Terrorism, Religion, and Global Peace: From Concepts to Praxis 9781463233730

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TABLE OF CONTENTS Preface......................................................................................................vii Contributors .............................................................................................xi Chapter 1 Jain Perspectives on Violence and Nonviolence ..............1 Christi Wiley Chapter 2 Islam, Gender, and Peace ...................................................33 Zayn Kassam Chapter 3 Nonviolence and Violence in Buddhism .........................53 Noel Sheth, S.J. Chapter 4 Conflict Resolution and Peace: The Ethical Paradigm in Jesus’ Teaching and Life ..................93 Karikkottuchira K. Kuriakose Chapter 5 Searching for a New Language of Peace for the World Today ...................................................................115 Evangleione Rajkumar Chapter 6 The Role of Religion in Fostering Global Peace and Opposing Terrorism............................................................137 Maake Masango Chapter 7 Thomas Merton: Peacemaker ..........................................151 Ron Dart Chapter 8 Recent Inter Religious Dialogue and Peace Initiatives in India Especially after Masjid—Mandir Issue .......................167 Bijesh Philip Chapter 9 An Unfamiliar Peace .........................................................193 Derrick McQueen Chapter 10 Social Activism and the Role of the African Americans ...........................................................207 Charles Blake

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Chapter 11 Embodied Peacemaking: Living Shalom Close to Home ..................................................225 Paul Keim Chapter 12 Janus, Terrorism and Peacemaking...............................241 Ron Dart Chapter 13 Peace Be with Your Body and Spirit: A Korean Christian Feminist Reflection on Peacemaking ...255 K. Christine Pae Chapter 14 Language, Race and Ethnicity: Conflict Resolution in Sri Lanka...............................................271 Nimalka Fernando Chapter 15 Blood and Benevolence: Violence and Nonviolence in Buddhist and Christian Mysticism .......................................287 Kyeongil Jung Chapter 16 Peace Concepts in Iconography. Can Orthodox Icons Teach a Peace-theology?— an Iconological Interpretation...................................................319 Richard Schneider

PREFACE Violence and terrorism cause brutality and killing and create widespread chaos and instability for people around the world. People troubled by atom bomb threats, fears of nuclear holocaust, and threats of terrorism led by suicide bombers not only create insecurity but panic. While people long for peace, there are several factors that hinder peaceful co-existence: racial segregation, economic and social injustice, ethnic conflict, and secular and religious ideologies. As a result of these problems and forces, lives are divided and discarded. Yet people are also challenged to find ways to develop dialogue, based on common social values and settle disputes to live together peacefully. It is clear that for full human development, and for meaningful existence, peace is a prerequisite. Peace is an organizing principle that would radically change the world. It is a living idea around which people center economic, political and social interactions. The struggle for peace is a holistic yet herculean task. Reinhold Niebuhr the prominent Christian theologian and ethicist (1892–1971) urged, in 1935, that America should maintain neutrality in the event of a new war. Niebuhr made such a comment as it was the onset of Second World War; for him disarmament and peace were the critical concerns. But after two years, Niebuhr stated a changed opinion: he believed absolute pacifism was inadequate to deal with Hitler’s Nazi menace. Niebuhr believed in theological liberalism on the problem of evil and sin, while he was discomforted with the unconditional preoccupation of the pacifist’s passivism. When a U.S. Navy seal team killed the Al Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden in a raid on his hideout in Abbottabad, Pakistan on May 2, 2011, the historical question repeated among the global pacifists was -“can such a military action can be approved? Can pacifists accept it as a principle tolerating an individual who represents such evil incarnate vii

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as Bin Laden, the al-Qaeda leader? His master-planned killing of thousands of people in the US and his continued covert leadership threats human security; in such a situation do not the civil governments have moral responsibility to protect their innocent civilians? This may be an unresolved question for a pacifist, not the inadequacy of the concept, for nonviolence is applicable to all situations. However, the use of political and democratic power against terrorists is a critical challenge to our generation. Humanity wants to move forward, so that the world opens to change in a more peaceful direction. Terrorism spreading out as a sub-culture to different regions is a covert movement; the most difficult task for peace builders is to develop dialogue with terrorists-their bigotry is irrevocable. The first decade of the millennium now lies in the shadow of the World Trade Center attack; the explosion of global suicide terrorism and efforts to prevent it has received priority in global peace and security studies. The present volume is in the second category. The purpose of publishing the previous book Religion, Terrorism, and Globalization, Nonviolence: a New Agenda, was to seek out and explore theoretical concepts of peace and nonviolence in different religions and traditions. Various organizations, with their numerous volunteers involved in and working for peace and justice, have grown rapidly since then. The encouragement to undertake the present volume arose from a conference at the Union Theological Seminary, New York: World without Empire: A Peace for Life Conference, April 23–24, 2010. The participants at the conference were mostly women and youth who sought to facilitate solidarity and partnerships between people’s movements in the global North and those in the South. Some of the participants who agreed to contribute to the present project are directly involved in peace building programs in their local situations. While some articles remain theoretical, most of the contributions pertain to peacemaking experiments. I would like to thank all the contributors for their input to this volume- some provided scholarly articles, while others reflected on their peace building experiences. I would like to thank the participants of World without Empire: A Peace for Life Conference, at Union Theological Seminary, New York, who responded to my request to contribute to this project from their peace involvement experience. I am also

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grateful to Charlie Johnson, St. Vladimir’s Seminary, New York who extended his photography talents to photograph icons for the article by Professor Richard Schneider. Finally my thanks to Katie Stott of Gorgias press. Their expertise was invaluable in the production of this book. Karikkottuchira K. Kuriakose June 29, 2011

CONTRIBUTORS Evangeline Anderson-Rajkumar is Professor of Theology / Women’s Studies at the United Theological College, Bangalore, India. After a secular degree of Bachelor of Science from Mount Carmel College, Bangalore and a Bachelor of Divinity from the United Theological College, Bangalore, Evangeline had a year’s experience in the Church of Sweden to get trained in Diakonia. Her Master of Theology degree was in the area of Systematic Theology from the Tamilnadu Theological Seminary, Madurai. The four years of teaching Theology and Ethics at Serampore College, Serampore following her M.Th (Systematic Theology) was indeed a challenging time of sharpening her perspectives and asking critical questions in context about the nature, method and context of theology. How do we ground our theologies in context? What happens to theology and theologizing when “experiences” of the people—especially women—become a starting point and a primary source of theology? These questions were predominant in the mind as she began her time of research under the South Asia Theological Research Institute (SATHRI) Programme of the Senate of Serampore College University. A Doctoral research on the topic ‘“God” in the Light of Women’s Experiences’ led to the unpacking of issues and the close link between Gender-Talk and God-Talk. How does theology and theologizing change when women’s experiences become the starting point and a corrective lens? What are the implications for the reinterpretation of Scriptures and shifting of powers for the sake of transformation in our Church and Society? Evangeline Anderson-Rajkumar has published over twenty five articles on the themes of Feminist Theology and Hermeneutics, Dalit Theology and Hermeneutics, Overcoming violence and building communities of equal partnership and Justice. Evangeline is an ordained minister in the Lutheran Church and is currently the Dean of Doctoral Studies and Non-degree xi

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Research at the United Theological College, Bangalore. She has held various positions at national and international levels such as Board Member on Globethics, Member of the Theological Concerns Desk of the Christian Conference of Asia, Member of the Global Platform of the World Council of Churches, Vice President of the United Evangelical Lutheran Church in India, President of the Association of Theologically Trained Women of India. Presently she serves as the Vice President of Women’s Initiative for New Awakening (WINA). Charles Blake III is currently a doctoral student in International Education Policy at the University of Maryland College Park. Before coming to Maryland, Charles taught mathematics and health in rural Tanzania and then worked in the field of Adult Basic Education at a community development organization in Washington DC. Charles’ research interests deal with minority and refugee education and empowerment as well as cultural adaptation. Ron Dart has taught in the department of political science, philosophy and religious studies at University of the Fraser Valley (Abbotsford, British Columbia) since 1990. Ron has published more than 20 books and more than 300 articles in the areas of politics, spirituality, poetry, human rights and mountaineering. Ron is a specialist in the distinctive Red Tory political tradition in Canada, and he has published a variety of books/articles on the two most important Canadian Red Tory public intellectuals, George Grant and Stephen Leacock. Ron is the political science advisor to the Stephen Leacock Home/Museum, and he is on the National Executive of the Thomas Merton Society of Canada (TMSC). Ron has published two books on Merton, Erasmus and Merton: Soul Friends and Thomas Merton and the Beats of the North Cascades and many articles on Merton in the leading Merton Journals in the USA, Canada, Great Britain and Ireland. Ron was on staff with Amnesty International in the 1980s, and he was also the Middle East Coordinator in Canada for Amnesty International. Ron has won two Teaching Awards: ‘Most Outstanding Achievement Award’ and ‘Leader in Post Secondary Education Award’. Many of Ron’s online articles can be found on the Clarion Journal and Vivelecanada websites, and he has been a regular contributor to the Canadian Encyclopedia. Ron does a great deal of

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mountaineering, and he has written more than 150 articles on mountaineering. More information on Ron can be found on Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia, his blogsite and the University of the Fraser Valley’s website. Dr. Nimalka Fernando is an attorney-at-law and women’s rights activist, from Sri Lanka. She is a presently the Chairperson of the International Movement Against all Forms of Discrimination and INGO with consultative status (Special) with UN-ECOSOC and Co-chair of SAHR, Director, Women’s Political Academy-Sri Lanka. She was Regional Co-ordinator of the Asia Pacific Forum on Women, Law and Development (Malaysia 1989–1994) and was Programme Director for the Women’s Human Rights Project (1994–1996). Dr Fernando has served in several regional and international human rights organizations as member of governing councils eg South Asian For Human Rights (SAFHR) Asia Regional Exchange for New Alternatives (1997–2006), South Asian Alliance for Poverty Eradication (2008–2011). She has participated representing Sri Lanka and IMADR in several UN Conferences including Beijing Women’s Conference (1995) Human Rights (1995) Racism (2000). She started her career in the Student Christian Movement as Secretary General and served in the Youth Projects of the Christian Conference of Asia and also in the Refugee Commission of the World Council of Churches in the late seventies. She is also a member of the Peace for Life international campaign. She is a convenor of the Platform for Freedom a social platform in dialogue with political parties in Sri Lanka campaigning for freedom of expression and rights to life, and a Committee Member of Mothers and Daughters of Lanka a coalition of women’s organizations and activists. She has wide experience being a human rights defender’s trainer and resource person for women’s empowerment and speaker at many international peace conferences. She has participated in Peace Agenda & Politics of War Memory by Korea Democracy Foundation held in Seoul 2009 and at a High Level Meeting of Community of Democracies, “Women for Democracy” held in Krakow, Poland in 2010. Kyeongil Jung is a Ph.D. candidate in the field of Ecumenics and Interfaith Studies at Union Theological Seminary. He grew up in South Korea. Before coming to Union, he received his B.A. in

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Philosophy from Soongsil University, M.Div. in Systematic Theology from Hanshin Theological Seminary, and M.A. in Anthropology of Religion from Sogang University. His current research interests focus on Buddhist-Christian Dialogue, Liberation Theologies, and Comparative Theology/Theologies of Religions. As a double practitioner of Buddhism and Christianity, he is trying to construct a Buddhist-Christian Theology of Liberation, which aims at transforming both the world and the self. Zayn Kassam is Professor of Religious Studies at Pomona College, Claremont, CA. She has edited a volume titled Women and Islam published by Praeger in 2010 and is the author of Islam in the series An Introduction to the World’s Religions, published by Greenwood in 2005. A graduate of McGill University, Dr. Kassam teaches courses in Islamic mysticism, philosophy, women in Islam, and contemporary Muslim literature, as well as a course on religion and the environment. She has lectured widely on gender issues in the United States, Canada and Britain and has published essays on pedagogy, ethics, gender, and violence. She also serves on the editorial board of Feminist Studies in Religion and The Journal of Religion, Conflict, and Peace. Dr. Kassam has been honored with two Wig Distinguished Professorship Awards for Excellence in Teaching at Pomona College and with the American Academy of Religion 2005 National Teacher of the Year Award http://www.pomona.edu/events/news/NewsItems/120605kassam.shtml

Paul Keim is professor of Bible, Religion and Modern and Classical Languages at Goshen College, a Mennonite college located in Goshen, Indiana. His area ofspecialization is Old Testament and Ancient Near Eastern languages andcivilizations. He completed his undergraduate studies at Goshen College, hisM.Div. at Associated Mennonite Biblical Seminary, and his Ph.D. at HarvardUniversity. He has taught at Indiana University (Bloomington, IN) and theCollege of Charleston (SC). He was the academic dean at Hesston College (KS)for two years and at Goshen College for four years before returning to fulltime teaching at Goshen. Prof. Keim is married to Julie, an Expressive Arts therapist, and they have three children.

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Karikottuchira K. Kuriakose is a priest in the Indian Orthodox Church. His academic career began with the study of theology at Orthodox Theological Seminary, Kottayam, India, and from there he read for a Divinity degree at the Serampore University, West Bengal. He earned a Masters in Sociology from SV University, Andhra Pradesh. He was granted a research fellowship at the Christian Institute for the Study of Religion and Society in Bangalore; and also worked for the Church Relations Committee of the Senate of Serampore College. Fr. Kuriakose moved to the USA for further study, research and ministry, in early 1980s. He graduated from the Graduate Theological Union, Berkeley, California. He holds a Master in Sacred Theology from the Union Theological Seminary New York and obtained his Ed D from Teachers College, Columbia University, New York. His dissertation focused on Gandhian philosophy; and his area of specialization is Theology, Ethics and Nonviolence. Fr. Kuriakose has been involved with the activities of Fellowship of Reconciliation. Since 1996 he has taught at the College of New Rochelle, New York. He has been privileged to study with prominent theologians and thinkers such as Paulos Mar Gregorios, Geevarhese Mar Osthathios and M. M. Thomas. His publications include Nonviolence: The Way of the Cross (Xulon Press), and Religion, Terrorism and Globalization: Nonviolence a New Agenda (Nova Publishers). Another effort in the works is Ethical Visions: Timeless Teachers and Educational Policy (in the process of publication). He has organized Indian orthodox communities in San Francisco and New York and currently serves as a priest in New York. Derrick McQueen is a Ph. D. student in Homiletics and New Testament at Union Theological Seminary in the City of New York after completing his M. Div. with a focus on Theology and the Arts, also at Union. He earned his B.A. in Theatre Arts at Drew University in 1987. Derrick’s interests include: practical theology; integrating current academic theologies and Empire critical biblical studies into congregational and community life, classical dramatic structures and their influence on Christianity, early Christian community models of social justice and their modern applications on issues such as poverty, sexuality, race and gender. Derrick has worked as a community activist, social worker and is currently an Arts and Culture programmer with Union’s Poverty Initiative.

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Derrick is a spiritual multi-media artist. Derrick lives in New York City, NY and attends the St. James Presbyterian Church of Harlem. Bijesh Philip is an ordained priest of the Indian Orthodox Church. He joined the faculty of St. Thomas Orthodox Theological Seminary, Nagpur in 1996 where he taught theology and ethics and currently is serving as its Principal. He completed his undergraduate studies at Gandhi University, Kerala, his B.D, at the Orthodox Theological Seminary, Kottayam, a Masters in Theology from St. Vladimir’s Orthodox Theological Seminary, NY and earned a doctorate in Theology from Dharmaram Vidya Ksetram, Bangalore. Fr. Bijesh is, also, serving as the Director of the Prerana Special School for the mentally challenged in Kalmeshwar, Nagpur. His published works are Christian Faith and Global Peace’ (Tiruvalla: Christava Sahitya Samiti, 2009) and Theosis and Mission, A Soujourn with the Saviour (Nagpur: Theosis Books, 2004). He is the editor of a periodical called Sahayatra which means co-pilgrimage and the major theme of the July–August 2010 issue was Religion and Peace. He is married and has two boys. K. Christine Pae is assistant professor of Religion at Denison University, Granville Ohio. She holds the doctoral degree in Christian Social Ethics from Union Theological Seminary in the City of New York; M. Div. from Yale University Divinity School; Th. M from Yonsei University (Seoul, Korea); and B.A. from Seoul National University of Education (Seoul, Korea). At Denison, she teaches religious ethics, Christian social ethics, women’s spirituality, and transnational feminist ethics for both the Department of Religion and Women’s Studies. Her academic interests include Asian/Asian-American perspectives on post-colonial racial relations, post-colonial and transnational feminist ethics, feminist spiritual activism, intersection between gender and race within transnationalized militarism, and peacemaking. Currently she is working on her manuscript, Western Princesses in the Borderlands: A Christian Feminist Ethic of Sex and War and Ethics: Liberative Perspectives (contributor). She has published and presented various articles concerning war, women, and religious ethics. Noel Sheth S. J. is a Jesuit priest and Professor of Indian Philosophies and Religions at Jnana-Deepa Vidyapeeth, Pontifical

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Institute of Philosophy and Religion, Pune, India, where he was the former President. He is also a former Rector (President) of Papal Seminary, Pune. A reputed scholar in Sanskrit and Pali, his name is in the Who’s Who of Sanskrit Scholars of India. On several occasions, he has chaired individual sessions of Sections of the World Sanskrit Conferences; and, in particular, he was the Chief Chairperson or Convener of the “History of Religion” Section of the 14th World Sanskrit Conference. Sheth is a Gold Medallist of the University of Pune, having secured a first class first in his M.A. (Sanskrit-Pali) in the University of Pune and won several prizes and scholarships. He holds a doctorate in Sanskrit from Harvard University, U.S.A, where he was awarded a full scholarship. He also holds postgraduate degrees in Philosophy and Theology. He has studied eleven languages, four of which are classical languages: Sanskrit, Pali, Latin and Greek. He has received many awards from different institutions. An important award is the “Dr. Sam Higginbottom Award for the Best Principals (=Presidents) of India, 2004–2005.” His publications deal with the exegesis of Sanskrit and Pali texts, on Hinduism, Buddhism and on comparative philosophy and theology. His book, The Divinity of Krishna, is mentioned in the prestigious Encyclopedia of Religion in both the first as well as second editions. He is a member of several international learned bodies. In addition, till very recently he was a member of the Executive Committee of the Conference of Catholic Theological Institutions (COCTI) and President of the India and Oceania sectors of COCTI, and a member of the Rectors’ (Presidents’) Committee and of the Administrative Board of the International Federation of Catholic Universities (IFCU). He is one of the five Vice-Presidents (one for each continent) of the Conference of Catholic University Institutions of Philosophy (COMIUCAP); he is in charge of Asia and Oceania. The Jesuit General has recently appointed him Advisor to the Jesuit General for interreligious dialogue with Hinduism and a Member and Convener of the international Secretariat for Ecumenical and Inter-religious Relations for the worldwide Society of Jesus. He teaches many courses in Hinduism, a course on Buddhism, and a course on Religions in India, that includes Zoroastrianism, Jainism and Sikhism. He has delivered many public lectures in universities in India and abroad and also teaches in different universities in several countries, and participates in conferences around the world.

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Maake Masango holds a Diploma in theology from Fedsem Fort Hare Masters degree in Theology, at Columbia USA (1981–82). Masters degree in Christian Education at the Presbyterian School of Education, Richmond Virginia USA (1982–83) Th.D in Counseling, Theology and Psychology from Columbia Seminary USA (1987–92). He works at the University of Pretoria as a Professor and also, serves as Senior Minister at the St Giles Presbyterian Church in South Africa–1993 until 1996. 1981 to 1982 worked as Director of Church extension for Presbytery of Johannesburg, and as Associate Minister at the Transvaal West Presbytery, Woodville Presbyterian Church in the USA. 1979 until 1981 May and from 1982 until 1987 worked as Associate Pastor at West End Presbyterian Church, and Director of Christian education at the central office of the Presbyterian Church in Southern Africa. From 1997 until 1979 worked as Senior Minister at St. Paul PCSA Church Sharpville. 1977 to 1979, Senior Minister Schoemansville Presbyterian Church 1975 1976and finally; he has also worked as a Senior Clerk at Stocks and Stocks Construction (1969–1970). He also travels around the world as a visiting scholar: South Africa, Lesotho, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Zambia Ethiopia, Kenya Congo, Benin, Cameroon, Egypt, Tanzania, Nigeria, Ghana, Brazzaville, Seychelles, Ethiopia, Uganda Benin, Senegal, Palestine, Democratic Republic of Congo, Cameroon; London, Switzerland, Sweden, Parish, Albania, Cyprus, Ireland, Finland, Holland, Greece, Germany; Bangkok, South and North Korea, Thailand, India, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Singapore, Philippines, China; Jamaica, St Thomas, St Croix, St Martens’, Cuba; USA, Canada, Western Samoa, Fiji and Tonga. Richard Schneider is Visiting Professor of Iconology and Liturgical Art at St. Vladimir’s Seminary (Crestwood, New York), and Adjunct Professor and Coordinator of the Programme in Orthodox and East Christian Studies in the Faculty of Divinity, Trinity College (University of Toronto). His undergraduate and graduate degrees are in musicology, art history, and history from Dartmouth College, Princeton University, and Columbia University. At Princeton he studied Byzantine art under Kurt Weitzmann, and Western medieval and Renaissance iconology at Columbia under Meyer Shapiro, Rudolf Wittkower, and Gerhard Schmidt; much of his current research and teaching is devoted to

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the development of an iconological theology for art in the Eastern Christian churches that will take account of the pioneering developments in Western-art studies. He is Emeritus Professor of Church and Medieval History at York University (Toronto), and Emeritus Past-President of the Canadian Council of Churches. At St. Vladimir’s, Prof. Schneider teaches iconological theology and special studies of the iconology of church buildings and large-scale programs, and he also teaches advanced seminars on the modern development of general hermeneutics and the impact of this field on religious studies, particularly on Scriptural exegesis, church history, and theology; the issues of the relation between Critical Thought and theology are the second aspect of Prof. Schneider’s research. Kristi L. Wiley received her Ph.D. in South Asian Studies with an emphasis in Sanskrit from the University of California at Berkeley. She is a visiting lecturer in the Department of South and Southeast Asian Studies at the University of California at Berkeley where she has taught Sanskrit and courses on Indian Religions and Religion and Ecology. She has written a number of articles focusing on various aspects of Jain karma theory. She is the author of the Historical Dictionary of Jainism (Scarecrow Press, 2004).

CHAPTER 1 JAIN PERSPECTIVES ON VIOLENCE AND NONVIOLENCE CHRISTI WILEY At an interfaith dialogue in 2009, Rabbi Ted Falcon, the Rev. Don Mackenzie, and Sheik Jamal Rahman, who call themselves the “interfaith amigos,” stated what they most value as the core teachings of their traditions. For the minister, it was “unconditional love”’ for the sheik, “compassion,” and for the rabbi, “oneness.”1 If a Jain had participated in this dialogue, without a doubt, ahi—sć, nonviolence or non-harming, would have been the reply. It is so central to Jain ethics that the word ahi—sć is found on the Jain pratĪka, or symbol of faith,2 and some have assumed that the origins of ahi—sć could be traced to Jainism. However, as Paul Dundas has noted, “The exact provenance of the idea of nonviolence in ancient India remains a regular topic of scholarly debate.”3 Jain is the term used today for a person who has faith in the teachings of the Jinas (“Spiritual Victors”), human beings who, through their own efforts, have attained enlightenment or omniscience and have taught the eternal truths they realized to others. Such individuals are also called TĪrthankaras because they establish a ford (tĪrtha) across the river of rebirth (sa—sćra) through their teachings and because they establish the fourfold Jain Goodstein 2009. For an illustration, see Wiley 2004, plate facing p. 130. 3 Dundas 2007: 41. 1 2

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community (tĪrtha) of monks, nuns, laymen, and laywomen. As is also the case in Hinduism and Buddhism, time is understood to be cyclical. In Jainism this means that living conditions gradually improve and decline, with an increase or decrease in such things as knowledge, pleasure, morality, and spirituality. During the times in this cycle when conditions are neither extremely good nor bad and therefore people would be inclined to follow their teachings, a series of twenty-four Jinas are born in our location of the universe. In our current cycle, the twenty-fourth and last Jina was MahćvĪra (“Great Hero”), an honorific title of Vardhamćna JñćtŠputra, who was a contemporary of Gautama the Buddha. Although he is sometimes called the “founder” of Jainism, textual sources state that his parents were lay followers of Pćrœvanćtha, the twenty-third Jina, who according to tradition lived in Banaras about 250 years earlier. As is customary, after attaining omniscience, MahćvĪra began preaching, and his chief mendicant disciples (Gañadharas) composed sacred texts based on his teachings. The eternal truths about the nature of reality revealed through these teaching, including the workings of karma and the myriad of life-forms in which souls may be embodied, are the basis of Jain philosophical beliefs. MahćvĪra initiated his mendicant followers with the five great vows (mahćvratas) of non-harming (ahi—sć), truthfulness, taking only what is given, celibacy, and non-possession,4 and their underlying principles are the basis of Jain ethical practices of the lay and mendicant communities to this day. Indeed, right faith in the teachings of the Jinas, along with right knowledge and right conduct, constitute the path to liberation (TS 1.1). In the course of time, the Jain community spread from the Magadha region of India (the current state of Bihar), and disagreements arose over the issue of whether the mendicant vow of non-possession entailed the renunciation of clothing. There was also a disagreement regarding the authenticity of the sacred texts. Eventually, the community was divided into followers of the whiteclad monks (œvetćmbaras) and followers of sky-clad monks (Digambaras).5 Digambaras do not believe that the extant 4 5

For further details, see Jaini 1979: 1–47. See Dundas 2002: 45–59 and Jaini 1979: 4–6 and 38–41.

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œvetćmbara canon contains the authentic teachings of MahćvĪra and therefore, with the exception of a few texts, both have their own textual traditions.6 Beginning around the fifteenth century, there were reform movements within both sectarian traditions. For the œvetćmbaras, this resulted in the emergence of two non-imageworshipping traditions: the SthćnakavćsĪs and TerćpanthĪs.7 Among the Digambaras, some who questioned the authority of monasticclerics (bhaʞʞćrakas) formed the Digambara TerćpanthĪ, and a few became followers of Tćrañ SvćmĪ (1448–1515), who rejected image-worship.8 More recently, movements have grown around the teachings of two laymen, œrĪmad Rćjacandra (1867–1901)9 and KćnjĪ SvćmĪ (1889–1980).10 Given its organization, there is not a single spokesperson for the entire Jain community, and with the exception of the centrally organized œvetćmbara TerćpanthĪs,11 there is not a single mendicant leader (ćcćrya) with the authority to speak for one of the main sectarian traditions. For example, according to data collected in 1996, within the œvetćmbara image-worshipping (Mürtipüjaka) tradition, there were six independent groups (gacchas), and within the largest of these, the Tapć Gaccha, there were approximately For Jain scriptures, see Wiley 2004: xix–xxvi. However, one should not assume that Jains are familiar with their “scripture.” As Dundas has observed (2002: 62), “there has been a general tendency throughout the religion’s history to regard the study of them by the unqualified, whether lay or ascetic, as a dangerous and unwarranted activity. Some œvetćmbara sects have placed specific restrictions upon the reading of sacred texts by lay people, either banning the practice completely or requiring the overseeing presence of a monk.” For a discussion of problems associated with the standardized list of 45 texts of the œvetćmbara Jains, see Dundas 2002: 76–79 and Folkert 1993: 53–94, esp. 78–81. For alternative “canons” of image-worshipping œvetćmbaras, see Cort 2001b and 2004. 7 For a brief discussion, see Dundas 2002: 245–62. 8 See Cort 2006 and 2002, respectively. 9 See Dundas 2002: 262–71. 10 For a brief overview of Jainism, see Wiley 2004: 1–20. 11 On the organization of the œvetćmbara TerćpanthĪs, see Flügel 1995–1996 and 2006: 334–39. 6

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twenty subdivisions (samudćyas), each with their own mendicant leader (gacchćdhipati).12 As John Cort noted in the 1980s, “Many followers of the Ćcćrya Rćmcandrasüri would claim that he is the Tapć Gacchćdhipati; but those who are not his followers, while they respect him as the seniormost ćcćrya of the Tapć Gacch, do not regard his opinions and decisions as having authority over the entire Tapć Gacch.”13 While it is true that there are certain mendicant leaders who have attracted more lay followers than others, who are more charismatic than others, and whose preachings have been more influential than others, it would be inappropriate to select the writings and religious discourses of a few mendicant leaders on issues associated with violence and nonviolence in the contemporary world and represent them as authoritative for Jainism. In addition, while it is possible to write about canonical rules of conduct for mendicants, it is impossible to examine customary rules of conduct for current Jain mendicant orders because usually they are not published or discussed with non-renunciants.14 Nevertheless, from a doctrinal perspective, there is a general agreement about what constitutes violence and who suffers from it, as outlined in Tattvćrtha Sütra of Umćsvćti/Umćsvćmi (ca. 2nd– 5th cent. CE), which is accepted by all sectarian traditions.15 And there is general agreement regarding the ways in which violence has been categorized, as expressed in texts detailing conduct for laypeople.

Flügel 2006: 317–25. Cort 1989: 109. 14 For an exception to this among the œvetćmbara TerćpanthĪs, see Flügel 2003. 15 There are minor differences in the texts that is reflected in the numbering of some sütras. TS indicates the number in the œvetćmbara recension and, when different, SS (Sarvćrthasiddhi, a commentary by Püjyapćda, sixth century) indicates the number in the Digambara recension. 12 13

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VIOLENCE DEFINED In the Tattvćrtha Sütra, violence is defined as the severance of life force or vitalities (prćña) by means of an action (yoga) involving negligence or carelessness (pramatta) (TS 7.8 = SS 7.13). Destruction of prćña is interpreted as either death of the physical body or extreme torment, pain, affliction, or misery (atitćpa). A negligent or careless action, which may be undertaken through thought, word, or deed, is defined as one that is informed by delusion (moha) in the form of attachment (rćga) or aversion (dveʜa). The phrase “arising from passionate activity” is important here because it means that the severance of vitalities alone does not constitute an evil (adharma) action.16 Regarding anger, a manifestation of aversion, it is said that “hi—sć does not depend on acts alone: the vow (vrata of ahi—sć) will be broken merely by the absence of compassion shown when a man allows himself to be carried away by anger.17 In Jainism, a violent action may be viewed from different perspectives, one of which is its effect on other living beings. According to Jain teachings, suffering caused by violent actions is experienced by the entire spectrum of living beings, from human beings and five-sensed animals to those that interact with the world through the single sense of touch, namely, souls that are embodied as vegetable life and those whose bodies are composed of the elements of earth, water, fire and air. It may also be viewed from the perspective of its effect on the soul of one who performs the action personally (kŠta), who causes another to carry it out (kćrita), or who approves of the action being performed by another (anumodita). P. S. Jaini has observed that “Hi—sć has ordinarily been understood in India as harm done to others; for Jainas, however, it refers primarily to injuring oneself, to behavior which inhibits the soul’s ability to attain mokʜa.”18 From the perspective of one’s own soul, “He who has passions causes injury to himself by himself. Whether injury is then caused to other living beings or not, it is Jain 1960: 197. Williams 1963: 66. 18 Jaini 1979: 167. 16 17

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immaterial (TS 7.8 = SS 7.13).” Another way of expressing this is “the non-arising of attraction and aversion (rćgćdĪnćm) is ahi—sć. The arising of them is hi—sć. This is the essence of Jain doctrine (jinćgama).”19 In order to understand these definitions of violence and nonviolence and the emphasis on placed on violence to one’s own soul, we must examine Jain views regarding the soul and karmic bondage.

KARMA, VIOLENCE, AND THE SOUL In common with other religious traditions with origins in South Asia, Jains believe in karma, rebirth, and the possibility of liberation (mokʜa). Thus, one’s current embodiment is merely one in a series of lives in the beginningless cycle of birth and death (sa—sćra). Jains believe that from beginningless time there have been an infinite number of souls with the potential to realize their own inherent nature of infinite consciousness, energy, and bliss. However, because mundane souls are negatively affected by karma, it is not possible to experience these qualities to their fullest extent. In Jainism, karma is understood to be an extremely subtle form of matter that is attracted to the soul by vibrations (yoga) generated through activities of body, speech, and mind. However, it is bound with the soul only when these actions are motivated by passions (TS 8.1–2). At the time of binding, karmic matter is transformed into a number of different varieties, each of which has a specific function. Some varieties are associated with the formation and maintenance of the physical body and the length of one’s life-span. Other have negative effects on the soul itself by defiling or obscuring the qualities of the soul that constitute its inherent nature. For example, a soul does not experience omniscience because its infinite consciousness is obscured by perception- and knowledge-obscuring karmas. Doubt and confusion about the true nature of reality and about proper conduct arise through the operation of the various deluding (mohanĪya) karmas.20 Puruʜarthasiddyupćya k 44, as quoted in Jaini 1979: 167, n. 24. For a summary of Jain karma theory, including the different varieties of karmic matter, see Jaini 1979, chapter 4. 19 20

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Of all karmic varieties, the deluding karmas are the most detrimental because it is conduct-deluding (caritra mohanĪya) karmas that cause attraction (rćga) and aversion (dveʜa) in the form of the four passions (kaʜćyas): anger (krodha), pride (mćna), deceit (mćyć), and greed (lobha). The bondage of deluding karmas is cyclical in nature because the passions produced by these karmas cause the influx of more karmic matter that, in turn, causes more passions (TS 6.15 = SS 6.14). When passions are intense, the newly bound deluding karmas will have greater intensity and longer duration and when passions are mild, the intensity will be milder and the duration shorter lived. Therefore, by definition, the deluding karmas are the cause of violent actions and perpetuate of the cycle of harm to oneself and to others.21 In the words of AmŠtacandra (11th century), hi—sć exists wherever rćga (attraction) and dveʜa (aversion) occur even though no creature perishes. A mere thought in an angry man’s mind is hi—sć; once delivered to the empire of passions he destroys himself even if he destroys no other living being.”22 A soul is also affected positively or negatively by actions through its state of embodiment in the next life. Habitual participation in violence, stealing, and excessive attachment to worldly objects are said to result in rebirth as a hell-being, while deceitfulness in thought, word, or deed is associated with rebirth in the animal realms, both of which are characterized by a preponderance of suffering. Conversely, self-restraint with attachment is a cause for birth as a heavenly being, which is characterized by a preponderance of pleasure and happiness, and slight injury or aggression and slight attachment lead to birth as a human being, which is the most auspicious because there is Tatia 1994: 158, “Passions beget passions. A soul under the sway of passion attracts an inflow of conduct-deluding karma which perpetuate that passion. The chief causes of these passion karmas are: provoking passion in others, speaking ill of the ascetics, bad habits and bad vows. . . . Deluding karma is the breeding ground of perversities of both view and conduct. The entire spiritual discipline is directed towards elimination of this karma.” 22 Williams 1963: 68–69. 21

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potential for significant spiritual progress (TS 6.16–20 = SS 6.15– 21). The focus of spiritual discipline, therefore, is twofold: reducing and ultimately eliminating deluding karmas previously bound with the soul while the preventing the influx of more karmas, and engaging in activities that are conducive to an auspicious rebirth. In order to do so, a person must be cognizant of what constitutes violence and have sufficient self-restraint to refrain from violent actions. The first significant step on the soul’s path of purification is the momentary flash of insight into the proper view of reality (samyak-darœana) that is attained when the insight-deluding (darŔana mohanĪya) karmas are temporarily suppressed. To attain this state, a soul need not be embodied as a human being for it is thought that five-sensed rational animals are capable of this experience. Such a soul, while far from perfect, will never again revert to the levels of misunderstanding and misconduct that previously characterized its existence because the intensity of the deluding karmas has been dramatically reduced. Furthermore, it is said that eventually all such souls will totally eliminate the deluding karmas and thereby attain perfect conduct, free from all forms of violence, along with those karmas that prevent the soul from experiencing infinite knowledge, or omniscience, and infinite energy.23 With the death of the physical body, such perfected souls attain liberation from the cycle of rebirth. Only a human being has the capacity to attain this level of perfection and among them, only a handful, the Jinas or Spiritual Victors, are capable of teaching the truths realized in the state of omniscience to others.

VIOLENCE TO OTHERS In reflecting on violence as discussed so far, one might conclude that Jain teachings are self-centered in nature, emphasizing one’s own suffering rather than the suffering of others. However, Jains believe that reality is multifaceted and that one should look at a topic from all possible perspectives. There is another expression on the Jain symbol of faith, “parasparopagraha jĪvćnćm,” (TS 5.21) which 23

On the attainment of samyak-darŔana, see Jaini 1979, chpt. 5.

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may be translated as “live and let live,” or “souls render service to one another,” expressing the interdependence of all life-forms and calling for mutual assistance of all living beings. In working with the œvetćmbara Jain community in Rajasthan, James Laidlaw found that “a prominent theme in Jain teaching is that one’s own soul is interchangeable with that of any other being. Thus a common way for renouncers to teach about ahi—sć is as follows. Ahim means ‘I’; sa means ‘he.’ The essence of ahi—sć is realizing that I am the same as he is, that all living beings are equal. They all have a soul just like ours, and so we should not harm them. Each of the innumerable living beings in the world possesses a soul (jĪva, ćtman, or jĪvćtman) which, in essence, is the same as a human soul and thus ultimately capable of perfection and release. The souls of the highest god or the richest king and those of microscopic beings are interchangeable.”24 One of the practices for strengthening both the lay and mendicant vows of nonviolence is reflection or contemplation on its damaging effects. In this context, it is said that “Acts of violence and so on are nothing but unmitigated suffering (TS 7.5 = SS 7.10).” In his comments on this verse, Nathmal Tatia has observed that “The perpetrators of these acts harm both self and others. The merits of the vows are brought home to the practitioner when he feels the miseries inflicted by evil acts on his own life and the lives of his fellow beings.25 Another way of strengthening the vows is through contemplation about their application in daily life. Thus, “Friendliness (maitrĪ) towards all living beings, delight with those whose qualities are superior, compassion for the afflicted, and equanimity towards the ill-behaved [should be contemplated] (TS 7.6).” Compassion has been defined in a number of ways in Jain texts, including “viewing the suffering of others as if it were one’s own.”26 Here, the Digambara commentator Püjyapćda defines compassion as “the disposition to render assistance to the afflicted or those who suffer pain or anguish.” He concludes, “Those who

Laidlaw 1995: 161. Tatia 1994: 172, my italics. 26 Wiley 2006: 441. 24 25

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have this disposition practice nonviolence and other vows completely.”27 Discussions regarding violence from both perspectives are found in works such as the Ćcćrćnga Sütra, the earliest text on mendicant conduct in the œvetćmbara canon, where comprehension and renunciation of everything that harms other beings is the subject of the first lesson. Here a chief mendicant disciple of MahćvĪra relates a discourse he heard from him, which opens with violence to one-sensed beings. Although an ordinary person may observe the effects of violence on beings with two or more senses, in the case of one-sensed life-forms, their suffering, and indeed their very existence, may be ascertained only by an omniscient being. It is said that a person can hurt one-sensed beings and cause them to suffer by cutting, striking, or killing them, in the same way that one can strike a blind man, who cannot see the wound. Such actions deprive a person of happiness and perfect wisdom.28 Elsewhere, in the BhagavatĪ Sütra, it is said that an earthbodied being experiences pain “as great as that of an old decrepit man whom a young strong man gives a blow in the head.” Nevertheless, a distinction is made between the suffering experienced by one-sensed beings and those with two or more senses. All one-sensed beings have an equal feeling of suffering because, being devoid of a conscious mind, they experience pleasure and pain in an indeterminate way. They do not know what they are suffering from and how much their suffering is.29 Compassion for other living beings is expressed during Paryuʛaña, the most important festival in the œvetćmbara ritual calendar, in which sermons are given that incorporate stories illustrating the duties for this time, the first of which is the stopping of killing (amćrĪ pravćrtana).30 Thus, Jains know the stories of King Kumćrapćla and the Mughal emperor Akbar banning animal slaughter during Paryuʛaña as a result of the entreaties of Ćcćrya Hemacandra and Ćcćrya HĪravijayasüri, respectively. John Cort has Wiley 2006: 443. Ćcćrćnga Sütra 1.1.3.5 (Jacobi 1884: 4–5). 29 As quoted in Wiley 2002: 43. 30 On the observance of Paryuʛaña, see Cort 2001a: 147–62. 27 28

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also mentioned a notice in an Ahmedabad (Gujarat, India) newspaper in 1986 by a minister of one of the state’s political parties (who was a Hindu) requesting the closing of all slaughterhouses on the final day of Paryuʛaña. Cort observed that “AmćrĪ pravćrtan is one of the few instances in which Jains attempt to extend their notion of ahi—sć to the larger, non-Jain society. In line with the Indian tendency to view ethics as contextualized according to caste and situation, Jains are usually content to observe ahi—sć as an ethic suitable for themselves, but not expected of everyone else. But according to the mokʜa-mćrg (’path-ofliberation’) ideology, ahi—sć is a universal ethic, and this is expressed through the duty of amćrĪ pravćrtan during Paryuʛan.”31 James Laidlaw notes that it is a common practice among the SthćnakavćsĪs for wealthy laypeople to pay butchers not to slaughter animals on Jain holy days.32 Another way that compassion for other living beings is expressed is in the establishment and support of animal shelters (pć”jrćpols), where sick, disabled, or economically useless animals can live out their natural life span. They are supported by merchant associations (mahćjan), which may include Hindus as well as Jains. However, œvetćmbara TerćpanthĪs reject the idea that financial support for them is a form of religious gifting that results in the accumulation of merit and thus they do not serve any religious function. They likewise do not participate in active intervention to prevent the killing of animals, as discussed above.33 A person, therefore, may be motivated to embrace a life of nonviolence both out self-interest and out of compassion for the suffering of others. The degree to which this is done is a personal Cort 2001a: 149. In a note (p. 229, n. 14), he adds, “they have not, for example, been a notable pacifist presence in terms of issues of war and peace.” 32 Laidlaw 1995: 164. 33 The distinction here is between adhyćtmika dharma, actions that benefit the soul along the path to liberation, and laukika dharma, actions that are beneficial from a social perspective, and religious merit (lokottara puñya) versus social merit (laukika puñya). See Flügel 1995–1996 and Vallely 2002: 31. 31

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decision, informed by the understanding that each individual is responsible for his or her own spiritual well-being. In Jainism there is no creator god or supreme being who can reward or punish a person for good or bad actions or who can intervene in the karmic process and extricate a devotee from the cycle of rebirth. Renouncing the household life and refraining from violence to the degree required of a mendicant is a drastic step that few are prepared to undertake. However, a person may strive to adhere more closely to the proscribed conduct of an ideal layperson.

