It is a fact of life that the political, economic, and security dimensions of most social confrontations normally outweigh the religious, even when the conflict is superficially about religion. It is also the case that religion is often co-opted by power politics and used as a badge of identity or a mobilizing vehicle for nationalist or ethnic passions, as has typically been the case in the Balkans.

By the same token, there are situations in which religious actors can help mediate conflicts, especially in situations where a mutually debilitating impasse has been reached or where the major political, economic, and security issues have largely been resolved (thereby enabling a breakthrough at a higher level of trust, which a religious third party can sometimes bring). The attributes that religious clergy and laity possess to facilitate such a role are listed in the "For Political Leaders" section of the web page.

Just as religious leaders have a major contribution to make in the field of diplomacy, so too do diplomats have a great deal to offer to religious peacemaking. First and foremost, they can bring the secular assets of government to bear in useful ways that can reinforce or build upon the efforts of religious peacemakers. This, however, needs to be an arms-length kind of activity, lest any perception of ownership (of the process) on the part of a government undermine the very initiative it seeks to support (by destroying the perceived neutrality of the process).

An excellent illustration of how this works can be found in the role played by the governments of Italy and the United States in concert with the lay Catholic Community of St. Egidio in resolving the long-running civil war in Mozambique (described in Religion, the Missing Dimension of Statecraft). The final breakthrough to peace in 1994 evolved from the Community's recognition that it needed to do something to arrest the hostilities if the humanitarian assistance it was providing was to have any useful effect. Accordingly, its members set out to win the trust of both sides, taking initiatives that governments would never consider: escorting individual guerillas to their first dental appointments; buying them their first spectacles. In short, through rehumanizing the situation and winning trust on a personal level, they were able to persuade the two sides to come together to negotiate their differences.

It took ten rounds of talks before an agreement was reached to end the war. During this process, it became apparent to these religious peacemakers that if they succeeded in halting the fighting, they would not have the wherewithal to monitor a cease-fire agreement or to guarantee fair multiparty elections. Accordingly, in the ninth round of talks they invited diplomats from Italy, the United States, Portugal, France, and the United Nations to participate as official observers. In the tenth round, they officially passed the baton to these diplomats, who, in turn, brought the resources of their respective nation-states (and the UN) to bear in overseeing the signing of the peace agreement, monitoring the cease-fire, and guaranteeing fair elections. Throughout the entire process, Italy and the United States also played helpful, but largely invisible, roles behind the scenes in facilitating the Community's efforts.

Today there is peace in Mozambique under a democratically elected government with a vibrant economy--all because official diplomacy was able to build upon the trust developed by a religious third party.

This is but one of a number of examples where faith-based intermediaries have intervened to good effect in conflict situations where no particular religious element was involved. The potential for effective intervention in conflicts where religion is a factor is treated at some length in Faith-based Diplomacy: Trumping Realpolitik (Oxford university Press, 2003), the sequel to Religion, the Missing Dimension of Statecraft (Oxford, 1994).

"I want to thank you and the Center for all you continue to do for peace." 

-George Carey, then Archbishop of Canterbury