INTRODUCTION TO WORLD RELIGIONS AND BELIEF SYSTEMS

Chapter 3

Religion, Violence, and Peace 

Welcome to the third module of the course “Introduction to World Religions

and Belief Systems.” For this lesson, we are going to explore the confluences

of forces that merge in a given social and historical context that shape the

conditions for human expressions of violence and/or peace to flourish.

It is important for you to understand that roles that religions play in the

dynamics behind peace and violence.

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 Chapter 3: Religion, Violence, and Peace

Johan Galtung And His Typologies Of Violence

In this module, we will be exploring the third tenet of religious studies and

discuss it in a bit more depth. To recap this tenet posits that religion is

embedded in the entire human experience – political, economic, cultural,

social, psychological, among many others.

To lead our exploration, we are going to discuss the work of Norwegian peace

studies theorist Johan Galtung and his articulation of the typologies of

violence and peace.

Assumptions About Human Nature And Violence

Why do we continue to perpetuate heinous forms of violence against one

another and other living beings in spite of lessons learned from history? This

is a question that has perplexed many people including a lot of philosophers

and scholars that they’ve constructed different answers to it.

One particularly popular but problematic answer is that violence is an

inevitable and fundamental part of human condition. Those who have a more

optimistic view of human nature believe that human beings are more

complicated than just being violent. This shall be the view that we will be

using throughout the course.

However, adherence to this more optimistic view of humanity requires that we

confront issues related to the perpetuation of violence. For example, we

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INTRODUCTION TO WORLD RELIGIONS AND BELIEF SYSTEMS

usually develop and abhorrence against people who do violence things. Most

of us if not all of us will feel repugnant about these people. This repugnance is

often fuelled by the silent assumption that “those” people are not like “us.”

But what if they are life “us?” What if our attempts to distance ourselves from

“others” that we brand as “evil” consciously or unconsciously hinder us from

really learning from the past?

Please remember this statement, this assertion that “they” are like “us”

because this shall be the starting point for our discussion in the following

sections of this module.

Required Reading

“Methodological Assumptions and Analytical Frameworks Regarding

Religion” (Part Three) by Diane L. Moore, Harvard Divinity School, 2015

Video

In addition to the required reading above, we suggest that you watch the

following video to help you understand the concepts better.

“Three Kinds of Violence” by HarvardX at:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5bb82s-HmKE

Forum Discussion

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 Chapter 3: Religion, Violence, and Peace

Now that you are introduced to Galtung’s typologies of violence and peace,

please visit the forums and share your answers to the following questions and

tasks.

1. Please provide a historical or contemporary example from your own

country or community that illustrates how direct, structural, and

cultural violence intersect to give legitimacy to violence that you find

troubling and appalling.

2. Please explain how your example illustrates the three kinds of

violence.

3. Please respond to at least one answer from a classmate.

Activity

Refer to your first Activity Sheet and accomplish the activity.

Quiz

After participating in the forums, take your first quiz.

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Religion In Cultural Violence and Peace

The beauty of Galtung’s typologies of violence is his optimistic view of

human nature. Galtung’s typologies only works if we assume that human

beings have the capacity to be peaceful if they choose so. Therefore, violence

is not inevitable.

According to Galtung good people engage in the perpetuation of direct and

structural violence because of the prevailing forms of cultural violence that

they are parts of.

The same can be said about religions. Religions being institutions made by

man are themselves subject to these dynamics. There is no religion that is

innately bad or innately good. Religion is both bad and good and changes

between the two depending on where and when it existed. Religion functions

in both the promotion of cultural violence and cultural peace.

Islam Versus The West

One of the more important issues of our time is the war against terrorism,

which world governments particularly allies of the US (like the Philippines)

and the media portray as synonymous to the war against Islam, as if all

Muslims are terrorists. This is an example of cultural violence because of its

negative portrayal of Islam as a whole.

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 Chapter 3: Religion, Violence, and Peace

The text you are about to read challenges this Islam versus “the West” binary

and any binaries that presume the internal uniformity of any culture, nation, or

religious tradition.

Required Reading

“Preface to ‘The Clash Within’” by Martha Nussbaum

While reading the text please take note of how she explicitly claims her

“situated” perspective as an American Jew writing to an American and

Western European audience about India and how this is important. Also

please reference the contents of her writing that present the dynamics of

cultural violence and cultural peace.

Video

In addition to the required reading above, we suggest that you watch the

following video to help you understand the concepts better. This is a video

featuring Pastor James Wuye and Imam Mohammad Ashafa of Nigeria. Take

note that they were both members of rival militia groups and that their

relationship started antagonistically but lead to friendship. As you watch the

video please keep Galtung’s typologies of violence and peace in your mind

and try to identify how direct, structural, and cultural forms of violence and

peace interact through their stories.

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INTRODUCTION TO WORLD RELIGIONS AND BELIEF SYSTEMS

“The Imam and the Pastor” (2008) by Journeyman Pictures at:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kFh85K4NFv0

Forum Discussion

After reading the article and watching the video above, please visit the forums

and answer the following questions.

1. [ON THE ARTICLE] Do you agree with her assertions and the values

she espouses? What do you find compelling or challenging about her

commentary? Do you agree that it is important for her to be explicit

about her “situatedness”?

2. [ON THE FILM] Apply Galtung’s typologies to the film through the

lens of either violence or peace. How is cultural violence or cultural

peace represented in a specific example and how do these support

structural and direct forms of violence or peace?

3. Additional: Respond to at least one answer from a fellow classmate.

Lecture Video

Watch the lecture video prepared to summarize all that you’ve learned from

this module.

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 Chapter 3: Religion, Violence, and Peace

Long Test

This module shall end through a 50-item long test. Please take it when you’re

ready.

References

HarvardX [Screen name]. (2016, February 29). ​Three Kinds of Violence​ [Video file].

Retrieved from ​https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5bb82s-HmKE

HarvardX. (n.d.). Reading: Methodological assumptions part3. ​In HDS3221.1x:

Religious Literacy: Traditions and Scriptures.​ Retrieved from

https://courses.edx.org/courses/course-v1:HarvardX+HDS3221.1x+1T2016/coursew

are/40b76083106948b6b7f663f6e15a6b7d/b3f787dbb3ac4477b41175dbcb445f90/

Journeyman Pictures [Screen name]. (2012, January 5). ​The Imam and the Pastor

[Video file]. Retrieved from ​https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kFh85K4NFv0

Nussbaum, M. (2007). ​The clash within: Democracy, religious violence, and India’s

future.​ Cambridge, MA: The Belknap Press.