VIOLENCE AND THE HOUSEHOLD LIFE Conduct appropriate for a layperson is outlined in a genre of texts called Ŕrćvakćcćra, “conduct (ćcćra) of a layperson (Ŕrćvaka).” The authors of these texts recognized that it is impossible for a layperson to renounce all forms of violence. “The lay estate cannot exist without activity and there can be no activity without the taking of life; in its grosser form this is to be avoided sedulously but the implicit part of it is hard to avoid.”34 Here daily household activities, namely pounding, grinding, cooking, washing, and sweeping, are called “slaughterhouses” (sünć) because they result in the destruction of living beings.35 Although total abstention from violence is out of the question for laypeople, they can minimize harm, even to one-sensed beings, by adhering to certain dietary restrictions. In addition to meat, alcohol, and honey, in the lists of foods that should not be eaten (abhakʜyas) are forms of vegetable life that are thought to contain numerous souls. Examples of such foods are figs, vegetables that grow underground and can selfpropagate when cut, and fruits and vegetables with many seeds. Cooking and eating after dark has traditionally been discouraged for various reasons, including attracting insects to the fire.36 With one exception, the Ŕrćvakćcćra texts were written by monks and describe idealized lay conduct, not the reality of daily lives of Jains throughout the centuries. As John Cort has observed, Williams 1963: 121. Williams 1963: 122. 36 On the abhakʜyas, see Williams 110–16. 34 35

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“There is much in the religious, social, and private lives of Jains that does not fit into the [mendicant-based path] ideology. Ideally, this path culminates in renunciation, but in reality this seldom happens. This path is focused on twelve vows (vratas), the first five of which are the lesser vows (añuvratas), essentially less restrictive versions of the five great vows (mahćvratas) taken by mendicants. These lifelong vows are rarely taken by laypeople today but are indicative of the ideal standard of conduct.” 37 With respect of the vow of nonviolence (ahi—sć vrata), layperson vows to abstain from gross violence, or the taking of life with two or more senses (sthüla hi—sć).38 In the words of a contemporary mendicant, “A layperson should not desire, intend, or act in such a way as to harm any moving creature (i.e., those with two or more senses), but instead try to protect them. A layperson should not act heedlessly in anger and beat living creatures. A layperson should not needlessly pierce the skin of a living creature. A layperson should not overwork either animals or people. A layperson should not kill beings by beating them. A layperson should not let people and animals in one’s care go hungry.”39

VIOLENCE IN OCCUPATIONS As with other aspects of household life, the authors of the Ŕrćvakćcćra texts acknowledge that there is violence inherent in carrying out one’s occupational duties. Therefore, a distinction has been made between occupational violence (ćrambhaja hi—sć), which takes place incidentally in the course of one’s work, and premeditated violence that is intentionally planned and carried out (sa—kalpaja hi—sć), which has more severe karmic repercussions.40 However, some occupations entail less violence than others, and by the fifteenth century both œvetćmbara and Digambara texts contain similar lists of permitted occupations. Trade heads these lists, although restrictions may be placed on the types of goods traded or Cort 2001a: 29. Williams 1963: 66. 39 Cort 2001a: 27; cf. Williams 1963: 66–67. 40 Jaini 1979: 170–71; Williams 1963: 66; and Zydenbos 1999: 197. 37 38

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manufactured (e.g., meat, alcohol, ivory, poisons, weapons). Other permitted occupations include clerical work, the practice of medicine, astrology and divination, and various crafts. While it is true that the Jains are known as a merchant community, agriculture is classified as a permitted occupation, although in earlier œvetćmbara texts it is among the fifteen forbidden occupations.41 P. S. Jaini has observed that Jains should not choose an occupation that entails intentional destruction, such as a hunter or fisherman. “A farmer may destroy insects, but because such harm is done unwittingly it does not render this means of livelihood unacceptable.”42 However, a layperson should refrain from unwholesome activities that serve no useful purpose (anarthadanda), including cutting trees or digging in the ground (for fun), furnishing means of destruction (distributing poisons or weapons), and giving advice that leads others to cause harm (encouraging warfare or helping hunters find animals).43

VIOLENCE IN WARFARE AND SELF-DEFENSE Among the permitted occupations in which violence may be a more significant factor are those of government service and the military. Injury caused by a person while defending himself or others is classified as virodhĪ hi—sć (lit., obstructive violence; violence in resistance), not the more serious intentional or premeditated violence (sa—kalpaja hi—sć).44 The difference between the two is illustrated by the story of King YaŔodhara, in which his sword is described as being continuously washed by the blood of his enemies, but he committed an evil act by sacrificing a fowl made of flour. The latter hi—sć was intentional because “though he For the fifteen forbidden occupations found in œvetćmbara texts, see Williams 1963:117–21, where agriculture is included in sphoʞa-karman (p. 118). See also Qvarnström 2002: 66–68. 42 Jaini 1979: 171. For other views regarding agriculture, see Cort 2001a: 28; Dundas 2002: 191; and Zydenbos 1999: 198. 43 Jaini 1979: 178–79. 44 Jaini 1979: 171 and Zydenbos 1999: 197. Dundas 2007 and Jaini 2000 also discuss Jainism and warfare, along with other aspects of violence and non-violence in Jainism. 41

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knew that he was not killing any being, yet he was not free from the idea of killing something in sacrifice,” which unlike warfare is not a duty of the ruling/warrior class (kʜatriya dharma).45 As one Jain in the city of Jaipur (Rajasthan, India) told James Laidlaw, “Jain religion does not say you should be a coward. Jains are heroes. Religion first teaches you about duty. So if it is part of your duty to go to the front in war, you should do that. It is different for renouncers, but laymen should do that duty. There were always Jain warriors, and they were very religious. Jain warriors used always to stop when the time came for sćmćyik (a meditational exercise performed by many Jains at the same time every morning), and perform their sćmćyik on horseback.”46 Writing shortly after World War II and India’s independence, the Jain Pandit Sukhlal Sanghavi noted, “The Jaina community, from its very inception, has stood for the principle of nonviolence. But it never eschewed its social duties and did not refuse even to take part in armed resistance, whenever required to do so, during the various upheavals of the country and its people, although it was not very easy for it to reconcile its uncompromising advocacy of nonviolence with the co-operation in armed defence of the interests of society.”47 There is literary and inscriptional evidence from the presentday Indian states of Gujarat and Karnataka about kings, generals, and ministers who worshipped the Jinas and who had Jain monks as preceptors. From these accounts emerge portraits of suggested conduct for kings. Vañarćja, who emerged as the ruler of a local œaiva dynasty in the eighth century, spent part of his youth under the care of a female mendicant (sćdhvĪ), illustrating, according to Cort, that “if all kings became mendicants there would be no one left to protect the Jain community and also that the best king is one who had undergone the self-discipline of mendicant practice.”48 His royal lustration (rćjyćbhiʜekha) was performed by his guru, the Jain Ćcćrya œilaguñasüri; his prime minister was a Jain Murthy 1977: 130. Laidlaw 1995: 155. 47 Sanghavi 1950: 18. 48 Cort 1998: 94. Vanarćja is discussed on pp. 94–96. 45 46

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businessman; and he was responsible for the construction of a Jain temple in his capitol city, Patan (Gujarat). Kumćrapćla (r. 1145–75), a king in the Caulukya dynasty, became a Jain, having attained victory in Ajmer after worshipping an image of the second Jina, Ajitanćtha. He vowed to abstain from meat and liquor and eventually took the lay vows (añuvratas) from his preceptor, Hemacandra, who composed for him the TriʜaʜʞiŔalćkćpuruʜacaritra, “The Lives of Sixty-three Illustrious Persons,” one of several Universal History texts. This work contains descriptions of the ideal universal emperor (cakravartin), who temporarily assumes mendicant restraints prior to his conquest of rival kingdoms. As Cort has noted, “Hemacandra, as other Jain idealogues, considered warfare to be a normal and unavoidable activity of a king . . . [although] for Jain ideologues the institution of kingship is at best suspect and imperfect. It is especially dangerous to the moral condition of the king’s soul. Hemacandra therefore expected a Jain king to adhere to the ethical absolute of non-harm in terms of personal conduct, especially in terms of activities traditionally associated with kings such as hunting, drinking, gambling, and animal fights.”49 Ultimately, Hemacandra urges renunciation of such violence. “Violence can [only] be for destruction. Even though [as in] the well-known [case of YaŔodhara] it was performed for the sake of removing obstacles [or] conceived as the proper duty of the family, it [still] brought destruction on the family. On the other hand, he is superior who even abandons hereditary violence, like [the warrior (kʜatriya)] Sulasa, the son of Kćlasaukarika. If one does not give up violence, controlling [the senses], paying respects to deities and teachers, [indulging in] charity, studying [religious scriptures, etc., or practicing] austerity, all is without result [neither is bad karma destroyed nor is good acquired].50 Another Universal History text is the Ćdipurćña, begun in the eighth century by Jinasena and completed by his disciple, Guñabhadra. It was probably addressed to Jinasena’s patron, the

49 50

Cort 1998: 101. Kumćrapćla is discussed on pp. 96–102. Qvarnström 2002: 36, translation of YogaŔćstra 2.29–31.

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Rćʛʜraküta monarch Amoghavarʛa I (815–877 CE).51 Here the conduct of the ideal universal emperor (cakravartin) is illustrated through the story of Bharata, a son of Öʛabha, the first Jina of our current cycle of time. Before each conquest, he engages in fasting, meditation, and worship, and through his calmness and energy gains control of territories without resorting to violence.52 Trouble ensues, however, later in his reign when Bharata tries to take over land belonging to his brothers, including that of his half-brother Bćhubali. Here the attitude is expressed that warfare within a family should be avoided. After single combat in which Bćhubali defeats Bharata, instead of killing him, Bćhubali renounces the world. Standing motionless in meditation for so long that creepers encircled his limbs, he finally conquers his passions and, according to Digambaras, was the first man in the current era to attain liberation. Here, Dundas sees a ambivalent attitude about kingship. “The Ćdipurćña’s description of Bharata’s anger and his cheating in combat . . . and the frequent statement of the superiority of the kingship of austerities point to a Jain interpretation of kingship as an imperfect and potentially dangerous institution which, for all its beneficial qualities, is worthy of only partial admiration, and which requires the guiding and controlling presence of ministers imbued not only with the values of Jainism but also with a strong degree of pragmatism.”53 More details are revealed about the ideal king when Öʛabha, who establishes social order for this era, tells kʜatriyas that it is their duty to protect the religious community, the Jain doctrine, the soul, subjects, and equality. As was the case with Hemacandra, Jinasena also recognized the dangers that violence posed to the soul in Öʛabha’s comments that a king should look toward his next life and eventually renounce the kingdom, practice austerities, and abandon life in the ritual fast ending in death (sallekhanć), thereby attaining a heavenly rebirth and ultimately liberation. Those not doing so will experience a bad death from poison or arrows and an inauspicious rebirth.54 Dundas 2007: 46. See also Saletore 1938: 38–39. Dundas 1991: 197. 53 Dundas 1991: 181. 54 Dundas 1991: 182–83. 51 52

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With warnings like these, it is not surprising to find warriors who were generous in religious gifting and who engaged in studying religious scriptures. It was Cć—uñʡarćya (or Cćvuñʡarćya), a minister and general in the army of the Ganga kings, who was responsible for erecting the colossal image of Bćhubali at œravañabe¤go¤a (Karnataka) in 981. As noted by Dundas, “it was unquestionably intended to allude to the accommodation which a Jain warrior had to make between the claims of religion and his necessary engagement in acts of war.”55 Cć—uñʡarćya’s heroism in battle is recorded on an inscription nearby. “We who had been consumed with a longing to embrace the neck of this hero in many battles have now happiness from the water of the sharp edge of your sword. May you live to the end of the age, O victor over Rañarangasi—ha, thus did the celestial nymphs invoke the blessings on the rutting elephant (Cćvuñʡarćja), who transformed (hostile) kings into gods . . . [He] completely gratified the desire of hosts of goblins longing to drink the blood of heroic enemies from the jewelled cups, the skulls of heroes.”56 Cć—uñʡarćya also studied the scriptures and well aware of Jain teachings regarding violence and the soul because he is praised in the Gommaʞasćra, a Digambara work on karma theory, which is a compilation of Nemicandra’s answers to Cć—uñʡarćya’s questions about karma and the soul. In addition, Cć—uñʡarćya wrote his own commentary on this text, and he reportedly took the lay vows from his preceptor, Ajitasena.57 More problematic is the question of whether it was permissible for a king to conduct warfare for expansion of territory rather than for self-defense. Jaini has noted that in his treatise on polity, the NĪtivćkyć—rta (tenth century), Somadevasüri states that “kings should regard warfare as a ‘last resort,’ but he does not go so far as to specify that it may be undertaken only on a defensive Dundas 2002: 224. On kingship in South India, esp. the Gangas, see Zydenbos 1999: 188–92. See also Dundas 2002: 118–20 and Saletore 1938, chpt. 2. 56 Epigraphia Carnatica inscription 388 (pp. 490–91). 57 Gommaʞasćra JĪvakćñʘa 734 and Karmakćñʘa 966–972. See also J. L. Jaini 1927: 6–8 (intro.) and Saletore 1938: 102–12. 55

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basis.”58 In this regard, Dundas believes that historically, “total adherence to the principles of nonviolence was of importance only in certain specific and precisely defined religious contexts, such as ritual or contact with a monk, and that nonviolence did not inform broader issues, such as a king’s obligation to expand his kingdom.”59 Although a statement has been made by a Jain ćcćrya that is reminiscent of the Bhagavad GĪtć, “If you flee from the battlefield, then your race will go to ruin,”60 rather than the reward of heaven, it is the rarity of auspicious rebirths for warriors that is emphasized in Jain texts. When mentioned, it is usually in association with acts of repentance and renunciation. In a story found in the BhagavatĪ Sütra, out of hundreds of thousands of men who reportedly died in battle, just two attained auspicious births. Varuña, who had taken the lay vows (añuvratas) and was then drafted by King Küñika, had vowed to never strike first. When mortally wounded, he left the battlefield and renounced all forms of violence, both gross and subtle, along with attachment to his body. The warrior reborn as a human was wounded and left the battlefield with Varuña, supporting him, and then dying in the same manner. In contrast, the others, who had not repented for their violent actions, were reborn as animals or hell-beings. 61 A similar account of a heavenly rebirth in association with pious acts and renunciation of the body is found in a lengthy inscription in memory of Mćrasi—ha Guttiya, a king in the Ganga dynasty who ruled from 961–974 CE for whom Cć—uñʡarćya was a minister and general. After extolling his prowess in battle, it says that he “caused to be erected at various places basadis (Jaina temples) and mćnasta—bhas (lit., “pride pillar,” erected in front of the main entrance to a Digambara temple, primarily in South India). Having reverently carried out works of piety, one year later he relinquished the sovereignty and, observing Jaini 1979: 171, n. 32. Dundas 1991: 175. 60 The reference is to Ćcćrya Siμhanandi (twelfth century). See Saletore 1938: 11–18, esp. 12. 61 See Deleu 1970: 140–42 and Kumar and Tatia 2009: 605–22 (BhagavatĪ Sütra 7.9.173–211). 58 59

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the vow for three days with the rites of worship at the holy feet of Ajitasena-bhaʜʜćraka at Bankćpura, accomplished samćdhi (death in meditation) . . . The Ganga chieftain No¤a—bćntaka has gone to the abode of the gods.”62 Murthy offers a different perspective on warfare, which is also reflected in statements made by Jaini. In his opinion, fighting “was given a place in the system for purposes of utility and it is highly doubtful that a normal layman was really conscious of it.” Based on the number or inscriptions for ordinary heroes, as opposed to rulers, on hero-stones, he speculates that the number of Jains who actually served in the military service of a king may have been few. “Could the reason be that ordinary laymen thought that fighting in general was taboo for Jains? Could it be that a Jain in general was reluctant or at least not enthusiastic about participating in wars or warlike activities?” 63 In contrast to this, he notes that there are a large number of stones that have been erected for those Jains who faced death in a heroic manner, with a controlled mental state, reducing their passions through the ritual fast ending in death (sallekhanć).

NONVIOLENCE AND THE MENDICANT COMMUNITY As is obvious from statements about renunciation of the kingdom, the true heroes in Jainism are not warriors but mendicants, whose daily lives are characterized by reducing violence and passions to the greatest degree possible. In taking the five great vows of a mendicant (mahćvratas), a person vows to abstain from intentional subtle violence (sükʜmć hi—sć), or the taking of life of one-sensed organisms. As P. S. Jaini has observed, “perhaps every culture teaches its children to behave with regard to the well-being of other persons and of domestic animals. The normal socialization process, however provides little or no basis for extending this consideration Saletore 1938: 26–28 and Epigraphia Carnatica: 375. On occasion, however, inscriptions are found in which there is no mention of any religious acts in association with rebirth in heaven. See Epigraphia Carnatica: introduction (lxxxii), and inscription 171 (pp. 115, 424). 63 Murthy 1977: 135. 62

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to the single-sensed creatures. Hence the Jaina mendicant must put forth a tremendous effort of mindfulness, consciously establishing a totally new pattern of behavior for which his prior training has in no way prepared him.”64 Laidlaw, I believe, captures the essence of nonviolence as it relates to mendicants. “In advancing beyond the forms of nonviolence practiced by the ordinary Jain, the saint does not develop a deeper sympathy, or a more complex understanding, or more vivid empathy with other beings, what he or she does, as Jaini says, is to extend the same insight to more implausible objects.”65 In this regard, mendicants strive to control or curb activities of the body, speech, and mind, thereby inhibiting the influx of karma (sa—vara). They practice care in walking (they are prohibited from travel by mechanized conveyance or during the rainy season), care in speaking, care in accepting alms by inspecting their food, care in picking things up and putting them down, and care in excretory functions by performing them in a place devoid of living beings.66 Mendicant implements, such as the whisk-broom used to remove life-forms before sitting or lying down and the mouth-cloth (muhpattĪ) used by œvetćmbara mendicants to prevent injury to small insects and to wind-bodied beings, are visible reminders of the attention paid to avoiding harm to all living beings. All requisites of life must be obtained from laypeople, including food and water, because lighting or extinguishing fire for cooking would harm fire-bodied beings. The water that they drink must be rendered devoid of life by filtering and boiling, which kills water-bodied beings. It may appear that mendicants live a life of nonviolence at the expense of laypeople who suffer the karmic repercussions of food preparation. However, here as well the context of violence is important because laypeople gain merit (puñya) by gifting to worthy recipients, especially mendicants. Such acts bind auspicious varieties of karmas associated with well-being in this life and a good rebirth in the next, and this is thought to offset the negative karmic effects of cooking, and so forth. In Jaini 1979: 243. Laidlaw 1995: 162. 66 Jaini 1979: 247–48. 64 65

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commenting on the household as “slaughterhouses” of cooking and cleaning, it is said that “these sünćs which impede the path to mokʜa are eliminated by almsgiving to ascetics.”67 “The feeding of ascetics wipes away the karma heaped up by the activities of a household life just as water washes away blood.” It is also said that “because acquisitiveness (lćbha), which is a manifestation of hi—sć, is overcome by gifting (dćna), almsgiving actually brings about a cessation of hi—sć.68 In this regard, there is similar logic of the positive outweighing the negative in justifications for lay Jains engaging in temple-building, which necessitates digging in the earth and cutting trees, and also in the act of image-worship with objects such as flowers.69 Mendicants are expected to endure with equanimity the various hardships (parĪʜahas) of mendicant life, such as hunger when suitable food is unavailable, walking barefoot in the heat and cold, and so forth (TS 9.9). Injury is among these hardships, and yet, in cases of extreme hostility, at least one text on mendicant conduct contains passages indicating that monks could defend their fellow mendicants against attack. Deo reports that “If thieves or a general of the army attacked a group of monks, then such monks who were well-versed in the sacred lore tried to pacify the general. If he was not pacified then those who were masters of spells tried to repel him by these means. If he was still not pacified, then those who could use the weapons of war resorted to the bow and arrow to defeat the general.”70 He also mentions that fighting as a last resort was allowed to protect nuns or when their ćcćrya (mendicant leader) was kidnapped.71 He also mentions that self-defense from animal attack was permitted, citing the story of a monk who killed three lions with his club while his co-monks slept.72 Although apparently permissible, it should be stressed that such selfdefensive acts were done as a “last resort” and represented Williams 1963: 122. Williams 1963: 161. 69 For details, see Dundas 2002: 107–10 and Dundas 2007: 51–52. 70 Deo 1956: 385. 71 Deo 1956: 426. 72 Deo 1956: 388, citing the BŠhatkalpabhćʜya. 67 68

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extraordinary situations, not the norm. How often in past times such acts may have been carried out and how widespread their acceptability may have been is unknown. On the other hand, there is a great deal of discussion about more normal situations in which there is injury to minute life-forms in the course of a mendicant’s daily activity. As we have seen, violence has been defined as an act involving negligence or carelessness (pramatta) that is informed by delusion (moha) in the form of attachment (rćga) or aversion (dveʜa). According to the commentaries, for a mendicant who is following proper restraint, unintentional harming does not have negative karmic repercussions. In commenting on TS 7.8 (= SS 7.13), “taking away life out of passion is violence,” Püjyapćda quotes from the Pravacanasćra of Kundakunda: “When the foot of an ascetic who observes the Īryć-samiti (i.e., who is careful in his walking according to the rule) has been raised for going out, should a minute creature (kulinga), coming in contact with that, be hurt or killed, it is taught in the scripture that he is not liable even for the slightest bondage as a consequence of that; (the case is similar to the statement:) it is infatuation [mürcchć, meaning attraction and aversion] alone that is called possession [parigraha] on the authority of the spiritual lore.”73 Püjyapćda continues: “Now has it not been admitted that mere passionate attitude even without the severance of vitalities constitutes violence? ‘He who acts with negligence commits injury whether death is caused to organisms or not. And he who proceeds with proper care does not contract bondage of karma by mere injury. . . In the case of the person with negligence, there is severance of life-principles, at least in thought.”74 The mention of “proper care” here refers to the three restraints (guptis) and the five rules of conduct (samitis) at TS 9.3 and 9.4 in the section of the Tattvćrtha Sütra dealing with inhibiting the influx of karma (sa—vara). Both of these sütras are associated with samyak “proper” conduct, or requisite control of actions of body, speech, and mind and requisite control movements associated with daily living that are in Jayasena’s recension of Pravacanasćra 3:17 b,c, as translated by Johnson (1995: 168–69). 74 S. A. Jain 1960: 197. 73

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accordance with the rules of conduct for Jain mendicants. Furthermore, this implies that one also has proper knowledge (samyak-darŔana), since this is attained prior to taking the mendicant vows. Although on the surface it may appear that Jains and Buddhists share the understanding of violence and intentionality, this is not the case. “The Jains argue that all violence is intended violence; they argue that it is not possible for a person to be so ignorant and yet not guilty. His very ignorance and carelessness constitute an intent to do violence and imply correspondingly his guilt. Only the Jain holy man, who has the right understanding and who is ever mindful of his acts, is truly devoid of the intention to commit violence.” Granoff concludes, “In this way the Jains do at least absolve their monks of the inevitable violence associated with being alive.” 75 In reflecting on these statements, one should keep in mind that it is difficult for mendicants to constantly maintain proper care in actions and to constantly control their thoughts to the degree required to avoid subtle manifestations of passions and thereby avoid all negative karmic effects, however slight. In other words, it is acknowledged that infractions (aticara) of the mendicant vows do take place. Therefore, one of the six obligatory daily duties (ćvaŔyakas) for a mendicant is the ritual confession of and repentance for all faults that may have been committed (pratikramaña). Performed once at dawn and once at nightfall, it includes the phrase “miccćmi dukkaʘam,” which has been translated in various ways, including “May that fault have been done in vain” (i.e., have no effect). In recognition of the interconnectedness of all life-forms, a mendicant also asks for forgiveness from all living beings with this verse: “I ask pardon of all living beings, may all of

Granoff 1992: 33 and 42–43, n. 31. Granoff quotes œilćnka’s commentary to the SütrakŠtćnga Sütra (34): “Since the mental intention to kill does not exist when its cause, ignorance and the like, disappears and since it invariably exists when ignorance exists (in fact, that evil intention is nothing but ignorance in essence) then . . . someone who desires the absence of that mental intention to kill should strive to acquire knowledge.” 75

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them pardon me, may I have friendship with all beings and enmity with none.”76

SELF-VIOLENCE IN ASCETICISM, SUICIDE, AND RITUAL FASTING TO DEATH A number of works of have been written on the practice of fasting and other forms of asceticism in various religious traditions. In Jainism, fasting, which is classified as an external austerity (tapas), is distinguished from a mendicant’s refraining from eating when suitable food is unavailable because it is purposefully undertaken and is preceded by a formal statement of intention. Also, some types of fasts entail restricted eating rather than no eating. Although it may cause pain to the body, fasting is not considered self-violence because it is associated with the control of one’ senses and it results in preventing karma from binding with the soul and destroying previously bound karma, not the accumulation of more karma. Haribhadra (eighth century) expresses the view that “Sometimes there may be a little bit of pain in the body from not eating, etc. This is just like the behaviour of an ailment . . . Surely, when looked upon in [the perspective that] one’s desired aims are fully achieved, torment of the body (tapas) is not painful. It this case one can also compare it to [the trouble and the final profit] of those who are traders of precious stones, etc. So, it must be known, tapas essentially consists of a special kind of insight, longing for liberation (sa—vega) and calmness. It is a purity by destruction of karma, and it consists of pleasure without any pain.”77 Suicide is considered to be harmful to oneself. Among the twelve types of unwise voluntary deaths listed in the BhagavatĪ Sütra are self-inflicted death by jumping from a mountain or tree, drowning, self-immolation, taking poison, using a weapon, and hanging. Such deaths do not destroy vast quantities of karma but instead add to the accumulation of bad karmas, thereby increasing one’s time in sa—sćra. They are undertaken on account of irrational impulses rather than conscious judgment, are conditioned by the 76 77

On the obligatory actions, see Dundas 2002: 169–73. Lindtner 2004: 235 (translation of Haribhadra’s Aʜʞaka-Prakaraña).

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desire to die, are brought about by volitional actions that are violent in nature. Therefore, ending one’s life through a lethal dose of medication in an “assisted suicide” or by “euthanasia” would be an unwise voluntary death by poison. On the other hand, in cases of terminal illness, there would be no violence associated with withdrawing or withholding treatment.78 Ritual fasting until death, known as sallekhanć or santhćrć, is classified as a wise voluntary death and is not a form of selfviolence. Sallekhanć is not suicide, says Püjyapćda, because there is no passion, there is no attachment, aversion, or infatuation (TS 7.19 = SS 7.22). In its external manifestation, it entails the curtailment of food, causing emaciation or thinning of the body. In its internal manifestation, it entails the thinning of passions by destroying large quantities of karmic matter. Unlike suicide, sallekhanć is undertaken publicly in association with a request for a vow that is given by a mendicant. Sallekhanć may be undertaken when the time is appropriate for life to end, when the spiritual benefits of dying would most likely outweigh any spiritual benefits that could be gained from maintaining the body. Today, this is usually associated with advanced terminal illness, when death appears to be imminent, or in the case of mendicants, when they are in such poor health that they find it impossible to live in accordance with their vows.79 James Laidlaw has noted that “Jains have been much concerned that Western observers should not confuse this practice with suicide. It should be undertaken only with the permission of one’s religious preceptor, it is slow and controlled, and very definitely not a gesture of despair.”80 In spite of the attention that it has attracted, the number of Jains who end their life in this manner is quite small.

CONCLUDING OBSERVATIONS In reflecting on the different perspectives from which violence may be viewed, including harm to oneself and harm to others, violence Wiley 2000: 329–30. See Jaini 1979: 227–33; Wiley 2000: 314–28; Williams 1963: 166–72. 80 Laidlaw 1995: 162, n. 12. 78 79

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in the household life, in occupations, and in warfare, and the renunciation of all violence by mendicants, we can see that there is a hierarchy of violence. At one extreme, there is intentional, premeditated violence carried out with the strongest degree of passions, which may or may not injure another living being but that, without a doubt, severely harms one’s own soul. At the other extreme are actions that may cause injury or death to another living being but are not considered hi—sć because they occurred inadvertently, while exercising the requisite care in movements. Such actions in the course of a mendicant’s daily life are said to have no effect on the soul. However, it is difficult, if not impossible, for most people to reduce passions (kaʜćyas) to the level where the karmic effects would be negligible and to exercise sufficient care for carelessness (pramćda) not to be a factor, actions carried out by the vast majority of people are somewhere in between these two extremes and therefore affect the soul to some degree. The karmic effects, however, vary in accordance with the intent underlying the action and context in which it is done. And in certain situations, the karmic effects of violent actions may be offset, for example, violence in cooking when preparing alms for mendicants. In general, mendicants urge laypeople to embrace a lifestyle in which violence is minimized and to remain aware of, and have compassion for, the suffering of others. Therefore, in the interfaith dialogue with the “three amigos,” a Jain would likely have asserted that “ahi—sć paramo dharma˙” (“nonviolence is the highest religious duty”) is an all-encompassing expression of the Jain faith and that “All breathing, existing, living, sentient creatures should not be slain, nor treated with violence, nor abused, nor tormented, nor driven away.”81 “All beings are fond of life, like pleasure, hate pain, shun destruction, like life, long to live. To all life is dear.”82 Ćcćrćnga Sütra 1.4.1.1 (Jacobi 1884: 36). Ćcćrćnga Sütra. 1.2.3.4 (Jacobi 1884: 19). Schmithausen (2000: 270– 272) discusses the same sentiment in Buddhism. He quotes from the Suttanipćta (705): “ ‘As I [am], so [are] these; as [are] these, so [am] I.’ Making himself [the standard of] comparison, he should not kill or cause to kill,” and the Dhammapada (129–30): “All [beings] are afraid of violence, all fear death. Making himself [the standard of] comparison, he should not 81 82

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BIBLIOGRAPHY Ćcćrćnga Sütra. See Jacobi, trans. BhagavatĪ Sütra. See Kumar and Tatia, trans. Cort, John E. 1989. “Liberation and Wellbeing: A Study of Ĕvetćmbar Mürtipüjak Jains of North Gujarat.” Ph.D. Dissertation, Harvard University. Cort, John E. 1998. “Who Is a King?: Jain Narratives of Kingship in Medieval Western India. In Open Boundaries: Jain Communities and Cultures in Indian History, ed. John E. Cort. Albany, N.Y.: SUNY Press, 85–110. Cort, John E. 2001a. Jains in the World: Religious Values and Ideology in India. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Cort, John E. 2001b. “The Intellectual Formation of a Jain Monk: A œvetćmbara Monastic Curriculum.” Journal of Indian Philosophy 29: 327–49. Cort, John E. 2002. “A Tale of Two Cities: On the Origins of Digambara Sectarianism.” In Multiple Histories: Culture and Society in the Study of Rajasthan, eds. Lawrence A. Babb, Michael W. Meister, and Varsha Joshi. Jaipur: Rawat Publications. Cort, John E. 2004. “How Jains Know What They Know: A Lay Jain Curriculum.” In Jambü-jyoti: Munivara Jambüvijaya Festschrift, eds. M. A. Dhaky and J. B. Shah. Ahmedabad: Shresthi Kasturbhai Lalbhai Smarak Nidhi, Sharadaben Chimanbhai Educational Research Centre, 399–413. Cort, John E. 2006. “A Fifteenth-Century Digambar Jain Mystic and His Followers: Tćrañ Tćrañ SvćmĪ and the Tćrañ SvćmĪ Panth.” In Studies in Jaina History and Culture: Disputes and Dialogues, ed. Peter Flugel. London: Routledge, 263–311. Deleu, Jozef. 1970. Viyćhapannatti (BhagavaĪ): The Fifth Anga of the Jaina Canon: Introduction, Critical Analysis, Commentary, and Indexes. Brugge: De Tempel, Tempelhof. Reprint Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass, 1996.

kill or cause to kill. All [beings] are afraid of violence, all are fond of life. Making himself [the standard of] comparison, he should not kill or cause to kill.”

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Deo, Shantaram B. 1956. History of Jaina Monachism from Inscriptions and Literature. Poona: Deccan College Postgraduate and Research Institute. Dundas, Paul. 1991. “The Digambara Jain Warrior.” In The Assembly of Listeners: Jains in Society, eds. Michael Carrithers and Caroline Humphrey. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 169–86. Dundas, Paul. 2002. The Jains. Second Edition. London: Routledge. Dundas, Paul. 2007. “The Non-Violence of Violence: Jain Perspectives on Warfare, Asceticism and Worship.” In Religion and Violence in South Asia: Theory and Practice, ed. John R. Hinnells and Richard King. London: Routledge, 39–58. Epigraphia Carnatica. 1973. Mysore: University of Mysore, Institute of Kannada Studies. Flügel, Peter. 1995–1996. “The Ritual Circle of the Terćpanth œvetćmbara Jains.” Bulletin d’Étudies Indiennes 13: 117–76. Flügel, Peter. 2003. “The Codes of Conduct of the Terćpanth Samañ Order. South Asian Research 23.1: 7–53. Flügel, Peter. 2006. “Demographic Trends in Jaina Monasticism.” In Studies in Jaina History and Culture: Disputes and Dialogues, ed. Peter Flügel. London: Routledge, 312–98. Folkert, Kendall W. 1993. Scripture and Community: Collected Essays on the Jains, ed. John E. Cort. Atlanta: Scholars Press. Gommaʞasćra. See Jaini, J. L., trans. Goodstein, Laurie. 2009. “Three Clergymen, Three Faiths, One Friendship.” New York Times, Nov. 24, national edition, A14. Granoff, Phyllis. 1992. “The Violence of Non-Violence: A Study of Some Jain Responses to Non-Jain Religious Practices.” The Journal of the International Association of Buddhist Studies 15.1: 1–43. Jacobi, Hermann, trans. 1884. Jaina Sütras, pt. 1 (Translation of the Ćcćrćnga Sütra and the Kalpa Sütra). Oxford: Oxford University Press. Reprint, Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass, 1989. Jain, S. A., trans. 1960. Reality: English Translation of Püjyapćda’s Sarvćrthasiddhi. Madras: Jwalamalini Trust. Reprint, 1992. Jaini, J. L., trans. 1927. Gommatasara Jiva-Kanda of Nemicandra. Assisted by Brahmachari Sital Prasad. The Sacred Books of the Jainas, vol. 5. Lucknow: Central Jaina Publishing House. Reprint, New Delhi: Today & Tomorrow’s Printers and Publishers, 1990.

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Jaini, J. L., trans. 1927, 1937. Gommatasara Karma-Kanda of Nemicandra. Assisted by Brahmachari Sital Prasad. The Sacred Books of the Jainas, vols. 6 and 10. Lucknow: Central Jaina Publishing House. Reprint, New Delhi: Today & Tomorrow’s Printers and Publishers, 1990. Jaini, Padmanabh S. 1979. The Jaina Path of Purification. Berkeley: University of California Press. Jaini, Padmanabh S. 2000. “Ahi—sć: A Jaina Way of Spiritual Discipline.” In Collected Papers on Jaina Studies, ed. P. S. Jaini. Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass, 3–19. Johnson, W. J. 1995. Harmless Souls: Karmic Bondage and Religious Change in Early Jainism wiht Special Reference to Umćsvćti and Kundakunda. Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass. Kumar, Muni Mahendra and N. Tatia, trans. 2009. BhagavaĪ VićhapaññattĪ, vol. 2. Ladnun: Jain Vishva Bharati. Laidlaw, James. 1995. Riches and Renunciation: Religion, Economy, and Society Among the Jains. Oxford: Clarendon Press. Lindtner, Christian. 2004. “The Humanism of Haribhadra.” In Jambü-jyoti: Munivara Jambüvijaya Festschrift, eds. M. A. Dhaky and J. B. Shah. Ahmedabad: Shresthi Kasturbhai Lalbhai Smarak Nidhi, Sharadaben Chimanbhai Educational Research Centre, 203–68. Murthy, M. Chidananda. 1977. “The Concept of War and Ahimsa in Jainism in Karnataka.” In Jainism and Karnatak Culture, ed. T. G. Kalghatgi. Dharwar: Karnatak University, 127–38. Qvarnström, Olle, trans. 2002. The YogaŔćstra of Hemacandra: A Twelfth Century Handbook on œvetćmbara Jainism. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press. Saletore, Bhasker Anand. 1938. Mediaeval Jainism With Special Reference to the Vijayanagara Empire. Bombay: Karnatak Publishing House. Sanghavi, Pandit Sukhlal. 1950. Pacifism and Jainism. Atlanta: Emory University. Schmithausen, Lambert. 2000. “A Note on the Origin of Ahi—sć.” In HarćnandalaharĪ: Volume in Honour of Professor Minoru Hara on his Seventieth Birthday, eds. Ryutaro Tsuchida and Albrecht Wezler. Reinbek: Verlag für Orientalistische Fachpublikationen, 253–82. Tatia, Nathmal, trans. 1994. Tattvćrtha Sütra: That Which Is. San Francisco: HarperCollins.

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Vallely, Anne. 2002. Guardians of the Transcendent: An Ethnography of a Jain Ascetic Community. Toronto: University of Toronto Press. Wiley, Kristi L. 2000. “Aghćtiya Karmas: Agents of Embodiment in Jainism.” Ph.D dissertation, University of California, Berkeley. Wiley, Kristi L. 2002. “The Nature of Nature: Jain Perspectives on the Natural World.” In Jainism and Ecology: Nonviolence in the Web of Life, ed. Christopher Key Chapple. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 35–59. Wiley, Kristi L. 2004. The Historical Dictionary of Jainism. Lanham, Md.: Scarecrow Press. Wiley, Kristi L. 2006. “Ahi—sć and Compassion in Jainism.” In Studies in Jaina History and Culture: Disputes and Dialogues, ed. Peter Flugel. London: Routledge, 438–55. Williams, R. 1963. Jaina Yoga: A Survey of Mediaeval œrćvakćcćras. London: Oxford University Press. Reprint Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass 1991. Zydenbos, Robert J. 1999. “Jainism as the Religion of NonViolence.” In Violence Denied: Violence, Non-Violence and Rationalization of Violence in South Asian Culture and History, eds. Jan E. M. Houben and Karel R. Van Kooij, 185–210.

CHAPTER 2 ISLAM, GENDER, AND PEACE ZAYN KASSAM What would peace look like for Muslim women? If one were to conceptualize peace as a societal ethos in which sexual difference did not translate into sexual inequity, then peace for Muslim women would mean their full participation in religious and social life, and equitable treatment of women in domestic and public institutions such as marriage, the law, and knowledge production. Since the Qur’an is the foundational text underlying Islamic values and principles, we may ask whether its historical usage to privilege sexual difference as a source of unequal power relations between members of different sexes may be mitigated through considering its potential to forge an equitable relationship between the sexes despite differences in biological capacities. Accordingly, an examination of the Qur’an finds that it considers all human beings to be morally accountable to God, and distinguishes between human beings not on the basis of their sex (male or female), but rather on the basis of their taqwa (translated variously as righteousness, piety, God-consciousness). The root verb for taqwa, and its derivative, mutaqqi (one who is righteous, God-fearing, etc.) is w-q-i. Contained within its lexical field are the meanings to safeguard, shield, protect, preserve against harm or injury. To be counted among those who have taqwa (the muttaqin), then, is to reverence God in such a manner as not to transgress divine commands. Such piety is exemplified through living in accordance with divine guidance, engaging in reverence for God and in prayer, and in honoring those who came before (Qur’Ćn 2:21). In addressing issues of difference, Qur’Ćn 49:13 says: O humankind! We created you from a single (pair) of a male and a female, and made you into nations and tribes, that ye may know each other. Verily the most honored of you in the

33

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This verse is significant in indicating three key concepts pertaining to humans. First, that sexual difference does not indicate ontological inequality; the male and the female come from a single origin and one sex does not have power over the other. Second, that the divine purpose in creating difference amongst human beings, whether sexual or communal, is so that their diversity may enrich, not embattle, one another through their contact with and knowledge of each other. Third, in God’s eyes, humans are distinguished from one another on the basis of their righteousness. If this verse were to be considered foundational as a blueprint for relations-across-difference, then the Qur’Ćn implies that relations between different sexes and between different groups of people are to be conducted in a manner that increases knowledge of each other in ways that uphold righteousness. Conflict has no justification in such a paradigm of relations across difference. The focus of this chapter is to examine two arenas in which one may address gender conflict in the form of inequity between the sexes: one, in Muslim discourse, and two, in modes of praxis. I use the words gender conflict to denote unequal relations of power between the sexes as inscribed in Muslim discourses and institutions, as well as challenges faced by Muslim women simply because they are women. Accordingly, the discursive can be further identified as calling for an examination of hermeneutical strategies, that is, the ways in which the foundational revelatory text held as sacred by all Muslims, the Qur’Ćn, has been appealed to by scholars dealing with gender issues as a text that morally upholds gender justice in Islam. The practical calls for an examination of the organizational, that is, the ways in which Muslim transnational women’s organizations have sought to address gender injustice as experienced by real Muslim women in conjunction with relevant legal, social, cultural, economic and international factors. Despite the commonly held assumption that Islam as a religion discriminates against Muslim women, and that Islam is the sole source of the inequities they face, in this chapter I argue that contemporary discursive reformulations by gender theorists show that the Qur’an is indeed a helpful resource and guide with respect

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to the attainment of gender equity among Muslims. In addition, I argue that contemporary Muslim women are caught in a) the steady transformation of countries worldwide into globally connected neoliberal market economies, which cause more privations than are readily acknowledged, and in b) the rising tide of conservative Islamist movements that view women as symbolic of an Islamic response to globalization and for whom women are instrumental in their bid for political power. The work of scholars of gender in Islam and of Muslim women’s organizations may then be seen as resisting and to some extent, mitigating such globalizing and totalizing maneuvers while also seeking to establish an ethical basis for gender equity among Muslims.

