The Syrian Civil War

The sectarianism nature of contemporary conflicts has conceptualised the prevalence of religion as a coercive influencer in conflict and peace. The embryonic Syrian Civil War (2011 – present) reflects the inherent relationship between religious identity and ideals with conflict through an isolated Syrian protest exacerbating into a Shiite-Sunni sectarianism war. However, this exploration of the parallelisms between the sectarian paradigm and conflict marginalises the significance of religious mediation in peaceful resolutions. Thus, the religious overtones of the Syrian Civil War has perpetuated the conflict through intensifying rigidly isolated religious groups, while conversely, has the potential to resolve the war through pacifism ideology.

The current Syrian Civil War exemplifies the paramount significance of religion, in conflict, through the intertwined trajectories of religion and political power. The Syrian Civil War emerged, following twelve years of brutal repression, as an unprecedented uprising for political liberalisation against Bashar al-Assad’s autocratic regime (Burke, 2013). This inherently political civil war quickly developed into an “overtly sectarian” war of attrition as religious communities support intensified mutual suspicion and intolerance (Warrick, 2012). Consequently, the conflict has penetrated “long-simmering tensions” between the Arab-Sunnis and Arab-Alawites, as a result of the Alawites self-proclaimed superiority as the presiding class; the sects are starkly opposed in the conflict, with the Sunnis comprising rebels from the Free Syrian Army (FSA) and the Alawites forming a coercive bulwark against political modernisation (Arango, 2013). Moreover, the overarching Shiite-Sunni tension extends be...

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...eating society. Ultimately, this vision of a peaceful resolution, in accordance with the New Testament’s recurring themes of forgiveness and peace, provides the theoretical instruments necessary to rebuild a unified, egalitarian Syrian society.

The Syrian Civil War represents a sectarian paradigm of the intertwined relationship between conflict and religion. The humanitarian crisis of the Syrian Civil War encapsulates the negative effects of conflicting religious doctrines stimulating the conflict to prevail. Conversely, the symbiotic effect of the implemented peace proposals and the Christian based pacifism ideology exemplifies the potential of a peaceful resolution for Syria to emanate from religion. Thus, this diversified perspective of religion influences in war foregrounds the formidable power of religion in society to simultaneously devastate and liberate.