10th Anniversary 9/11 reflections

Doug Johnston of the International Center for Religion and Diplomacy has a long track record of substantial reconciliation efforts on the ground in some of the most difficult environments today.



Here are his thoughts on present challenges to the pursuit of a peaceful world

Amplify’d from www.irfwp.org

With the 10th Anniversary of 9-11, comes the opportunity to determine how it should be honored.

Beyond our military interventions, the U.S. response in countering religious terrorism has thus far focused on addressing symptoms rather than causal factors.

Despite the obvious need to address underlying cause, how to do so remains a puzzle for most policymakers. Respectful engagement with other cultures and countries only takes one part of the way, since that has more to do with good manners than with religious faith. Its own religiosity aside, America's proven inability to understand and deal with the religious motives behind extremist violence has already led to uninformed foreign policy choices in such places as Iran, Lebanon, and, most recently, Iraq. To avoid similar mistakes in the future, we need to move beyond the rational world view that has governed our practice of international relations for most of the last century to a process that includes religion and other so-called "irrational" factors. It will also require that we broaden our basis for understanding the religious dynamics at play and optimize our opportunities for responding effectively.

An Anniversary Call to Arms Douglas M. Johnston Read more at www.irfwp.org

 

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