“GENDER JIHAD”: HERMENEUTICAL APPROACHES TO GENDER JUSTICE The phrase gender jihad–meaning struggle or endeavour with respect to gender—was brought into prominence by Amina Wadud as the title of her second work, Inside the Gender Jihad: Women’s Reform in Islam, published in 2006. However, it was in her first work, titled Woman and Qur’an: Rereading the Sacred Text from a Woman’s Perspective, published in 1992, that Wadud developed the principle put forward by Muʘammad ‘Abduh (d. 1905 CE), the one-time Shaykh of AlAzhar, the premier training ground for ‘ulamĆ’ in Egypt. ‘Abduh made a distinction between verses of the Qur’Ćn that were eternally valid for all time and related to ‘ibadah or worship, and verses that were aimed at social cohesiveness and well-being, which related to maslaha and could be considered as being relevant to the historical moment. This distinction was taken up by Fazlur Rahman, lately of the University of Chicago, who suggested that “all Qur’anic passages, revealed as they were in a specific time in history and within certain general and particular circumstances, were given expression relative to those circumstances.”1 His hermeneutical methods inspired Wadud to consider this idea as it related to Amina Wadud-Muhsin, Qur’an and Woman (Kuala Lumpur: Penerbit Fajar Bakti Sdn. Bhd., 1994), 4. Subsequent citations will appear parenthetically within the text. 1

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gender-related verses in the Qur’Ćn. Wadud pointed out that it is important to retain the principle behind verses that clearly relate to the historical culture and context of seventh-century Arabia, where the Qur’Ćn was revealed. She argued then, that “Believers from another circumstance must make practical applications in accordance with how that original intention is reflected or manifested in the new environments. In modern times, this is what is meant by the “spirit” of the Qur’an.”2 Thus, to follow Wadud’s logic, Qur’Ćnic rules delineating the proportions a woman could inherit from her father or her spouse were specified in terms that were relevant to the cultural context of that time during which women were not expected to bear the burden of expenses for the household. The principle the Qur’Ćn gives us, then, in a case such as this, is that women should not be denied an inheritance, while the particularities spelling out the proportions of such inheritance are open to review as societal needs change. A second important contribution made by Wadud is to draw attention to how the sacred text is read. She points out that reading entails interpretation that is “shaped by the attitudes, experiences, memory, and perspectives on language of each reader”,3 all of which can be understood as ‘prior text’. While no reader can remove ‘prior text’ from their reading and interpretation of the Qur’Ćn, nonetheless it is important for the Qur’Ćn continually to be read and interpreted so that it continues to have relevance in the lives of Muslims. Further, Muslims must continue to read and challenge prior interpretations of the text in order to uphold the principles of justice, equality, and common humanity upheld by the Qur’Ćn.4 With respect to gender, Wadud notes that many of the limitations placed on Muslim women come from the readings of the Qur’Ćn made by prior interpreters who “restrict the universality of the divine message to their individual perceptions.”5 Instead, reading the Qur’Ćn in light of its ethical, moral, and socially just principles opens up the possibility of “adapting the text to a Wadud-Muhsin, Qur’an and Woman, 4. Ibid., 94. 4 Ibid., 96. 5 Ibid., 95. 2 3

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multitude of culturally diverse situations in a constantly changing world of social communities.”6 Indeed, when the Qur’Ćn is read in a manner that upholds its principles and is mindful of the ‘prior text’ brought by the reader as well as the cultural context in which it was revealed, then Wadud finds that “the Qur’an does not support a specific and stereotyped role for its characters, male or female.”7 Given that a woman’s biological functions lie at the root of the construction of gender in many societies, including Muslim societies, Wadud shows instead that in the Qur’Ćn, God distinguishes between humans not on the basis of their biological sex but rather on the basis of their piety and God-consciousness (taqwa). She calls upon Qur’Ćnic verses 13:11 and 4:124 to underscore the point that the potential for change, growth, and development lies within the human soul (nafs) and that “all human activity is given recompense on the basis of what the individual earns (in terms of righteous deeds)”.8 Through her hermeneutical efforts, Wadud seeks gender justice by questioning assumptions that are made by prior male Muslim scholars when using the Qur’Ćn to justify erecting discourses and institutions that constrain women’s agency and behavior and imbricate notions of male superiority over women. Wadud notes that the Qur’Ćn “reveals a necessary and complementary distinction between men and women …[who have] the same rights and obligations on the ethico-religious level, and have equally significant responsibilities on the social-functional level.”9 However, she argues, equality between the sexes on the first level has often been overlooked on the second level, leading to the general absence of equality. She holds out hope that reading the Qur’Ćn in the manner she has suggested will lead to the development of an egalitarian system that “allows and encourages the maximum participation of each member of society” in which “women would have full access to economic, intellectual, and political participation, and men would value and therefore Wadud-Muhsin, Qur’an and Woman, 100. Ibid., 29. 8 Ibid., 36. 9 Ibid., 102. 6 7

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participate full in home and child care for a more balanced and fair society.”10 Asma Barlas continues the work of gender justice in her work titled, “Believing Women” in Islam: Unreading Patriarchal Interpretations of the Qur’an. Published ten years after Wadud’s seminal Qur’an and Woman, Barlas too proposes a hermeneutical method for recovering the sexual egalitarianism she finds evident in the Qur’Ćn: I made this argument in three steps. The first was to draw on the principle of textual polysemy (the fact that texts can be read in multiple modes) to critique interpretive reductionism/essentialism (the idea that we can read the Qur’an only in patriarchal modes). The second was to argue against interpretive relativism (the view that all readings are equally correct) without relinquishing my commitment to the textual polysemy on the grounds that not all readings can be accepted as contextually legitimate or theologically sound… My third move was to locate the hermeneutical keys for reading the Qur’an in the nature of Divine Ontology…in keeping with a believer’s view that the purpose of faith is to act as an ‘aid to understanding’ by enabling one to integrate ‘thinking and believing’.11

Barlas asserts that prior Muslims have not only failed to read those texts in the Qur’Ćn that threaten the power and legitimacy of patriarchies, but also read into the Qur’Ćn meanings that are not there (italics mine), especially with regard to issues such as polygyny and wife-beating.12 Underscoring the point that the Qur’Ćn’s teachings on family, marriage, and sexual relationships must be understood in the social and cultural context in which they were revealed, Barlas takes on the question of whether or not the Qur’Ćn supports patriarchy. She finds that nowhere does the Qur’Ćn uphold father-right; rather, children have independent moral Wadud-Muhsin, Qur’an and Woman, 103. Asma Barlas, “Believing Women” in Islam: Unreading Patriarchal Interpretations of the Qur’an (Austin: University of Texas Press, 2002), 203–204. 12 Ibid., 169. 10 11

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agency in which to choose their praxis and faith. Moreover, the Qur’Ćn does not consider a father or male to be God’s representative on earth, nor is the male’s authority to be construed as an extension of God’s authority. She, too, establishes ontological grounds for equality between the sexes in that they share the same nature (fitra). She does not find any evidence for prior male readings of male superiority over women in verses in the Qur’Ćn that have traditionally been understood as justifying male rights over women, but rather sees such verses as simply indicating that men should provide for women’s livelihoods, given the cultural context of the time, not that they are superior to women. Consistently, in Barlas’ view, the Qur’Ćn strives for protecting women’s interests rather than for relations between the sexes in which men are privileged over women.13 Barlas makes the argument that on matters dealing with gender, prior commentators have erred not only in their hermeneutical task of reading the Qur’an as an organic, historically contextualized entity, but also in their theological task of minding “how a Scripture is experienced within the context of a distinctive image of, and relationship to God.”14 That is, God’s Speech— which the Qur’Ćn purports to be—cannot be understood apart from God’s character or Self-Disclosure—what the Divine being says about itself within that speech. Three aspects of divinity come to the forefront: the principles of Divine Unity, Justness, and Incomparability. As Absolute Sovereign, God retains this right and no theory of male or other sovereignty can lay claim to being an extension of God’s Sovereignty, as to do so would run counter to the cardinal principle of divine unity or tawhid. God’s Justness is such that the divine being would under no circumstances countenance zulm or the transgression of the rights of a person, suggesting that divine justice is incompatible with the notion of taking away a human’s right as a moral agent. Thus, God cannot be a misogynist or one who “violates women’s rights by denying them Barlas, “Believing Women”, 198. See also Zayn Kassam, “The Hermeneutics of Problematic Verses in the Qur’an” in Postscripts 1:1 (April 2005): 77–104. 14 Ibid., 13. 13

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agency and dignity” (which is what patriarchies do).15 Further, God’s Incomparability (Qur’Ćn 112:1–4) means that God cannot be represented in anthropomorphic terms, and thus the Qur’an’s rejection of God’s sexualization or engenderment confirm that God is not a male, or Father, nor is there any special affinity between God and males. These ontological considerations need to be valued as hermeneutical sites through which to read the Qur’an’s antipatriarchal stance.16 Amina Wadud and Asma Barlas are but two examples of scholarly activists who are re-examining and re-evaluating the Qur’Ćn and other authoritative sources for their gender justice potential and betrayal. In addition, scholars such as Leila Ahmed have joined other earlier scholars in examining historical developments to understand the role, contributions, and status of Muslim women from before the advent of Islam to the contemporary context. Indeed, the field of women’s studies in Islam continues to grow at an exponential rate to reveal the complexity of factors that constitute the opportunities, privations, and subjectivity of a Muslim woman living today. Increasingly, the picture that emerges is that while Islam is one factor, it is by no means the sole factor to which a Muslim woman’s state can be attributed, even when she lives in a Muslim-majority society.

GLOBALIZATION, ISLAMISM, AND TRANSNATIONAL WOMEN’S ORGANIZATIONS In paying attention to the “universal fact of gender inequality”, Valentine Moghadam notes that “material, social, and economic factors have given rise to new identities, discourses, values, and forms of organization led by women.”17 Muslim women, like other women of diverse cultures and geographies, are suspended within a global culture of market capitalism and the steady march of Kassam, “The Hermeneutics,” 14. Ibid., 15. 17 Valentine M. Moghadam, Globalizing Women: Transnational Feminist Networks (Baltimore and London: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 2005), 20. 15 16

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neoliberal economic regimes to all four corners of the globe. The most recent processes of global economic restructuring saw their genesis at the end of the second World War with the founding of the Bretton Woods institutions, viz. the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (later the World Bank), the International Monetary Fund, and eventually the World Trade Organization.18 As key ideologues of identifying market liberalization as the chief source of growth and prosperity for natures, these global organizations have touted policies of strengthening the private sector and corporate activity, the removal of trade barriers and minimal government interference in the market. As lenders, they have imposed Structural Adjustment Policies (SAPs) on loan-recipient countries, which fall largely in the two-thirds world (formerly known as the Third World), ostensibly aimed at helping countries to balance their budgets and increase economic growth. Such policies included asking governments to reduce its employees, make cuts in and privatize social services, health and education, while also focusing on export-led agricultural and industrial production, and now more recently, including commitments to privatize water. Such efforts have resulted, contrary to the expectations of pro-neoliberal economic policy formulators, in the upward shift of capital, and with the switch to export-led growth and the withdrawal of government-funded social services, an increase in the number of people living in poverty. The few benefits offered by economic globalization such as drawing people into the workforce, often under poorly paid conditions with long hours, and changes in education to produce a more skilled labor force, have been more than outweighed by growing inequalities between and within countries, along with concomitant social costs such as rising unemployment, job insecurity, continued or increasing poverty, and the ravaging of natural resources as The Bretton Woods institutions are so named after the site of the United Nations Monetary and Financial Conference held July 1–22, 1944 at Bretton Woods, New Hampshire, to address the financial situation of Europe and Japan in the post-war period. Representatives from 44 governments, including the Soviet Union, attended the conference, which came to be called the Bretton Woods Conference. 18

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corporations increasingly scour the earth for (non-renewable) resources for profit.19 Moghadam sees several consequences for women emerging from the imposition of Structural Adjustment Policies on Muslimmajority societies. She notes that such policies bear the implicit assumption that women will fill the gaps created by rising unemployment and the withdrawal of government-funded social services and health care: Rising unemployment and reduced wages for men led to increased economic activity on the part of women and children. This occurred also in households headed by women, an increasing proportion of all households in most regions. Women had to assume extra productive and reproductive activities in order to survive the austerities of adjustment and stabilization policies (such as higher prices), and to compensate for the withdrawal or reduction of government subsidies of food and services. Moreover, structural adjustment policies— with their attendant price increases, elimination of subsidies, social service decreases, and introduction or increase of “user fees” for “cost recovery” in the provision of schooling and health care—heightened the risk and vulnerability of women and children in households where the distribution of consumption and the provision of health care and education favored men or income-earning adults. Women had to bear most of the responsibility of coping with increased prices and shrinking incomes, as women were largely responsible for household budgeting and maintenance. The gender as well as class biases of structural adjustment were clear. By removing subsidies for education and healthcare, the policies increased the labor time and other burdens of non-elite women.20

Indeed, development research suggests that economic neoliberalism and Structural Adjustment Policies have contributed Ibid., 23; see also David C. Korten, “The Failures of Bretton Woods”, in Worldviews, Religion, and the Environment, edited by Richard C. Foltz (Belmont, CA: Wadworth/Thomson Learning, 2003), 562–568, 564. 20 Moghadam, Globalizing Women, 39. 19

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in major ways to the feminization of poverty, a disproportionate burden placed on women for meeting the needs of their families, the growth of “social inequalities around the world”21 as well as the rise in inequalities between countries. In addition, they have led to riots in the 1970s, 1980s, and again at the turn of the twenty-first century. More recently, in 2011, economic issues are partly responsible for what has been termed the “Arab Spring” as Muslim-majority societies from Tunisia, Egypt, Libya, Bahrain, Yemen, Jordan, Syria, and Iran rose up in (largely) peaceful demonstrations—despite the violent responses from governments, especially in Libya, Syria, and Bahrain—to protest corrupt leadership and increasingly deteriorating economic conditions. Drawing upon Benjamin Barber’s observations, Moghadam suggests another consequence resulting for women, viz. the growth in fundamentalisms around the globe. She contextualizes Islamic fundamentalism as answering to “the complaints of those mired in poverty and despair as a result of unregulated global markets and of capitalism uprooted from the humanizing constraints of the democratic nation-state.”22 The rise of Islamist fundamentalist movements in the 1970s accompanies the rise of the neoliberal international economic order, with economic and political factors playing a key role in their emergence. Islamist fundamentalist movements signify resistance to external globalizing phenomena such as the rapidly advancing neoliberal market economy, the effects of Structural Adjustment Policies, and the social changes wrought by modernization, accompanied by changes in women’s rights and roles, as well as internal phenomena such as authoritarian rule and corrupt governance. However, Moghadam notes that surprisingly Islamist movements, rather than addressing the economic and political issues that lie at the root of their formation, have chosen instead to expend their energies on providing social services through charitable organizations and in influencing “public policies pertaining to women and the family.”23 Moghadam, Globalizing Women, 41. Ibid., 44, quoting Benjamin Barber, Jihad vs. McWorld (New York: Times Books, 2001), i. 23 Ibid., 47. 21 22

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In addition, they have reified women’s social roles based on their biology, idealizing women as upholding the family in their role as mothers, and focused on the centrality of women to questions of identity, morality, and the family, with “profound effects on women’s legal status and social positions, especially when fundamentalist views are successfully inscribed in constitutions, family laws, penal codes, and other public policies.”24 Neo-liberal market capitalism or economic globalization can be held partly responsible for Islamist forms of social jihad indicated through their increased role in providing social services as governments retreat from these in alignment with the international loan policies imposed upon them. In so doing, they normativize the policing of gender roles as they increasingly define the attributes of a good Muslim worthy of providing and receiving social services. The increasing entry of women into the workplace, which is also credited with raising male anxieties over the traditional male role of provider (despite the reality that families can no longer make ends meet on a single salary), has also augmented the Islamist emphasis on clearly defined gender roles.25 Another factor that must be taken into account is how postcolonial Muslim states have construed nationalism and modernity. For instance, Aihwa Ong extends the class analysis to query why it is that university-educated men and women are also embracing the ethos of a resurgent, patriarchal Islam in Malaysia. Rather than seeing post-colonial state interventions as isolated phenomena in the service of nationalism, she argues with Partha Chatterjee that the “narrative of community” must also be taken into consideration. Thus, she argues that “the state project and the Islamic resurgence must be seen as competing forms of postcolonial nationalism that fix upon the Malay family and woman as icons of particular forms of modernity”26 generating discourses

Ibid., 47. See Moghadam, Globalizing Women, Chapter 5. 26 Aihwa Ong, “State Versus Islam: Malay Families, Women’s Bodies, and the Body Politic in Malaysia” in Bewitching Women, Pious Men: Gender and Body Politics in Southeast Asia, edited by Aihwa Ong and Michael G. 24 25

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that “use women as symbols of motherhood, Malay vulnerability, and as boundary markers in their visions of Malaysian modernity.”27 Thus, she finds that Malaysian state initiatives in implementing World Bank prescriptions of increasing agricultural production while reducing family size led to family planning policies that increased male anxieties over control over their wives’ fertility. Simultaneously, the pressure on rural communities to export largely female labor to urban free trade zones for waged factory employment further increased male anxieties over their ability to raise their children for white-collar jobs in the new Malaysian market economy. In both instances, resurgent Islamic discourses served to restore patriarchal control over female bodies, while also redefining women’s roles as caregivers and obedient to their husbands in Islamic terms rather than in terms customary to Malay Islam that were slightly more egalitarian with respect to gender relations. Meanwhile, the Islamic resurgent movements of the 1970s collectively termed the dakwa movment, gained traction among university students through the efforts of ABIM (Angkatan Belia Islam Malaysia or the Islamic Youth Movement of Malaysia) with attacks on capitalism and raising fears about the undermining of the Islamic umma—that is, all those who subscribe to Islam, and in this case, specifically the Malay Muslim community—“by the influx of women into modern schools and offices.”28 In addition, while Islamic dress and social norms imported from the Middle East were more readily assumed by young professionals and university students than they were by rural women, they soon came to symbolize upward mobility and de-peasantization while additionally registering “protest over cultural dislocations linked to colonial and postcolonial domination.”29 The globalized economic, fundamentalist, and nationalist drives towards exercising increased control over women’s behavior, rights, and dress have given rise to resistance instantiated by Peletz (Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1995), 161. 27 Ibid., 163. 28 Ibid., 175. 29 Ibid., 179–181.

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national and transnational Muslim women’s networks. If the economic (global and state-driven), nationalist, and religious forces outlined above can be said to exert relations of power over Muslim women, then it is useful here to invoke Foucault: “For it is true that at the heart of power relations and as a permanent condition of their existence there is an insubordination and a certain essential obstinacy on the part of the principles of freedom, then there is no relationship of power without the means of escape or possible flight. Every power relationship implies, at least in potentia, a strategy of struggle ….”30 Such Muslim women’s networks struggle to address, even mitigate, the conditions wrought by both globalization and increasingly fervent religiously and nationally authoritarian discourses and practices with respect to women’s roles and rights, whether in Muslim or non-Muslim contexts.31 Two examples may be considered here. In the first, it is argued that despite its fundamentalist overtones, fundamentalist women engaged in development work are products of modernity and secularism with respect to increasing women’s status and rights. Thus, Sherine Hafez argues that Islamist women’s activism in Egypt is more fruitfully understood “as negotiated through imbricated relations of secularism and Islam” rather than through polarized schematic categories such as religious or secular.32 That is, it is impossible to separate such women’s agency from the processes of modernization and secularization underway in Egypt, and the postcolonial and nationalist historical contexts that inform and shape the women’s subjectivity. She further argues that the spheres of public and private, secular and religious, can no longer

Michel Foucault, “The Subject and Power” in Critical Inquiry 8:4 (1982), 777–795, 794. 31 See, for example, the alliance of Muslim and Catholic delegations led by the Vatican at the 1995 United Nations Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing, noted in Globalization, Gender, and Religion, edited by Jane H. Bayes and Nayereh Tohidi (New York: Palgrave, 2001), 1. 32 Sherine Hafez, An Islam of Her Own: Reconsidering Religion and Secularism in Women’s Islamic Movements (New York: New York University Press, 2011), draft ms, 12. 30

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be clearly demarcated. Rather, these are fluid spaces in which women are continually fashioning themselves. Hafez notes: In the village of Mehmeit, Islamic activist women carried out projects of social development with methods which mirrored those of modern liberal projects applied by the state. Whereas Islamic principles guided their projects of social development, their goals and behavior seamlessly merged with secular norms. A concomitance of the secular and the religious was most evident in the contractual nature of the relationship between the women activists and the village women. They emphasized the economic productivity of women, encouraged their financial autonomy, and often encouraged them to challenge their husband’s authority. A predominant emphasis on education, practices of hygiene, punctuality, and consistent attendance were all values that the activist women sought to inculcate in the village women. Rewards were often used to motivate the village women and to encourage their participation in the development project. These specifically modern practices, which historically were part of the secularizing political schemes of nation state building, merged seamlessly with the Qur’anic recitals that also called for ideals of cleanliness and personal comportment in the religious lessons and the various Islamic anecdotes that were told to discipline and motivate the village women.33

While Hafez provides an example of initiatives undertaken by religious Muslim women in Egypt to ameliorate the economic, health, and educational aspects of the lives of rural and/or poor Muslim women, a second example suggests that Muslim women argue on the basis of Islamic principles that equity for women is at the core of being Muslim. Such a viewpoint may be found in the work of organizations such as Sisters in Islam (SIS), founded in 1988 Malaysia by a group of women lawyers and scholars. In her chapter on this organization dedicated to “advancing Muslim women’s rights through societal and legal reforms,” Azza Basarudin argues that “their intellectual activism is a contested site 33

Ibid., 30.

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of alternative knowledge production in (re)claiming their faith to (re)imagine a transformative Muslim umma (community) inclusive of women’s concerns, experiences, and realities.”34 Increasingly moving towards an Islamically defined state identity, Malaysia has two parallel legal systems: common law, and one based on Islamic shari’a called Siyarah; Muslims are governed by the latter, but increasingly members of other faiths fall under Islamic law in matters of intermarriage, conversion, and so forth. Islamization policies by the state, the state’s support of Islamic social organizations, alongside the growth of political Islamic parties such as PAS (Parti Islam Se-Malaysia, or All-Malaysia Islamic Party) have resulted in initiatives eroding women’s rights in Islamic Family Law. They have also instantiated greater policing of women’s dress and comportment, calls for gender segregation and for a return to hudud laws, which are a set of regressive laws in handling illicit sexual interactions such as rape and adultery, murder, theft, apostasy, and imbibing alcohol. It was within this context that Sisters in Islam began, with the Association of Women Lawyers calling together a group of professional women comprising of lawyers, academics, journalists, activists and others to discuss the implications of the Islamic Family Law (IFL) of 1984. Concerned about legal injustices to women carried out under the guise of “husband’s rights” supposedly accorded by Islam in cases concerning polygamy, child custody, and domestic violence among others, the founding members of SIS felt than an understanding of and investigation into the principles and teachings of Islam on gender was warranted. The fortuitous presence of Amina Wadud, who was teaching at the International Islamic University (IIU) at that time, resulted in a series of study sessions in exploring and understanding genderrelevant verses in the Qur’Ćn. Augmented by further sessions with other respected academic authorities such as Abdullah an-Na’im and Fathi Osman, this group of women understood that medieval Azza Basarudin, “In Search of Faithful Citizens in Postcolonial Malaysia: Islamic Ethics, Muslim Activism, and Feminist Politics” in Women and Islam, edited by Zayn R. Kassam (Santa Barbara, CA: Greenwood Press, 2010), 168. 34

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Islamic legal systems were humanly constructed within patriarchal cultural assumptions, on the one hand, and on the other, could be distinguished from the principles of gender justice that were accessible in and within the spirit of the divinely revealed Qur’Ćn. In accordance with such views, SIS asserted its belief that Islam “does not endorse the oppression of women and denial of their basic rights of equality and human dignity” and affirmed its mission “to promote an awareness of the true principles of Islam, principles that enshrine the concept of equality between women and men, and to strive towards creating a society that upholds the Islamic principles of equality, justice, freedom and dignity within a democratic state.”35 The activism of SIS takes several forms. Its research into key Islamic texts enables it “to take the unequivocal position that men and women are equal in Islam, that a Muslim man does not have the right to beat his wife, that polygamy is not an inherent right in Islam but a contract permitted only in the most exceptional circumstances, that one male witness does not equal two female witnesses… and a great deal more.”36 SIS conducts workshops and holds seminars, as well as national and international conferences. It has advocated on behalf of changes in legal policy, challenged legal rulings, introduced new policies, educated women and the legal profession on legal matters, held legal clinics, contributed articles to a legal column in Utusan Malaysia (a Malay-language newspaper) and undertaken major projects on Muslim family law reform and on polygamy. With respect to the latter, SIS engaged in transnational networking to learn about the application of shari’ah law in other Muslim-majority societies. Such transnational contacts have led SIS to found Musawah, a Malaysian non-governmental organization, in March 2007. Its aim is to promote women’s rights within the framework of Islam, and “to consolidate information, experiences and ideas that have been used by NGOs and activists in countries around the world to Ibid., cited on 183. See the SIS mission statement at: http://www.sistersinislam.org.my 36 http://www.sistersinislam.org.my/index.php?option=com_content &task=section&id=32&Itemid=244 accessed March 8th, 2011. 35

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advance equality in the family.”37 As a truly transnational organization, it comprises an international collaboration among activists, scholars, legal practitioners, academics, and policy makers. Inherent in much of the work of both SIS and Musawah is the strategic thinking and action required to address issues of domestic violence, child marriages, male domination of public institutions, addressing inequities in family law and practices that discriminate against women and a broad program of education on women’s rights. The hermeneutical and organizational efforts undertaken by gender scholars and activists have begun to address some of the increasing economic and cultural strictures under which many, but not all, contemporary Muslim women live. The forces of neoliberal market globalization do not simply single out Muslim societies. Women globally, and more so in the two-thirds world experience the few benefits and the many privations wrought by the international and national state policies to unify the world under one global market-driven economic regime, which have placed women under greater stresses to provide for their families as states continue to withdraw social services from the public budget and increase the demand for women to join the monetary economy. Ironically and rather unexpectedly, the effects of the global drive towards a market-driven economy have fed conservative forces within all cultures, not just in Muslim societies, a point underscored by Nayereh Tohidi, who observed the alliances formed between conservative Catholic states led by the Holy See and conservative Muslim states during the 2000 Beijing-plus-five World Conference on Women in New York. Amnesty International’s news release concurs in noting that “the unholy alliance formed by the Holy See, Iran, Algeria, Nicaragua, Syria, Libya, Morocco and Pakistan has attempted to hold to ransom women’s human rights.”38 Moghadam notes that in Muslim-majority countries, “(f)earing Western 37

http://www.musawah.org/who_we_are.asp accessed March 8th,

2011. Nayereh Tohidi, “International Connections of the Iranian Women’s Movement,” http://www.nayerehtohidi.com/publications/, 12, quoting Amnesty International News Release dated 5 June, 2000. 38

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influence on their own cultures, traditions, and religion, conservative Islamic thinkers dispute notions of gender equality, glorify family and women’s domestic roles, emphasize public morality, defend veiling, and excoriate Western cultural norms.”39 Thus, even though the road ahead is long and difficult, given the multiple sites through which inequities are produced and sustained, Muslim gender scholars and activists have initiated the discourses and practices essential to addressing gender inequities and the concomitant violence against women that ensues from unbalanced power relations wrought both by market mechanisms and the increase in conservative fervor. In doing so, transnational Muslim women’s organizations and the work of scholars of gender and Islam embody the possibility that faith and feminism are not necessarily at odds with one another. Rather, peace for Muslim women can be made possible as the moral insights of a faith perspective work together with feminist critiques of inequitable structures—whether economic or religio-legal—for the creation of just and civil societies.

BIBLIOGRAPHY Barber, Benjamin. Jihad vs. McWorld. New York: Times Books, 2001. Barlas, Asma. “Believing Women” in Islam: Unreading Patriarchal Interpretations of the Qur’an. Austin: University of Texas Press, 2002. Basarudin, Azza. “In Search of Faithful Citizens in Postcolonial Malaysia: Islamic Ethics, Muslim Activism, and Feminist Politics” in Women and Islam, edited by Zayn R. Kassam. Santa Barbara, CA: Greenwood Press, 2010, 93–128. Bayes, Jane H. and Nayereh Tohidi, eds. Globalization, Gender, and Religion. New York: Palgrave, 2001. Foucault, Michel. “The Subject and Power” in Critical Inquiry 8:4 (1982), 777–795.

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Moghadam, Globalizing Women, 49.

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Hafez, Sherine. An Islam of Her Own: Reconsidering Religion and Secularism in Women’s Islamic Movements. New York: New York University Press, 2011. Kassam, Zayn. “The Hermeneutics of Problematic Verses in the Qur’an” in Postscripts 1:1 (April 2005): 77–104. Korten, David C. “The Failures of Bretton Woods”, in Worldviews, Religion, and the Environment, edited by Richard C. Foltz. Belmont, CA: Wadworth/Thomson Learning, 2003, 562–568. Moghadam, Valentine M. Globalizing Women: Transnational Feminist Networks. Baltimore and London: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 2005. Ong, Aihwa. “State Versus Islam: Malay Families, Women’s Bodies, and the Body Politic in Malaysia” in Bewitching Women, Pious Men: Gender and Body Politics in Southeast Asia, edited by Aihwa Ong and Michael G. Peletz. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1995, 159–194. Wadud-Muhsin, Amina. Qur’an and Woman. Kuala Lumpur: Penerbit Fajar Bakti Sdn. Bhd., 1994.

CHAPTER 3 NONVIOLENCE AND VIOLENCE IN BUDDHISM NOEL SHETH, S.J. There are two forms of Buddhism, HĪnayćna and Mahćyćna. In HĪnayćna only one school is living, viz., Theravćda, whose original texts are in the Pćli language.1 In Mahćyćna there are many schools existing, and their original texts in India were in Sanskrit.2 We shall first deal with nonviolence in Buddhism and then discuss violence in Buddhism. Some comparison with Christianity is also included.

I. NONVIOLENCE IN BUDDHISM Nonviolence is a key virtue in Buddhism. The very first precept mentioned in the five precepts of moral training (Pćli pañca-sĪla; Sanskrit pañca-ŔĪla) that all Buddhists are required to observe is abstention from the destruction of life. In instructing the householder Siœgćlaka on the evil actions to be avoided, the very first one the Buddha mentioned was the destruction of life.3 Buddhist nonviolence (avihi¹sć, ahi¹sć), like that in Hinduism and Jainism, includes not only physical or bodily nonviolence, but also vocal and mental nonviolence. The Dhammapada exhorts one to Unless otherwise stated, all references to the Buddhist Pćli texts are from the Nćlandć edition, published by the Government of Bihar. However, references to the Dhammapada-aʞʞhakathć and the Jćtakaaʞʞhakathć are from the Dhammagiri edition published by the Vipassanć Research Institute, Igatpuri, Maharashtra. 2 Unless otherwise stated, all references to the Buddhist Sanskrit texts are from the Darbhanga edition, published by the Mithila Institute, Bihar. 3 Siœgćlasutta, in DĪghanikćya, pt III, 8.2.4, p. 140. 1

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guard against bodily, vocal and mental anger, to control the body, speech and mind and, avoiding evil conduct with respect to all three, to practice good behavior instead.4 In fact, great emphasis is given to mental nonviolence, for it is hateful thoughts that lead to abusive language and violent actions. The Dhammapada begins by stating this truth: the mind is the forerunner of all our conditioned states (dhamma). If one speaks or acts with an evil mind, then suffering follows like the wheel follows the hoof of the ox that draws the cart; if one speaks or acts with a pure mind, then happiness follows just like one’s shadow.5 Buddhism wants to nip violence in the bud by cutting out its root, viz. an aggressive mentality.6 Although nonviolence is a negative term, indicating what one should not do (i.e., not injuring), it also has a positive meaning because it involves positive acts of kindness, compassion, affection and love. We shall first take up nonviolence in its negative sense, and then deal with its positive thrust. 1. Nonviolence towards Vegetative Life From quite ancient times, Indian tradition extended nonviolence not only to human beings but also to animals and plants. In Jainism, the most non-violent religion in the world, one has to refrain as far as possible from harming even so called non-living or material things such as earth, water and fire. Buddhism does not go to such lengths, but it is against the unnecessary destruction of vegetative life. A monk should abstain from destroying the growth of seeds and vegetables.7 The destruction of plant-life by monks is a pćcittiya (“expiation”)8 type of offence which requires confession.9 Monks were of course permitted to eat vegetables, to use twigs to Dhammapada, vv. 231–233, in Khuddakanikćya pt I, p. 39. Dhammapada, vv. 1–2, in Khuddakanikćya pt I, p. 17. 6 Unto Tähtinen, Ahi—sć: Nonviolence in Indian Tradition (London: Rider and Co., 1976), pp. 67–69. 7 CŠ¤ahatthipadopamasutta, in Majjhimanikćya, pt I, 27.2.8, p. 230. 8 Really speaking, there is no expiation required, but only confession: see I. B. Horner, trans. The Book of the Discipline, vol. 2, Sacred Books of the Buddhists vol.20 (London: Pali Text Society, 1957), p. 3, n. 4. 9 Pćcittiya, no.11, pp. 54–56. 4 5

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brush their teeth or to use herbal medicines.10 The basic idea is to avoid unnecessary violence even to plant life and to develop sensitivity to the whole of nature. In fact, it is a pćcittiya fault even to dig the earth or cause it to be dug:11 this is in order to avoid doing violence to the living organisms and seeds in the earth. 2. Nonviolence towards Animals Gotama Buddha died of blood dysentery after eating a dish called sŠkara-maddava (soft pork).12 Scholars have different opinions as to whether this sŠkara-maddava was pork or a vegetarian dish made from such items as a sprout or a mushroom, etc. However the earliest Pćli commentaries identify it as pork.13 In the Ðmagandhasutta it is pointed out that destruction of life, cutting, binding, injustice, harshness, anger, envy, slander, injury, cruelty, disrespect, greed, hostility, etc. have the foul odor of rotting meat, but not so the eating of meat.14 When Buddhist monks went on their begging rounds, they were expected to accept whatever was put into their begging bowls. Early Buddhists were therefore not strict vegetarians.15 Nevertheless, in time Theravćdins became increasingly vegetarian. A monk had to avoid eating animals which were seen or heard by him, or suspected to have been deliberately killed for him.16 Theravćda Buddhists should not be butchers, hunters and fisher folk, and should avoid any job that entails cruelty such as being an executioner or jailer. If they take up such occupations, they are tormentors of others.17 Buddhism also reacted against the sacrificial killing of animals.18 In his 5th Pillar Edict King Asoka exempted several animals from slaughter, e.g., See Horner, trans., The Book of the Discipline, p. 229, n. 4. Pćcittiya, no. 10, pp. 52–54. 12 Mahćparinibbćnasutta, in DĪghanikćya pt II, 3.19.62, p. 98. 13 Edward J. Thomas, The Life of the Buddha as Legend and History (London: Kegan Paul, Trench, Trubner and Co., 1927), p. 149, n. 3. 14 Ćmagandhasutta, in Suttanipćta, 2.2.22–28, pp. 305–306. 15 This does not mean that they were not sensitive to animal life. 16 JĪvakasutta, in Majjhimanikćya, pt II, 5.1.2, p. 39. 17 Kandarakasutta, in Majjhimanikćya, pt II. 1.4.8, p. 8. 18 BrćhmaØadhammikasutta, in Suttanipćta, 2.7.88–93, pp. 313–314. 10 11

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parrots, geese, swans, bats, boneless fish, etc., and certain animals when they were pregnant. He also prohibited the killing of fish and certain animals on particular auspicious days.19 In his 1st Rock Edict he forbade the sacrifice of all animals in his palace. Formerly very many living beings were killed daily for his table; but he decreed that only three would be slain: two peacocks and one deer, and the latter would not be killed invariably. In fact, he said, even these would not be slaughtered in the future.20 There also developed the practice of setting up sanctuaries for birds and animals as well as tanks for fish, where they could move about freely without being hunted or caught. This was called abhayadćna (the gift of fearlessness).21 Coming now to Mahćyćna, the eighth chapter of the LaœkćvatćrasŠtra is wholly dedicated to making people turn away from meat-eating. Although a good part of the chapter is in reference to Bodhisattvas,22 it is clearly meant for all the Buddha’s disciples (Ŕi™ya). In contrast to the earlier exceptions made by Theravćda texts, the LaœkćvatćrasŠtra categorically states that it is not true that meat is permissible when it is not killed or caused to be killed by oneself and not deliberately prepared for oneself by another. It further asserts that, even though exceptions have been made here and there in canonical texts (deŔanćpćʞha, lit. directive or instructional texts), in this sŠtra flesh is unconditionally forbidden for all, in whatever form, manner or place.23 In most of the chapter it puts forward many reasons for avoiding non-vegetarian food. Radhagovinda Basak, AŔokan Inscriptions (Calcutta: Progressive Publishers, 1959), p. 103. 20 Ibid., p. 4. 21 Encyclopedia of Buddhism, ed. G. P. Malalasekera, s.v. “Abhaya-dćna,” by ShŠyŠ Kanaoka, vol. 1, pp. 20–21. 22 In Mahćyćna Bodhisattvas are special beings who delay their salvation for the sake of helping others, take on the sufferings of others, transfer their merits to them and give them grace. 23 Mć¹sabhakʜaØaparivartaʚ, in SaddharmalaœkćvatćrasŠtra, 8, p. 103, lines 10–11, 24–26; see also vv. 12 and 19, p. 105. The reference to earlier canonical texts that did make exceptions to pure vegetarianism indicates that Buddhism did permit meat-eating in former times. 19

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For example, given the fact that transmigration has been going on for a very long time, there cannot be any animal or bird who at one time or another has not been one’s own mother or father or some other relative. How then can one bring oneself to eat a living being which is of the same nature as oneself? Flesh, which is born of semen, blood, etc., pollutes one’s purity; it brings demerit, leads to rebirth as a carnivorous animal and in various demonic forms; it prevents knowledge, and is an obstacle to salvation (mokʜa, nirvćØa). Out of compassion we should refrain from consuming meat, for when an animal sees a meat-eater it is frightened for its life. Flesh has a foul smell even when burned, and spoils one’s good name among noble (ćrya) people, whose food is vegetarian; meat-eating invites censure against Buddhism.24 Looking upon all beings as our very own (child), we should refrain from devouring their flesh. Non-vegetarians suffer from disturbed sleep, terrible dreams and ill health. The consumption of meat successively results in pride, erroneous imagination, passion, delusion of the mind, and lack of liberation. Similar to the case of Theravćda, the custom, and even ceremony, of freeing living creatures arose in Mahćyćna too. It consisted in purchasing birds, animals and fish that had been captured and setting them free in their own habitats. In China and Japan, too, different kings prohibited the eating of meat and advocated nonviolence towards animals, birds and fish.25 It should be noted, however, that some Mahćyćna schools are nonvegetarian, while Theravćda is vegetarian.

