Bringing Religion Back into Politics

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Bringing Religion Back into Politics

Editors: Douglas Johnston and Cynthia Sampson compiled these essays for the Center for Strategic and International Studies. Douglas Johnston has since founded the International Center for Religion and Diplomacy, with the goal of encouraging faith based mediation through education and strategy development. Cynthia Sampson is the president of Peace Discovery Initiatives, a faith-based organization with the goal of peace building around the world.

Argument: The main focus of this book is to bring religion back into politics. For various reasons, the religion factor has been removed from policy making around the world, to the detriment of international relations. Johnston conveys the importance of religion when dealing with international policy, especially when one of the parties has a worldview that is deeply rooted in religion. Seven examples of how religious involvement positively affected international relations and eventually brought about reconciliation are used: the role of the Moral Re-Armament Movement in Franco-German Reconciliation, the role of religious groups, especially the Quakers, in restoring peace between the Sandinistas and the East Coast Indians, the role of the Quakers in the Nigerian civil war, the role of the churches in East Germany during the break down of the Berlin wall and the events leading up to that even, the role of the Catholic Church and the 1968 revolution in the Philippines, the role of the church during apartheid in South Africa, and the role of religious actors in the transformation of Rhodesia to Zimbabwe.

The main reason given for the success of religious actors in conflict resolution is their ability to gain trust and act as "honest brokers" between the groups involved. The Western powers cannot afford to ignore the importance of religion around the world nor can they afford to let the rare skills of relationship building brought by religious actors to go to waste. Religious groups have the desire and key qualities of trust building, patience, and unbiased involvement necessary to facilitate reconciliation and build peace around the world. These attributes are vital to reconciliation and mediation in a world where deception and diplomacy often come hand in hand.

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