above companies and has companies and representatives throughout the world. Palgrave® and Macmillan® are registered trademarks in the United States, the United Kingdom, Europe and other countries. ISBN 978-1-349-28921-9 ISBN 978-0-230-11768-6 (eBook) DOI 10.1057/9780230117686 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Religion and ethics in a globalizing world : conflict, dialogue, and transformation / edited by Luca Anceschi [. . . et al.]. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. 1. Religion and politics. 2. Religious ethics. 3. Globalization— Religious aspects. I. Anceschi, Luca, 1976– BL65.P7R4525 2010 201(cid:2).72—dc22 2010028077 A catalogue record of the book is available from the British Library. Design by Newgen Imaging Systems (P) Ltd., Chennai, India. First edition: February 2011 CONTENTS Editors’ Preface vii Introduction Religion: Part of the Problem or Part of the Solution? 1 Joseph A. Camilleri Part I Emerging Challenges for Religious Understanding 1 Re-e nvisioning Conflict, Dialogue, and Transformation: The Imperative for a New Methodological Paradigm 23 Ruwan Palapathwala and Andrew Wicking 2 Surmounting the Wall: Religion and Conflict 45 Graham Maddox 3 Virtues in a Globalized Context 67 Neil Ormerod 4 The People of the Book: Reconciling Religious Fundamentals with Universal Human Rights 85 Michael Kirby 5 Holding Hands and Bearing Arms: A Continuing Challenge for Global Religious Communities 103 Merrill Kitchen Part II Implications for Multifaith Dialogue—Assessment and Critique 6 Relationship Building in the Middle East among Adversaries: Israelis and Palestinians 117 Dvir Abramovich vi CONTENTS 7 Bejeweled Dialogue: Illuminating Deadly Conflicts in the Twenty-F irst Century 141 Chaiwat Satha- Anand 8 Christian Ecumenism, Other Faiths, and the “Peace of the World” 157 Peter Carnley Part III Toward a Deeper Understanding of Islam 9 The Search for Communities of Peace: An International Reflection on Christian- Muslim Relations 175 James Haire 10 How Muslims View the Scriptures of the People of the Book: Toward a Reassessment? 191 Abdullah Saeed 11 Broken Covenants and Broken Relationships: Guidelines for Cooperation in a World in Transition 211 Ian R. Fry Conclusion Interfaith Interaction: Contradictions and Conflicts 243 Chandra Muzaffar Notes on Editors and Contributors 257 Index 261 EDITORS’ PREFACE From time immemorial, religion has been a point of reference for peo- ples of all civilizations and cultures in search of meaning and purpose to their existence. In this search for meaning and purpose, peoples have named differently a common cardinal referent—Atman, YHWH, Allah, Dharma, Dao, the Holy, and many others—in whom or through which answers to the human condition and the possibilities for transcendence and salvation were sought. This kind of encounter, which according to some theistic traditions is also facilitated by the revelatory character of the Divine, has led human beings to live meaningfully through the agency of culture despite being subjected to the vicissitudes, conflicts, suffering, and tragedies of existence. In many respects, it is the Holy Texts of cultures that embody and preserve this Divine-human encounter as the story of the peoples. Within these scriptural frameworks—which provide the meaning-giving struc- tures in the subconscious of individuals, communities, and cultures— human beings determine their destiny on earth in the here and now and in the beyond here-after. From this perspective, religions and their Holy Texts can be considered foundational to cultures and their peoples. They are also sacred compendiums—the stories of cultures and peoples, their sufferings, conflicts, joys, hopes, loves, beginnings and ends; they tell how these stories interweave the human and the Divine, the sacred and the profane, and, ultimately, life, death, and timelessness. Underlining the imperative of these dimensions of religion and cul- ture for human existence, the chapters in this book consider a range of conflict situations and explore whether and how dialogue may play a pivotal role in bringing about transformation at the personal, societal, and global level. These chapters had their origin in the Seventh Annual Globalization for the Common Good: An Inter-Faith Perspective Conference: “From the Middle East to Asia Pacific: Arc of Conflict or Dialogue of Cultures and Religions?” held at Trinity College, University of Melbourne, Australia (June 30–July 4, 2008) and constitute a response viii EDITORS’ PREFACE to the vision of Dr. Kamran Mofid, the founder of the Globalisation for the Common Good Initiative. Given that the chapters in this book were written in a postmodern and globalizing context, in which there is a greater awareness of the world’s religious traditions and their various contemporary developments, as well as new advances in the methods in the study of religions, we have not limited our scope to a traditional notion of “dialogue.” Rather, we have re-envisioned dialogue. Given that our contemporary context is post- modern and globalizing, from the very first chapter we challenge our readers