The somewhat defensive attitude of the text in the face of actual criticism against Buddhists consuming meat seems to indicate that the text’s pure vegetarianism is proposed as a reaction to this criticism: see Daisetz Teitaro Suzuki, trans., The Lankavatara Sutra (London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1932; reprinted 1956), p. 211, n. 1. 25 Encyclopedia of Buddhism, ed. Malalasekera, s.v. “Ahi—sć,” by Akira Hirakawa, vol. 1, pp. 291–292. 24

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3. Nonviolence towards Human Beings (a) The Doctrine Like many other religions, Buddhism accepts a certain, at least relative and temporary, hierarchy of lower and higher forms of life, such as plants, animals and human beings. The slaying of human beings is more serious than the killing of animals, for the former are a more developed form of life than animals.26 It is natural to expect that its non-violent attitude would make Buddhism fight shy of going to war. The Buddha avoided telling stories of war, armies, kings, etc. As a king in a former life he did not use weapons or force.27 The intentional slaying of a human being, including causing the abortion of a fetus (gabbhapćtana), made a monk lose his monastic character.28 Such killings as well as other acts such as suicide, inciting others to die, and causing euthanasia, made a monk guilty of an offence called pćrćjika (“defeat” in fulfilling his goal as a monk), which was punished by expulsion from the Order.29 Even in the case of punishment for crimes, unlike several Hindu texts that, in addition to expiation and reformatory punishment, also prescribe retributive and deterrent punishment, Theravćda texts recommend punishment only after all other means of settling a dispute have been tried out, such as discussion, appeal to reason, repentance, etc., and even then the punishment to be meted out is more on the milder and lighter side.30 Theravćda texts do not advocate capital punishment. So also Mahćyćna texts are against capital punishment and amputation, and caution that, when punishment is to be administered, it should be with compassion.31 It should be clarified that, although justice in the near future is not

Tähtinen, Ahi—sć, pp. 113–114. Ibid., p. 95. 28 Mahćvagga, 1.70.129, p. 101. 29 Pćrćjika, 1.3, esp. 1.3.143, p. 88; 1.3.147, p. 90; 1.3.157, p. 97; 1.3.164, p. 105; 1.3.169, p. 108. 30 Tähtinen, Ahi—sć, pp. 102–103. 31 Encyclopedia of Buddhism, s.v. “Ahi—sć,” by Hirakawa, vol. 1, p. 291. 26 27

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always insisted upon, eventual justice will of course surely take place, for it is based on the law of karman. Nonviolence, however, is not confined to the avoiding of physical harm, which we may call gross or easily perceptible or tangible violence. One must also be non-violent in words and in thoughts and emotions: this is a more subtle form of nonviolence, and the more important one. Buddhism has much to say in this respect. Let me therefore proceed to the Buddhist understanding of this more refined form of nonviolence. In the ten-fold list of perfections (pćramitć) that the Mahćyćna Bodhisattva strives to specialize in forbearance (Pćli Khanti; Sanskrit K™ćnti) is usually listed as the third perfection, and it is praised to the skies in Buddhist literature. Forbearance consists mainly in absence of anger, hate and malice, and the forgiving (mar™aØa) of offences by others (parćpakćra)32 A Theravćda text declares that whoever bears enmity even to thieves who sever one’s limbs, one by one, with a saw, does not carry out the teaching of the Buddha. Even in such a circumstance, one should not be harsh to the thieves or hate them, but rather one should be kind and compassionate and cultivate friendliness (mettć) towards them as well as towards the whole world.33 Mahćyćna texts exhort that one must forgive all types of offences (injury, insult, abuse, criticism), everywhere (in private and in public), at all times (past, present and future), in all circumstances (in sickness or health), in thought (not entertaining angry thoughts), word (not speaking harshly) and deed (not harming physically), without any exception (whether friend, enemy or indifferent person), and however wicked the offending person or however terrible the injury may be.34 To achieve this high ideal is no easy task, but the Bodhisattvas in particular strive to reach this cherished goal, trying all the time not to bear malice or ill will towards anyone even when their life is in grave danger. If, on the other hand, they fail to reach this lofty goal, the Bodhisattvas can repent and confess their fault and reflect Har Dayal, The Bodhisattva Doctrine in Buddhist Sanskrit Literature (London: Kegan Paul, Trench, Trubner and Co., 1932), p. 209. 33 KakacŠpamasutta, in Majjhimanikćya, pt I, 21.5.20, pp. 172–173. 34 See the texts cited in Dayal, Bodhisattva Doctrine, pp. 209–210. 32

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how they fall short of the ideal and resolve not to engage in acrimonious disputes, not to reply harshly, not to harbor malice or bear ill will, and so on and so forth.35 In the Buddhist texts, one finds many reasons to motivate oneself to avoid resentment towards those who have offended oneself. Buddhaghosa, a Theravćda Buddhist, includes the following reasons in his Visuddhimagga: remembering the scriptural passages that exhort one to practice forbearance and avoid hatred, reflecting on the harmful effects of anger on oneself, developing compassion for one’s enemies who will suffer in purgatories due to their succumbing to anger, recalling to mind the many examples of the Buddha, who in previous lives as a human adult or child and even as an animal did not entertain the slightest hatred towards his tormentors, reflecting that one’s enemy may have been one’s loving parents or brothers or sisters or sons or daughters in previous lives, realizing that the one with whom one is angry is not a substantial soul, but merely a series of momentary aggregates of various elements, and therefore one cannot make that person the target of one’s anger.36 Similarly, Mahćyćna texts, too, try to motivate one to practice forgiveness. Firstly, one should follow the teaching and example of the Buddhas in forgiveness. The Buddhas will not forgive people unless they forgive others who offend them. Secondly, in reference to the person to be forgiven one may reflect in this manner: the present enemy may have been one’s friend or relative or teacher in a former birth. Since Buddhism does not believe in a finite soul, strictly speaking there is no perpetrator of injuries and insults, nor is any one injured or insulted.37 All beings are evanescent and subject to pain and suffering, and so one should rather lighten their burden than be angry and unforgiving. The adversaries are A™ʜasćhasrikć Prajñćpćramitć, 24, pp. 208–209. Visuddhimagga, 9.15–38; see ÑyćØamoli, The Path of Purification (Visuddhimagga), 2nd ed. (Colombo: A. Semage, 1964), pp. 324–332. 37 It is interesting to note the contrary case in the Hindu BhagavadgĪtć (2.19), where Krishna urges Arjuna to fight against the Kauravas since the soul—which constitutes the essence of a person and is inactive—is neither a slayer nor is slain. 35 36

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conditioned by the results of their deeds (karman) in past lives, and are therefore not acting freely. Thirdly, one may also think with regard to oneself in the following vein: one is suffering insult and injury as a consequence of one’s own evil deeds in previous existences; one’s enemies are actually one’s friends and beneficiaries for they preserve one from such worldly goods as wealth and fame, and give one the golden opportunity to practice forbearance, which leads to salvation. Fourthly, one should ponder over the ill effects of an angry and unforgiving attitude: it results in terrible punishments in various purgatories, and wipes out the merit one has gained through several lives. Hence it is better to bear up with the comparatively negligible sufferings inflicted on one in this life than face terrible tortures in the future. Revenge always brings evil consequences on oneself. Being at peace with others results in great happiness to oneself. Often one is unforgiving because of pride, which needs to be replaced by the spirit of humble service. Finally, mercy and love urge us to forgive others.38 It also helps us to realize in our meditational practice that those who inflict pain on us are acting thus because of their suffering, caused perhaps by the inexperience of their parents, who in turn may have been victims of their parents. Once we understand the circumstances on account of which a person has misbehaved, our anger ceases, we become compassionate towards that person and we can forgive even without that person being present.39 It is noteworthy that many of these reasons are mentioned also by modern writers on forgiveness and reconciliation. They speak of shifting the focus of attention from oneself to the aggressor: instead of asking “Why me?” one asks “Why them?” In doing so, one realizes that the enemy too is driven by fear See the texts cited in Dayal, Bodhisattva Doctrine, pp. 210–212. Thich Nhat Hanh, cited by Heidi Singh, “Forging a Kind Heart in an Age of Alienation,” in Buddhism through American Women’s Eyes, ed. Karma Lekshe Tsomo (Ithaca, New York: Snow Lion Publications, 1995), pp. 23–24. 38 39

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On the other hand, we can easily see that some of the reasons proposed spring from the specifically Buddhist world-view. For example, strictly speaking, no one offends nor is any one offended for there are no finite souls or substantial agents: every finite being is a series of momentary aggregates. In Theravćda the aggregates are real, but they exist only for a moment; so who is offending whom? The aggregates of the succeeding moment are different from those of the previous moment. One cannot therefore hold the aggregates of the succeeding moment responsible for what was

Olga Botcharova, “Implementation of Track Two Diplomacy: Developing a Model of Forgiveness”, in Forgiveness and Reconciliation: Religion, Public Policy, and Conflict Transformation, ed. Raymond G. Helmick, S.J., and Rodney L. Peterson, Foreword by Desmond M. Tutu (Radnor, Pennsylvania: Templeton Foundation Press, paperback, 2002), pp. 299– 300. 41 Donald W. Shriver, Jr., An Ethic for Enemies: Forgiveness in Politics, (New York: Oxford University Press, paperback, 1997), p. 8. 42 Everett, L Worthington, Jr., “Unforgiveness, Forgiveness, and Reconciliation and Their Implication for Societal Interventions,” in Forgiveness and Reconciliation, pp. 186–187. 43John Dawson, “Hatred’s End: A Christian Proposal to Peacemaking in a New Century,” in Forgiveness and Reconciliation, pp. 247–248. 44 John Paul Lederach, “Five Qualities of Practice in Support of Reconciliation Processes,” in Forgiveness and Reconciliation, pp. 198–199. 40

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perpetrated by those of the previous moment.45 In Mahćyćna the aggregates do not even exist; in fact, nothing exists except the one Supreme Reality, the ądi Buddha. It is interesting to note that the law of karman is invoked not to condemn the offender, but to understand the aggressor’s predicament. Theravćda does not accept a God, so there is no question of recourse to the Christian idea that God forgives us and therefore we too should forgive others, or that God will not forgive us if we do not forgive others. But Mahćyćna does propose a similar motive: the Buddhas, who are manifestations of the supreme ądi Buddha, will not forgive those who do not extend forgiveness to others.46 In forgiveness the victims unconditionally hold out the olive branch to the offenders; reconciliation takes place when the perpetrators admit their offence and respond by extending the hand of friendship. Forgiveness may be localized in one person or group, i.e., it may be one-sided, but reconciliation involves mutuality, the restoration of harmony and trust between both parties. The Buddhist texts usually speak of forgiveness, rather than reconciliation. The latter, however, is particularly found in the Confessions made by the monks and nuns. On new moon and full moon days, the monks and nuns assemble together for their fortnightly meetings, called Uposatha [Sanskrit Upavastha], at which they recite the monastic code, called Pćtimokkha [Sanskrit Prćtimokʜa], which contains the rules and regulations of monastic life. After each rule is recited, there is a pause so that any monk or nun who has broken that rule may confess it and accept the prescribed penalty. The rules for the monks and nuns are not all the same.47 A few transgressions are so serious that the sanction is Of course, by the same logic, there is no forgiver either and there is no reason to forgive, for the aggregates that were offended and hurt are different from the aggregates of the succeeding moment. Buddhists, however, chose the other alternative rather than this one. 46 Note, however, that in Mahćyćna all this is only on the practical level for, from the point of view of the absolute truth, everything is illusory, except the one Reality, the Ćdi Buddha. 47 Nalinaksha Dutt, Early Monastic Buddhism (Calcutta: Calcutta Oriental Press, 1941), pp. 305–312. 45

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expulsion from the Order. In the case of some infractions, after imposing a temporary expulsion, the Order reassembles to consider readmitting the transgressor. In this way, the one who has violated those rules is reconciled with the members of the monastic community. In some infringements one just expresses regret, e.g., for having struck another monk. In some other cases, the offenders must give up what they had wrongly appropriated, e.g., gold or silver or what was meant for the community, and must also express regret for having done so. Here we see that restitution is involved in addition to contrition. There are also practical rules for the settling of disputes about the observance of the rules. For instance, one way is that the disagreeing persons talk to each other and settle their differences, and thus become reconciled to one another. Many modern writers on reconciliation emphasize the need for justice too and deprecate cheap forgiveness. However, in this context, it is important to stress on restorative justice, rather than on retributive justice. In restorative justice the aim is to restore harmony by healing the victim and rehabilitating the aggressor through a punishment that is not vengeful but reformative.48 It is worth remarking that in the Buddhist Confession, the justice is restorative, not retributive. Most of the prescribed punishments are meant to reform the one who has breached the rule and bring about reconciliation between the victim and the perpetrator. There is a well-known Buddhist saying: “Never does hatred cease by hatred, but hatred ceases by love. This is the eternal law (dhamma).”49 Anger and hatred are great obstacles to the practice of nonviolence. Buddhism emphatically points out that wrath and animosity affect the unforgiving enraged or hostile persons more than the ones on whom they vent their spleen. The person who is full of rancor experiences mental agony and anguish, while the one who bears no resentment does not feel such pain and grief.50 Anger may or may not make the other person suffer, but it definitely makes oneself suffer. Moreover, in accordance with the law of Donald W. Schriver, Jr., “Forgiveness: A Bridge across Abysses of Revenge,” in Forgiveness and Reconciliation, pp. 156–157. 49 Dhammapada, v. 5, in Khuddakanikćya, pt I, p. 17. 50 Anguttaranikćya, 5.18.4, pt II, p. 451. 48

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karman [Pćli kamma] it will not lead to liberation but to damnation in purgatories. An infuriated person is like one who wants to hit another with a burning ember or feces in one’s hand, but actually ends up being the one to suffer burns or to stink.51 (b) Some Buddhist Examples of Nonviolence Concrete examples not only spell out and explain a little more the Buddhist understanding of nonviolence, but also complement the theory to some extent. They also illustrate the ideal as well as other levels of nonviolence. We shall mention a few instances from the texts, from history and from the contemporary world.

(i) From the texts Let me begin by briefly narrating the three most celebrated stories in Buddhism, illustrating nonviolence. Of these the most famous is that of KhantivćdĪ. In one of his previous lives as a Bodhisattva (Pćli Bodhisatta), Gautama Buddha was born as Kuؘalakumćra, who was later known as KhantivćdĪ [Sanskrit Kʛćntivćdin], i.e., “One who preached the doctrine of forbearance”. Angry with KhantivćdĪ, King Kalćbu tested his forbearance by inflicting one agonizing torture after another: he first had him scourged all over his body, then had his hands and feet chopped off, and then his nose and ears cut off. Even though he was taunted by the king after every torment, KhantivćdĪ never got angry, declaring himself to be a preacher and practitioner of forbearance. Finally, the king kicked him on his chest near the heart and walked off in a huff. The commander-in-chief requested KhantivćdĪ to vent his wrath only on the king, but to spare the others and the kingdom. However, instead of taking revenge, KhantivćdĪ uttered a blessing, “Long live the king!”52

51

Visuddhimagga, 9.22–23; see ÑyćØamoli, Path of Purification, pp. 326–

327. KhantivćdĪjćtakavaØØanć, in Jćtaka-aʞʞhakathć, 4.2.3, No. 313, vol. 72, pp. 34–37. A Sanskrit version is found in the K™ćntijćtaka in the Jćtakamćlć, 28, pp. 189ff. 52

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Another well-known anecdote is that of PuØØa [Sanskrit PŠrØa] who opts to stay in a place called Sunćparanta [Sanskrit ŒroØćparćnta], but the Buddha warns him that the people there are fierce and rough and asks him how he would react if they were to abuse and revile him. PuØØa answers that he would consider them very good since they would not strike him with their hands. The Buddha then asks him how he would respond if they were to strike him with their hands. To which he replies that he would think of them as very good since they would not pelt him with clods of earth. And PuØØa proceeds in this way, every time excusing them for not being worse: for their not hitting him with a stick, and not stabbing him with a knife. And if this last were to happen, he would rejoice that he would be freed of his body without his even looking for a knife to take his own life, of which he was so ashamed and disgusted. The Buddha then congratulates him for his great control and calmness, which resulted in such a laudable attitude of forbearance.53 Dharmavivardhana, better known as KuØćla, was the virtuous son of King AŔoka. His stepmother Tiʛyarakʛitć declared her burning love for him because of his beautiful eyes. On being rejected by him, she ordered his eyes to be pulled out. But accepting this as the fruit of his own past deeds (karman), he did not bear any malice towards her. He then went about with his wife begging on the streets, and making his living by singing and playing the vĪØć (a musical instrument). Later when AŔoka heard of her dastardly deed, he wanted to put her to death by pulling out her eyes, cutting off her tongue, poisoning her, etc. But KuØćla asked the king to spare her life, declaring that he harbored no anger towards her. KuØćla then miraculously regained his eyes. Nevertheless, the king had TiŔyarak™itć burnt alive in a lac house (jatugŠha).54 We notice in these instances that the ideal is not even to feel anger or hatred even in the most trying circumstances. In the PuØØovćdasutta, in Majjhimanikćya, pt III, 45.2.2, pp. 358–360. A Sanskrit version, belonging to the Sarvćstivćda School, is found in the PŠrØćvadćna, in the Divyćvadćna, 2, pp. 23–24. 54 KuØćlćvadćna, in Divyćavadćna, 27, pp. 261–270. 53

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context of the views of many Western writers on forgiveness and reconciliation, it should be pointed out that the emphasis in Buddhism is in the first place on not even feeling hurt or on remaining unperturbed by even the most cruel and vehement aggressor. We could say that, strictly speaking, there is nothing to forgive, for there is no offence taken in the first place. The ideal is to practice forbearance, to put up with the trials and sufferings inflicted by others and not bear any grudge or malice toward the opponents. If one does not succeed in this stoic ideal, and experiences hurt and resentment, one must try and bring oneself to forgive the perpetrator. Although desired, reconciliation is not so actively sought for. If the aggressor is moved to repentance and becomes reconciled, it’s well and good, but it is not the deliberate goal of every act of forbearance and forgiveness. Justice and reparation too are not insisted upon in every instance.55 The ordinary person of course cannot reach such heights of equanimity as illustrated above. Occasionally, the Buddhist texts do give more down-to-earth examples of people who get annoyed with one another but eventually do get reconciled. Two monks residing in Kosambi quarreled with each other. Then this enmity between the two spread not only to their monastic disciples but also to their friends and others, who thus took sides with one or the other monk. In spite of many efforts made by the Buddha to reconcile them, they refused to do so. It was only when they felt the pinch of being deprived of food offerings from the lay folk that they came to their senses and decided to forgive each other and be reunited. Finally, the two factions also begged the Buddha’s forgiveness.56 On occasion the Buddha himself brings about reconciliation. In the Introduction to the KuØćla Jćtaka, it is reported that when In the case of the Buddhist Confession, both reconciliation and justice are integral parts of it, but Confession is reserved only for monks and nuns. 56 Kosambakavatthu. in Dhammapada-aʞʞhakathć, 1.5, pt. I, vol.50, pp. 34– 40; see Eugene Watson Burlingame, trans., Buddhist Legends, 3 parts, Harvard Oriental Series vols. 28–30 (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1921), pt I, pp. 176–183. 55

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the Koliya and Sćkyan tribes were about to engage in a bloody battle over the right to the waters of the river RohiØĪ, the Buddha persuaded them to desist from fighting by making them realize that there was no point in killing warriors of priceless value for the sake of some water that had comparatively little worth.57 Not all, however, paid heed to the Buddha’s mediations. He was unable to persuade the stubborn monk Tissa to ask forgiveness for not welcoming some visiting monks with respect and hospitality. Tissa was unforgiving because he was angry with those monks for having abused him for this fault of omission. In fact, in a previous life too he was not willing to ask pardon.58 There were times when the Buddha was harsh with some of his interlocutors, even humiliating them at times.59 But it is explained that he occasionally used disagreeable words out of compassion, just as we would remove a stick or a stone from a child’s mouth, even if it pains the child.60 Even so, one can cite some texts that speak disparagingly of other traditions or even of other Buddhist sects. For example, the followers of Theravćda are accused of not being true followers of the Buddha and hence they do not attain salvation. The Theravćdins on the other hand are said to consider Mahćyćna as a heretical religion.61 One of the chronicles of Sri Lanka, the Mahćva¹sa, often portrays the island’s Tamilians as enemies of the Sinhalese. Even though he had conquered King Elćra, King DuʜʜhagćmaØi was disconsolate for he realized that he had slaughtered millions in the battle. But some Arahants62 consoled him by telling him that this action of his would not prevent him from attaining a temporary heaven. He had KuØćlajćtakavaØØanć, in Jćtaka-aʞʞhakathć, 5.21.4, No. 536, vol. 74, pp. 408–410. 58 Tissatheravatthu, in Dhammapada-aʞʞhakathć, 1.3, pt I, vol.50, pp. 25– 29; see Burlingame, Buddhist Legends, pt I, pp. 166–170. 59 Noel Sheth, S.J., “Buddhism and Communalism,” Religion and Society 35:4 (December 1988): 60. 60 Abhayarćjakumćrasutta, in Majjhimanikćya, pt II, 8.1.3–8.2, pp. 68–70. 61 SaddharmapuؘarĪkasŠtra, at 2.37, p. 29; 2.54–55, p. 31; 12.8–9, p. 164. 62 Those who have attained nibbćna or liberation while living. 57

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killed only one and a half human beings, i.e., those who had declared themselves to be Buddhists, fully or partially. The rest were unbelievers and immoral, not worth any more than mere animals. He would bring glory to Buddhism and so should not let his heart be troubled.63 To our modern sensibilities, in this age of dialogue, it is shocking to read that, according to the writers of this book, which of course was composed in a different era, people who have attained liberation consider the vanquished nonBuddhists as sub-humans.64 Hatred often dehumanizes the enemy and thus gets rid of possible qualms of conscience.65

(ii) From Buddhist history Let us now leave the traditional texts and cite a couple of illustrations from Buddhist history. In the 13th Rock Edict, the Emperor Asoka publicly expresses his remorse and confesses how the carnage at Kalinga caused him great anguish. He also declares that he pardons, as far as it is possible, all those who have wronged him. He makes peace with the people living in the forests. He wishes all beings to be free from injury and to enjoy gentleness or joyousness.66 He even took care to omit the 13th Edict from the texts carved on the rocks in Kalinga, lest even his words of repentance would serve as a spark to re-ignite adverse emotions in the Kalingas by reviving the memory of his fateful attack on their country.67 The father of H‘nen, the leader of the Japanese J‘doshŠ school, was fatally wounded by a gang of robbers who attacked Mahćva¹sa, 25; see Wilhelm Geiger, trans., The Mahćva—sa: The Great Chronicle of Ceylon (London: Pali Text Society, 1912): pp. 177–178, lines 103–111. 64 For a feeble attempt to give a more charitable interpretation, see Mahinda Deegalle, “Is Violence Justified in Theravćda Buddhism?” The Ecumenical Review: The Quarterly of the World Council of Churches 55:3 (July 2003): 126. 65 Schriver, Jr., “Forgiveness: A Bridge across Abysses of Revenge,” in Forgiveness and Reconciliation, pp. 160–161. 66 Basak, AŔokan Inscriptions, pp. 71–72. 67 Romila Thapar, cited by Rajmohan Gandhi, Revenge and Reconciliation: Understanding South Asian History (New Delhi: Penguin Books, 1999), p. 52. 63

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their home. On his deathbed, his father exhorted his son never to take revenge but rather to pray for the salvation of his father as well as of the attackers.68

(iii) From the contemporary world We now turn to some examples in the contemporary world. The Dalai Lama, who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, has always embraced the policy of peaceful resistance to the Chinese, who invaded Tibet in 1950. He refers to the Chinese as his brothers and sisters and is motivated by tolerance, compassion and love. While wanting autonomy, he admits the fact that Tibet would continue to be linked with China.69 He has said, “Tolerance can be learnt only from an enemy. Therefore, in a way, enemies are precious, in that they help us to grow….Compassion and love are necessary in order for us to obtain happiness or tranquility. [Human nature is one.] When we return to this basis, all people are the same. Then we can truly say the words brother, sister…This gives us inner strength.”70 Realizing the oneness of humanity is one of the ways that facilitates forgiveness or at least reduces unforgiveness.71 It should be noted, however, that this oneness in Mahćyćna is radical and metaphysical, and not just a sort of psychological unity or a common humanity shared with one another for, according to Mahćyćna, there is only one Reality, and everything else is illusion; everything is identical with that one Reality. The Thai Buddhist Sulak Sivaraksa also appeals to the sense of the one human family: “We must come to see that there is no

Masaharu Anesaki, History of Japanese Religion: With Special Reference to the Social and Moral Life of the Nation (London: Kegan Paul, Trench, 1930; reprint ed., Rutland, Vermont and Tokyo, Japan: Charles E. Tuttle, 1963), pp. 171–172. 69 Gandhi, Revenge and Reconciliation, p. 400. 70 Cited by John D’Arcy May, “Reconciliation in Buddhism,” in Reconciliation in Religion and Society, ed. Michael Hurley, S.J. (Belfast: Institute of Irish Studies, Queen’s University of Belfast, 1994), p. 178. 71 Worthington, Jr., “Unforgiveness, Forgiveness, and Reconciliation,” p. 181. 68

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‘other’. We are all one human family. It is greed, hatred and delusion that we need to overcome.”72 The Vietnamese monk Thich Nhat Hanh did not bear any hatred towards the Catholic Diem regime that persecuted him, nor to the Viet Cong or the American soldiers who attacked Vietnam. He could find excuses for the atrocities perpetrated by American soldiers in Vietnam, attributing these to their hard life in the swamps and jungles infested by mosquitoes and other insects, and to their being in constant danger of death. Although initially angry, he did not blame a sea-pirate who had raped a twelve-year old girl, thinking that if he had had the same historical, economic and educational background as that pirate he would probably have behaved in the same way. This attitude of Thich Nhat Hanh is based on the Buddhist doctrine of Dependent or Conditioned Coproduction (pratĪtya-samutpćda; Pćli paʞʞicca-saumuppćda), according to which no being or event arises without a conditioning factor: this (resulting) being or event is because that (preceding) being or event is; this (resulting) being or event is not because that (preceding) being or event is not.73 It thus helps the Buddhist to pay attention to attenuating circumstances, and hence be more understanding and forgiving. Another principle on which Thich Nhat Hanh bases his tolerant and reconciliatory spirit is the Mahćyćna doctrine of the oneness of all reality, which he interprets in practical life as an attitude of “inter-being”, of identifying oneself with the other. He identifies himself with that twelve-year old girl who jumped into the sea after being raped, and with the pirate who raped her, thinking of his own heart which is not yet capable of seeing and loving, but wanting to discover his own true being and thus keep the door of compassion open in his heart. In his own words, “Interbeing means that you cannot be a separate entity. You can only interbe with other people and elements.”74 In war-torn Cambodia Maha Ghosananda, five-time Nobel Peace Prize nominee, led nine Dhammayietras [=Dharmayćtras] or Cited by May, “Reconciliation in Buddhism,” p. 179. Donald Nichols, “A Buddhist Contribution to Peace Spirituality,” Dialogue n.s. 12:1–3 (January-December 1985): 2–3. 74 May, “Reconciliation in Buddhism,” pp. 179–180. 72 73

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Pilgrimages of Truth to promote peace. Often opponents met and walked together in the spirit of reconciliation. In his first Dhammayietra, he preached repeatedly, “The suffering of Cambodia has been deep. From this suffering comes Great Compassion. Great Compassion makes a peaceful heart. A peaceful heart makes a peaceful person. A peaceful person makes a peaceful family. A peaceful family makes a peaceful community. A peaceful community makes a peaceful nation. A peaceful nation makes a peaceful world.”75 The Sri Lankan monk H. Uttarananda, who was a member of the now defunct Humanist Bhikkhus’76 Association (MćnavahitavćdĪ Bhikkhu Sangamaya), proposed a Buddhist-Humanist view of the national ethnic problem in Sri Lanka. Following the typical Buddhist “middle path”, he wanted to avoid the two extremes of a Sinhala Buddhist State and a free Eelam State. He acknowledged the inhuman atrocities perpetrated on Tamils in 1983 and thereafter by racist fanatics and governments, and was able to sympathetically understand the exasperated violent reactions of Tamils whose pent up rage boiled over due to the prolonged racist attitudes of successive governments. He called for reconciliation and strengthening of racial unity and peace.77 Apologies, whether private or public, do help in the process of reconciliation and peace.78 In a Press Conference in Tokyo on 3rd June 2002, the four Mahćnćyakes or “Patriarchs” of the Theravćda Buddhist Order of Sri Lanka, publicly released a Press Statement, which declared that the Order was for peace and development in Sri Lanka and solicited the support of the Japanese people in the peace process and in confidence-building measures which would benefit all three Letter from Cambodia, March 2002, p. 1. ‘Bhikkhu’ literally means a mendicant and refers to a Buddhist monk: the initial practice of begging for food is now defunct, except in a couple of countries like Thailand and Myanmar. 77 H. Uttarananda, “Sihala Buddhist Monks and the Rights of the Tamils,” Dialogue n.s. 18:1–3 (January-December 1991): 6–9, 12–13. 78 Shriver, Jr., “Forgiveness: A Bridge across Abysses of Revenge,” in Forgiveness and Reconciliation, ” p. 163. 75 76

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communities affected by the war, viz., the Sinhalese, the Tamils and the Muslims.79 The Sri Lankan newspaper The Island80 reported that the Mahćnćyake of Asgiriya conferred his blessings on both the UNP Government of Ranil Wickremansinghe as well as the LTTE in their efforts to restore peace through peace talks in Thailand. On the more modest scale of the family, Heidi Singh narrates how she was able to eventually become reconciled with her estranged father by practicing the meditation of friendliness (mettć), reflecting on appropriate Buddhist texts given to her by her Buddhist teachers, reciting Buddhist Scriptural passages, and observing the precepts of moral life.81 Thus in Buddhism we come across several outstanding instances of heroic nonviolence, magnanimous forgiveness and unconditional reconciliation, as manifested in the texts, in history and in the contemporary world. 4. Nonviolence towards Oneself So far we have treated Buddhist nonviolence towards others, both human beings and sub-human beings. We shall now briefly deal with the aspects of nonviolence towards oneself. Early in his spiritual quest Gautama Buddha practiced severe asceticism, but soon realized that it did not help his progress.82 He therefore decided to follow the middle path (majjhimć paʞipadć) between extreme austerity and excessive sensuality, and taught it to others.83 Moderate mortification is necessary, but hankering after extreme penances does not lead to liberation. Those who advocate mortification, make it essential and are attached to it are unable to cross the flood (to the other shore of liberation).84 Severe asceticism is not only useless; it is a form of violence on oneself. Similarly, self-mutilation is also unacceptable; it is a grave offence From the text of the Press Release, sent to me by the Japanese Committee of the World Conference on Religion and Peace. 80 5th November, 2002, p. 1. 81 Singh, “Forging a Kind Heart,” pp. 15–24. 82 See Thomas, Life of the Buddha, pp. 64–67. 83 Mahćvagga, 1.7.13, p. 13. 84 Sć¤hasutta, in Aœguttaranikćya, 4.20.3–4, pt II, p. 214. 79

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(ćpatti).85 While the Jains recommend religious suicide (sallekhanć),86 Buddhists reject suicide all together. A monk who intentionally takes his own life or persuades others to commit suicide commits a pćrćjika offence that requires expulsion from the Order.87 On the other hand, for instance, some Vietnamese monks immolated themselves in protest against the government.88 Even in Christianity theologians have wondered whether, for instance, the suicides done in protest by certain Northern Irish prisoners fighting for the freedom of Northern Ireland could be justified. Buddhism, furthermore, does not approve of self-defense, unlike Christianity and certain Hindu texts. A Brahmin89 who releases a blow (muñcati) on his attacker is worse than the one who strikes a Brahmin.90 5. Nonviolence in the Positive Sense Although one cannot totally separate the negative and positive sides of nonviolence, since they are two sides of the same coin yet, in the above treatment, we have mostly concentrated on the negative sense of nonviolence, i.e., what one should not do. We shall now proceed to the positive aspect of nonviolence. In this context the Buddhist should practice four important virtues called Brahma-vihćras (Sublime States), viz., mettć [Sanskrit maitrĪ] (friendliness), karuØć (compassion), muditć (joy) and upekkhć [Sanskrit upekʜć] (equanimity). While in Theravćda the exclusive practice of these virtues resulted only in rebirth in the temporary,

Cullavagga, 5.4, p. 199. Jains distinguish this form of religious suicide from the usual, ordinary suicide, pointing out that the motives and purpose are different. 87 Pćrćjika, 1.3.143–156, pp. 88–97. 88 Sheth, “Buddhism and Communalism,” p. 45. 89 Here the word ‘brćhmaØa’ (Brahmin) does not refer to the Brahmin class (varØa), but to a virtuous and wise person. Buddhism reinterprets caste in ethical terms: see Noel Sheth, “The Buddha’s Attitude to Caste,” Negations 1:4 (October-December 1982): 25–26. 90 Dhammapada, v. 389, in Khuddakanikćya pt I, p. 54. 85 86

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heavenly world of the god Brahmć, in later Buddhism it led to nirvćØa or salvation.91 Of these four virtues, we shall focus briefly on friendliness (mettć or maitrĪ) and compassion (karuØć), which are more relevant to our theme of nonviolence. Mettć or MaitrĪ is practiced towards those who are happy; its contrary is malice. KaruØć, on the other hand, is directed to those who suffer and are unhappy; its contrary is cruelty. Theravćda gives more importance to mettć, while Mahćyćna emphasizes karuØć more.92 Let us begin with virtue of friendliness. In Theravćda mettć essentially consists in the wish that all beings may be happy. Just as a mother would protect her only child at the risk of her own life, even so one should cultivate unlimited love towards all beings.93 The cultivation of mettć is the best way to prevent anger from arising and to remove anger in case it has arisen.94 The mind of one who has acquired perfection in mettć cannot be affected even by the most hostile person, just as the earth cannot be destroyed, space cannot be painted on, and the river Gaœgć cannot be burned.95 All the means employed to produce merit are worth only a sixteenth part of the value of mettć.96 The practice of mettć brings eleven advantages, including being dear to all, quick concentration of the mind, and rebirth in the world of the god Brahmć.97 The monk who abides in mettć attains the happiness that results from the cessation of one’s habitual tendencies (saœkhćra).98

Mahćvastu, ed. E. Senart, 3 vols., Collection d’ouvrages orientaux, seconde serie (Paris: Imprimerie Nationale, 1882–1897), vol. 3, pp. 421– 422. 92 Dayal, Bodhisattva Doctrine, pp. 227–228. 93 Mettasutta, in Suttanipćta, 1.8, in Khuddakanikćya, pt I, pp. 290–291. 94 Aunguttaranikćya, 1.2.7, pt I, p. 5. 95 KakacŠpamasutta, in Majjhimanikćya, pt I, 21.4.16–18, pp. 170–171. 96 Itivuttaka, 1.27.27, in Khuddakanikćya, pt I, pp. 196–197. 97 Aœguttaranikćya, 11.2.5, pt IV, pp. 383–384. In Aœguttaranikćya, 8.12, pt III, p. 270, eight similar advantages are mentioned. 98 Dhammapada, v. 368, in Khuddakanikćya, pt I, p. 52. 91

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The starting point of mettć in Theravćda is love of oneself, for there is nothing more dear than oneself.99 Taking oneself as an example, one extends mettć to others.100 This does not mean that mettć is self-seeking: putting away malice in thought, word and deed,101 it is meant to always radiate or suffuse with limitless love all kinds of living beings everywhere.102 In Mahćyćna maitrĪ is a love that consists in the hope, prayer, keen desire for, and joy at, the happiness of others, without passion and the seeking of reward. It is of three kinds depending on whether it is directed towards living beings, phenomena (dharma) or no particular object.103 Let us now move on to the next virtue. KaruØć literally means compassion, mercy, pity, but it also includes all altruistic aspects of love. Bodhisattvas do not need to learn very many things; it is enough to concentrate only on karuØć, and in its wake it will bring them all the qualities that lead to enlightenment or Buddhahood.104 The earth with its forests, mountains and oceans underwent dissolution hundreds of times but the great compassion of a Bodhisattva is never destroyed.105 Mercy (dayć) gives birth to virtues just as rain produces crops.106 Bodhisattvas feel karuØć for living beings like a father for his dear and only son.107 The wise love all beings more than themselves, or their spouses, children, friends and relatives.108 Tormented by the sufferings of others, the compassionate ones do not look for their own happiness.109 Bodhisattvas desire Sa¹yuttanikćya, 3.8.22, pt I, p.74. Dhammapada, v. 130, in Khuddakanikćya, pt I, p. 29. 101 Aœguttaranikćya, 5.17.1–5.17.2, pt. II, pp. 434–438. 102 Suttanipćta, 1.8, vv. 146–147, 150–151, in Khuddakanikćya, pt I, pp. 290–291. 103 Œik Ćsmuccaya, 12.20, p. 117, lines 9–13.. 104 œikʜćsamuccaya, 16.24, p.151, lines 14–25. 105 Jćtakamćla, 24, v. 1, p. 162. 106 Jćtakamćla, 26, v. 41, p. 180. 107 SaddharmapuؘarĪkasŠtra, 5.44, p. 92, line 24. 108 MahćyćnasŠtrćlaœkćra, 19, v. 5, p, 154. 109 Jćtakamćlć, 8, p. 43, line 1. 99

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enlightenment first for all beings and not for themselves.110 In some passages we notice that the Bodhisattvas act for the benefit of others (para) as well as themselves (ćtman).111 But in some other passages, we find that the texts speak only of the good of others, and not love for oneself,112 thus emphasizing altruism much more. Prompted by karuØć, the Bodhisattvas give generously not only to relatives, friends and dependents, but also to all those who ask for help, to the poor, the pitiable, the beggars.113 They give away not only external things like their house, spouses, children, etc., but they also part with their hands, feet, head, limbs, etc.; indeed, they sacrifice everything.114 They even transfer their own merit to others for their welfare and wellbeing, both physical and spiritual, and even take upon themselves the sufferings of others.115 They do all this and more at the appropriate time, with respect and the intention of promoting the welfare of all;116 besides they do not expect anything in return.117 In this context of karuØć we must particularly mention the most popular Bodhisattva AvalokiteŔvara or PadmapćØi, who is the very embodiment of compassion and even goes to the worst purgatory and takes on the sufferings of the tormented beings there. Possibly because of his great compassion he became feminine in some East Asian countries. Both Theravćda and Mahćyćna texts narrate hundreds of stories depicting the selfless and absolutely generous gifts of property, limb and life by men and women and even animals. Several texts, both in Theravćda and in Mahćyćna, tell the story of Œikʜćsmuccaya, 7.14, p. 81, lines 4–5. MahćyćnasŠtrćlaœkćra, 16, p.103, line 8. 112 MahćyćnasŠtrćlaœkćra, 3, v. 12; Bodhicaryćvatćra, with the Pañjikć Commentary of Prajñćkaramati, 8. v. 173, p. 165. 113 Jćtakamćlć, 31, vv. 63 and 65, pp. 227–228; 3, p. 16, lines 16–17. 114 Œikʜćsmuccaya, 1.4, p. 16, lines 2–5. 115 Bodhicaryćvatćra, with the Pañjikć Commentary, 10, pp. 283–287 116 Jćtakamćlć, 25, v. 29, p. 173. 117 MahćyćnasŠtrćlaœkćra, 19, v. 28, p. 158; Œikʜćsmuccaya, 7.14, p. 81, lines 16–17. Note that, in addition to this high selfless ideal, some texts do mention other less lofty motives, such as fame, merit, rebirth in a better state, etc. 110 111

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the hare who, having no food, offers a guest his own flesh.118 Similarly, both traditions narrate the story of King Sivi (Sanskrit Ìibi) who became blind by donating his eyes.119 The most famous story, again in both traditions, in this context of selfless and generous giving, is that of Vessantara (Sanskrit ViŔvantara) who even after being banished by the king for his excessive generosity, gives away his horses and chariot, and even his children and wife.120 A Sanskrit HĪnayćna text narrates the touching story of an extremely poor woman who gives away even the one piece of cloth that she was wearing.121 All these four Sublime States are to be cultivated or developed through meditation: it is not enough to just make a good resolution; it is meditation that brings about the necessary transformation. Before embarking on the development of mettć, one must engage in preliminary reflections on the dangers of hate and the advantages of forbearance (khanti). Then one proceeds through meditation to cultivate mettć in order to protect the mind from the dangers of anger and lead it into the advantages of forbearance. One begins by practicing mettć towards oneself, wishing welfare and happiness to oneself. After this one concentrates on engendering mettć towards one’s teacher, then towards a dear friend, next towards a neutral person, and finally towards a hostile person.122 Several reflections are suggested to enable one to overcome resentment towards one’s enemy. This mettć is to be perfected in such a way that eventually one makes no Jćtaka-aʞʞhakathć, 4.2.6, No. 316, vol. 72, pp. 44–47; Jćtakamćlć, 6, pp. 30–35. 119Jćtaka-aʞʞhakathć, 15.3, No. 499, vol. 73, pp. 359–370; AvadćnaŔataka, 34, pp. 83–85; Jćtakamćlć, 2, pp. 7–15. 120 Jćtaka-aʞʞhakathć, 22.10, No. 547, vol. 76, pp. 227–381; Jćtakamćlć, 9, pp. 55–69; Bodhisattvćvadćnakalpalatć, 23, pp. 172–175. 121 AvadćnaŔataka, 55, p. 140. 122 It will be noticed that the meditation begins with oneself, then proceeds to friends and neutral persons and only later moves on to enemies. Thus it is in accord with our human psychology: if we straightaway begin meditating on a person whom we cannot stand we are not likely to develop friendly feelings towards that person. 118

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distinction between oneself, the dear person, the neutral person and the enemy. Mettć reaches its climax when more and more beings are included in the range of one’s mettć, until it extends to all beings, human, animal or plant, and is radiated in all the directions of the universe.123 A similar meditational order, but with some variation, is followed for the cultivation of karuØć (compassion), muditć (joy), and upekkhć (equanimity). In the development of these qualities, just as in the case of mettć, perfection is obtained by making no distinction between anyone, and suffusing all the directions of the universe with that particular virtue.124 In the context of our topic of nonviolence, therefore, the Buddhist should practice friendliness, compassion, joy and equanimity towards a hostile person, even to the extent of not making any distinction between the hostile person, a neutral person, a dear one or oneself. These virtues are extended not only to one or other individual friend or enemy, but also to all human beings, nay, even to all animals and plants, and are radiated in all directions. Thus nonviolence, in the Buddhist perspective, is all inclusive, encompassing not only all human beings, but also the whole of nature. While traditionally these four Brahma-vihćras were generally applied only in the purely spiritual realm, nowadays Buddhists are gradually spelling out the wider social implications of these sublime states. In many countries there is emerging an “engaged Buddhism” where even monks are becoming socially involved and work towards community development. For instance, Phongphit describes the social contributions of eight monks and three laymen in Thailand, all of whom are motivated by these four virtues as well as by other Buddhist attitudes.125 In the context of compassion 123

Visuddhimagga, 9.1–76; see ÑyćØamoli, Path of Purification, pp. 321–

340. 124

Visuddhimagga, 9.77–89; see ÑyćØamoli, Path of Purification, pp. 340–

343. See Seri Phongphit, Religion in a Changing Society: Buddhism, Reform and the Role of Monks in Community Development in Thailand (Hong Kong: Arena Press, 1988). 125

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(karuØć), for instance, Phongphit points out, “A rich man who does not care for the miserable conditions of the poor lacks this quality…Those who shut themselves up in ivory towers, in the midst of an unjust world, cannot be called compassionate.”126 Let me conclude this section with a brief comparison between Christianity and Buddhism on the positive aspect of nonviolence, which, in its ideal state, may be called altruistic love. Buddhist and Christian altruistic love do resemble each other. For example, both are opposed to malice and cruelty, are forgiving and move one to transfer one’s merit, and both go to the extent of loving one’s enemy and even sacrificing one’s life for another. But there are many important differences, springing from their different worldviews. Unlike Christian love, Buddhist love is extended to all living beings, not just to human beings. In modern times Christian love is now being broadened to include nature too. Christians love others because God has loved them, or they forgive others because otherwise God will not forgive them. But Theravćda Buddhism does not admit any Supreme Being; hence the motivation is not the same. In Theravćda, one practices love first towards oneself; only then can one extend love towards others. In Christianity the person loved has intrinsic worth: the person is a child of God and has an immortal soul. In Theravćda, on the other hand, the person loved is neither created by a God nor has a soul: each person is just a series of momentary aggregates, subject to the results of one’s deeds (Pćli kamma), and therefore does not have intrinsic worth, but still should be an object of compassion. Theravćda love is more individualistic and not so inter-personal and community-oriented as Christian love. Traditionally, Christianity has shown greater social concern than Buddhism but, on the other hand, it has been more violent and intolerant than Buddhism. Ibid., p. 26. For a study of “engaged Buddhism,” in different Asian countries, see Christopher S. Queen and Sallie B. King, eds., Engaged Buddhism: Buddhist Liberation Movements in Asia (Albany, New York: State University of New York Press, 1966). 126

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Even in the realm of philosophy, Buddhists have tended to present their own position rather than attack their adversaries. While Western philosophers have been inclined to be belligerent and argumentative, Buddhist thinkers have indulged in polemics less frequently. One reason for this difference is that in the Western tradition, unlike in the Eastern understanding, truth is one and does not admit any degrees. Eastern religions distinguish various grades of truth, e.g., practical truth and absolute truth. However, it should be remarked that, in modern times, there is a good deal of violence in some of the Buddhist countries, as we shall soon give evidence of. In Theravćda love is developed through personal effort, through meditation; while in Christianity love is a gift of God and cannot be cultivated merely by effort. Christianity believes that grace and effort must go hand in hand. In general, however, compared to Buddhism and other Eastern religions, Christianity has not sufficiently developed techniques and methods for the cultivation of specific qualities as have the Eastern religions. While the cultivation and expression of Christian love is spontaneous and personal, Theravćda love is developed through a systematic method and expressed in a more impersonal and detached manner. Christian forgiveness and reconciliation is something active: it brings about a change, a healing, a restoration because it is based on the inter-personal, communitarian worldview. In Theravćda on the other hand, one can only do good or harm to oneself, for each one is reaping the fruits of one’s own deeds. One can help another only indirectly by one’s example, by trying not to provoke resentment and anger in others and by the detached vibrations of friendliness sent out in different directions. In the context of forgiveness and reconciliation, it should be pointed out that the emphasis in Buddhism is in the first place on not even feeling hurt or on remaining unperturbed by even the most cruel and vehement aggressor. In this sense, strictly speaking, there is no need for forgiveness for no offence has been taken! Buddhists have always maintained that anger and hatred harm the perpetrator more than the victim. A deeper realization of this has dawned on the consciousness of the modern world only in recent years.

