To end religiously motivated violence, it is imperative that we as a collective global community seek to address its root causes and foster empathy and understanding between all human beings, regardless of ethnic, religious, cultural, or other identity differences. We can achieve this through:
- Intervening in and Preventing Violence:
Religious, spiritual, indigenous, and other community leaders play a critical role in preventing and intervening in communal acts of religiously motivated violence and in changing norms that contribute to cultural acceptance of violence. Individuals can become leaders in their communities to engage directly in conflict transformation and peacebuilding.
- Interfaith Dialogue:
Facilitating open dialogues between representatives of various religious communities encourages mutual understanding and cooperation. Interfaith dialogue provides an opportunity to discuss shared concerns, values, and aspirations, fostering peacebuilding and collaboration.
- Engaging Religious Leaders:
Encouraging religious leaders to denounce violence, extremism, and hate speech while promoting messages of peace, love, and compassion is vital. Their influence can have a significant impact on their communities and inspire actions that intervene, interrupt, and prevent violent acts where they are taking place.
- Empowering Women:
Recognizing and promoting the vital role of women in religious and community leadership can help counter violence and extremism. Women often bring unique perspectives, compassion, and nurturing qualities that can contribute to creating peaceful societies.
- Promoting Human Rights:
Emphasizing the importance of universal human rights, including freedom of thought, conscience, and religion, is essential. By upholding and advocating for these rights, we create an environment where individuals can freely practice their faith without fear of persecution or discrimination.
- Grassroots Initiatives:
Supporting the grassroots initiatives of our network of CCs that promote peace, tolerance, and social cohesion can have a profound impact at the community level. By engaging our peacebuilding network which includes local religious leaders, educators, and youth, we can work towards breaking the cycle of violence and fostering a culture of peace.
- Environmental Stewardship:
Recognizing our interconnectedness with the Earth and all living beings, we emphasize the importance of environmental stewardship. By addressing environmental challenges, we can reduce conflicts over resources and promote the well-being of all inhabitants of our planet.
How can individuals intervene to prevent when they are confronted with or anticipate violence?
- If you are a leader of your community, be vocal in speaking out against any violence around the potentially triggering event (religious holiday, protest, election).
- As a leader, you should connect and support those in your community that are at the highest risk of committing violence around the event.
- Gather the community to discuss ways to support one another on the day of the event and the following week or weeks to ensure no escalations of violence occur.
Indigenous, religious, and spiritual leaders and actors can play an important role in communicating that violence is not something that is inevitable or acceptable, but rather something that can be prevented. In places where there are high concentrations of religion-related violence, the URI Global Support Office stands ready to help build the capacities of Cooperation Circles to stop the spread of violence in their communities and countries and achieve documented results, including indicators such as:
- Decrease in hate speech with incitement to violence.
- Decrease in violence against religious and marginalized groups, including women.
- Changed attitudes, norms, and behaviors related to violence.
By embracing these approaches, and empowering local communities, we can collectively combat religiously motivated violence and build a safer and more tolerant world. Together, let us celebrate our diversity, nurture compassion, and work towards a world where all religious traditions coexist harmoniously, respecting the Earth and all living beings. We can build a world where violence is replaced with understanding, and create cultures of lasting peace, justice, and healing.