to examine the inadequacies of existing methodologies in the academic study of religion, conflict, dialogue, and transformation and invite them to consider a new methodological paradigm that may be applied in such studies. The book consists of essays from both scholars of religion and scholarly practitioners of religions. We have included these two categories of authors because, on the one hand, in general, the serious study of religion tends to be the domain of two types of specialists: first, the scholars who have earned the privilege of studying religions with erudition and disci- pline-specific objectivity; and second, the sage and the practitioner who experience the truth embedded in the traditions to which they belong with subjectivity and a yearning to transcend the temporality of the experiences of truth. On the other hand, while the academic scholar masters the art of studying religion with dedication, skill, and the neces- sary detachment, the religious teacher or prophet may be more concerned with the salvific dispensation of theirown religious tradition. In our attempt to document the richness of both of these categories, we have resisted the temptation to strictly classify the wisdom and the skill that the specialist, the sage, the scholar, the practitioner, and the nonspecialist bring to the study of religion, in general, and the themes of religion, conflict, dialogue and transformation, in particular. To maintain the integrity of this publication, all chapters have been peer-reviewed before they were accepted for inclusion. We have also resisted the temptation to restrict all the chapters to exclusively academic theorization that might prove inaccessible or irrelevant even to the well- informed reader. To have done so would have been to exclude an impor- tant slice of human life as well as the situations and experiences that provide us with the reasons, contexts, and ‘codes’ to interact and engage meaningfully with the themes of religion, conflict, dialogue, and trans- formation both inside and outside the academy. In these respects, this publication is of value as a textbook for both the scholar and the student of religion. We have edited the book to make it relevant and informative to the nonspecialist as well. EDITORS’ PREFACE ix In a world where neoliberalism and neoimperialism have been ascen- dant, drawing the globe into a vortex of control and exploitation, and where religious fundamentalism and international terrorism plague the face of the earth, demanding authoritarian, subjugating, and violent responses to brute force, this publication will, we hope, contribute to a widening and deepening discussion of the role of religion and the part it can play in conflict, dialogue, and transformation. This publication is offered in the expectation that a dialogical frame of reference offers the most promising antidote to the disorder of present-day human experi- ence. In the spirit of the admonishments of Shri Krishna to Arjuna in the Bhagavad Gītā, the chapters in this book ask that we not betray our pas- sion for justice and scientific honesty to such enslaving forces, but that we allow scholarship to foster the dialogue of cultures, religions, and civili- zations in the interests of achieving a fully developed humanity. INTRODUCTION RELIGION: PART OF THE PROBLEM OR PART OF THE SOLUTION? Joseph A. Camilleri Secularization theory, as developed by the leading social thinkers of the nineteenth century—Auguste Comte, Herbert Spencer, Emile Durkheim, Max Weber, Karl Marx, and Sigmund Freud—argued that reli- gion would gradually fade in importance with the gradual advance of sci- ence and industrial society. This view generally held sway in the twentieth century. A wide-r anging consensus in the social sciences postulated that metaphysical beliefs, liturgical rituals, and sacred practices would gradually give way to a secular ethic that would rank with bureaucratization, rational- ization, and urbanization as a defining feature of m odernity.1 The global resurgence of religion in the last several decades has called this consensus into question and has led a number of authors to reexamine the relationship of religion to modernity and to international relations more generally.2 Much of the literature has focused, perhaps understandably but not always insightfully, on the upsurge of fundamentalist movements, partic- ularly in the Muslim world.3 This line of argument holds some attraction to exponents of the secularization thesis in that it ascribes the resurgence of religion to vestiges of tradition and social irrationality that will sooner or later be swept aside by the unavoidable onset of modernity. However, as Scott M. Thomas rightly points out, the resurgence of religion is not confined to a few “traditional” outposts, but is global in every sense of the word, manifesting itself across different regions, political systems, and religious traditions.4 If the resurgence of religion is a global phenomenon, then it is appro- priate to ask what has been the impact of this resurgence on the political
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