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Coming now more specifically to Mahćyćna, we notice that there are closer affinities with Christianity. Mahćyćna is far more altruistic than Theravćda. In fact, it is in a sense more altruistic than Christianity too, since the ideal for the Bodhisattvas is to delay their salvation127 until the smallest insect is saved. Then again the Buddhas will not forgive people unless they forgive others. This too brings Mahćyćna closer to Christianity. As in Theravćda, and unlike in Christianity, the person has no intrinsic worth. In fact, compared to Theravada, the person in Mahćyćna has even less worth, for the person does not even exist; only the Supreme or First Buddha exists.128 Even though the worldviews differ, it is through altruistic love that Christianity and Buddhism can reach out to each other, foster dialogue, collaborate in service, and work together for peace and harmony in our world.

II. VIOLENCE IN BUDDHISM 1. In Tradition Buddhism has been one of the more peaceful religions in the world. The historian Toynbee wrote, “The three Judaic religions have a record of intolerance, hatred, malice, uncharitableness and persecution that is black by comparison with Buddhism’s record.”129 This does not mean that Buddhism has always been

Cf., in this context, St Paul’s yearning to die and be with Christ, and yet, on the other hand, his wanting to stay on to help the Philippians to progress in the faith and increase their joy in it (Phil 1. 21–26). 128 For a more detailed comparison of Buddhist altruistic love (mettć or maitrĪ and karuØć) with Christian altruistic love (agapē), see Noel Sheth, S.J., “The Buddhist Understanding of Forgiveness and Reconciliation,” Jnanadeepa: Pune Journal of Religious Studies 6:2 (July 2003): 92–95; and Noel Sheth, S.I., “Christian and Buddhist Altruistic Love,” Gregorianum 87:4 (2006): 820–824. 129 Arnold Toynbee, Change and Habit: The Challenge of Our Time (London: Oxford University Press, 1966), p. 167. 127

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snow white: it presents a record that is grey, perhaps light grey.130 No sooner had the Master passed away than there were rival claims over possession of his relics.131 Later, Buddhists fought with each other to acquire the sacred tooth relic.132 In Burma King Anuruddha (Anawratha) of PuØØagćma (Pagan) attacked the kingdom of Sudhammapura (Thaton) in order to seize a copy of the Scriptures (Tipiʞaka) and the relics of the Buddha, which King Manohćri (Manuha) had refused to send him when requested to do so.133 In Sri Lanka a Theravćda king seized a Mahćyćna monastery and burnt its scriptural texts.134 In Tibet the monk Dpal-gi-rdo-rje (Pelgyi Dorje) assassinated King Glan-dar-ma (Lang Darma) because he persecuted Buddhism. The Dge-lugs-pa (Gelugpa) sect often persecuted other Buddhist schools, attacking and destroying their monasteries and books. Tibetan Buddhists fought many wars against each other.135 A number of Chinese messianic groups, particularly the White Lotus Sect (Pai Lien Ts’ai) resorted to armed rebellions. In Japan Nichiren’s militant sect vehemently attacked other schools. For centuries medieval Japanese monasteries had their own armies which attacked each other.136 From the sixteenth century right up to the beginning of the twentieth century, the Noel Sheth, S.J., “Freedom from Fundamentalism in Buddhism,” in The Church in India in the Emerging Third Millennium, ed. Thomas D’Sa (Bangalore: N.B.C.L.C, 2005), pp. 219–221. 131 Mahćparinibbćnasutta, in DĪghanikćya pt II, 3.26.110–113, pp. 126– 128. 132 See The Dćʞhćva¹sa: A History of the Tooth-relic of the Buddha ed. and trans. by B.C. Law (Lahore: Motilal Banarsidass, 1925), which chronicles the vicissitudes of the tooth-relic in its travels from Orissa to Sri Lanka. 133 The History of the Buddha’s Religion (Sćsanava—sa), trans. by B.C. Law, Sacred Books of the Buddhists, vol. 17 (London: Luzac and Co., Ltd., 1952), pp. 69–70. 134 Nikćyasaœgraha, cited by Phra Khantipćlo, Tolerance: A Study from Buddhist Sources (London: Rider and Co., 1964), p. 105. 135 R. A. Stein, Tibetan Civilization, trans. J.E. Stapleton Driver (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1972), pp. 69 and 81. 136 Edward Conze, Buddhism: Its Essence and Development (New York, Harper Torchbooks, 1959), pp. 65–66. 130

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Buddhists rabidly persecuted Shamanism in Mongolia: images and other sacred objects were destroyed and shamans were burnt alive or forced to renounce their faith.137 In the face of these facts, the assertion of Rahula Walpola,138 viz., that Buddhism had never persecuted or caused bloodshed in converting others and propagating its faith, will have to be modified. 2. In Modern Times Coming to modern times, in India there are frequent clashes between Buddhists and Hindus. The renaming of the Marathawada University after Dr. Ambedkar, the posthumous publication of Ambedkar’s controversial Riddles in Hinduism, the case of the writer Bhave being elected as president of the Maharashtra Sahitya Parishad, and incidents like that of placing a garland of slippers on the statue of Dr. Ambedkar in Paithan are some of the burning issues which have sparked virulent criticism, protest marches and even widespread violence. In Sri Lanka a monk assassinated Prime Minister Bandaranaike in 1959; in 1966 monks were involved in a coup d’état attempt; and in 1971 the insurrection erupted. In the ethnic conflicts between the Sinhalese and Tamilians, there have been nation-wide riots and massacres; temples have been destroyed and idols desecrated. In Myanmar monks played a part in the terrible Buddhist-Muslim riots of 1938. In more recent times the military junta in Myanmar is reported to have displayed a violent attitude to Aung San Suu Kyi and to have perpetrated various atrocities on people, such as rape, torture and forced labor. In Cambodia Pol Pot139 and the Khmer Rouge committed extensive genocide. In spite of the Dalai Lama’s plea for nonviolence, Tibetans, including monks, have been reacting violently against the Chinese regime. All The Encyclopedia of Religion, ed. by Mircea Eliade, s.v. “Mongol Religions,” by Walther Heissig, vol. 10, pp. 55–56. 138 What the Buddha Taught, with a Foreword by Paul Demiéville, rev. ed. (New York: Grove Press, 1974), p.5. 139 He stayed in a Buddhist monastery for six years, two of which were spent as a monk. Later, however, he joined the Cambodian Communist Party. 137

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this and more underscores the sad fact that Buddhism in Asia is indeed “a faith in flames”.140 In this context of Buddhist violence, there have been a few sporadic attempts in modern times to justify violence, at least in extreme situations.141 In Sri Lanka, for instance, some justify the slaughter of Tamilians by citing the above-mentioned incident narrated in the Mahćva¹sa in which the Arahants glorified King DuʜʜhagćmaØi’s killing of King Elćra and millions of other Tamilians.142 Sayings of the Buddha such as “O monks, behave for the benefit of the people” have also been used by monks in Sri Lanka to register violent protests.143 One also meets with occasional reference to the “pious” argument that one may kill people out of compassion in order to prevent them from committing more sins.144 In general, however, Buddhism has not developed a systematic doctrinal justification of violence.145 The prevalence of violence in Buddhism has also raised the question of whether one should take an essentialist view of authentic Buddhism and oppose it to the existential situation of violent Buddhism. E.g., in Sri Lanka Jayewardene, who advocated an apolitical stance for monks, was first praised by his followers, but later, many monks and lay people who were members of the Jerrold Schecter, The New Face of Buddha: Buddhism and Political Power in Southeast Asia (London: Victor Gollancz Ltd., 1967), p. xi. 141 Gunapala Dharmasiri, “Buddhism and Marxism in the Sociocultural Context of Sri Lanka,” Dialogue n.s. 12:1–3 (January-December 1985): 65. 142 Deegalle, “Is Violence Justified in Theravćda Buddhism?” pp. 126– 127. 143 Ananda Abeysekara, “The Saffron Army, Violence, Terror(ism): Buddhism, Identity, and Difference in Sri Lanka,” Numen: International Review for the History of Religions 48:1(2001): 29–32. 144 For various such examples of unethical behavior interpreted as acts of compassion (karuØć) and justified as means to a good end, see Dayal, Bodhisattva Doctrine, pp. 207–208; and see also Aloysius Pieris, “Buddhism and Marxism in Dialogue: A Comment on Dr. Dharmasiri’s Paper,” Dialogue n.s. 12:1–3 (January-December 1985): 78–79. 145 Pieris, “Buddhism and Marxism in Dialogue,” p. 78. 140

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violent Janata Vimukti Permuna (JVP) criticized his non-violent policies as anti-Buddhist and called him a traitor for not waging a full scale war on the LTTE. Sometime after Premadasa assumed the office of President of Sri Lanka, he unleashed a large scale attack on the JVP monks and lay people. Portraying his government as Buddhist and the JVP as anti-Buddhist, he released death squads to wipe them out. When Candrika Bandaranaike became President, she depicted the Premadasa government as antiBuddhist! Thus the identification of what was authentic Buddhism and what was not kept changing as the historical events unfolded in Sri Lanka. This is not to say that Buddhism and terrorism are not opposed to each other, but that in the existential realm it is not so easy to label what is authentically Buddhist and what is not because of different perspectives and viewpoints.146 After all, a person who is a terrorist for one group can be a hero or martyr for another group. In Buddhism too, as in all religions, there is doubtless a gap between theory and practice, between the ideal and the existential. Nevertheless Buddhism has not been so belligerent as some other religions. If Buddhism has at times strayed from the path of nonviolence, tolerance and peace, it is due more to socio-economic and political reasons than to its religious character.147 Besides it can draw inspiration from its rich spiritual resources, which can enable it to shun violence and maintain a broad-minded and dialogical attitude towards others.148 Be that as it may, while granting that divergent world-views result in differences with regard to the nature, motivation and expression of nonviolence, Buddhists and others need to hearken to the call of nonviolence, peace and reconciliation so that we can work together to heal a broken world and build bridges of friendship and harmony.

See the whole article of Abeysekara, “The Saffron Army, Violence, Terror(ism).” 147 Sheth, “Buddhism and Communalism,” pp. 63–64. 148 Ibid., pp. 46–60. 146

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BIBLIOGRAPHY Primary Sources

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Queen, Christopher S. and King, Sallie B., eds., Engaged Buddhism: Buddhist Liberation Movements in Asia. Albany, New York: State University of New York Press, 1966. Schecter, Jerrold. The New Face of Buddha: Buddhism and Political Power in Southeast Asia. London: Victor Gollancz Ltd., 1967. Sheth, Noel. “The Buddha’s Attitude to Caste.” Negations 1:4 (October-December 1982): 23–26. Sheth, Noel, S.J. “Buddhism and Communalism”. Religion and Society 35:4 (December 1988): 44–66. Sheth, Noel, S.J. “The Buddhist Understanding of Forgiveness and Reconciliation.” Jnanadeepa: Pune Journal of Religious Studies 6:2 (July 2003): 92–95. Sheth, Noel, S.J., “Freedom from Fundamentalism in Buddhism.” In The Church in India in the Emerging Third Millennium. Edited by Thomas D’Sa. Bangalore: N.B.C.L.C, 2005, pp. 210–227. Sheth, Noel, S.J. “Christian and Buddhist Altruistic Love.” Gregorianum 87:4 (2006): 820–824. Shriver, Jr., Donald W. An Ethic for Enemies: Forgiveness in Politics. New York: Oxford University Press, paperback, 1997. Shriver, Jr. Donald W. “Forgiveness: A Bridge across Abysses of Revenge.” In Forgiveness and Reconciliation: Religion, Public Policy, and Conflict Transformation. Edited by Raymond G. Helmick, S.J. and Rodney L. Peterson. Foreword by Desmond M. Tutu. Radnor, Pennsylvania: Templeton Foundation Press, paperback, 2002, pp. 151–167. Singh, Heidi. “Forging a Kind Heart in an Age of Alienation”. In Buddhism through American Women’s Eyes, Edited by Karma Lekshe Tsomo. Ithaca, New York: Snow Lion Publications, 1995, pp. 15–24. Stein, R. A. Tibetan Civilization. Translated by J.E. Stapleton Driver. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1972. Tähtinen, Unto. Ahi—sć: Nonviolence in Indian Tradition. London: Rider and Co., 1976. Thomas, Edward J. The Life of the Buddha as Legend and History. London: Kegan Paul, Trench, Trubner and Co., 1927. Toynbee, Arnold, J. Change and Habit: The Challenge of Our Time. London: Oxford University Press, 1966. Walpola, Rahula. What the Buddha Taught. Foreword by Paul Demiéville; revised ed., New York: Grove Press, 1974.

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Worthington, Jr., Everett, L. “Unforgiveness, Forgiveness, and Reconciliation and Their Implication for Societal Interventions.” In Forgiveness and Reconciliation: Religion, Public Policy, and Conflict Transformation. Edited by Raymond G. Helmick, S.J. and Rodney L. Peterson. Foreword by Desmond M. Tutu. Radnor, Pennsylvania: Templeton Foundation Press, paperback, 2002, pp. 171–192.

CHAPTER 4 CONFLICT RESOLUTION AND PEACE: THE ETHICAL PARADIGM IN JESUS’ TEACHING AND LIFE KARIKKOTTUCHIRA K. KURIAKOSE INTRODUCTION We are a divided world, torn by factionalism, civil strife and deep national, political, ethnic, cultural, and ideological separations. Human beings huddle together as sub-humans in terrifying fear, rather than in love and mutual trust. According to Christian theology, God incarnated in human nature in Christ, has not only taught us but has also shown us the life and the way of God. Jesus taught that human relationships are to be based on love and asked us to “love your neighbors as yourself.” In addition, Jesus recommended conflict resolution and it underscores the development of healthy and strong relationships. Whenever one feels the onset of conflict the best thing is to establish peace with our fellow human beings as quickly as possible. He gave a mandate to maintain discipleship, as well as how to behave with enemies. Even if your brother is at fault in your judgment you need to take the initiative to reconcile with him. Further, Jesus held that reconciliation and the maintenance of a right relationship with fellow human beings is a pre-requisite to offer sacrifice. Jesus claimed “So if you are offering your gift at the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar and go; first be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift” (Mathew 5:23–25).

Jesus emphasized the significance of inward purity. The man with a grudge is not qualified to participate in worship nor free to 93

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offer a gift before the altar while harboring enmity toward a human being. This is a depreciation of worship, rather than an exaltation of worship. “For God sees the inmost motive, and must be worshiped in truth-worship being the growing act of life; and a heart harried by grudges cannot offer any wholeness of adoration”(Buttrick, p. 296). The existence and development of a peaceful community depends on practicing the love of God, resolving conflicts and fulfilling our responsibilities to others where reconciliation and peace underscores the bottom line of our relationships. In this chapter, first, I delineate concepts such as conflicts and divisions in creation as reflected in different Bible contexts. Secondly, I attempt an expository inquiry of Jesus’ ethical teachings and on the love of enemy. Thirdly I inquire on the significance of reconciliation and peace in Christian discipleship.

I. CONFLICTS, DIVISIONS, AND POLARIZATION IN RELATIONSHIPS The problem of conflicts and divisions impart human habits. Conflicts and divisions rein creation and damage human relationships. Darkness and ignorance deteriorate personal relationship as a catalyst, and that ekes hate, anger, cruelty and killing. In this section, conflicts in three areas of creation are discussed: first, the conflict of light and darkness-the two symbols of conflicting entities (Daniel 2: 20–30, Luke 11: 33–36) that rule over creation. Secondly, the problem of “sin and fallen nature” limits not only in human boundaries, but in the plant and animal kingdom as well. For instance, the proud attitude of trees in the Book of Judges reveals this fact (Judges 9: 1–21). Third is an overview of the conflict and division developed in the family of Jacob the patriarch; the episode ends in dramatic scenes and teaches the lesson that “Love hates violence” (Genesis 37: 5–28). (A) Conflict of Light and Darkness Light is the most adequate manifestation of divine operation. Without light the universe is in darkness and chaos. Through light God uncovers darkness (Job 12:22). However, darkness tries to overcome the light (John 1:5). Since light is the manifestation of God’s nature, darkness also indicates ignorance of God’s saving

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and demanding will, and thus it is the sphere, or rather the source, of sin and iniquity (Job 18:5, Romans 13:12). The activities of light and darkness entail conflict. In this conflict, light excels darkness and proves its superior value (Ecclesiastes 2:13). Moreover, light is a fundamental characteristic (quality) of God: God is lightaccording to Prophet Daniel it is a mystery. A supreme ability of light is it to know what is in darkness: He (God) changes times and seasons, he removes kings and sets up kings; he gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to those who have understanding; he reveals deep and mysterious things; he knows what is in the darkness, and the light dwells with him (Daniel 2: 20–23).

Jesus proclaimed ‘I am the Light of the World’ (John 8:12). The divine nature of Jesus Christ is life-giving power, illuminating everything in the universe. He brought the glory of God to mankind so that it might accept the light and live eternally. Jesus said whoever follows Him does not walk in darkness because He is the light of the world. However, humans fail to keep this light in their life. Human selfishness and desire for the things of this world remove us from the light. Instead of love, human selfishness encourages us to hate. People fall prey to the selfishness and desire for worldly things and ultimately walk in darkness. However, we can bring light to a dark place. The absence of light is the cause for darkness. When we bring light to a place, suddenly the darkness disappears. According to John, ‘God is light and in him there is no darkness’ (1 John 1:5). If we love others, we are in the light. In the same way, if we hate others then we are in darkness. Jesus provides light and life which becomes the basis for the reconciliation and restoration of broken relationships. Conflicts of light and darkness are experienced as loving others is light while hating others is darkness. The power of light heals conflicts caused by darkness. (B) Conflicts in Nature: The Plant Kingdom Then all the trees said to the bramble, ‘Come you, and reign over us.’ And the bramble said to the trees, “If in good faith you are anointing me king over you, them come and take refuge in my shade; but if not, let fire come out of the bramble and devour the cedars of Lebanon (Judges 9: 14–15).

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Jotham’s story of trees in the book of Judges indicates that conflicts and divisions are not only characteristic of human nature. The story exemplifies that differences and conflicts are everywhere in creation, and selfishness make the conflict worse. This is true among plants, animals, or any living species. The narrator demonstrates that each tree is significant because of the richness of its unique product. However, all of them were selfish and proud and denied the offer of kingship. They neither respected others nor were willing to serve in the harmonious development of their kingdom. The attitudes of the olive, vine, and fig tree have given the bush a chance to rule over them and cause fire in the whole land. The story is a good grounding in the contemporary attempts that address the misuse and abuse of the environment and animals. As the crown of creation, human beings are to nature and along with the animal and plant kingdom co-operate with the creator to maintain peace and harmony. Ego ensconces selfishness that damage community consciousness and the well-being of living creatures. Furthermore, the story teaches the importance of humility and co-operation in community existence and progress. The story of the plants reveals that ego, selfishness, fight and division create not only unpleasant situation but damage relationship and destroys everything (fire burns everything like an atom bomb); in addition, the story highlights the necessity of ethical virtues for peaceful co-existence of human beings. Human beings are called to be the protectors of nature, and not the destroyers. The burning bush’s character is to burn everything that it can reach. There are people who are willing to destroy everything to fulfill their selfish motives. They are evil people and do not belongs to God. For “He who does good is of God; he who does evil has not seen God” (3 John v.11). Virtues such as humility and co-operation are absent in plants; instead they are identified with selfishness and pride. The virtue of humility springs from goodness; in addition, humility is the foundation for building a peaceful world; while co-operation and respecting each one’s dignity compliments the endurance of peace and concord in a community.

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(C) Conflicts in Family: Jealous and the Challenge of Love (Genesis 37: 3–36) They (brothers) saw him (Joseph) far off, and before he came near to them they conspired against him to kill him. They said one another, “Here comes this dreamer. Come now, let us kill him and throw him into one of the pits; then we shall say that a wild beast has devoured him, and we shall see what will become of his dreams.” But when Reuben heard it, he delivered him out of their hands, saying, “Let us not take his life.” And Reuben said to them, “Shed no blood; cast him into this pit here in the wilderness, but lay no hand upon him” that he might rescue him out of their hand, to restore him to his father (Genesis 37: 18–22).

The quarrels among the brothers in Jacob’s family began with the dreams of Joseph. When Joseph shared his dream where all his brothers were seen as worshipping him, the brothers were irritated and angry toward Joseph; killing Joseph was the best way to avoid him. However, Reuben, a brother who loved him, came forward to protect Joseph from the brothers’ trap. He planned to save Joseph from his other brothers’ crookedness. Reuben put forward a new suggestion, where instead of killing Joseph, he would just be thrown in a pit. Reuben thought Joseph could be saved from that pit and escape to their father. Instead of killing Joseph, they cast him into a pit. Then Judah, another brother, recommended selling him to foreign traders. Both brothers pleaded against taking the life of their brother. They asked, “What benefit do we earn if we shed blood or slay our brother?” They sold Joseph to the Ishmaelites who brought him to Egypt. In Egypt Joseph proved himself as the wisest man in the land. Joseph was appointed as Pharaoh’s minister to manage his household and administer all the people in his land (Genesis 41: 40). In the following years there was severe famine across the lands; Jacob sent his sons to buy food from Egypt as he heard there was food available there. Joseph supervised the food sale in Egypt and their journey for food brought them to his presence. As a surprise Joseph revealed himself to his brothers. “Then he fell upon his brother Benjamin’s neck and wept; and Benjamin wept upon his neck. And he kissed all his brothers and wept upon them; and afterward his brothers talked with him”(Genesis 45:14–15). While some brothers’ jealousy damaged brotherly relationship,

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some other brother’s love re-established peace and reconciliation in Jacob’s family. The answer to the question “where is your brother,” and “love your neighbor as yourselves,” is the challenge to mankind to work for peace and reconciliation. As stated in the Wisdom teachings, “If your enemy is hungry, give him bread to eat; and if he is thirsty, give him water to drink; for you will heap coals of fire on his head, and the Lord will reward you”(Proverbs, 25: 21–22). Joseph loved and cared for his brothers. Joseph never took revenge and his behavior to his brothers proved that he loved them dearly. His love stirred repentance in his brothers and restored their relationship. It marked an unparalleled episode in human history of violence, reconciliation and restoration. (D) Division and Collapse of a Kingdom If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. And if a house is divided against itself, that house will not be able to stand, And if Satan has risen up against himself and is divided, he cannot stand, but is coming to an end (Mark 3:24–26).

The world may think human beings can accomplish good ends by evil means; but history proves it is impossible. Good ends cannot be achieved by evil means, nor can peace be established by violence or war. When Jesus cast out demons, the scribes accused him of being possessed by demons; and they accused that Jesus performs miracles by the power of devil—Be-el’zebub the prince of demons. Jesus criticized their conflicting comments. Jesus called the scribes to him and he spoke to them in parables. He first asked, “How can Satan cast out Satan? Then He said to them, if a kingdom is divided, that kingdom will collapse. In the same way, if it is a house that divides itself, that house will fall apart. Jesus added: Satan’s position is not better if he rises against himself that is his end too. Parables teach about the conflict of good and evil in the world: division is evil, evidently two places- a house or a nationdivision cause to achieve its purpose (1) Jesus tells a proverbial fact that it is evil that brings division, however Jesus teaches that evil can be overcome by goodness. In addition, it becomes a moral responsibility in Christian discipleship to live in goodness and to stand for unity.

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The divine nature is goodness (Psalms 23:6). God is essentially good: Jesus declared, “Only God is truly good” (Luke 18:19). The creator of this universe is perfect in goodness: “Every good endowment and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change” (James 1:17). This goodness and unfailing love of God inspires a follower of Jesus to build a peaceful kingdom. (2) Jesus contended that unity is strength. Even Satan is too astute to allow division among his own demons; instead, Satan uses division to harm his enemies: who love God and do what is good. For the growth and strength of a kingdom, unity is essential. Unity is a blessing and it brings a fruitful life. Virtues such as love and cooperation and unity support in the development of strong human relationships while ego, selfishness and jealousy deteriorate human understanding. Anger and revenge ends with division and fights in communities. In addition, it is noteworthy that habits such as jealousy and selfishness, fighting and competition display overtly and covertly in creation.

II. IS RELIGION A ROOT CAUSE OF VIOLENCE OR DOES RELIGION ENDORSE VIOLENCE? For many people, religion is a convenient arena to express their emotion particularly anger. Some others retaliate to wipe out their opponents from the surface of the earth. Ethnicity, nationalism, or prejudice to others leads to conflict. Ironically, some link violence to religious roots. A constant or steady growth of violence in the name of religion, strengthen the argument that religions have a dynamic relationship to violence. It is not a surprise that people pose the question: Is religion an obstacle to global peace? People who justify war seek scriptural references to establish their position. Some argue Jihad is applicable in all situations on the basis of Quran: For, Muhammad fought to vanquish quarreling tribes (8:6); and the verses like “fight with those who fight you, but aggress not” (2:190). Also Ummah grants permission to “slay the idolaters where you find them” (9:5). However, many Islamic scholars do not agree with the argument that there is an unrestricted jihad. For instance, Said Aziz Abdul comments {there is} “no license in Islam for any war (indeed for any human enterprise) that falls outside the bounds of the divine

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commandments and prophetic practice” (Said, p. 229). In Hinduism, the waging of war is with little different connotation: it is dharma (moral responsibility) for a Hindu to engage in war. According to the traditional Indian caste system, society is divided into four major castes: Brahmins, Ksatriyas, Vaisyas and Sudras; while Ksatriyas, the second group in the caste hierarchy, were exempted from ahimsa, nonviolence-for Ksatriyas it is their duty to wage war (Young, an article on Nonviolence and Peace in Hinduism, in the book “Religion, Terrorism, and Globalization, Nonviolence a New Agenda, p. 85, edited by K. K. Kuriakose). According to the Bhagavad Gita, the famous Hindu epic- war is to remove injustice and evil forces, and to purify the world. It is dharma, for a citizen, to protect the country from enemies. In the Kurushetra War, Lord Krishna advised Arjuna to engage war when he hesitated to fight because Arjuna had to face it with his kinsmen in the battlefield. For, Krishna said, in the war only body can be destroyed, but the soul is immortal. Sri Shankaracharya, the enlightened Hindu philosopher on commenting Bhagavad Gita holds, “that a yogi should be nonviolent towards others and should identify the self of all beings with his own” (Christopher, p. 74). Sri Sankaracharya found nonviolence as supreme in Hindu ethics, while in the Chandogya Upanishad places nonviolence in the list of supreme religious virtues: truthfulness, non-violence, austerity, straight forwardness, and charity. In biblical tradition the story is different: On the basis of the Old Testament, some interpreters justify violence in the Christian tradition. They find support to violence on the bases of a certain story or verse in the bible. There are violent incidents in the bible because of jealousy, anger, and aggression. Ironically, in the Bible, violent behavior started with a religious act, and that was related to a sacrifice (Genesis 4:1–5). The jealousy that developed in Cain toward his younger brother burst out. Older brother, Cain, a farmer, and his brother Abel, a shepherd, went to offer their sacrifices. But God accepted only Abel’s offering; that made Cain jealous of his brother. Cain believed that all the prosperity of Abel was due to his offering (the best of his flock). Instead of obeying God and rising to the challenge, Cain was overcome with rage and killed his brother. The sin of jealousy resulted in a violent act. Cain became a curse on humanity, a restless being who would live out his days as a fugitive and wanderer on the earth.

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Even though there is evidence of violence in the Old Testament teachings and practices, the New Testament fully witnessed a nonviolent message. Jesus Christ in his teachings evidently conveys the message of peace and nonviolence; moreover, the Cross fully articulated the concept of forgiveness and love for one’s enemy. This revolutionary approach of Jesus challenges his followers for the development of a renewed human relationship. This will inform our discussion.

III. JESUS ETHICAL TEACHINGS ON ANGER, INTOLERANCE AND KILLING Jesus gave a blueprint to his disciples about human interaction. He criticized people’s behavior in social life and spelled out the importance of virtuous behavior. For instance, Jesus told to them when someone invites you for a feast if you select the best seat, but there may be someone invited more important than you. You would be embarrassed if the host come and asked you to sit in the lowest place. Instead, if you first sit in lowest place, the host would give you a better place: you then would be honored in the presence of all the guests. “For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted” (Luke 14:11). In addition, Jesus referred to Mosaic laws and he recognized them as a mandate in social practices; in addition, Jesus revised them and established new ethics. Jesus made radical changes and defined a new value system to address human misbehavior. Harsh words, insulting behavior and violent interactions creates unpleasant situation and weaken relationships. Anger is a very common emotion, as are envy, jealousy, fury, frustration, annoyance, and contempt. The heart is the seat of emotions and the mind is the seat of thought. Aristotle classified angry humans into two categories: “those who are not angry at the things they should be angry at” and “those who are not angry in the right way at the right time or with the right person” (SmithColman, page 241). Anger behavior not only damages human relations, but when it turns to retaliation, it endangers life itself. Anger and intolerance accelerate human violence and sometimes ends in murder. According to the Mosaic Commandments, murder is a serious sin (Exodus 20:13). Jesus condemned not only murder but also anger (Matthew 5:22). He warned murderers that they would have

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to face divine judgment. Moreover, Jesus said whoever becomes angry with his fellow human beings would have the same punishment as that of a murderer. Every person must respect each other as all human beings have equal dignity. Anger not only hinders healthy human relationships, but also hinders the work of God’s righteousness (Ephesians 5:6). Also, Apostle Paul, informs that anger originates in the flesh, “the old nature” (Galatians 5:20). He spells out, repeatedly, anger in his list of sins (Ephesians 4:31, Colossians 3:8, Titus 1:7). Christian ethics contends that the new human nature clearly discredit anger against a fellow-human being.

IV. MERCY AND FORGIVENESS: TWO ESTEEMED VIRTUES IN THE KINGDOM OF GOD The early church addressed multifarious situations while it contrasted with the pagan virtues. For instance, although Stoics, Cynics and Christians grounded an elevated conception of virtues, to Stoics and Cynics virtues were based on universal reason while Christians emphasized universal love. Furthermore, instead of wisdom Christianity held faith and childlike willingness to learn. Christ exalted the trust of the children and he opened to such innocence an undisturbed communication with him (Matthew 19:14). Jesus promoted a way of life rather than inclining to lay on firmness and strength of mind, the self-reliant independence of wisdom and knowledge such as was held by Stoics and Cynics. Edwin Mitchell in his study on virtues spells out the significant role of courage in peacemaking. He compares Christian virtues with the virtues of Plato Stoics, and Cynics. For Plato courage was a high-spirited love of honor while for Stoics it was fortitude; while Plato as well as Stoics considered it as a cardinal virtue. Mitchell defines the role of virtues: “There is a sort of Christian fortitude, but the emphasis is not on high–spirited courage but on peacemaking” (Mitchell, p. 426). Jesus gave a new meaning in peace building, not only identified them as “the Blessed group,” but recognized them as “Children of God” (Matthew 5: 9). Christ asked his followers to accept the principle of good against evil, contrary to high-spirited resentment to the offender. “This principle goes beyond non-resistance and demands the overcoming of evil with good” (Mitchell, p. 426). Overcome evil with the power of good would pave the way to grow and strengthen a good

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potential fellowship. At this point, faith in God and courage permeates a follower toward nonviolence actions. Jesus taught that the virtues of mercy and forgiveness, not justice, were the core virtues. Forgiveness literally means to pardon and show mercy, while to forgive requires the virtues of love and concern for others along with the ability to be patient. Nonretaliation is an essential principle in Jesus love. Jesus not only commanded the law of love- but that it also has to be applied with forgiveness. Jesus taught his disciples to forgive others when they come for pardon. In a dialogue with Jesus, Peter asked about forgiveness: “Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? As many as seven times?” Jesus said to him, “I do not say to you seven times, but seventy times seven” (Mathew 18:21–22).

A person who endures in love and patience will grow until he or she has the ability to forgive endlessly, even more than seven or seventy times (Matthew 18: 21–22). The Christian gospel demonstrates that faith is the key to one who would like to follow and that pave the way to develop the attributes of patience and forgiveness. When Jesus taught how to pray he included: “And forgive us our debts; As we also have forgiven our debtors;” a qualification of a believer to pray to the heavenly father in order that that, “Thy kingdom come” (Matthew 6: 12, 10). Furthermore, Paul spells out the tolerance of Jesus as the model of one who has undergone long-suffering and was not subject to outbursts of anger or rage. Jesus bore the weakness of humanity. He accepted the Cross instead of retaliating against his enemies (John 18:11); without retaliation he suffered. Hence, Paul wrote to the Colossians to bear the fruit of patience and persistence, and to accept and imitate the spirit of the Lord who humbled himself, thereby laying the foundation of a non-violent community (Colossians 3:1–15). Forgiveness makes a hopeful future possible for it brings renewal to all relationships. When God forgives us, we renew our relationship with God. In the same way, when we forgive others our relationships are renewed. By our ability to forgive, not only will relationships with other persons develop, but we also gain the experiences that those relationships will foster. Jesus told the parable of the prodigal son to illustrate forgiveness (Luke 15:

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11–24). The son returned to the father and confessed his life, and the father accepted him with great joy. The reconciliation initiated by the father brought peace and concord in the family. Without forgiveness and reconciliation it is neither possible to maintain nor to develop human relationships. Human unity and progress depend on our ability to forgive. The ability to accept or adjust to the behavior of others who are different is necessary in the development of a peaceful community. When this ability of compromise is lost, people usually become agitated or violent. Without our willingness to forgive, we cannot build up the skill of patience. A non-violent society will be based on love that exhibits the virtues of patience and kindness which characterize forgiveness. The ability to forgive is fundamental in reconciliation, and it produces healthy human relationships and for the development of radical communities; not only in the social dimension but also in political community experience too. Forgiveness is a powerful force that can bring radical changes in human endeavor. As Archbishop Desmond Tutu comments, “with out forgiveness there is no future” for individuals or communities. In addition, forgiveness is a good source to unite people. It is very effective in politics as well as in social relations, “The world is on the brink of disaster if we don’t forgive, accept forgiveness, and reconciliation”(Enrich and Joanna, p. 1). The forgiving approach to enemies opens the door for individuals to begin again, and to develop communities. Unity or reconciliation is impossible without love and humility. But many people express their inability to forgive. It is only through forgiveness and reconciliation that the members of a family or community enjoy the fullness of restoration.

V. NONVIOLENCE, PEACE AND JUSTICE Violence is not a mere modern phenomenon but is as old as human history. There are people who adopt violence to accomplish their goals. Professionals understand this problem from different points of view: Psychologists connect violence to neuroses, economists try to find the root cause in the unequal distribution of wealth and services, and religions categorize such behaviors in relation to human on going spiritual struggle with the passions or define as jihad.

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(1) Not Peace, but Sword There are people who argue that violence is acceptable to Christianity. They base their arguments on Jesus some sayings such as, “Do not think that I have come to bring peace on earth; I have not come to bring peace, but a sword” (Mathew 10:34). Some passages in the bible (New Testament) lead many people to this hermeneutical problem and therefore to advocate Jesus as violence. An interpreter of the bible however cannot ignore the fact that some of the sayings of Jesus had prophetic ingredients too. First, to Jesus, the kingdom of God was the ultimate reality. Jesus warned followers that if they accept him, there is the possibility of division within family or society. When one accepts the gospel of Jesus, it brings conflicts to the relationships of family and community if they are not following the same faith. Secondly, Jesus changed the Law of the Old, “An eye for an eye and tooth for a tooth” was the Old Law; but Jesus replaced it with the New Law: “I say to you, do not resist one who is evil, But if any one strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also” (Matthew 5:38–39). Many Christian non-pacifists take the Old Law, and ignore the New Law of Jesus. Thirdly, it is obvious that Jesus not destines to any physical war at the advent of kingdom: but it can instill tension that may go along with the advent of the kingdom. For instance, the Christian tension recalls the risk of conversion, as in early Christianity, in the Roman Empire. The conversion that had taken place, in the early Christian era irritated the Roman Empire and that invited persecution and death to numerous Christians. This ancient experience can be repeated anytime in history especially in countries where there is a religious minority. Minority rights are not safeguarded even in modern democratic countries; at this connotation, the advance of Jesus is not peace, but sword. (2) “Peace” and “Justice of God” Jesus gave a radical meaning to both Peace and Justice: The peace of Jesus is different to what the world gives. Jesus also defined justice with new meaning different from what the world used. Jesus proclaimed, “Peace I leave with you, my peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you” (John 14: 27). Peace that Jesus imparts to a believer is different. It is not the type that emperors

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guarantee. It is basically spiritual and psychological; not as a political leadership guarantee to its citizens. The peace that Jesus gives is sufficient both the times of political unrest or not.

The Parable of the Vineyard (Matthew 20:1–17) The parable of the vineyard gives a glimpse of God’s justice that is different to what humans count: The parable conveys an unusual principle. And when evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his steward, ‘Call the laborers and pay them their wages, beginning with the last, up to the first.’ And when those hired about the eleventh hour came, each of them received a denarius. Now when the first came, they thought they would receive more; but each of them also received a denarius. And on receiving it they grumbled at the householder, saying, ‘These last worked only one hour, and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the day and the scorching heat (Matthew 20:8–12).

The master of the vineyard hired workers different time of the day: some workers in the morning, some at the ninth hour while some others as late as the eleventh hour. Amazingly, in the evening, the master paid the workers wages equally, starting from those who hired in the eleventh hour to those who were hired first in the morning. The master treated the late comers as “who endured the anxiety and distress of waiting in the sun needed the money as much as those who had a job. This parable, said John Burns, the English labor leader, was the most humane teaching in the New Testament” (Mitchell, p. 425). The master acts with a communistic principle, the community leader behaves with the principle of the common good, understanding the needs of all—and sharing resources according to each one’s needs. The parable teaches the justice of God. God the Father reveals love, along with justice, to suffering creators. (3) Jesus Rebuke of Violence and Discipleship Jesus and his disciples were not welcomed in all places or by all people. Jesus was not a mere preacher; but he addressed conflicts and pell-mell situations with a nonviolent strategy. For instance, an incident that proved Jesus as a pacifist was the Samarian villagers; this happened at his transit to the village of Samaria on his way to Jerusalem. Jesus wanted to spend some time with the Samaritans,

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for Jesus sent messengers to the village prepare for his visit. But the Samaritans refused Jesus’ visit because of their enmity toward the Jews, for Jesus was a Jew and his association was with them. When the day drew near for him to be received up, he set his face to go to Jerusalem. And he sent messengers ahead of him who went and entered a village of the Samaritans, to make ready for him; but the people would not receive him, because his face was set toward Jerusalem. And when his disciples James and John saw it, they said, “Lord do you want us to bid fire come down from heaven and consume them? But he turned and rebuked them (Luke 9: 51–55).

