Sampson classes religious intervention under four roles: advocates, intermediaries, observers, and educators. She offers examples of each role. Advocates work to empower the disenfranchised, and to restructure relationships and unjust social structures. Independent advocates are able to promote the weaker group's cause to the opposition and to the greater community. Activists are a subset of advocates.
Activists are affiliated directly with the less powerful party, and so may be less credible to the opposition or general community. Another subset of actors are truth-tellers, who identify and speak out against injustices.
The Catholic Church played a truth-telling role in Rhodesia's war of independence. The Catholic Church helped lead the nonviolent opposition to the Marcos regime in the Philippines, monitored elections, and ultimately declared that the Marcos regime has lost its mandate to govern. The Evangelische Kriche church played an activist role in the East Germany's nonviolent revolution of 1990. In Vietnam and Burma, Buddhist monks have been active opponents to repressive regimes.
Intermediary roles include "fact finding, good offices, peace-process advocacy, facilitation, conciliation and mediation, usually in some combination."(p. 284). Church leaders successfully mediated a peace agreement in Sudan in 1972. When that agreement broke down in 1983and fighting resumed, church leaders were again called upon to mediate a settlement. A Conciliation Commission of religious figures
paved the way for Indian refugees to return to Nicaragua. The Jain monk Acharya Sushil Kumar pressed for negotiations and mediated the Hindu-Sikh conflict at the Golden Temple in Punjab.
4.0 CONCLUSION
"In a conflict situation, the observer provides a watchful, compelling physical presence that is intended to discourage violence, corruption, human rights violations, or other behavior deemed threatening and undesirable."(p. 286). Observation can take very actives forms-- monitoring and verifying elections, for instance, or even physically interposing observers between opposing sides. Church organizations in Zambia cooperated closely to monitor the 1991 elections, and later hosted a meeting between political opponents that resulted in a new national constitution. The ecumenical group Witnesses For Peace, and Mennonite Christian Peacemaker Teams, have been active observers in Central America.
Education may focus on training in conflict resolution, democracy, or living with diversity. Educators may work to increase awareness of injustice, or to promote healing and reconciliation. The Gandhi Peace Foundation, the International Fellowship of Reconciliation, and Nonviolence International each provide training in nonviolent action at locations across the globe. Northern Ireland is home to a number of ecumenical intentional communities, in which Catholic and Protestant members work together to bring together their larger communities. In Mozambique the Christian Council launched a two stage training program to educate regional church leaders (who in turn trained local representatives) on an array of issues relevant to peace building and resettlement.
Some of the main institutional religious peace builders include the Catholic Church; the Society of Friends, also known as the Quakers; the Mennonite Church; the international, non-denominational group, Moral Re-Armament; The International Network of Engaged Buddhists, and other followers of engaged Buddhism; and the Nairobi Peace Initiative, which, although not itself a religious organization, actively engages religious groups across Africa in peace building.
South Africa's transition from apartheid to democracy involved more than twenty different religious actors, ranging from individuals to churches to coalitions, from many different denominations and active at every level of society. Many members of the Dutch Reformed Church spoke out against their church's support of apartheid, and many clergy members were defrocked for their opposition. Many other
Anglican Archbishop Desmond Tutu was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his advocacy of nonviolent opposition to apartheid. As other opposition groups were banned or arrested, the churches and mosques became the only places where anti-apartheid activists could meet.
Churches issued theological condemnations of apartheid, and calls to action. Other religious organizations worked to bridge social divisions, hosting conferences, interfaith dialogues, and retreats. Several international interdenominational organizations and the Vatican worked to oppose apartheid on the international level.
In conclusion, Sampson notes future trends in religious peace-building.
Religious communities are taking an increasingly systematic, intentional approach to peacemaking. Religious universities have developed conflict and peace programs, and churches are incorporating more explicit peace-building efforts into their outreach and development activities. Interreligious organizations are also following that trend.
Non-religious peace-building groups are targeting religious groups as ripe for training and mobilization. Religious relief and development NGOs are expanding their mandates and training to include peace- building activities. Indigenous religious groups are being called upon to provide spiritual, emotional and psychological support to people who have suffered from violent, protracted conflict. There is also an increased number of religion based citizen's groups focused on bringing about peace, justice, and reconciliation. The Internet has allowed people from across the globe to hold dialogues within and across denominations and religions.
5.0 SUMMARY
This unit handled social psychological dimensions of international conflict, types of social psychological processes, C. Sampson’s religion and peace-building and four roles of religious intervention.
6.0 TUTOR-MARKED ASSIGNMENT
1. Discuss comprehensively and systematically the perspectives/
approaches of two scholars above on peace making.
2. What is the central message of the scholars on peacemaking?
3. What is Interactive Conflict Resolution? (ICR)?
7.0 REFERENCES/FURTHER READINGS
Gamson, W. A. “Rancorous Conflict in Community Conflicts: The Search for Community Power”.