The origin of the conflict between Samaritans and Jews was unknown; however their split, historically, was mentioned since the 7th century B.C. The Samaritans’ religion was syncretism, and they were half-worshippers of Yahweh. For Samaritans Mount Gerizim was more important as a Holy place than Jerusalem. The Samaritans recognized Jesus as a significant teacher or prophet; they would like to learn from him. However, the Samaritans realized that Jesus did not recognize Gerizim as a holy mountain (Luke 9:51, John 4:22). Jesus decision was only to visit the Samaritan village and extend the good news of the kingdom of God, while he discards their holy mountain disappointed them; they charged him as an anti-Samaritan; and they rejected Jesus’ visit. Hearing their opposition, James and John, two of the disciples, wanted to destroy the inhospitable Samaritans. These disciples thought they could persuade Jesus to follow the path of Elijah the prophet, who killed his opponents with fire from heaven that consumed them (2 Kings 1:10–12). But Jesus rebuked their revenging character. His mission was never an act of warfare. He taught them the significant quality of tolerance in discipleship. Further, Jesus explained to them that the “son of man” did not come to destroy any lives, but to save them (Luke 9:55). Jesus response to his disciples made it clear that Jesus favored forgiveness and love, but not of revenge or hot-tempered behavior. Further, the gospel of Jesus shall be carried out with a passion; hate or revenge is foreign to Jesus’ gospel. Love, reconciliation, concord and forgiveness are signs of God’s kingdom. One can also understand that this historic witness in Jesus ministry along with

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the disciples has identified nonviolence as an ethic (essential) in Christian discipleship (4) The Gethsemane Paradigm of Nonviolence Love, non-retaliation, and forgiveness are the three essential factors in Jesus’ ethics in Christian peace building. To push the question further: “Is violence allowed for self-defense?” In Gethsemane Jesus proved that there is no violence granted even for selfdefense; it means no vengeance in the name of self-defense. Instead, Jesus taught “love your enemies and pray for those who you persecute you” (Matthew 5: 44). Jesus made his teachings practical in his passion. Jesus ethical teaching took a face-to face experience in Gethsemane episode. So Judas, procuring a band of soldiers and some officers from the chief priests and the Pharisees, went there with lanterns and torches and weapons. Then Jesus, knowing all that was to befall him, came forward and said to them, “Whom do you seek?” They answered him, “Jesus of Nazareth.” Jesus said to them, “I am he.” Judas, who betrayed him, was standing with them. When he said to them, “I am he,” they drew back and fell to the ground. Again he asked them “Whom do you seek?” And they said, “Jesus of Nazareth.” Jesus answered, I told you that I am he; so, if you seek me, let these men go.” This was to fulfill the word which he had spoken, “Of those whom thou gavest me I lost not one.” Then Simon Peter, having a sword, drew it and struck the high priest’s slave and cut off his right ear. The slave’s name was Malchus. Jesus said to Peter, “Put your sword into its sheath; shall I not drink the cup which the Father has given me?” (John 18:3–11).

Jesus accepted a radical approach to address his enemies who followed to trap him. A crowd, headed with Judas his disciple, along with a band of soldiers, officers from the chief priests, and the Pharisees arrived at the Gethsemane with torches, lanterns and weapons. Their aim was to arrest Jesus. Contrary to permitting disciples a violent responds, in the garden, Jesus asked disciples to disperse from there, thus Jesus determined to protect them from enemy attack. On the other hand, Peter Jesus’ chief disciple took his sword and cut the ear of Malchus, the servant of the high priest, but Jesus rebuked him. Jesus commanded to Peter “Put your sword into its sheath” (John 18:11). In the devastating situation in the garden—instead of, seeking violent response to his enemies Jesus

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accepted the Cross, this has become the negotiating principle—the foundation of Christian pacifism. Jesus does not approve violence in any situation, even for selfdefense. If for any reason Jesus advocated violence, Jesus never asks Peter to put back the sword into the sheath. Jesus does not want to destroy enemy even for self-defense, on the contrary Jesus wants to save his enemy. Jesus accepts the Cross to fulfill his mission. In Gethsemane, in the most heart-breaking situation, Jesus circumscribed “the way of the Cross.” Jesus revealed that the forgiveness and mercifulness of God are two distinguishing divine natures, and these principles Jesus established in His passion, and the Crucifixion was its climax. Jesus prayed for the crucifiers, on the Cross: “Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do” (Luke 23:34). Paul in the letter to Philippians spelled out what Jesus did: “He took the humble position of a slave and appeared in human form, and in human form he obediently humbled himself even further by dying a criminal’s death on a cross” (2:7–8). Jesus chose the Cross as the remedy for world problems where he humbled himself to obtain this goal. Because of humility, the heavenly father exalted the name of Jesus above all in heaven and on earth.

V. RECONCILIATION, PEACE AND CHRISTIAN DISCIPLESHIP (1) Cross and discipleship As they were going along the road, a man said to him, “I will follow you wherever you go.” And Jesus said to him, “Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of man has nowhere to lay his head.” To another he said, “Follow me.” But he said, “Lord, let me first go and bury my father,” But he said to him, “Leave the dead to bury their own dead; but as for you, go and proclaim the kingdom of God.” Another said, “I will follow you, Lord; but let me first say farewell to those at my home.” Jesus said to him, “No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God” (Luke 9: 57–62). This gospel narration explains the character of three persons who were challenged by the idea of the kingdom of God. As they lacked full-commitment to the kingdom, all three were rejected, or

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declined to be a Jesus’ disciple. They lacked the willingness to give self-denying devotion to the kingdom of God. These three instances highlight the meaning of the demand for self-denial. All three people considered becoming disciples of Jesus: while two volunteered, one was invited to follow. Evidently, none of them came to Jesus with a full commitment to the kingdom of God. Jesus made it clear to them that without a wholehearted love of God, no one could take up the cross. Neither of the three gave absolute priority to God and his kingdom, nor whole-hearted commitment to Jesus’ call. On the contrary, worldly comfort and human ties were more appealing to them than the love of God. One of the greatest demands which a religious leader ever placed on followers is Jesus’ instruction “If any man would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me” (Mark 8:34). Taking up the cross implies accepting a heavy burden out of love for Christ and keep it as the central ethic of discipleship. In maintaining peace with neighbors, as well as with God, self-denial needs to spring from a whole-hearted commitment to God. Furthermore, self-denial opens the way for reconciliation both to Jesus and to one’s neighbor. George Bernard Shaw makes a remark in Saint Joan, “If we love God there is danger, the danger of a cross, the danger that life will be upset, that it will be loaded with the burdens of others, that it will be thrown into deadly combat with strong powers of evil. But it is the bright dangers that illuminate with a divine light” (cited in Interpreters Bible, (1951), Volume V11, Page, 771). (2) Philemon (v. 1–20) as a Model of Reconciliation and peace Repentance and forgiveness renews a follower of Jesus and that to a radical life experience. Human repentance paves the way to reconcile not only with God, but also with fellow human beings. Paul in his letter to Philemon evidences the principle that all Christians have received forgiveness from God; acceptance of Jesus’ Lordship also connotes that forgiveness toward others should characterize a life experience in Jesus (Luke 24:47). Paul accepted this principle in writing his letter to Philemon: So if you consider me your partner, receive him (Onesimus) as you would receive me. If he has wronged you at all, or owes you anything, charge that

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to my account. I, Paul write this with my own hand, I will repay it- to say nothing of your owing me even your own self. Yes, brother, I want some benefit from you in the Lord. Refresh my heart in Christ (Verses 17–20).

Evidently, the epistle to Philemon is a plea for acceptance, reconciliation and peace. In the letter Paul makes a request to Philemon for a run away slave, Onesimus. Paul asks Philemon to accept him not as slave but more than a slave, as a beloved brother. Paul makes an appeal to Philemon to forgive Onesimus if he had wronged him at all. Furthermore, Paul asks Philemon to charge anything that Onesimus owes to Paul’s account. Obviously, the letter makes clear the fact that, if Philemon accepts Onesimus Paul’s heart would be renewed (verses 7, 20). The act of forgiveness and reconciliation brings refreshed hearts to fellow Christians, and that truly pleases God. Thus, Paul found that the reconciliation of Philemon and Onesimus was a key experience in their joint ministry of the Lord. Paul sincerely desires a genuine experience of the Christian message (forgiveness and reconciliation) between his two disciples; which Paul believes is a real refreshing of his heart. In the Eucharistic liturgy, there is an act called the “Kiss of Peace” as practiced in some denominations like the Roman Catholics and Orthodox Christians. This is a time to reconcile with others and to forget their disgraced behavior of the past, whoever attends the Divine Liturgy and to inspire anyone who has a conflict or enmity with his neighbor to reconcile. This act is to practice Jesus’ words “first be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift.” If there is any enmity or disagreement between two persons, that should be resolved by forgiving and accepting each other as one in Christ. Thus, the believers worship the Lord in reconciliation and unity, and they accept each other as brothers and sisters; while renewing their hearts. Reconciliation and peace is the foundation of Christian ethics and nonviolence springs from the unique message of the Cross: Nonviolence and peace should be paramount objectives in discipleship; however, without the virtue of courage it is impossible to launch to this arena. Gandhi contented, “Nonviolence is a weapon of the strong and is respected only when employed by them;”

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in addition, he recognized the significance of forgiveness, for him, “this is the glory of the brave” (Gandhi, Vol. 22, p. 231). A renewed person, in Christian discipleship, transforms the enemy concept and world views. The message of repentance, reconciliation and peace challenges there before the global communities. In the Reformation, the critical question challenged a believer, “How can find a gracious God?” Professor Paul Keim revises the question and asks sharply in the modern context of conflict and fight: “How can I find God in my enemy?”(Paul Keim: article on Foundations of Christian Nonviolence, in the book “Religion, Terrorism, and Globalization, Nonviolence a New Agenda, p. 179, edited by K. K. Kuriakose).

CONCLUSION Human prayers and offerings to God become meaningful (acceptable) only in the context of reconciliation and concord: reconciliation and peace between human beings is an important offering to God. The teachings of the Sermon on the Mount inspire a follower of Jesus to take up this challenge; and to see the enemy in a new way. Jesus valued negotiations, rather than continued fighting and going to a court. Jesus taught about the importance of resolving disputes and reconciling with the enemy as a mandate in Christian discipleship. Jesus maintained nonviolence as “an ethic of discipleship.” In Christian discipleship, the challenge for renewed human relationship is the key to reconciliation and peace. The church needs to reemphasize to its lost message- Jesus’ message of reconciliation and peace-although it maintained this the first three centuries. As the policy of the church moved away from this principle, the role of faith communities around the world is significant to regain its lost legacy of the Cross and nonviolence. Without reconciliation and concord we cannot develop a peaceful community or a hopeful future for humanity. Jesus teachings neither approve holy war, nor reserved it as a last resort for self-defense. The Cross is the reality in discipleship: self-denial is the paramount objective per se, where forgiveness and love for the enemy exemplifies this ideal in practice. This concern underscores the importance of diverse communities living together in harmonious peace. The message of love and reconciliation is critical in family as well as community life-it will strengthen

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weakening relations, including political and interfaith disputes. Thus the ethic of the Cross and discipleship transforms social and political communities around the globe. At this point, the role of faith communities is the key for peaceful communities. The challenge for mutual co-existence developing interreligious and pluralistic harmony in communities at large where peace is truly builds by the set of assumptions, values, and behaviors around our political, economic and social lives and institutions where Jesus ethical paradigm of reconciliation has unparallel significance.

BIBLIOGRAPHY The Bible: Revised Standard Version, 1973, New York: The American Bible Society Enrich D. Robert and Joanna North, (1988), Exploring Forgiveness, Madison, The University of Wisconsin Press, Smith-Christopher, L Daniel (Ed.) (1998), Subverting Hatred: The Challenge of Nonviolence in Religious Traditions, New York: Orbis Books Kuriakose, Karikottuchira, (2006), Religion, Terrorism, and Globalization: Nonviolence: a New Agenda, New York: Nova Publishers Buttrick, A George, (1951), The Interpreter’s Bible, Vol. VII, Gospel According to Matthew and Mark, New York: The Abingdon Press Colman, Andrew, (2001), A Dictionary of Psychology, Oxford: Oxford University Press Gandhi, Mahatma, Collected Works, Vol, 22, Ahamadabad, India: Navajivan Press, 1970 Mitchell, Edwin (1950), A System of Ethics, New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons The New Living Translation, Complete Reference Bible, (2003), Wheaton: Tyndale House Publishers, Inc. Said Aziz Abdul, Funk, C Nathan, Kadayifci S Ayse (Eds.) (2001), Peace and Conflicts in Islam,: Percepts and Practice, Lanham, University Press of America, Inc. West, Cornell, (1988), Prophetic Fragments, Grand Rapids, Michigan: William B. Berdmans Publishing Company

CHAPTER 5 SEARCHING FOR A NEW LANGUAGE OF PEACE FOR THE WORLD TODAY EVANGLEIONE RAJKUMAR INTRODUCTION: THE CHANGING LANGUAGE OF VIOLENCE IN OUR WORLD For many a common mind today, the word “terrorism” is a term equated with what happened on “September 11, 2001,”—that single incident in New York when the twin towers were destroyed in an unimaginable way in history. The act of violence that happened in one corner of the world was brought into our drawing rooms—thanks to the media—which changed the course of human history forever. Whose world, whose citizens are we? Whose message and meanings did/do we consume? A new dictionary of War and violence was born with new meanings— without our knowledge or consent– and we realised that this new vocabulary demanded a new code of conduct. Words such as “War on Terror”, “Axis of evil”, “collateral damage”, “pre-emptive strike” were accepted quite uncritically, yet with ease. Consciously or unconsciously, we learnt to ascribe power to a SUPER-POWER and gave it the status of an Empire, to construct the language of thinking and being for us and to teach us how to live and behave as global citizens. We consumed the media images that were put across to us through the Mass media as if we had no choice! One could sense a growing difference in the global society that emerged after the 9/11 incident. As people were slowly learning to become citizens of this “new” world where changed. It was alright to talk about Peace but at a price of increase in Defence budgets in our own countries. In the name of security, even milk that was carried on the flight for an infant became a potential 115

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security threat and therefore banned. What we witnessed as fallout of this spread of war cloud and security threat was a clear deficit of trust between human beings in every quarter. The young and old alike began to consider the concept of violence as a viable option in the game of life and some of them did not hesitate to shoot down their teachers or their peers if they had a grouse against them. The human society had actually arrived at a dangerous flash point where the meaning and worth of life slowly synchronised with death!

LINKING THE GLOBAL WITH THE LOCAL In my own socio-political context of India, one can trace this change in the attitude of the society over the last three to four decades where violence was often chosen as a common option to end a crisis in one’s life or that of another. India today stands out as the suicide capital of the world and Bangalore, the IT city is named as the suicide capital of India! Intolerance, Indifference and hatred were brewed as if in a cauldron at random and it is this culture of violence, revenge and terrorism that spread like a “common and acceptable” norm that we need to identify as one of the greatest challenges for the society to grapple with in context. It is often said that ‘violence breeds violence’. For example, when the former Prime Minister (late) Indira Gandhi was killed by her body guards who happened to be Sikhs, violence against the Sikhs spread so easily with the sudden interpretation of “Sikh” as an “Enemy”. We do know for certain that such magnitude of violence would not have happened without the tacit support of those in power who guaranteed a status of impunity to the guilty. We can easily notice that the same status of immunity / impunity was guaranteed by the dominant powers to those guilty who were behind the spate of communal violence incidents that erupted in India following the incidents of Babri Masjid demolition in Ayodhya in 1992, in Godhra, Gujarat in 2002, and in Kandhamal, Orissa in 2008 and in many other occasions of violence. In all these incidents of violence, more than the actual bullet or a weapon killing the hated enemy, it was HATRED as the ammunition first, that was loaded in the minds against the “negative / hated other”. Guns and weapons then become an extended arm of the hatred filled hearts! One can easily say that human minds become the largest manufacturers of the most dangerous weapon of mass destruction namely HATRED. When

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hatred is mixed with distrust, it becomes even more a dangerous mix of emotions that it makes human relationships within any space, (home, work, church, society, world…) very difficult. The language of violence gets accommodated and is turned into a normal / acceptable language for the world to speak. My intention in this article is not to paint a gloomy, hopeless picture of the state in which we find our world/ society today but to show just how complex the concept of violence and peace have become over the years and the language / framework to understand and respond to the same, changed. When Mahatma Gandhi perceived the mind of the colonisers and gauged the violence that colonialism did to the colonised, there was an expectation and hope that the ideology of Non-violence would shame the violator; Gandhi could take for granted the faith and trust of the large Indian populace as his richest resource behind him, as the authority to speak for them and on their behalf demand justice. FAITH, TRUST and HUMAN RELATIONSHIPS therefore form core principles of the ideology of Non-violence as a strategy in order to achieve Peace.

METHOD OF APPROACH The reason why I elaborated on violence and what it entails is to help us name the sources of violence and changing character and language of violence today, and how the battle lines keep shifting and suddenly one finds them drawn within one’s own home, community, church and society. There are some clear patterns of violence that are important to be spelt out so that we don’t tackle issue of violence one by one but see the commonality of experiences so that the pattern of peace can also emerge not as an one off point / suggestion but grows up as a Culture of Peace as against Culture of Violence. If violence is plotted and planned for months / years together, born as a concept in the mind, nurtured in the hearts and minds of not just one but many, sometimes across oceans and seas, yet function as ONE BODY1 in their intent, so I am using the term one body to underline the importance of the image of the “Body” as an appropriate metaphor to imagine a new 1

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also, it is possible to conceive of peace in different wombs2 across the world, and nurture the same with faith that it is possible to build a violence free world. People can strive as ONE BODY for Peace and to build a violence-free world. Peace as a counter cannot be just a good sermon, a seminar or a song whose effect may last perhaps for a couple of hours! Peace also needs to be re-imagined, planned meticulously and ingrained in the minds of the people as a counter ideology, possibility and an ethic if the earth and her children have to survive. In order to engage in this unpacking of issues, I have chosen to reflect upon two specific life stories3 from Indian context to present the various challenges that we face in understanding the magnitude of the task and the issues before us. A critical analysis and reflections on these situations / experiences will help us to see what our efforts at peace have been in the past, whether we have understood the complexity of the issues involved. Finally, as a Christian theologian, I would like to offer some theological reflections on the initiatives of resistance that would re-

image / praxis of Peace needed for our world today. Just as the body can be blown to smithereens because of violence that is nurtured in the hearts and minds of people (several bodies) across all barriers, it is possible to imagine the idea / culture of Peace also to be sown in the minds and bodies of people across the world who are bound together by the same spirit of Peace, Faith and Trust that are crucial binding factors of a body. 2 I would also like us to think of the heart, mind and body as a “womb” where violence is nurtured. If we take the ideologies of power like caste in India, one cannot afford to assume the problem that is always explained to us as “Caste” means four castes—born from the head, the shoulders, the thighs and the feet of God brahman, what I would like to refer to as Brahman with four wombs! Reaffirmation of the Body stands at the core of our liberation movements. 3 I prefer the term ‘life stories’ to case studies because by calling it a case study, very often, we turn human beings into specimens under a microscope to be studied objectively and dispassionately. A Womanist mode of research demands that we take the lived experiences of human beings (especially those who have been robbed of their subject-hood) in its totality as a critical source for our analysis and reflection.

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imagine ‘Beating swords into ploughshares’ and changing the language of hatred into one of peace. The life stories for our reflection include that of Seema, a victim of domestic violence through whose life-experience of discrimination, devaluation and violence, one can easily trace the links between powers stored in different places, persons and institutions. Through her experience, one can also decipher the power of people’s movements to disrupt the dominant discourse of violence and gender discrimination. The second life-story is that of Irom Sharmila, an ‘Iron woman’ from Manipur, who has been fasting for the last ten years since November 2000, only to plead with the Indian Government to repeal the draconian law of Armed Forces Special Power Act (AFSPA) which has been used as an instrument of law against certain sections of people in Indian society. In both these life-stories, it is not difficult to trace the collusion of powers, to show how oppressive powers need one another and in fact, feed on one another to create new and gorier forms of violence against people. It is against this backdrop that I shall reflect on the Peace initiatives that emerged in context almost simultaneously with an effort to speak another language of peace, struggle for justice and livelihood. In narrating the life-story of Seema, there is a parallel weaving of the story of the Women’s and People’s movements who converge in a political and public space to engage with a “private” life of Seema. The emergence of the lifestory of people’s movements that gets formed as the back of the puzzle of Seema’s life and many Seemas in society speaks of the coming together of many into ONE BODY in order to seek Justice. Such an experience of “one body” of Movements functions with one single goal of moving from “Being just a community” to “Becoming a Just Community.” For this new “One Body” of people, (people’s movements), Peace is not an abstract, illusory utopia that one needs to imagine but a concrete reality that all can experience, here and now, only if everyone is willing to make a critical creative change in oneself in order to make way for the neighbour also to achieve his/ her rights, dignity and justice. We need to develop criteria to distinguish movements from movements so that we don’t go by the act or acts performed or not performed, but who benefits what and to what extent, that determines the quality of change and transformation that common

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people can experience from one’s engagement in society for justice. Such an involvement in creative activism demands a different mode of engagement, with different goals, of developing the ability and the sensitivity to look at people in the eye and recognise therein, in the fellow-being, the image of God.

THE STORY OF VIOLENCE IN SEEMA’S LIFE …AND INTERWEAVING THE STORY OF WOMEN’S MOVEMENTS Seema married Ravikumar, an auto consultant in Bangalore on 8.2.2007 and dreamt like any ordinary woman of building a family, a new life, a new home along with her husband. Her dream was cut short by a violent pattern of behavior and values expected and prescribed in her in-law’s home that Seema’s life of dread began on the very first day of her marriage. Seema was told: “You are ugly, not beautiful enough to be the wife of our Ravi, so quit and give him the freedom (divorce) that he needs to marry again and win another gift of dowry!” For Seema, domestic violence was a compound problem of torture because the other members of her husband’s family joined in and claimed a certain power and superior identity through their relationship to Ravikumar. They threatened to kill Seema if she refused to give divorce to Ravikumar. Seema confided in her parents hesitatingly but did not share the extent of violence that she experienced only not to put them into further distraught. She also believed in that ideal myth that she had learnt that “good women” don’t put their husbands (or their family) down in public. However, when Seema could not bear the torture any longer, she went with her parents to Vimochana, a local women’s forum in Bangalore, seeking help and advice. Several times, Seema came home to meet her parents but was always sent back to her in-laws, consoled that things will soon improve, just to wait a bit longer. After one such visit to her parents’ home on 4th October, 2009, Seema hesitated to return to her husband’s home dreading the violence that would eventually follow. However, her parents managed to convince her once again to return to her marital home on the 10th of October. The in-laws were angry because Seema had left her son behind in her parent’s place for a couple of days and therefore she had to be punished.

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Seema had an “accidental” fall from the fourth floor of her house but luckily survived the fall but not without the consequence of being paralyzed waist down. Seema’s parents were informed of the “fall” only two days later as she lay in the Intensive Care Unit of the Mallige Medical Centre in Bangalore. The Police also hesitated to file a complaint against Ravikumar or take action against him because he was considered an important person of “good repute” in society. Though a criminal case was registered in the Sriramapuram police station, the culprits were still at large for months after the fall. On 8th February, 2010 which happened to be the third wedding anniversary of Seema and Ravikumar, the Women’s movements / People’s movements in Bangalore led by Vimochana, a Bangalore based women’s forum, decided to invite members of Mahila Okkoota4 to stage a protest in front of the police station Mahila Okkoota means ‘women’s forum’ in Kannada, which is the local language of Karnataka. “Mahila Okkoota” truly stands out as an exemplary “ecumenical” forum that brings together people from a wide cross section of the society in Bangalore. The Student Christian Movement of India, the YWCA, the Women’s Studies Department of the United Theological College, the Catholic Religious sisters would feel absolutely at home to be part of the “Mahila Okkoota” along with other Hindu, Muslim and other religious institutions, as well as individuals organizations. The most interesting character about Mahila Okkoota is that under the umbrella of Mahila Okkoota, all those groups that focus on human rights issues, justice issues, struggle for human identity and dignity issues are brought together for the common cause of justice. Sex workers, Transgender people, theological students and teachers, religious sisters and brothers—a rainbow of movements coming together—is unique because the common language that we speak in this Mahila Okkoota is the yearning for Peace and Justice- at home, at work, in society and in the whole world. Ranging from nuclear issues, to issues of domestic violence to communal violence to protesting against Miss World Beauty context— the Mahila Okkoota was there in a large number, as one family, to protest and raise our common voice because we could see the link between the issues of the Market, Patriarchy, Religious fanaticism and communalism and abuse of the rights of the transgender persons. Even though the sex 4

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demanding action against the police for their unscrupulous collaboration with Ravikumar. They invited the civil society to rise up and act so that the injustice done to Seema does not go unnoticed. In the handout that was circulated to the wide public, Vimochana demanded thus: Should we remain silent spectators to this horrific crime or can we raise our outrage at this kind of mindless violence… Seema is but one of the scores of women who die every day for various reasons, for the simple fact of being born a woman— devalued, deprived, destroyed. Does Seema mean anything to us? If she does, then join us at Srirampuram police station at 4.30 p.m. on 17th February, 2010. We demand: 1. That action be initiated to those responsible for the shoddy and indifferent investigation; and delay in arresting the accused. 2. Donate money for the care and of Seema who may be forced to leave the hospital because of the family’s inability to pay hospital bills. 3. Societal pressure on the in laws to pay the medical bills.

workers and the transgender women and men joined the women’s movement only recently (about eight years ago), it has proved to be a unique challenge and identity because it was a learning experience to shed our biases. The common identity of Mahila Okkoota was “People ready to struggle for the cause of human rights and defend the same whenever, wherever this is at jeopardy.” The goal of peace with justice keeps the movement together. Very often, the language of resistance spoken is expressed through our body language. Many of those who join the Protest come dressed in black and we stand in silent solidarity in a public place (located just outside St. Mark’s cathedral where I preach from) but make sure people know what the issue is through large banners and placards that speak out our demand. The media attention, taking the police permission and protection are also ways of linking the civil society in this dialogue for peace and justice. The Mahila Okkoota thus becomes a paradigmatic “ecumenical” movement to strive for global peace.

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Socially boycott Ravikumar and his family.5

The Day of protest happened to be February 17th, 2010, coinciding with Ash Wednesday, when the United Theological College, (where I work as a Professor), spends as time for Retreat, to reflect on one’s own calling for ministry in today’s context (until 4 pm). There was also the regular evening service in St. Mark’s Cathedral, Bangalore where I had to preach at the 6.15 p.m. service. The police station being far away, and with just two hours in hand, it was indeed a tight schedule to manage but we were there—as a group of fifteen women and men—joining the Protest in front of the Police Station. That forty five minutes of solidarity with the family of Seema, and joining the protest with fellow sisters and brothers in the Women’s Movement (Mahila Okkoota) was a ‘spiritual preparation’ to participate meaningfully in the Ash Wednesday worship that same evening. Shouting slogans, pleading for justice to Seema, justice for her family, and for all women who face violence in their lives was a meaningful ecumenical faith exercise that added meaning to our call and commitment for God’s mission of justice and peace in this world. The next day, we learnt from the local Newspapers that other protesters along with whom we were shouting slogans had refused to leave the Police Station until the higher officials came in person to listen to their demands of justice. Only after intensive negotiation, things began to move for Seema’s family. There was an assurance made that the guilty will be brought to book immediately and that justice will be done. “Action” was promised also against those in the police station who refused to lodge a complaint against Ravikumar and his family because they had established themselves as influential people in the area. This protest by women’s movements showed Ravikumar family that the Seemas of this world will be supported by the people / movements and that money power and status cannot permanent guarantee immunity to The printed handbill was widely distributed to the public in order to create awareness about the issue to the general public. After all, public shame and public image plays a vital role in changing the minds of people for the better. 5

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the law. One thing that the violators dread is being shamed in public for the crimes they commit. What is it that the perpetrators of violence around the world seem to dread? Is it not that sense of shame and social ostracism that people dread more than any other as deterrent factor? No one wants to be in the limelight (media) for wrong reasons. I see this as a positive sign in our search for peace and justice praxis because it then becomes possible to search for ways to sensitize people and help them to critically name the issues and participate more meaningfully in the struggles and search for Peace.

EMERGING ISSUES When we critically unpack the issues involved in the above narration of the life-story of Seema, (and an interwoven story of People’s movement) we learn more about the nature of the language of Resistance and struggle just as much about the language of violence that has happened within the domestic set up. Let me highlight a few issues: 1. Even though we learnt that the police officers at a higher level had intervened and things were made to move for Seema, her happiness was short-lived because they were still at a loss to find out why the systems and mechanisms within a democratic set up either slow down or do not work for justice in the expected pace and method? 2. Can People’s Movements / Non- Governmental Organizations replace the role of the State at any time as the one who can protect and offer that security or peace to the people within a democratic set up? 3. What do we do if the State chooses to abdicate its role and responsibility of being “for the people, of the people and by the people”? Isn’t there an urgent need to reimagine the structure and practice of democracy today? 4. How often can People in Movements come in to support of individuals or for a cause? Where is the sustained energy, or the required resources to follow up such interventions? For how long? Whose responsibility is it? 5. Why are Protesters often assumed to be “hooligans,” as those who should be controlled whereas those who

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perpetuate violence seem to enjoy the impunity and their privileged positions, most of the time?6 6. Can the Church be a Church if it cannot be a Movement, or be engaged in the issues of people around us? Where does the Church derive her identity and calling from? We need the Church to play the role of a Good Samaritan, not only to bind up the wounds of the “wounded man” but also strive towards a society where all will get equal access to resources so that no one has to beat up and rob from another in order to survive in this world. 7. Whistle-blowers in society become increasingly vulnerable7 because the Language of activism / I added the phrase most of the time because it is only in the recent past that quite a few prominent arrests were made involving high profile people. However one cannot miss the fact that there is a need to look deeper for answers especially when one of the main accused who is exposed, presented as the crook , happens to be a Dalit (from a socially under privileged background). I am not saying that it is wrong because Mr. A. Raja is a Dalit and Dalits could not have done the crime; however, it is certainly interesting to note that when the Dalit leader was exposed as a the brain behind the crime, all those who benefited from his plan, all those who vehemently supported his leadership for various reasons suddenly disappeared into nowhere. This lesson is also important for us to learn as a characteristic of power involved when we learn to look for alternatives and peace measures, concrete praxis of peace in today’s context of terrorism, religion and search for peace. 7 Bangalore Mirror, June 26, 2011 carried a major article on how Hussein Mueen Farooq, who in 2009 got a politician arrested because he was caught red handed while accepting a bribe, has faced an arduous struggle for the last two years, hounded by the politician’s henchmen, with so sense of security for his life and livelihood has ended up stricken, having lost most of his savings, with many of his friends and family turning their backs on him. How do we translate the story of Hussein Mueen Farooq into a positive story of a model whistleblower, a model prophet than as one from what it may turn out to be: “Never be a whistleblower as these are the necessary fallouts of being one”. Our effort in this article is to spell out the characteristics of Power so that the way it is 6

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TERRORISM, RELIGION, AND GLOBAL PEACE resistance is still not so common with the masses. When this Language of resistance and Spirituality of Movements is passed on to people like the yeast in the bread, it can invigorate the transformation process. We need to understand this “vulnerable status” a little more critically in our search for new ways and praxis of peace. We need to understand that when the whistle-blowers are punished for the role they play, a strong message is communicated to the society that if anyone wants to join people’s or women’s movements or even try to play the whistle blower role, they can expect to face the same/ similar threats meted out to whistle-blowers. I see this as a crucial point to interrupt the cycle of violence. Instead of putting us off into inaction, passivity and to close our eyes to the issue, this motive should become the new fuel for our spiritual energy to strive for peace. The Cross was always there hanging before Jesus as the possibility. Jesus’ groan in pain and his prayer at the garden of Gethsemane was not to sidestep the Cross but to be given that spiritual energy to endure and to drink from the cup of suffering. The greatest challenge to Movements today is to help people move from passivity to action, to believe once more in FAITH, TRUST and HUMAN RELATIONSHIPS as crucial for our sustenance in this world. I see the whistle blower’s role today as continuation in prophetic ministry in church

manipulated in order to maintain their status quo should not only be stated as a reality statement but as a problem one has to deal with. The act of appreciation of the story in the media by different people in civil society as an act of the Media probably may be a good beginning. Further engagement with the story and the person, by a community, by the state, by different cross sections of the society and affirming the participatory role of the civil society in tackling corruption may be one effective way of redefining the role of the civil society with those who claim to be the leaders and representative voices in society, like Anna Hazare or Baba Ramdev.

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and society which the Movements can play and to keep the spirit vibrant amongst all. 8. Craving to exercise a sense of power over is the common spirit that is the crux of the ideologies of power. One can see this happening within the household of Raviraj. The women in the household of Raviraj prefer to participate in the game of exercising power over and along with Raviraj they also choose to torture and taunt Seema. In other words, they can merge as “One Body” with Raviraj’s practice of patriarchal ideology and imagine that it is the man who confers an ultimate / complete/ ideal identity on the woman as a married woman and therefore his interests, are to be protected and affirmed at all cost. Seema, the woman from “outside” who has come to Raviraj’s household is made vulnerable “inside” her own home. It is important for the “civil” society to reject such “uncivil” cultural codes in society that define a woman’s personhood, dignity and identity only based on marriage, motherhood and moral status. Unless there is a de-link between women’s (ideal) identity and her marriage, violence will continue against a million Seemas in the present and in the future. If we do not address the issue of gender discrimination and hierarchy at its core, we may be attempting only to reach out to women’s movements for justice, as a “one time balm” to intervene for us and never to strive for a mechanism to envision a violence-free world.

THE LIFE-STORY OF IROM SHARMILA ….AND INTERWEAVING THE LIFE-STORY OF MOVEMENTS AGAINST THE STATE The title ‘Terrorism, Religion and Global Peace: Concepts to Praxis’ will gain a new perspective when we bring to focus, the lifestory of Irom Chanu Sharmila, a woman from Manipur who has been fasting for the last ten years since November 2001. She is a woman whose nerves are made of Iron as she shows sheer grit that holds her life up as a new model of Spirituality of Struggle and Resistance. She has forced the Indian Government to rethink of its stand on the continuation of the use of the draconian law called as

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the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) in the North East Region of India. The Manipur people have experienced the violence done against their own, ranging from rape, to torture and murder on an everyday basis. Sharmila herself was a witness to the way the Assam Rifles soldiers shot dead ten people who were waiting at the bus stop, as a way of retaliation to the ambushing of one of the state vehicles that belonged to the Police. Clearly seeing that there is no available answer of Peace to be sought within the same structure of violence, Sharmila pleaded, is still pleading, with the Government but has not achieved yet her goal. The Government of India has kept her in detention in Imphal, the capital of Manipur and has arrested her under Indian Criminal Law (IPC—309) for attempted suicide. As she cannot be legally kept under for more than a year at a time, Irom Sharmila is released for a day or two and then arrested once again, as an annual ritual. Irom Sharmila is force-fed by the administration in Imphal. A large network of women and men, NGOs and other groups and risen over the years in support her cause and to acknowledge her Fast, to fight for the repeal of the AFSPA law. As the life-story of Irom Sharmila merges with the potential changing quality of life of all those in the North East, we see the direct link between the individual and a community. are connected, many global bodies have also rendered their voice in support of the repeal of the AFSPA law including the Amnesty International, the European Union and many other bodies, but the Indian government has continued its silence over the matter. Thus far, the civil society movements try to draw the attention of the International Bodies and the larger public to witness the sheer exercise of POWER OVER by the Indian state and cry SHAME. But this language of Peace or the method of SHAMING the perpetrator does not seem to have helped in this case because the point of shame is converted into a point of honor, identity and security by the perpetrator! Those individuals, institutions and even other countries who join the demand for repeal of the AFSPA law slowly seem to withdraw when they get a response from the State that in matters of National security, integrity etc., no external force should intervene. Irom Sharmila derives her strength to resist and continue with her fast for the last ten years because of the support of several women and men who belong to various People’s movements and

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support groups. The Meira Paibi (like the Mahila Okkoota in Bangalore) has consistently shown their resolve to fight injustices in any and every form. Meira Paibi literally means ‘women torch bearers.’ They have stood for the struggle of rights and dignity of their people and were one of the first to rise up and struggle against the British colonial forces. The network brings together the likeminded organizations and individuals to work together for justice and peace at home, community, society and the world. Their struggles include addressing other issues such as alcoholism among their menfolk, drug addiction and other primary issues that are threats to peace and community living. What astounds me about this woman who looks so fragile and yet so steely in her nerve is her courage to go on trying to move a mountain. Her family members also join her in her struggle. Even as Sharmila and her mother vow to each other that they will meet only after the outcome of her fast, after the repeal of AFSPA is like creating a mental and spiritual energy to keep the fire for justice burning in both hearts. When Sharmila heard that her mother was lying critically ill in hospital, she chose to visit her mother after a long period of inner spiritual and mental agony. She paced the corridors of the hospital for a long time wondering if she should break her vow and see her mother. When Sharmila finally goes to see her mother, her mother scolds her saying “why did you break the vow for justice”? There is no separation between the personal and the political; love for one’s own family merges with love for the larger family (the society / community). This I see is the point of affirmation and a marker for the model community we are called to become if we want to become partners in this movement for Justice and Peace.

EMERGING ISSUES: 1. We need to understand the politics of the labeling game (as a terrorist, as an insurgent, as a spy or any other) as a necessary step in the process of planning and plotting of violence that can be legitimized in the eyes of the larger society. Labels are meant to provide a coat of immunity to those who will carry out the violence because public consent is assumed to be important in the process of labeling. If someone can be branded as a terrorist, it becomes easier to devalue the person and

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TERRORISM, RELIGION, AND GLOBAL PEACE carry out the planned method of getting the truth out of the person, using any measure. Labeling process happens all the time and has to be understood as a strategy to account for the impending violence that could happen anytime. Those who perform these tasks of elimination and labeling may even get a medal of a war hero by the State! We need to recognize and name this as a familiar pattern to expect in situations of violence and discrimination. 2. Little do we realize that such a way of converting the language of “terrorizing the people” is turned into a language of ‘protection, safety and security’ is a typical character of terrorism, religious fundamentalism and patriarchy. When we look at the history of women’s movements, when domestic violence was raised as an important issue, it was downplayed and called as a personal issue. We cannot forget the powerful slogan that emerged in the history of women’s movements stating that violence is not personal, that “Personal is Political”! 3. For too long, the issue of AFSPA was kept under wraps, as ‘somebody else’s issue’, (not ours) that we in the South (Bangalore) need not bother about this because it is an issue of the North East of India, who are so far away and so different too from “Us.” For the powers of terrorism and even patriarchy, the division between “Us and them” is very important. Once again we need to see this construction of a “positive self” versus the “negative other” is a ploy of the hierarchical oppressive structure. The typical “Divide and Rule policy” which is once again, a strategy used by the Powerful (Patriarchy) to keep the commons apart in their struggles of peace and resistance. 4. We see that a new Language of Peace emerges even as we narrate the life-story of Irom Sharmila. It lies in the coming together of people, as solidarity of networks, organizations and peoples to stand with and for justice is the new language of Peace that we can develop as an alternative to offer. It is that spirit of solidarity and commitment shown by the women in movements of Meira Paibi, how they continue the spirit of the fast with

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their open protest in public corners in Delhi, Manipur as well as in other parts of India shows the power of networking and solidarity. People’s power is a Powerful potential power that can dismantle the oppressive powers. Once we expect the arrival of forces of power from any quarter in any form, shape and size, one can be prepared to look for forces of destruction and disunity and violence even in the most unexpected quarters. 5. A new language of Eucharist and Ecclesia: If one pays close attention to the merging of the bodies, in terms of their commitment to justice and peace, abundance of life for all, and in creating a violence- free society, one can see a close merging and blending of Bodies. The ONE BODY of Sharmila focused on seeking justice merges with many bodies that form the Meira Paibi. The COLLECTIVE BODY as ONE BODY carries forward the vision and commitment of many. This merging of many bodies into ONE BODY helps us move a little closer to the meaning and new interpretation of being the Broken Body of Christ in this world. One can easily read the message of the readiness to be broken, not for one’s own pride, status and identity, but for the sake of the other as evident in the Fast of Irom Sharmila. 6. Bridging the I—Community gap. As a community, with perfect communion and communication between one another, Community becomes a paradigm for action of Peace. Trinitarian God as a “paradigm community” would serve as a theological example to focus on the task of oneness, goodness and abundant life for all. It is impossible to fight terrorism, war, corruption or any other issue as individuals but only as a community or a network of communities, committed for the task of common justice for all. At any time, personal achievements, personal goals cannot /do not eclipse that of the community’s interests. Peace cannot be achieved by individuals, for individuals but only in a community and for a community. Unless the gap between the I–Community is bridged as a main strategy, we may only witness further breakdown of relationships and

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TERRORISM, RELIGION, AND GLOBAL PEACE communities. Once again, let me point out to the importance of the core factors of FAITH, TRUST and HUMAN RELATIONSHIPS as deciding factors for a community / movements to emerge as the New Praxis for Peace today. 7. Movements succeed, movements fail… Why? How do we understand the dynamics of Movements as a creative space and an alternative paradigm in our search for a new ways of building peace? While we are engaged in the struggle of justice and peace, success and defeat cannot be understood in absolute terms. We inch forward in a zig-zag manner and our road to freedom is never straight forward with only experiences of success or defeat at any given time. For example, Anna Hazare, a Gandhian fasted to say that he will do so in order to bring an end to corruption in India. The way he dressed himself up as Gandhi, and tried to bring back the memories of Mahatma Gandhi and freedom struggle was enough to bring a huge cross section of Indian society to rally behind him and tell the Government that they better act. What followed was the setting up of a committee comprising of members of the civil society and also a few from the government to bring a proposal for amendment of the law so that we can build in some structures and mechanisms of accountability into our system of administration. I am not providing herein a detail of all that happened after the cancel of Anna Hazare’s fast but only point out to the difference between the fast taken up by Irom Sharmila and Anna Hazare. While in one case, Irom Sharmila has fasted for the last ten years and more, the Government can choose to ignore the pain and trauma of Sharmila, her family, that of Meira Paibi and the larger civil society but in the case of Anna Hazare, there is almost immediate response, not only from the Government but also from the common public.

What is at fault? The difference in the level of media attention and coverage? Woman vs a man? The seriousness of the issue, based on different criteria? We need to notice that there is a

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distinct difference in the way people perceive the importance of their participation, understanding the seriousness of the issue depending on the images and memories they link the current issues to. Even though we have had women in the history of women’s movements who have fasted for a long time, been force fed, and even died for that cause, Irom Sharmila’s fast seems to evoke a tepid response from the larger society. In the case of Anna Hazare, an attempt to merge the image of Gandhi and what he stood for was the most easily palpable reason that I can think of as the difference between the two fasts. I believe that this also gives us a cue in our search for new ways and paradigms of peace.

SEARCH FOR NEW WAYS OF PEACE: THEOLOGICAL REFLECTIONS Our world has spent too much time worrying about how to prepare ourselves for the next world war. Each of our countries try to outdo one another and spend millions of dollars in escalating the size, value and worth of our arsenal. How much does a missile cost, war planes cost? What happens when one country test fires its missiles and finds it to be working well? How do they experience that sense of achievement in their minds and bodies? There is a certain level of power over, conquering the other ideology in every aspect of militarization and it is high time that we point out to the sexual connotations connected with possessing of arms and ammunition. It is no accident that the missiles are in phallus shape and have as the ideology of conquering the territory of the other. If the power and potential of a missile is valued in terms of how much havoc, violence it could wreak, one can notice the ideology of rape behind the act or the intention to conquer, have power over. Unless and until the ideological and theological underpinnings of our faith are reset, we may go on mending the old with cosmetic changes and offer new wine in old bottles or vice versa! Theologically speaking, we need to unpack the issue of war, violence and militarization and terrorism anew today. When one’s sense of security, power, identity, existence and right to exercise power over—all these and more—are rooted in one’s craving for the following M-power namely Military (arsenal), Money, Market, Muscle (army, Police, State power), Material (resources), Mineral

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(Oil, wealth, forest and land) and Man (literally) Power—then that identity of a human is vanity! It doesn’t help any of us to prepare for another World War to happen (spending as much as thirty six billion dollars a year as defense budget just of one country! If we put the defense budgets of all the countries together, and spend the same on actions of peace, so that no one goes to bed hungry every night, then the world will certainly be a better place to live in. For this utopia to become a reality, we need to first of all DREAM about this change—not only as individuals but as a community. Of course it is true that Dreamers have not been spared of the cost of such dreaming which resulted very often in death! However, it is precisely the story of the CROSS in the life of the “Dreamers” for the world—like Martin Luther King, Mahatma Gandhi and others point out to the available choice in our life path. The Cross of Golgotha, of Jesus the Christ whose path we have chosen to follow and whose disciples we are committed to be, is THE PARADIGM that teaches us that there is a reality beyond the Cross. When our dreams threaten the powers of the world, the meaning of the Cross certainly emerges as a reminder to tell us of the reality of Resurrection. There is something new that emerges in the method of “Non-violence” as an alternative in the Movements paradigm for justice and peace. Just like it is possible for the human hearts and minds to manufacture the worst and largest cache of arms and ammunition in the form of HATRED, it must become a theological, ontological and Ethical possibility to become the world’s largest producers of LOVE as a weapon to fight the war of hatred. We have had stories and possibilities in history like that of great king Ashoka in India who wanted to establish his stamp of power and authority had no second thoughts about turning his kingdom into a battle field. The same King Ashoka’s heart when filled with love and compassion could create mansions for Peace and many became missionaries of Peace and followers of Buddha. People in India have tasted these victories of love and peace conquering the power of the guns, several times in their own history. The world has seen and learnt from the example of Mahatma Gandhi’s ideology of non-violence that was one of the reasons that hastened the birth of Free India.

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In our violence-ridden context today, the paradigm of (Women’s / People’s) Movements offers a new path and praxis of peace. Getting to know the strategies and rules of the game of power only help us to understand the ideology of power and violence better. We realize that the pattern of violence within a home (domestic violence like the experience of Seema) or within a society (like the experience of Irom Sharmila and along with her, the North East people, especially the Nagas who are labeled as “insurgents”) are not very different from one another. Whistle blowers role is very crucial in the process of Peace and Justice. We can become whistle blowers in different ways, levels with greater clarity and faith only when we realize that “Love thy neighbour as thy self” becomes a critical faith mandate along with “Love your God” commandment. It is a matter of celebration that FAITH, TRUST and HUMAN RELATIONSHIP have not lost their significance today, despite escalation of violence and hatred thus pointing out to us, the truth that LOVE can be the only way towards the goal of Justice and Peace.

SELECT ARTICLES ON THE THEME IDENTITY, VIOLENCE, OVERCOMING VIOLENCE BY THE SAME AUTHOR Anderson-Rajkumar, Evangeline. “Skin, Body and Blood: Explorations for Dalit Hermeneutics” in (Religion and Society, vol. 49, nos. 2&3 June and September 2004), pp. 106–120. Anderson-Rajkumar, Evangeline. “Practicing Gender Justice as a Faith mandate” ed. Alistair Kee, in Studies in World Christianity, volume 13, Part 1, The Edinburgh Review of Theology and Religion, Press, 2007. Anderson-Rajkumar, Evangeline. “Women’s Movements in Mission: Some lessons for the Church Today” in Re-routing Mission: Towards A People’s Concept of Mission. ed. George Mathew Nalunnakkal, for CCA by CSS, April 2004, pp. 39– 60. Anderson-Rajkumar, Evangeline.”Mission in a Context of Violence” in News of Boundless Riches: Interrogating, Comparing and Reconstructing Mission in a Global Era, vol. II edited by Lalsangkima Pachuau and Max. L. Stackhouse, New Delhi: ISPCK/UTC/CTI, 2007, pp. 104–121. Anderson-Rajkumar, Evangeline. “Turning Bodies Inside Out: Contours of Womanist Theology” in Dalit Theology in the

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TERRORISM, RELIGION, AND GLOBAL PEACE Twenty-first Century, ed. Sathianathan Clarke, Deenabandhu Manchala, Philip Vinod Peacock, Oxford University Press, Delhi, 2010, pp. 199–214.

CHAPTER 6 THE ROLE OF RELIGION IN FOSTERING GLOBAL PEACE AND OPPOSING TERRORISM MAAKE MASANGO INTRODUCTION It is always problematic when unjust systems of governance such as apartheid use religion to oppose freedom and liberation struggles. It is not appropriate of such governing systems to label freedom groups as terrorists in order to keep unjust systems in place. In fact, freedom and liberation groups were created in South Africa to foster restorative justice, and they promoted justice for all, peace and reconciliation. The harsh treatment of black South Africans created a movement, which reacted to the humiliating laws that forcefully removed blacks from their homes. As a result of the above discrimination, African National Congress, Pan African Congress and many anti-racism groups were created and they started opposing the government. The legislation was created in order to deal with the above groups. They were later labeled as terrorist groups. Whites referred to these organizations as antiChrist and anti-Christianity because, terrorism in the mind of the white South African was then connected to Communism. Those who fought these laws were burned, arrested and detained. It is not surprising that people like Nelson Mandela, Robert Sobukwe, Steve Biko, Winnie Mandela and Albertina Sisulu were labeled as terrorists and were sentenced to life imprisonment under section 10 of the Terrorism Act. In the mean time reactions from the blacks were referred to as freedom fighting and the people involved were freedom fighters 137

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—i.e. people who were fighting for the rights of the oppressed. They addressed the injustices against the blacks and stood up to the whites who were creating these laws. Tutu was right when he said: “[R]retributive justice …… is not the only a form of justice...there is another kind of justice, restorative justice, which was characteristic of traditional African jurisprudence. Here the central concern is not retribution or punishment, but in the spirit of ubuntu, the healing of breaches, the redressing of imbalance, the restoration of broken relationships...restorative justice is being served when efforts are being made to work for healing, for forgiveness and reconciliation” (Tutu 1999: 51–57). The bishop was now dealing with methods of addressing injustice so that peace may be part of the new country and nation. This aspect of peace and reconciliation will be dealt with at the end of this article. The author wants to highlight that peace without justice is no peace at all.

SEPTEMBER 111 After the bombing of the twin towers in New York City on September 11, 2001 in the United States, terrorism took a different meaning, depending on circumstance and contexts in which people were facing harsh treatment, violence or abuse. The American Government connected terrorism with the Islamic Faith. In other words, the war on terror focused on exorcising acts of evil by including faith and religion as part of the problem. At this point the author sees three concerns emerging and holding the center stage in conversations about the ethics of violence since the bombing on September 2001. That is to say that religion and violence were linked; there were moral responses to terrorism, and there began an examination of ‘just war’ criteria. However, it is important to turn to a more academic understanding of the meaning of terrorism.

1 Some people have argued that the event of 9/11 caught sociologist off guard. While political scientist and international relations specialists, they dominated analysis.

THE ROLE OF RELIGION IN FOSTERING GLOBAL PEACE 139 The Meaning of Terrorism Sociologists have had plenty to share about the word terrorist! This word is a political label and a well-intentioned scholar like Tilly attempts to define it as “it may only reify its political uses and cloud our understanding” (Tilly 2004: 65). It will be great to understand its origin so that we can address violence, terror, conflict and suicide bombers as they use terrorism attacks. The case study of Zanzibar will help us trace the root causes of this kind of violence and attacks upon others. These attacks have been labeled ‘terrorism acts’, especially an Island in the Indian Ocean currently a part of Tanzania. Firstly, ‘terrorists’ are relational actors; secondly, terrorism is one of many tactics potentially used by social movement in order to achieve political ends. Thirdly, it is relational, that is, its rise and trajectory must be understood in relation to other groups that act out in the name of religion in order to justify violence. Zanzibar is a good case study that will help us understand how violence and terrorism has been addressed or responded to by the USA; under the banner of ‘the war against terror’. The above response by the USA came as a result of the three suspected bombings in 1998 by the Al-Qaeda on the US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania. Several people lost their lives. Sultan has followed this issue in depth. He says that Rashidi Saleh Hamed was charged by the Tanzanian court with conspiracy to commit murder for his alleged role (Sultan 2004). After 9/11, fundamentalists started organizing various attacks against the USA in retaliation for the wars waged in Afghanistan, Iraq, etc. In Africa, especially in Zanzibar, Muslim extremists started recruiting young people to fight in Iraq as well as Afghanistan (Sultan 2004, reports). The USA was also not helpful because it identified the al-Haramain Islamic foundation as key in planning the embassy bombings. These actions made extreme fundamentalists connect terrorism with religion. The process started changing the understanding of this word—they started creating violence by reacting to the attacks of the USA. One of the concerns in South Africa and Tanzania is the use of violence by so called terrorists. In South Africa the regime responded to violence (and names it structural violence that helped maintain law and order). While in Tanzania it had concepts of the big brother (USA) wanting to take over resources in Africa. Race and religion became part of terrorism as a part of geopolitics of the

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global village. Zanzibar is 95% Muslim, mostly Sunni, compared with a predominantly Christian mainland Tanzania, while in South Africa the majority are Christians, who have used religion to back up violence during the apartheid. In Zanzibar, most recently, the increasing strength of radical Islamist movements globally has helped mobilize the youths between the ages of 18–35 and brought them into party politics. This is strategically done in order to fight imperialism and the global world which is influenced by Western values. Mmuya and Chaligha have helped us understand the situation in Africa. They say: “in the years since colonial rule, political parties have provided the organizational frame for religious and racial conflict on the Island. “ (Mmuya and Chaligha 1993: 1998; Mukandala and Othman 1994, Mukangara 2000). Several parties emerged with different concepts and values. This also brought conflict and racial tension and reaction by others ‘use of violence’. The process suggests a wonderful way that shows what is happening to the ruling Chama Cha Mapinduzi (referred to as CCM)—representing African heritage and Christian religions. According to Mbwiliza “this idiom of race has come to be an expression of status rather than colour, so much so that those who identify themselves as Arab or Shirazi could hardly pass a genetic test of proof” (Mbwiliza 2000: 30). The reader can understand the tension, conflict and violence that developed in the island. Religion became part of the problem and was wrongly used by leaders to fuel violence. With this in mind, let us now analyze religion and its influence on violence. Violence came from Muslims complaining of discrimination and increased attempts by the ruling government to try and control Muslim affairs. There were also complaints that the CCM were importing voters from the mainland. The Zanzibar government, on the other hand, pressured by the US government, adapted antiterrorism laws that targeted Muslims. Its label of terrorism to the challenging political party was used to blame the party for the violence occurring in the country. In other words, they planned violent strategies and blamed the Muslim community. From that point onward, bombings were associated with the Muslim party. Terrorism became, as it often is, a label to justify repression and escalating conflict. This action led the government to use force in order to control political parties. The above situation can also be

THE ROLE OF RELIGION IN FOSTERING GLOBAL PEACE 141 traced in Zimbabwe. The response from the Muslims was also labeled as violence, while government violence was seen as structural and for maintaining law and order. With this in mind let us now analyze how religion came to be connected with violence.

THE VIOLENT USE OF RELIGION It is common knowledge that much violence that goes on in the name of religion has little to do with religion. Often religion is used, misused or abused in conflicts that have social, economic and political motivations, and many of the persons that actively perpetuate violence have little or no knowledge of the tenants of the faith in the name of which they join battle. In most of these cases it is religion’s identity and fervor that carry the important role in bringing peace when violence occurs. The classic case is seen in South Africa during the struggle. The reader needs to know that I am analyzing violence from the Christian and South African perspective. In other words, this understanding will differ from place to place. A number of social groups justify violence and the use Scripture to justify violence. At the end, God is blamed for all the violence that goes around, e.g. the floods. “I will blot out from the earth the human beings I have created (Genesis 6: 5–7). This kind of attribution of violence to God continues in certain passages of Scriptures chosen by people. One could cite the death of the first born in Egypt, the way God destroyed the Egyptian army in the Red sea, the taking over of Jericho—“as soon as the heard the trumpets, they raised a great shout, and the wall fell down—people charged and captured it” Joshua 6:20–21. Sword was used as a way of taking over. These are but a few examples used by those who justify violence from the Scriptures. These stories must be read from their historical contexts, when singled out they can get out of focus and have a different meaning. Another example, is sacrifices, it becomes clear how violence is used in life. When it comes to evil, violence becomes chiefly depicted as an ongoing battle between good and evil, light and darkness, God and the devil. The book of Revelation depicts these evil powers and after a violent struggle these are subdued and abolished by God and angels. One can clearly see how violence is part of Christianity and other religions. Part of Church history is written in blood. Good examples are that of Crusaders, holocaust,

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slavery in the Caribbean and USA. Christianity in certain parts of the world was planted through violence. One could ask, why has the world been rife with contradictions and conflicts, violence and terror throughout its history, and why has this happened among social groups with the strongest religious fervor? It is important to note that, even among believers of the same religion, in the same ethnic groups, because of differences in environments, individual understanding, different upbringing, and emotional experiences, differences arose and people insisted that God, according to their own knowledge, views, experiences and beliefs is the only, most accurate, most peace loving and the most real, and also most perfect ultimate truth. The above has created opposition, ideological rivalry and violent confrontations. This is probably the reason for the intolerance among various forms of fundamentalism that in turn brings about violence and bloody conflict. This is not the problem of God, or religion, but of human beings and how they interpret God. This suggests people’s ignorance, lack of wisdom, and the inability to open up their minds in an attempt to understand one another. It is important to note that, if one believes that God is omniscient, omnipotent, full of love and authority, one should also believe that God will provide the most appropriate teachings and aids according to the needs of the numerous ethnic groups of different times and civilizations. These various manifestations are the result of God’s allencompassing love for all humans. With this understanding one will see that the God worshipped by all religions and their sects is the most supreme, monistic God, manifested in different forms, and then followers of all religions are none other than the children of God. Therefore, aren’t they brothers and sisters? If they are, we cannot afford to be against each other. Peace becomes a way of life if we recognize each other that way. This process will help us to stop conflict and violence. The rise of violence as a means to suppress those deemed as the evil enemies will stop. These evil enemies are to be terrorized, destroyed, and thoroughly annihilated from the face of the earth so that no lurking dangers remain for one’s ethnic groups and religious sects. The author is aware that we can never completely annihilate all those who disagree with one’s thoughts and religious beliefs. My own thoughts are that, religious violence and terrorism have their origin in human beings’ insecurity. When confronted with this phenomenon that one does

THE ROLE OF RELIGION IN FOSTERING GLOBAL PEACE 143 not yet know, because of suspicions give rise to fear. This leads one to resort to violent means, where by they strike preemptively to embolden oneself and trigger terror in the one perceived to be an enemy. How do we solve this huge problem that has made us fight each other in the name of religion?

PEACE: GLOBAL PEACE The reader is now aware of how terrorism uses violence to target certain people and country. These groups create violence which kills people; as a result others react and use violent methods as a way of revenge. Mass casualty terrorist events attributable to terrorist groups of a particular ideological orientation. For example, religious, ethno-national, or mixed religious and ethno-national. Violence surrounds us as a reality. As I write this paper a suicide bomber blew up the airport in Moscow. This action calls on those who love peace to do something before the next generation forgets the true meaning of peace. The path toward global peace and forgiveness is of great importance. It cannot be achieved unless we address the issue of injustices around the world. Big Brother (USA) cannot afford to exercise evil by bombing other countries. This process has built a circle of violence. A good example is how the USA handled Iraq. It has become difficult to attain peace because of the way the United States has conducted its affairs with other countries. Among the factors cited by theologians are prisoner abuse, failure to acknowledge Iraqi deaths, denial of guilt, inadequate apologies, fusing of Christian faith with public policy, failure to remove the US military as an obstacle to peace, colonialism and a hidden agenda to obtain oil. Shriver was right when he said: “It is impossible to go to war (referring to USA) without sharing in the sinfulness of war, and without stirring up more evils that will someday, one hopes, be capable of being forgiven” (Shriver 2005:48). The above quotation sets a scenario for asking forgiveness from the Iraqi people! How does one ask for forgiveness from a person one regards as an enemy? The author’s opinion is that the USA has set an agenda of judgment and the search for forgiveness is going to take quite a long time, especially in relation to the Muslim world. Peace without justice is not truthful. Peace begins by confession, which will lead to repentance and then forgiveness follows, which will produce fruits of reconciliation. Abuses in the Abu-Ghraib prison said Shriver, is

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only one example for which Americans will eventually have to confess that the nation has sinned as much as its enemy. Refusing to share the death toll of Iraqis in the past war, reduced people, who are created in the image of God as collateral damage. People of faith, globally, have a belief that human beings are God’s children, therefore the death of Iraqis are as important and cause of grief as the death of Americans. In fact, the death of any person irrespective of his/her religion is too much. Facing the above situation will not make us fall short of the ethic that our Lord taught us. The situation in Apartheid South Africa and Zanzibar— problems of political violence calls us to face the reality of violence our children are growing to know. Even our film industry nurtures this violence by awarding Grammy awards to violent films. As with almost all politics, where forgiveness and repentance have to be both cited, justice needs to get in between. This process forces us to embark on global peace. How can we start this process? Before answering this question I need to share insights that will help America and all the other countries of the world. When we are faced with the evils of others (9/11) we also need to assess why these acts are done. One condemns the bombing that occurred to Americans, but, in a way terrible or awful treatment of prisoners after the bombing still continues in the United States of America, which is a clear indication that the Americans too are capable of evil. The global village must learn to confess, repent and then face forgiveness as a way that will lead to reconciliation. The reader will now explain the concept of the truth and reconciliation commission, embarked by South Africans, when re-building the country.

THE TRC PROCESS The South African model that was created immediately after the death of Apartheid can help us embark on facing our sins. The truth and reconciliation commission introduced a therapeutic model of moral order which sought or attempted to deal with a legacy of violent conflict. The author remembers what his grandfather shared with him when he was a child: This story took place after the Pedi tribe captured their enemies. It also addresses the issue of reconciliation.

THE ROLE OF RELIGION IN FOSTERING GLOBAL PEACE 145 Grand Father I share a story of how the Pedi tribes dealt with issues of violence. My grand father said when the impi go to war against another tribe, they will violently kill, capture young people, livestock and other commodities of great value. Coming back home, they will never be allowed to enter the village on that day. The soldiers will sleep outside and the following day a medicine man will come to perform rituals of cleansing at the river. Men will share their experiences of the war as they wash the spears in the river. Only then will they be allowed to enter the village—the king will welcome them and a feast begins!2 This process was done so that they don’t continue with violent act committed to other tribes. In every event where people are in conflict, the global village must attempt to open a discussion forum about the issues affecting the people. The TRC is one way South Africans can contribute to the world a model of relating and addressing violence. The author is aware that it has its own flaws, but attempts to let perpetrators meet the survivors they have violated. It is a powerful instrument that provides a framework of understanding the legacy of oppression, violence, humiliation of people within the country of Apartheid. When facing conflict, justice must become a way of addressing the issue. In the case of South Africa ‘the truth’ became central so that stories of violations may be faced, and people can then recover lost stories that were not known, especially of people who just disappeared. In other words, the TRC initiated a new set of creeds and doctrines of sin which lead people to confess their sins against each other. It provided a cleansing of the past wounds. Mallinder is helpful when addressing this issue of post conflict which plagues the global village. He has documented a sharp rise in the use of amnesties in the first wave of transitional justice in the 1980s and yet another increase following the post-South Africa second wave. The author is aware that over 66 amnesty laws came into being

These stories were shared by my grand father, Manabile, who prepared us to fight apartheid. 2

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between 2001 and 2005 (Mallinder 2007: 204–210).3 The reader needs to note that amnesty at its core, standing alongside and in tension with the moral structure of punishment, which yields the fruits of revenge, needs to be dealt with. Rwanda and Yugoslavia are classic cases. Therapeutically this model defeats or contradicts the structures of reconciliation which seek to help people relate to each other, to the point of struggling and calling for the healing of the victims and the whole nation. Tutu says: “often it negates the retributive model on the basis that it threatens a return to violence” (Tutu 2011: 32). The bishop reminds us that war torn societies were traumatized and requires therapeutic management of conflict in order to stop violence. Cohen on the other hand says that the TRC became the main site for the symbolic recognition of what is already known but was officially denied (Cohen 2001: 13). In short, it presents the prime institutional location of broad-based psychotherapeutic claims about denial, recognition of the oppressed by the oppressor, healing and reconciliation. It provided a new order where people can face each other, their past (sinful acts) so as to create a new future, which will be nurtured by peace. Peace can be created when people face their sins and they confess them. Derrida says: “such is the current power of these claims that as post-atrocity strategies, healing and reconciliation appear, now to be self-evidently right” (Derrida 2001: 50). This process revealed the evils of the past, and helped to put an end to the crimes and discords that occurred. For peace to be part of the global village, we need to address atrocities of the past. Reiff reminds us that this is part of Freudian heritage which is being predicted upon a “breaking of the bondage of the past” (Rieff 1959: 331). When we face the past we are forced to relate to the other, by doing so, a new community is developed, it may not be perfect, but it creates an atmosphere of ubuntu, human dignity. This process was a central moment of nation building and it also secured the legitimacy of the post-apartheid settlement. It also focused on healing the wounds of violent conflicts by letting perpetrators face the truth. This helps all The amnesty law database provides further information about these laws—created by Louise Mallinder of Queens University in Belfast. 3

THE ROLE OF RELIGION IN FOSTERING GLOBAL PEACE 147 to rebuild a new country, full of hope. Bishop Tutu at the end of the process had this to say: “healing will happen, and so contribute to national unity and reconciliation” (TRC meetings held in Durban May 10, 1996). For peace to come people must be committed to unearth the truth about their past darkness, this will contribute to the healing of a traumatized and wounded people— finally, the fruits produced will create harmony and unity and peace will reign among God’s people. The issue of conflict, apartheid, racism and violence created wounds that needed healing. The metaphor of the wound is important because it invokes the legacy of conflict (in any country) which creates violence and fear among a society. The language of peace must address this issue by introducing justice in the midst of destruction. Umar reminded South Africans that “people are in need of healing, and we need to heal our country if we are to build a nation which will guarantee peace and stability” (Ormar 1998: online http://www.doj.gov.za /trc/legal/justice.htm. February 10.2009). Most of our countries will have to face their past, for example, the Americans will have to face the issue of slavery and its consequences of the past. They can no longer allow the wounds of the past to fester further. The wounds must me opened, cleansed so that they may heal. Then they can apply balm in order to provide healing. Let us continue with this concept of healing. Zanzibar needs this balm; especially the conflict caused by voting. The global village needs this therapeutic model in order to live in harmony. Peace when addressed with justice, it provides a voice to the voiceless. It will finally provide a cathartic space in which the pain of the past can be purged and transformed. Perpetrator’s confessions played a crucial part in providing healing for the victims in South Africa (I am aware that it is a long process, healing does not happen over night). The confessions allowed a fuller picture of an event to emerge, sometimes relieving a victim from distress caused by previous official denials, or revealing the location of human remains, allowing families to bury and honor

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their loved ones in a proper African way.4 For the world to create peace—truth telling is a way out that will provide peace in the global village. Cohen argues further that “persistent denial is taken to indicate personal pathology” (Cohen 2001: 278). This pathology is acted out through dissociation, disintegration, splitting which becomes personality disorder. When it is acted out politically, people (politicians) start living life of lies, cultural amnesia bring these kinds of disorder when not handled with the one violated. Zanzibar, Zimbabwe, Saudi Arabia, Egypt etc. are classic cases. I want to conclude by quoting Dowdall and then make further suggestions of handling peace. Dowdall says: “TRC can contribute to rehabilitation by breaking the culture of silence. We all know that concealing, suppressing, or repressing painful memories commonly brings in its wake psychological symptoms of stress, anxiety and depression. We also know that speaking about upsetting things in a supportive and affirming setting makes people feel better” (Dowdall 1996: 34).

How true it is for a community that had gone through conflict, violence and abuse of its people. This process or model of TRC is grounded (or foundation is based on) a grammar of trauma and suffering, underpinned by claims that repressed memory caused by untold and ongoing psychological problems. Once again confessing or revealing or truth telling leads to healing of the wounds, and open a new door of relationship. Closure is possible of the dark past and people are able to face the future. The discourse of healing also became a cornerstone of the new constitution 1996: 4). This speaks of the need to heal the divisions of the past.

CONCLUSION Peace can be achieved by people who actually work for justice. The process demand that we share our knowledge with those we differ 4 African people are haunted or troubled if they have not buried their loved ones. One woman asked to be taken to a place were they burned her husband, in order to pick up dust from that place and bury it.

THE ROLE OF RELIGION IN FOSTERING GLOBAL PEACE 149 with, engage in dialogue conversations. We also need to nurture the next generation in the process of embracing peace with the element of justice. This will secure their peaceful living with each other. Faith based community can do a lot in promoting peace. A word of warning: History teaches us that, if religious power is misused, it can become a terribly destructive force. We only need to look at the current threat of terrorism around the global village, to note a myriad of cruel acts committed in the name of religion. For example, Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Hinduism are at times used in order to excuse acts of terror. We all must except this truth, acknowledge—and live out the precept that religion and terrorism are completely incompatible. Acts of terror in the name of faith are inevitably a corruption of the good and positive aspects of that faith. Not only has history taught us the potentially destructive power of religion, it has also shown us just how effective religion can be as a tool for peace. The leaders of the global village have all looked to their faith as the foundation for their actions. Bishop Tutu always says: “when faced with great adversity, the peaceful and proactive people of the world have turned to renew their energy (Faith) to advance the prospects of peace.” Few examples of these global leaders are Nelson Mandela, Martin Luther King Jr., Sojourner Truth, Dalai Lama, and Gandhi. They always remember to emphasize the humanity ubuntu behind their faith. In short, religion has a prominent place in the global village. When it is respected, it can be the most powerful tool of peace which could help human beings bridge the cultural and ethnic and avoid religious violence. It can create global peace in the world.

BIBLIOGRAPHY Cohen, S. 2001. States of Denial: Knowing About Atrocities and Suffering. Cambridge: Polity Press. Derrida, J. 2001. On Cosmopolitanism and forgiveness. London: Routledge. Dowdall, T. 1996. Psychological aspects of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. Cape Town: Human and Rousseau. Mallinder, L. 2007. “Can amnesties and international justice be reconciled?” In The International Journal of Transitional Justice. Mbwiliza, J. 2000. The Birth of a Political Dilemma and the Challenges of the Quest for New Politics in Zanzibar in the Political Plight of

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Zanzibar edited by Maliyamkono, T.L. Dar es Salaam. Tema Publishers Company Ltd. Mmuya, M. 1994. Political Parties and Democracy in Tanzania. Dar Es Salaam: University Press. Mmuya, M & Chaligha, A. 1993. The Anti-climax in Kwahani, Zanzibar: Participation and multi-partism in Tanzania. Dar es Salaam: Frederick Ebert Shigtung Press. Ormar, D. 1998. Introduction to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. www.doj.gov.za/trc/legal/justice.htm. February 2009. Rieff, P. 1959. Freud: The mind of the moralist. London: Victor Gollanz. Shriver, D. W. 2005. An Ethnic for Enemies; Forgiveness in Politics. Nashville, Orbis Press. Sultan, A. 2004. “Zanzibar President Dismisses reports that young Zanzibar’s are being recruited to fight in Iraq and Afghanistan” in Associated Press World stream Zanzibar Tutu, D.M. 1999. No Future without Forgiveness. London. Rider. Tutu, D. M. & Tutu, Mpho. 2010. Made for Goodness: and why this makes all the difference. Tilly, C. 2004. “Terror, Terrorism, Terrorists” in Sociological Theory 22.

CHAPTER 7 THOMAS MERTON: PEACEMAKER RON DART I think that Thomas Merton could easily be called the greatest spiritual writer and spiritual master of the twentieth century in English speaking America. There is no other person who has such a profound influence on those writing on spiritual topics, not only on Catholics but non-Catholics, as Merton has. Lawrence Cunningham, Soul Searching: The Journey of Thomas Merton p. 183 With Dorothy Day, Thomas Merton (1915–1968) personified the potential of the Catholic peace tradition in America. Merton stands out as one of the most brilliant peacemakers in the entire Catholic tradition. Ronald Musto, The Catholic Peace Tradition p. 249 Merton never fully embraced pacifism. Like Thomas More and Erasmus, he believed in the theoretical applicability of the just war. Yet, like the Renaissance Humanists, he looked at the horrors of contemporary warfare and concluded that the just war theory was irrelevant in practice. He was, in fact, one of the first “nuclear pacifists”. Ronald Musto, The Catholic Peace Tradition p. 250

I. MERTON: WAR AND PEACE Thomas Merton began his best selling first autobiography, The Seven Storey Mountain (1948), with these poignant and telling words:

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Merton, indeed, came into the world ‘in a year of great war’. WW I dominated Europe when Merton was born, he lived through the carnage of WW II, the Korean War, McCarthy-Cold War years and the emergence and devastating nature of the Vietnam War. Merton’s social conscience became more public with the civil rights movement in the late 1950s, the nuclear threat, the rise of ecological consciousness and much American domestic violence in the 1950s–1960s. In short, Merton lived through a period in 20th century history in which war and violence were the order of the day, and he sought, through a variety of means, to be a moderate and peacemaking voice and presence. How did Merton become the significant peacemaker that he did, and what was Merton’s understanding of peacemaking? This short paper will, in a suggestive and historic way, answer these questions. Merton’s life journey can be divided into four distinct yet overlapping phases, and it is in the fourth season of Merton’s life that his peacemaking vocation became the clearest and most mature. The first phase (1915–1938) was a rather indulgent and narcissistic period in Merton’s life that can be partially explained by a reaction to the loss of both parents when young and an inheritance that paid for schooling at Cambridge and Columbia Universities. Merton was well provided for throughout the depression of the 1930s (unlike many who weathered the depression in dire need), and he was rarely in need of finances. The fact that he made a woman pregnant when in England, and his commitment to his studies at Clare College was meager meant that his guardians recalled him to New York to monitor his activities. Merton’s first youthful yet still unpublished novel, Labyrinth, is almost Hamlet like in the paralysis in thought and deed. It would have been impossible, though, in the 1930s to ignore the fact that war was afoot, and one of Merton’s earliest novels, My Argument with the Gestapo, ponders the events of the 1930s in Germany, England and the USA. The book is not particularly deep or profound, and it tends to lean more in an aloof posture than a more probing and exacting moral path. There is, in fact, in the

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novel, a form of literary aestheticism divorced from ethics that undermines the deeper aesthetic possibilities of the novel. There is no doubt, though, that Merton was preoccupied with the meaning and significance of war at the time, and his conversations with close friends such as Lax, rice and others often turned to this topic. Merton came to see, though, that his rather wayward life lacked substance, and he was in desperate need for boundaries to discipline his rather undisciplined and ill directed desires and longings. The second phase (1938–1948) can be seen as a counterpoint and reaction to his initial phase. Merton turned to the Roman Catholic tradition in 1938, but he was convinced, increasingly so, that the role of a lay catholic was not his vocation. Merton received his MA in February 1939 (his thesis was on William Blake—who certainly had firm views on war and peace), and he began doctoral studies on Gerard Manley Hopkins in 1939. Was Merton to become an academic who would teach English Literature or was his trail to be different? He was not convinced the academic path was to be his, and he applied to the Franciscans only to be rejected when he was too honest about his questionable youth. WW II was very much before one and all at Easter 1941, and Merton did a retreat at the Abbey of Gethsemani at the time to further discern his vocation. He came to think, in his enthusiastic manner, that Gethsemani was ‘the center of America’. Merton waffled for a few months in the autumn of 1941 between working with Catherine de Hueck Doherty at Friendship House in Harlem or becoming a Cistercian monk at Gethsemani. Merton was quite aware at the time of ‘Catholic Action’ and the challenge of discerning ways of being a justice activist. The correspondence between Merton and Doherty in the autumn of 1941 is most telling and instructive. Merton seriously pondered in 1941 whether his vocation was to be a political activist. Compassionate Fire: The Letters of Thomas Merton & Catherine de Hueck Doherty (2009) speak volumes about another path Merton almost chose, and the letters between Merton and Doherty in the autumn of 1941 are lengthy, informative and illuminate much about Merton’s thinking at the time. It is significant that Merton, after months of pondering, was interviewed by Abbot Dom Frederick Dunne on December 13 1941, after which he became a postulant choir monk. The attack on Pearl Harbour occurred December 7

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1941, and on December 8 1941, Congress declared war on Japan. The dogs of war had certainly been unleashed when Merton joined the Cistercian order. If Merton’s earliest phase was one of indulgence, then his second phase was definitely a lean and ascetic one. The Cistercians were, at the time, one of the strictest orders in the Roman Catholic tradition, and they turned far away from the madding crowd. Merton joined the Cistercians at a time when the world was at war, and throughout the duration of WW II, he seemed dead to the world. Was Merton a pacifist at the time? I don’t think such a position can be argued with any surety. We do know, though, that Merton was committed to the contemplative way of the Cistercians. The ‘vita activa’ had led the west into the carnage and tragedy of war. Could the ‘vita contemplativa’ offer an alternate way? These were the deeper questions that Merton had to ponder and live through in the 1940s. WW II ended in 1945, and Merton was growing in his monastic vocation. Many were returning from the war badly bruised in soul and body, and Merton’s writings on the contemplative way, poetry and spirituality spoke to a generation of people that had seen the darkest and most brutal aspects of the human condition. The publication of The Seven Storey Mountain in 1948 catapulted Merton to prominence; 100,000 copies of The Seven Story Mountain had been printed by the spring of 1949. Merton spoke to a generation hungry for something more meaningful than war, killing and lost lives. There is a sense that with the vivid tale told by Merton about his early life in The Seven Storey Mountain he could no more be a secluded monk hidden away and dead to the world. Many were now looking to Merton for spiritual guidance, wisdom and a north star to live by. Merton’s third phase (1948–1958) was a period of time in which he emerged as one of the most significant writers in the USA and beyond on issues of the contemplative life, poetry, the monastic way, prayer, the role of the saints, liturgy, and the deeper meaning of interior transformation and the mystical life in God. He was master of Students (Scholastics) from 1951–1955 and of Novices from 1955–1965, and his articles, books and correspondence increased. Ascent to Truth (1951), Bread in the Wilderness (1953), The Last of the Fathers (1954), No Man is an Island (1955), Praying the Psalms (1956), The Living Bread (1956), The Psalms are our Prayer (1957) and Monastic Peace (1958) were just a few of the books that were published on contemplative life in the 1950s from

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Merton’s prolific pen. Gethsemani prospered because of Merton’s lucrative publishing, and many was the novice that came to Gethsemani to study with Merton. Merton had become for many a spiritual director that understood the core of the religious journey rather than merely the ornaments and externals. The inner digging that Merton did throughout most of the 1940s–1950s clearly defined and distinguished him as on the cutting edge of a new way of being Roman Catholic. Merton was keenly aware that at the core of the mystical, contemplative and meditative life was the ‘agon’ or struggle between the false and true self, the ‘old’ and ‘new’ Adam. The process of authentic self understanding meant that many a death and resurrection, phoenix-like, had to occur in the journey to the new being or new and divinized person. James Finley, a novice and directee of Merton’s, has written wisely and insightfully about the core of Merton’s transformative and razor sharp probes into the false-true self in his classic missive, Merton’s Palace of Nowhere: A Search for God through the Awareness of the True Self (1978). The deeper journey to inner peace and outer peacemaking had to begin and end with a genuine understanding of the counterfeits and decoy ducks of the true self. If this did not occur, peacemaking could just become a more subtle form of a will to power and egoism. Merton was aware, increasingly so, that the inner life should not be divorced from the outer life, contemplation should not be separated from public responsibility. The Cistercian order, in origin, was an order that had contemplative roots, but was engaged in many of the challenging issues of their time: Bernard of Clairvaux, Aelrid of Rievaulx and William of St. Thierry were front and centre in the hot button issues of their era. The more Merton dug into the origins of the Cistercians, the more he came to see that the monastery he was in had retreated from the world in a way the early Cistercians never did. In fact, the Cistercian order in origin emerged at a time in which war and peace could not be missed or ignored. But, there was sticky dilemma in this for Merton. This was faced in Merton’s book on Bernard, The Last of the Fathers: Saint Bernard of Clairvaux and the Encyclical Letter (1954). There was no doubt that Bernard was the driving force and visionary of the 1st generation of Cistercians, and such a generation was thoroughly engaged in the tough war and peace issues of the time. The problem was this. Bernard came down firm and

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obstinate in a hawkish way in favor of the 1st crusade, and he strongly encouraged a former monk in the order (then the Pope) to preach a convincing sermon on going to war against the infidels. Merton held Bernard in high regard when it came to most of his exegetical and mystical writings, but his warlike politics and his treatment of Peter Abelard were problematic. Merton was very much finding his way in the 1950s, and he was, in many ways, outgrowing the Cistercian order, and yet he was committed to remaining a faithful Roman Catholic and Cistercian. Much was happening in the broader world and in the USA at the time, and Merton was alert and attuned to the shifts in the tectonic plates. Many were quite displeased with Merton’s turn to the world, and others were delighted by it, but there can be no doubt Merton had become, by the late 1950s, much more unified and integrated in his thinking and activism. In sum, the first season of Merton’s life tended to be rather indulgent and narcissistic, whereas the second season of his journey was ascetic and decidedly inward. The publication of The Seven Storey Mountain in 1948 (and the immediate success of it) meant that Merton had become a public monk, and a monk in much demand. Merton became well known in the 1950s, in the third season of his life, as an insightful and incisive writer on the contemplative life, poetry and mysticism. He was, in fact, one of the best, and he was consulted by many for his spiritual wisdom and insights. The fourth and final season was about to emerge, and the seeds of such a transition had been germinating for many a year. Conjectures of a Guilty Bystander was begun in 1956, and in this book there is the oft recounted March 18 1958 ‘Fourth and Walnut Street’ experience in which Merton realized, in a poignant way, that he was connected to the fate and lives of all he saw at the time. The dated notion that a monk could retreat from the world was shattered in this illuminating moment for Merton. There were, of course, contributing causes to such a transformative moment, but the Walnut Street epiphany was significant for Merton. He now knew his fate, future and salvation was knit together with the human family.

II. MERTON: PEACEMAKER The fourth and final season (1958–1968) in Merton’s mature peacemaking journey can be found in much that Merton was

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pondering in Conjectures of a Guilty Bystander. Merton would be a bystander no more. He had to discern, though, how his activism would be interpreted, thought through and lived. If the contemplative way constitutes the roots from which the fruit of prophetic thought and action should emerge, where would Merton’s peacemaking path take him? This was not an easy question for Merton to answer, but the times were about to call forth an answer from Merton, and he was about to respond to the call. The dilemma for many Roman Catholics in the 1950s–1960s was that the public expression of their faith was often hitched to either republican or democratic politics. Many a Roman Catholic school or parish had Pro Deo et Patria (for God and country) etched on the mantle. Kennedy had come to power in 1961 as a Democrat, and there were Roman Catholics that were more than pleased to shift their alliance from the republican tradition to the democratic. Were these the only two options, though? Merton had reached a definite ‘fork in the road’ in the late 1950s. The issues that were coming Merton’s way could no longer be ignored. Ernesto Cardenal, for example, had been a novice with Merton from 1957–1959, and he brought to Merton tragic tales of the situation in Latin America and Nicaragua. It was, in fact, Merton’s encounter with an article written by Cardenal that stirred his social conscience and awoke much within him. ‘In August 1957, Merton read one of the Mexican magazines in which Ernesto Cardenal had a poem attacking the United Fruit Company. After sixteen years of isolation from social issues, Merton was beginning to feel cut off from what he needed to know’ (Mott: 304). I was on staff with Amnesty International in the 1980s, and I had to interview Cardenal to get his reaction to an Amnesty report on Nicaragua. After we finished the interview, I asked Cardenal about Merton. Cardenal waxed enthusiastic for more than an hour about Merton’s impact on his life and Merton’s sensitivity to the situation in Central America. Cardenal gave me a gift, in our parting of his recent book of poetry, The Music of the Spheres. Merton became, in the 1950s–1960s, one of the leading American literary critics of many Central-South American novelists and poets. American foreign policy in Latin America was wrecking havoc with the poor and marginalized. Merton could not, in good conscience, be blind to such life searing stories, and Cardenal was

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one of the more important novices who deepened and informed Merton’s conscience on these issues. The blacks in the southern states were opposing segregation and the cold war was creating a MAD (Mutual Assured Destruction) situation. The publication of Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring (1962) signaled a new shift in ecological awareness, and Merton’s interest in aboriginal people was highlighted in Ishi Means Man: Essays on Native Americans. There are even hints of Merton’s public awakening in his poem, ‘The Guns of Fort Knox’(1957). Fort Knox was in Kentucky (quite close to the monastery), and Merton could not help but be aware of the shattering of monastic silence by the nearby military gunfire. There was, in short, fragmentation, alienation and much violence afoot from a variety of places. Those who sought peace were often called ‘communists’, ‘pinkos’ or ‘antipatriotic’. Where could and did Merton turn for guidance as a peacemaker in such a time? Merton had written Pope John XXIII in 1958 a few weeks after he was elected as Pope. Pope John XXIII responded to Merton’s letter on February 11/1960. Merton was somewhat surprised in April 11/1960 when Lorenzo Barbato brought Merton a gift from the Pope: it was the stole that Pope John XXIII wore at his coronation. Merton’s work in peacemaking had many affinities with the peace Pope, and it was these explicit affinities that bore much fruit at Vatican II. The recent book by James Douglass, JFK and the Unspeakable: Why He Died and Why It Matters (2008, 2010), makes it abundantly clear that JF Kennedy, as a Roman Catholic, had a passion for peace, like the Pope and Merton, and as Kennedy moved more in a dovish direction in his foreign policy, his life became expendable for many of those in power. Douglass has done an admirable job in JFK and the Unspeakable in highlighting the Roman Catholic peace tradition of which Merton, Pope John XXIII and Kennedy played a significant role, and the role they played brought much peace and avoided war with the USSR in the early 1960s. Merton was fortunate, also, in having a living precedent and yet another presence to guide him on the peacemaking journey. Dorothy Day and the Catholic Worker had been active since the 1930s in the area of peacemaking and justice issues amongst the poor in the inner city of large urban centres. Day and the Catholic Worker modeled a way of being more radical in their understanding of the public aspect of the faith journey. Merton

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began a correspondence with Day in July 1959, and he wrote twenty-nine letters to her between 1959–1968. In a letter to Day in December 1965, he said, ‘If there were no Catholic Worker and such forms of witness, I would never have joined the Catholic Church’. Merton was drawn to the more radical approach to public faith than the democratic and republican read of the faith. Jim Forest (a friend and correspondent of Merton summed up Merton’s relationship to Day well when he said: Thomas Merton was one of those who had a high opinion of Dorothy Day and the movement she led. In the summer of 1961 he submitted the first of a series of articles— ’The Root of War is Fear’—to the Catholic Worker. ‘Foreward’ p. IX Peace in the Post-Christian Era

The Roman Catholic peace movement in the 1960s was a mixture of people with complex motives and erratic impulses. Merton and Day were aware of this, and their task was to shape and direct the meaning of peacemaking in a meaningful and less reactionary direction. Michael Mott, true to the mark, summed up the dilemma of Day and Merton: Merton sent letters of support for the non-violent peace strike organized by The Catholic Worker to Dorothy Day and Jim Forest in the spring of 1962. The letter to Forest appeared in The Catholic Worker in February. In the private letters between Dorothy Day and Thomas Merton, the two shared anxieties about the future of the movement. Both agreed on Forest’s integrity and intelligence, but for Dorothy Day there were too many young people who wanted to help who seemed consumed by violent personal conflicts. The Seven Mountains of Thomas Merton, p. 377

It was these ‘violent personal conflicts’ between many within the peace movement that, understandably so, worried Day and Merton. Both knew that if the peace movement was not grounded in something deeper than mere protest and reaction, more harm would be done than good. Merton was about to face his own challenges in this regard. Merton was also impacted by the rising Beat and counter culture tradition that emerged in the 1950s–1960s in the USA.

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Many of the Beats and those who anticipated the Beats such as William Carlos Williams, Kenneth Rexroth, Cid Corman, Henry Miller, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Allen Ginsberg and Gary Snyder had definite views about the American empire and its tendency towards war and military aggressiveness. Merton corresponded with most of these people, and some of his thinking about peace was shaped and formed by them. I have written about the Big Sur and North Cascade Beats in my missive, Thomas Merton and the Beats of the North Cascades (2008). There had not been many solid books written on the Christian tradition of peacemaking when Merton entered his peacemaking phase. William Shannon has rightly suggested in Passion for Peace: The Social Essays that Merton’s commitment to peacemaking entered a white heat phase between 1961–1962. It was at this period of time that Merton’s ‘Cold War Letters’ were written and eventually published. There are 111 letters that were written by Merton between October 1961-October 1962, and each of these letters, from a variety of insightful perspectives, deals with issues of war and peace. It was at this period of time, also, that Merton was working on a book on the history of Christian peacemaking. The book, Peace in the Post-Christian Era, was completed in April 1962, and Merton hoped the book would be published in the autumn of 1962. The Abbot General of the Order of Cistercians of the Strict Observance was Dom Gabriel Sortais, and he insisted that Merton could not publish the book. Sortais was convinced it was not the role of a monk to be writing on peace and war, public issues and politics. Needless to say, Merton was infuriated by the censuring of his emerging vision of the public role of a monk. Sortais would not back down, though. Merton was fortunate that his Abbot, Dom James Fox, made it possible for him to publish the book in mimeographed editions. There was quite a hunger for the missive, and it has been estimated that by the end of 1962, there were 500– 600 copies of the book (Peace in the Post-Christian Era: p.xiv). Peace in the Post-Christian Era was not formally published until 2004, and the ‘Foreward’ by Jim Forest and the ‘Introduction’ by Patricia Burton tell the story well of Merton’s journey to be a published peacemaker. The interior reaction of Merton to the command of Sortais is recounted in an honest and vulnerable manner in the letters that passed between Merton and Jim Forest. Merton was certainly learning what it meant to be at peace in a

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context in which his passion for peace was being subverted, denied and negated. It is significant to note, though, that at much higher levels than Sortais and the Order of Cistercians of the Strict Observance (Trappists), Vatican II was in process, and much of Merton’s thinking on peace was having an impact on the Council. The publication in April 1963 of the encyclical, Pacem in Terris (Peace on Earth) by Pope John XXIII, was almost step for step with Merton’s thinking on the arms race and nuclear weapons. Merton’s thinking on peace in the nuclear era was grounded in the Christian tradition of peacemaking, but many of the conclusions he made meant that he had become allies with those within the much broader peacemaking community in the USA and beyond. Merton turned to the Orient for leads on peacemaking, and his missive on Gandhi, Gandhi on Non-Violence (1964), made it abundantly clear that his peacemaking bucket could be dipped in different wells for life giving waters. The emerging countercultural movement and Beat tradition within the USA was drawn to Merton’s writings on peace. New Directions Press and Lawrence Ferlinghetti were keen to publish Merton’s prose and poetry on peace. In fact, Merton’s impact on the larger peace movement spread in a diversity of directions, and the fact he grounded his understanding of peace in a deeper contemplative and communal way of knowing and being meant he had earned the respect of many in the trenches of the more activists wing of peacemaking. Merton had joined the Fellowship of Reconcilation (FOR) in 1961. FOR’s statement of purpose is clear. Those who join the organization are committed not to fight in war or assist those engaged in combat. Merton was more than willing to sign the pledge as Kennedy intensified the war in Vietnam and the hawks in the arms race continued to build up their machines of war. The initial publication of Original Child Bomb: points for meditation to be scratched on the walls of a cave in 1961 that dealt with the bombing of Hiroshima was published in Robert Lax’s magazine, Pax, but the sheer power and insights of the prose poem called for much wider attention and circulation. This is why New Directions republished the lengthy and incisive prose poem in 1962. Needless to say, such an approach and interpretation of the American bombing of Hiroshima-Nagasaki did not go over with hawkish and patriotic Americans who thought the bomb had to be dropped to end WW II. I have a copy of the 1962 New Directions publication

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of Original Child Bomb with all the black ink sketches that illuminate the graphic and vivid text. Those who take the meditative time to sit with the text and sketches cannot but be internally transformed by what Merton was trying to say and do. There is a rather stark and poignant transition in Merton’s thinking in The Tower of Babel (1957) and Merton’s “Auschwitz” poem, ‘Chants to be Used in Processions Around a Site with Furnaces’(1961). The Tower of Babel is a rather crude and simplistic, detached and disengaged version of More’s Utopia, whereas the publication by Lawrence Ferlinghetti in 1961 of ‘Chants To be Used in Processions Around a Site with Furnaces’ is grounded and rooted in real history, real people and the gruesome events of Germany in WW II. There is a maturing of Merton’s thought and poetic/prophetic vision between his more apocalyptic and dualistic vision in Tower of Babel and his more compassionate, informed and engaged commitments in Original Child Bomb and ‘Chants to be Used’. The final season of Merton’s life was one of raids on the unspeakable and emblems in a season of fury. The ascent to truth had given way to the descent into the prophetic truths of history. There are, therefore, hints of Merton’s more peacemaking and prophetic role in ‘The Guns of Fort Knox’(1957), but with the publication of Original Child Bomb (1961), ‘Chant to Be Used in Procession Around a Site with Furnaces’ (1961) and the joining of the Fellowship of Reconciliation (FOR) in 1961, Merton had definitely entered the peacemaking fray. He could no more be a bystander. Contemplation and prophetic peacemaking action were wed in a wise, discerning and integrated manner. The mimeographed distribution of Peace in the Post-Christian Era was the mature fruit on a well tried tree.

III. PASTOR TO PEACEMAKERS The most recent edition of Jim Forest’s biography of Merton, Living with Wisdom: A Life of Thomas Merton (2008) has a fine chapter in it entitled ‘Pastor to Peacemakers’. Forest knew Merton from 1961–1968, and he has internalized Merton’s peacemaking message in a way that few have done. Jim Forest is now Orthodox, and he founded the Orthodox Peace Fellowship. Forest worked with both Dorothy Day and Merton, and he was the director of Fellowship of Reconciliation

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for many years. ‘Pastor to Peacemakers’ is laced with passages from Merton that deal with, primarily, the need for peace in the inner life if peace in the outer world is going to have much meaning. Merton was a master of dissecting the complex and often contradictory motives that brought people from a variety of backgrounds to the peacemaking vocation. Merton lead a retreat for peacemakers in November 1964 that was organized by the Fellowship of Reconciliation, and the theme of the retreat was ‘The Spiritual Roots of Protest’. Many of the leaders of the peace movement attended the event: A.J. Muste, Jim Forest, J.H. Yoder, Daniel and Philip Berrigan, John Oliver Nelson, Tom Cornell, W.H. Ferry and Tony Walsh. The fact that the group was a mix of protestants and catholics meant that historic divisions between these groups had to be overcome and peace between them initiated. The Berrigan brothers put together what Merton called an ‘uncanonical’ Mass in English that served the bread and wine to one and all. This was rather radical at the time, and Merton found it ‘way out’ yet ‘simple and impressive’. Merton spoke about Franz Jagerstatter’s resistance to the Nazis and the fine work Gordon Zahn had done on uncovering the historic peace tradition. The retreat was a historic event for a number of significant reasons: the inner roots of peace were probed, peacemakers from various faith traditions were brought together and an ‘uncanonical’ Mass was served that brought ecclesial peace between different Christians. Merton’s passion for peace, as I briefly mentioned above, drew from the almost forgotten Christian peace tradition, but Merton’s vision for peace also spoke to peacemakers from other religious traditions. The Vietnam War had certainly reached a feverish pitch by 1967, and in May 1967 Thich Nhat Hanh (a Buddhist monk from Vietnam) visited Merton at Gethsemani monastery for a couple of days. It was from such a meeting that Merton said ‘Thich Nhat Hanh is my brother’. Dan Berrigan suggested to Merton in 1967 that he go to Vietnam as a ‘hostage for peace’. Merton was open to the suggestion, but the idea never became a reality. Berrigan published a book with Thich Nhat Hanh, The Raft Is Not the Shore: Conversations Toward A Buddhist/ Christian Awareness (1975) that demonstrated the direction more radical Roman Catholics were going on the path of interfaith awareness. Merton had meetings with the much younger Dalai

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Lama when he was in India in the late autumn of 1968, and Signs of Peace: The Interfaith Letters of Thomas Merton (2006) illustrate in ten compact chapters how wide ranging was Merton’s commitment to peace in his dialogue with leaders of other faith traditions. Merton, although not aware of it, was closing in on the final few steps of his life in 1968. He had dreamed of becoming a hermit for many years, and he had become one at Gethsemani, but his popularity made it virtually impossible for him to be a hermit. Many were the visitors to his hermitage. Merton longed for a more isolated and secluded hermitage. He was given permission in 1968 to look for a hermitage far from Gethsemani, and his final few books, Woods, Shore, Desert: A Notebook May 1968, Thomas Merton in Alaska: The Alaskan Conferences, Journals, and Letters and The Asian Journal of Thomas Merton embody and reflect his quest for deeper silence and a hermitage where the meaning of inner peace could be more meaningfully explored. Sadly and tragically so, Merton died in Thailand after giving a lecture on ‘Marxism and Monasticism’ in December 1968, the issue of justice and peace ever before him. I was fortunate in the autumn of 2008 to visit the site of the convent where Merton’s led his final retreat in Eagle River in Alaska. My trek to Alaska was organized to coincide with the exact days Merton had been in Alaska (only forty years later). I used Thomas Merton in Alaska: The Alaskan Conferences, Journals, and Letters as my guide. This book is often ignored in the final phase of Merton’s journey, but the retreat he led brings together, in an evocative, compact and probing way, his commitment to contemplation and action, peacemaking in the inner and outer life. It is, in many ways, a more judicious and informed book than The Asian Journal. My article on my pilgrimage, ‘In the Footsteps of Thomas Merton: Alaska (The Merton Seasonal: A Quarterly Review: Vol. 33, No.4, Winter 2008) ponders how wisely and thoroughly Merton had integrated much of his life long thinking in his Alaskan trip and the retreat he led when there.

IV. SUMMARY Merton’s peacemaking journey can be summed up in four phases in his short pilgrimage. The first season (1915–1938) tended to be a more indulgent and narcissistic phase in which Merton was young and egoistic. There were hints in his early years of something deeper, but not much more than erratic and undeveloped pointers

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of the path he would walk. The second season (1938–1948) was, in some ways, a penitential and ascetic phase in Merton’s journey. The quest went much deeper for an inner peace that was definitely lacking in Merton’s scattered and fragmented youth. The publication and immense popularity of The Seven Storey Mountain in 1948 brought to an end the more insulated and isolated phase of Merton’s life. The third season (1948–1958) of Merton’s life was a combination of Merton uncovering the relationship of contemplation to peace and, equally important but in a more hesitant way, the relationship between contemplation and public responsibility. It was in the fourth and final season (1958–1968) of Merton’s journey that his various approaches to peace were fully integrated, thought through and lived forth in the most meaningful manner. In this final season, he integrated the inner peace of the contemplative way, peace and renewed concord between different forms of Christianity, peace in the larger political, social, ecological and economic realms and peace between Christianity and other religions. It is in this final phase that ‘Merton stands out as one of the most brilliant peacemakers in the entire Catholic tradition’ and ‘one of the first nuclear pacifists’.

SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY Apel, William. Signs of Peace: The Interfaith Letters of Thomas Merton. New York: Orbis Books, 2006. Bamberger, John. Thomas Merton: Prophet of Renewal. Kalamazoo: Cistercian Publications, 2005. Dart, Ron. Thomas Merton and the Beats of the North Cascades. Vancouver: Serratus Press, 2008. Forest, Jim. Living With Wisdom: A Life of Thomas Merton. New York: Orbis Books, 2008. Labrie, Ross. The Writings of Daniel Berrigan. New York: University Press of America, 1989. Merton, Thomas. The Last of the Fathers: Saint Bernard of Clairvaux and the Encyclical Letter, Doctor Mellifluus. New York: Harcourt, Brace and Company,1954. Merton, Thomas. Thomas Merton on Saint Bernard. Kalamazoo: Cistercian Publications, 1980. Merton, Thomas (edited and Introduction, Patricia Burton). Peace in the Post-Christian Era. New York: Orbis Books, 2004.

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Merton, Thomas. The Nonviolent Alternative. New York: Farrar, Straus, Giroux, 1972. Merton, Thomas. Gandhi on Non-Violence. New York: A New Directions Paperbook, 1964. Merton, Thomas. Conjectures of A Guilty Bystander. New York: Image Books, 1968. Mott, Michael. The Seven Mountains of Thomas Merton. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1984, Musto, Ronald. The Catholic Peace Tradition. New York: Books, 2002. Pramuk, Christopher. Sophia: The Hidden Christ of Thomas Merton. Collegeville: Liturgical Press, 2009. Wild, Robert (edited). Compassionate Fire: The Letters of Thomas Merton and Catherine de Hueck Doherty. Notre Dame: Ave Maria Press, 2009. Woodcock, George (Introduction). Thoughts on the East: Thomas Merton. New York: New Directions Books, 1995.

CHAPTER 8 RECENT INTER RELIGIOUS DIALOGUE AND PEACE INITIATIVES IN INDIA ESPECIALLY AFTER MASJID—MANDIR ISSUE BIJESH PHILIP Quite often people in India watch horrible news of communal violence or terrorism inspired by religious fanaticism in TV and print media. Unfortunately, the dedicated initiatives for justice, peace and harmony are not getting due coverage in media. At least a balance of bad news with good news is extremely essential. The focus of this paper is the recent harmony making efforts of individuals and institutions in this country. The demolition of Babri Masjid in Ayodhya, UP on December 6th, 1992 by the fanatic forces aiming at the building of a Mandir (temple) in the name of Rama was a decisive moment in the history of modern India. Before this, during the time of partition and thereafter there were many incidents of religious violence. However with the Ram temple movement which culminated in the demolition of Babri mosque, communal rift in this country was broadened and deepened tremendously. There were a few massive incidents of religious violence and massacres subsequent to this. In 2002, Gujarat witnessed the unfortunate Godhra event and consequent massacre of thousands of Muslims by the communal forces who claim to have affiliation to the majority religion. The next terrible persecution was against the Christians in Orissa in 2008 and other parts of the country. Like HIV/AIDS, the virus of communalism is also spreading throughout the country. South 167

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India, which was insular to communalism, experienced religious violence and communal attacks in many places recently. The fascist ideology which upholds a mono culture of Hinduism as the only glorious heritage of the nation which encourages hate campaign against the minority religions through various wings of Sangha Parivar is one of the root causes of the recent religious violence in India. Misuse of religion by politicians, economic imbalances in the society, and the so called conversion issue are some of the other causes of the spread of communalism.

PEOPLE’S MOVEMENT AGAINST RELIGIOUS VIOLENCE On certain occasions peace loving masses and various organizations jointly organize peace rallies and mega meetings against the violence in the name of religions. Immediately after the inhuman violence perpetrated by the fundamentalists in Gujarat and Orissa in 2002 and 2008, the nation was able to witness such inter faith responses in different parts of the country. Under the initiative of Orissa Youths especially the school teachers, with the support of the civil society, a rally was organized for communal harmony and restoration of normal life in the riot torn places of Orissa. Peace Rally started from Bhubaneshwar on December 9, 2008 and ended at Phulbhani on 17 Dec. The objectives of the rally were to create a condition of peace and harmony, to help the nonpartisan common mass express their peace aspiration and to build a climate of cordiality between communities. Further it was to facilitate the Christian community to regain normal life and to facilitate a meeting point and channel of communication between communities that may enable them to express their grievances and redress them amicably. From September through November 2008 many activists of Navnirman Samiti and All Utkal Primary Teachers Federation (AUPTF) along with a number of the OSSA (Orissa Shanti Sadbhavana Abhiyan) fraternity prepared the ground for the rally by a number of meetings at various places. Peace rallies from December 9th to 17th 2008 covered around seventy villages and blocks in the conflict ridden Kandhamal District, Orissa, with street theatres and indigenous cultural expressions. On 17th December 2008, nearly 3000 teachers from all parts of Kandhamal and even from other parts of Orissa participated in a procession and had a public

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meeting at Phulbani town. The following resolution was adopted by the Peace Campaigners there: 1. The Community shall alienate the fascist forces and maintain peace. 2. Teachers who are architects of community need to shoulder the responsibility of maintaining peace and sanity in the society. 3. The teachers’ community will organize joint celebration of religious festivals as an expression of unity and solidarity. 4. The teachers’ leaders will initiate dialogue among the community leaders to explore the avenues of sharing and fellowship among the diverse religious groups. These peace rallies and public meetings have univocally proclaimed that the forces of fanaticism, communalism and casteism will be defeated and gave out a bold message that unity, peace and justice will be triumphant.1 Similar efforts for the restoration of peace continue in Orissa. In one of the recent peace initiatives, some 4,500 Christian and Hindu women marched in Orissa’s Kandhamal district on March 8, 2010, demanding interfaith harmony and development. The march in Balliguda was to mark International Women_s Day. Participants demanded justice for the survivors of sectarian violence and the proper implementation of government welfare schemes. The women, most of them Hindus, called for reconciliation between Christians and Hindus and the rehabilitation of women affected by the violence. Several speakers urged the marchers not to fall prey to forces that try to divide the community along religious lines, or agents of globalization who try to displace tribal and low caste people under the pretext of industrial development.2

Raj Bharath Patta, A Violent Sight on a Silent Night. ISPCK/NCCI, p. 112 2 UCANEWS Published Date: March 10, 2010 1

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THOUGHT OF A FEW VISIONARIES IN THE RECENT INDIA Teachings of Kabir, Guru Nanak, Tulsidas, Swami Vivekananda, Tagore, Mahatma Gandhi, Brahmabandha Upadhyaya, have contributed a lot to the religious harmony in India. However, the attempt here is to highlight the thought world of a few Indian thinkers who have taken the vision of religious harmony and a just peace of the society very seriously in recent India. Asghar Ali Engineer, Swami Agnivesh, Paulos Mar Gregorios, K. P. Elias, Amartya Sen are representatives from Islam, Hinduism, Christianity, and secular viewpoint.

SWAMI AGNIVESH: Swami Agnivesh is a known social activist, a committed peacemaker and a great Guru in India. He was a lecturer of Business Management at St. Xavier’s College, Calcutta, from 1963 to 1968. In 1968, he left his home and job at Calcutta and went to Haryana to join the Arya Samaj, a Hindu reformist movement, and on March 25, 1970, he took to monastic orders under Arya Samaj. On the same day he also founded Arya Sabha, a political party based on Arya Samaj principles as he described in his 1974 book, Vaidik Samajvad. In his introduction of Dharma, Swami challenges the religions to heal themselves to regain their natural potential to enable humans to relate to God and the rest of the world: “Religion is about relationships. Every religion tries to enable the human person to relate to the divine and to the rest of creation in a harmonious and mutually enriching fashion. It is from this perspective that the importance of the relationship between religions needs to be appreciated. The alienation between religions, or a relationship of mutual hostility, even apathy, implies a contradiction of the very idea of religion. Physicians need to heal themselves first. We need to work earnestly towards bringing about a wholesome relationship of constructive cooperation among religions.”3 He criticizes collaboration of religion and political or

3

Swami Agnivesh, Introduction of Dharma, swamiagnivesh.com, p. 1.

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national powers which leads to the loss of spirituality and prophetic spirit necessary for the harmony making mission. Swami Agnivesh distinguishes religion and spirituality and thinks that the erosion of spirituality from religions is the cause for different kinds of corruption and interreligious conflicts. Spirituality leads to a sense of shared mission of humanity. Quality of life as well as the health and wholeness of the whole of creation are basic to spirituality. Thus Swami invites us to shift our focus from pure materialism and individual salvation without any concern for the well being of the rest of world. Immediately after the massacre of Muslims in Gujarat in 2002, Swami visited those victims of religious violence and tried to organize peace marches. In an article written immediately after this with the title A Close Shave with Modi’s Normalcy he exposes the indifference of the rest of the country to the Muslim community as dangerous: “It is incredibly sad, how the Muslim community is almost wholly abandoned by the rest of the country. And we are worried at the foolishness that makes the rest of us think that it is ‘their’ problem and not ‘our’ problem as well. It is this, much more than the outbreak of orchestrated violence against the Muslims that worries us; for it shows that the Sangh Parivar calumny against the Muslim has infected us to an extent that we do not realize. Far too many people seem to have, however unwittingly, internalized the Parivar outlook in respect of the Muslims.” Swami has developed an enlightening thought on the connection of unity and diversity which is essential for a meaningful existence of the nation. In relation to this he traces the roots of religious fundamentalism and casteism and recommends the unity in diversity as the existential necessity of society: “What characterizes the fundamentalist advocacy is the need to reduce everything to a simplistic interpretation. What dictates this preference is the fact that religious fundamentalism is, essentially, a quest for power rather than the deepening of one’s religiosity. Power is allergic to complexity; for simplicity is the pre-condition for the exercise of power over others. This is also why power contains the seed of its own corruption. All religious traditions, especially of Indian origin, are informed by the insight that creation at all levels involves a dynamic balance between unity and diversity. As a matter of fact, unity is meaningful only within diversity. But for diversity, unity will cease to mean anything at all. It is a pity that in the Indian

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context the best of our philosophical and spiritual insights have been frustrated in the practical sphere by the caste system. Caste is essentially a mechanism of disunity and alienation. It sees society as a sphere of exclusion with a religious sanction. The caste outlook recognizes diversity, but rejects the value of diversity and so becomes allergic to comprehensive unity. But unity is the lifeline of society.”4 As swami thinks diversity is surely a blessing and wealth alternatively it is reasonable to fear that without unity this blessing may be turned into a curse.

PAULOS MAR GREGORIOS Mar Gregorios (1922–1996), the reputed philosopher and theologian bishop of the Indian Orthodox Church was deeply committed to global peace. Dialogue between religions and the secular and the religious is very decisive in Paulos Mar Gregorios’ understanding of peace. Though dialogues between nations are important for global peace, it is not desirable to be satisfied with that for achieving the unity of human race. So Paulos Mar Gregorios strongly recommends a dialogue of religions: “This is my dream that religions are constantly in touch with each other, not only to dialogue, but also to see how the unity and the peace of humanity could be maintained and how the religions could provide a different basis for transcending national loyalties than the transnational corporation.”5 It seems that Paulos Mar Gregorios prefers the expression ‘Concourse of Religions’ rather than dialogue. Religions will continue overcoming all attacks and threats from secularism and materialism. The exponents of secularism or the non-religious people will be around one sixth of the total population. Since huge majorities of mankind are still religious and in a good number of conflicts, religions are involved or misused, it is necessary to bring

Swami Agnivesh, India a Case for Unity and Diversity in www.swamiagnivesh.com 5 Gregorios, Religion and Dialogue. Delhi: MGF and ISPCK, 2000. p. 224. 4

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them to dialogue to overcome fundamentalism, misunderstandings and bring about peace. He rejects the fusion of religions and promotes dialogue for the unity and welfare of mankind. For Paulos Mar Gregorios, tolerance is not an adequate principle for inter-religious dialogue. Toleration is for something we do not like which in fact we disapprove. So he rightly says, “Inter-religious dialogue demands mutual understanding and mutual respect, not ‘tolerance’.”6 However inter-religious dialogue alone will not bring about the unity of the human race. So he strongly believes that uniting the secular and the religious together is the only option for the unity of the human race. Misuse of religion by its own people is one of the roots of fundamentalism, which breeds communal conflicts. Every religion has an exclusivist polemic dimension and an inclusivist humanitarian dimension. Religious fundamentalism, which is exclusivistic and polemic in its temper, gets monetary and moral support from the privileged classes within that religion, but is opposed by the fundamentalists of other religions. Thus communal conflict is the conflict of the vested interests in each religion. So Mar Gregorios’ suggestion is to promote, organize and mobilize the other aspect of religion, which is more compassionate, humanitarian and inclusive which is present in a limited number of religious leaders and a large number of cultured believers.7 Active promotion of this inclusivist humanitarian dimension in each religion is very necessary for serving communal harmony. Politicians use the negative temper of religion for their selfish agendas and encourage communal conflicts. In fact religion in itself is not the cause of communalism. As Paulos Mar Gregorios puts it, “clearly, the problem is not the simple mixing of religion and politics as such, but the horrid marriage of decadent religion and rotten politics.”8 For Paulos Mar Gregorios, social injustice and political insecurity are the root causes of communalism. The failure of the Gregorios, Religion and Dialogue, 187. Gregorios, The Secular Ideology. Kottayam: ISPCK/MGF, 1998, p. 68. 8 Gregorios, The Secular Ideology, 40. 6 7

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government to provide the leaders of various religions to take part in the total national and state decision making process is also contributing indirectly to the development of communalism. Paulos Mar Gregorios suggests a solution to this problem considering the particular context of India: Making religious leaders responsible to the whole people of India and not merely to their own religious communities would be an important step forward in overcoming the communal problem in India today. In the name of a pseudo- secular ideology, the state should not shy away from its responsibility to enlist the support of religious leaders in the national cause and for promoting the welfare of the whole people in our country. Of course no religion should be allowed to dominate these councils (councils of religious leaders who work towards justice and harmony in national and regional levels) on religious harmony and people’s welfare, but the council has to be pluralistic and democratic.9

Mar Gregorios’ reasoning for Christians engaging in dialogue can be summarized thus: 1. For a proper understanding of humanity: Theology is mainly understanding of what God does in the world and how he deals with human beings. This cannot be possible through a limited approach to Christians only. Present Western theology is defective precisely because of its defective and partial understanding of what constitutes humanity. Dialogue can help in remedying this defect. 2. To know Christ’s influence in other religions: “The great religions of the world have been profoundly affected by exposure to the person and teachings of Christ. This work of God can be understood only in patient and trusting dialogue with people of other faiths.”10 3. For strengthening and stimulating one’s own faith: One’s understanding of Christianity itself can be changed in the context of inter-religious dialogue. In dialogue, people meet with mutual trust and openness, each respecting the convictions of the other. The object is to understand each other in their varying 9

Gregorios, The Secular Ideology, ix. Gregorios, Religion and Dialogue, 158.

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religious traditions and to be mutually helped in one’s own grasp of the truth. This is an attempt to correct each other and to be corrected. 4. It is the Church’s responsibility to contribute to the creative unity of mankind: The Christian Church is an instrument of God for bringing humanity together in unity, creativity and righteousness. 5. Christian love is a compelling basis for dialogue. “Christ is the first born of creation, the head of all created reality. He loves not only all men, but also all that is created. I am united to Christ in baptism and Chrismation. My mind is the mind of Christ. Therefore my love is non-exclusive and open to the whole creation. Nothing is alien or threatening. Love and compassion for the whole creation is the characteristic of Christ. The Church as His body shares in this love and compassion. I as a member of that body have to express that love and compassion in faithfulness, integrity and openness with sympathetic understanding. This is sufficient and compelling reason for me to engage in dialogue with people of other faiths. It is love in Christ that sends me to dialogue.”11 Unity of global human family is one of Paulos Mar Gregorios’ major concerns. So he writes: “Absolute loyalty to tribes, nations or races is reactionary and anti-human. We must move from the parochial loyalties of village or region, town or nation, tribe or race, language or religion, to that wider loyalty- to the single humanity whose common interests are the highest priority for all human beings.”12 It is in this context must we understand Paulos Mar Gregorios’ concern for inter-religious co-operation for peace. As nations work in the spirit of global international co-operation, the religious people have also to come out to affirm a global interreligious unity and co-operation. So Paulos Mar Gregorios strongly recommends a permanent United Religions attached to the United Nations. In this context it is interesting to understand Paulos Mar Gregorios’ proposal of a “Panchasheel” for religions, which can be summarized as follows13: 1. Mutual respect: Mutual respect Gregorios, Religion and Dialogue, 157. Gregorios, Religion and Dialogue, 118. 13 Gregorios, Religion and Dialogue, 167–170. 11 12

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between religions can be engendered by teaching each person to respect other religions as well as his own, never to speak hatefully of them and to learn what is best in each religion. 2. Nondiscrimination: The principle of our secular democracy that no man or woman shall be discriminated against because of his or her religion should be upheld at any cost. 3. Dialogue or learning from each other: All religions have a tendency to feel self-sufficient. But when one sets out to learn deeply from other religions, one’s understandings of one’s own religion is transformed and deepened. At least leaders and thinkers of each religion need an exposure at depth to the teachings of other religions. 4. Resolving conflicts by Peaceful Means: There should be a national network of religious leaders committed to the ideal of religious and communal harmony, who will be vigilant about communal tensions in various parts of the country. 5. Inter-religious cooperation in service to community: Ways and means for joint service are worth exploring. He recommends dialogue in three basic levels. a) Dialogue on the theoretical and theological aspects of religions. b) Dialogue in which theoretical and practical dialogues are transcended into the realm of entering into each other’s spiritual experience and group worship. c) Dialogue on common social or economic problems and about common projects and practical collaboration. Religious dialogue in Gregorian perspective is not that of academicians who have just knowledge of different religions, but is a dialogue of experts or laymen who practice their respective religion. So commitment to one’s own religious tradition is important in Gregorian thought. K. P. Eliaz: He is a professor of Religions in Bishop’s College, Calcutta and a renowned Indian Christian Theologian who has taken a consistent effort to teach and promote pluralistic inclusivism. His teaching and research covers a wide area of interests including Indian Christian theology, subaltern theologies, Eastern Christian thought, religious philosophy, all of which are held together under the umbrella of pluralistic inclusivism developed from the Advaita philosophy. His religious philosophy gives priority to other religions in understanding one’s own faithtradition. He recommends pluralistic inclusivism as a way beyond exlusivism, inclusivism and pluralism. Exclusivism maintains the monopoly of truth in one’s own religion and thinks of other religions as of no value and truth whereas inclusivism sees in one’s

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own religion the fulfillment of everything good in other religions. Pluralism maintains that other religions are equally salvific paths to the one God as that of one’s own faith. But Pluralistic inclusivism leads to relational convergence among different religions. In pluralistic inclusivism each religious faith receives from other religious faiths new insights regarding its own conceptual content. In other words every religion must become pluralistic with the contributions of other religions and inclusive with the fulfillment of theological and spiritual contents of one’s own faith in and through the contributions of other living faiths. By questioning the traditional inclusive thinking he proposes that other faiths will contribute to the Christian faith according to the situation. He is of the opinion that universal Jesus cannot be understood except from the point of Advaita. It is noticeable that in pluralistic inclusivism “religious resources of the world are conceived as the common property of humanity.”14 Another aspect is that in pluralistic inclusivim, “there is social justice maintained in the realm of religious experiences by sharing with those who do not have, but this is entirely different an attitude from that of imposing upon others forcibly what they do not want. Pluralistic inclusivism always maintains humility to see that others have better things than us. The superiority of others is always affirmed in it, rather than claiming our own superiority.”15 In short K. P. Eliaz’ pluralistic inclusivism is a plea for a relational convergence of the thoughts and experiences of diverse religious faiths.

ASGHAR ALI ENGINEER Asghar Ali the great Indian Muslim scholar and activist is deeply committed to the peace of religions and to the enlightenment of Muslims community regarding a vision of peace By quoting verses like 3:133 from Quran he says that there is no doubt that acts of retaliation have absolutely no place as far as the Qur’an is K.P. Eliaz, Theology of Religions: Birmingham Papers and other Essays, 1998. P.1 15 K.P. Eliaz, Theology of Religions: Birmingham Papers and other Essays, 1998. P.184 14

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concerned. A true believer has to restrain his/her anger and should pardon rather than kill in revenge and should be doer of good. Thus all these religious sounding armies should wind themselves up if they at all believe in Islam and should devote themselves to promote peace and security for innocent people. This bloodshed is most irreligious act. It should be remembered that there is no relation between religion and violence, neither in Islam, nor in any religion for that matter. Violence is a social and political phenomenon. It is true that there is mention of war in scriptures like Ramayana, Mahabharata and the Qura’n. But this mention is not to establish any integral link between religion and violence but to portray certain social and political situation that prevailed at that time. It can be called integral only if these scriptures mandate violence as a desirable solution. He opines that it is important to distinguish between what is empirical and ideological. While violence is empirical, peace is ideological. All scriptures, particularly the Qur’an while permitting violence in some inevitable situations, ordain peace as a norm. The great religions of the world came to establish justice and peace, not to perpetrate revenge and violence. The pre-Islamic Arab society was highly violent society. There was no concept of spirituality and higher morality. It is Islam, which brought, for the first time, the concept of higher morality to the Arab society. Peace (salam) was part of this higher morality. It was in view of the violence in the Arab society that even greeting between two Muslims was made as Al-salam-u-’alaykum (i.e. peace be upon you) and it is the principal form of greeting among the Muslims. However, as Asghar Ali describes the post-Islamic Arab society did not easily imbibe the higher Islamic morality. It required inner struggle to control oneself and it was for this reason that many Muslim thinkers, particularly the Sufi thinkers called this inner struggle to control one’s desires and raw passions as jihad-eakbar (i.e. the great jihad and real jihad) and described war with sword as jihad-e-asghar (i.e. small jihad). The Sufis were the pacifists of Islam and those who kept themselves away from the violent struggle for power and also practiced great restraint. They thus could imbibe the higher morality of Islam.

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The Qur’an, as pointed out above, tried to spread higher morality of which peace was the most important component. In fact the word Islam itself is derived from the root slm which is the root letters for peace. Islam means establishing peace as well as surrendering to the Will of Allah. One of the names of Allah is Salam i.e. peace. Many Muslims are named as Abdus Salam i.e. servant of peace which also means servant of Allah as Allah is peace. As any other liberation theologian Asghar Ali also emphasizes the fact that there cannot be peace without justice. Today there is no peace on earth as there is no justice. As far as Islam is concerned justice and peace are integral parts of its teachings. Due to high pitched propaganda by extremely vocal sections of fundamentalists, cultural and religious prejudices spread like wild fire. The media also plays very important role in spreading these prejudices. Repeated negative reporting in the media leads to widespread prejudices against certain religious or cultural groups. So Asghar Ali firmly believes that entering into dialogue is the only way out for promoting better understanding between the conflicting groups. The dialogue can take place between different kinds of groups: 1) political groups; 2) religious groups and 3) supporters of political or religious groups. Also, there are different levels of dialogue and a comprehensive process of dialoguing will involve all these levels. It can take place at the level of political or religious leaders; at the level of intellectuals from different groups and also at the level of masses. The nature of dialogue will vary at these levels. There are millions of people who give great importance to their respective ritual and theological systems. An inter-religious dialogue, as the very basis of the dialogue, should accept the central importance of the ritual and theological systems. In this context he lays down some ground rules for inter-religious dialogue which would be of great help in carrying on inter-religious dialogue: 1) Those who enter into dialogue should be firmly rooted in their faith tradition and should have inner conviction. It is true conviction without being sectarian which becomes the firm ground for dialogue. 2) There should not be any feeling of superiority of their respective traditions in the minds of dialogue partners. The feeling of superiority can mar the very spirit of dialogue. 3) Dialogue should never become polemics. Polemical style is the

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very anti-thesis of dialogue. Polemics try to prove the other wrong while dialogue is conducted to understand the other. 4) Dialogue should not only be conducted to understand the other but also should respect the integrity of the other. No dialogue can be conducted if there is no respect for integrity and convictions of the other. 5) The idea of dialogue should be to explain one’s point of view and not to convert the other to one’s own point of view. Even a slightest attempt to convert the other to one’s point of view will destroy the spirit of dialogue. It will then be an attempt at conversion and this will lead to resentment. Attempt at conversion also implies that the person sought to be converted has belief system not as good as that of the convertor. 6) The dialogue partners should be prepared to recognize the uniqueness of the others’ belief, ritual or theological systems. It is this uniqueness which makes it different. It is not the question of right or wrong, but rather of uniqueness and diversity. 7) The dialogue partners should also recognize that diversity is the very basis of life. Without diversity life will become drab and would lose all its charm. The Qur’an not only accepts this diversity but also legitimizes it. It is Allah’s desire to have diversity (5:48; 2:148). Lack of diversity and enforcing one faith system or one ideological system can ultimately lead to fascism and authoritarianism. Thus theological states, like ideological ones, tend to be highly authoritarian. 8) Dialogue should promote the spirit of accommodation and adjustment to minimize conflict in the society. The dialogical spirit consists in appreciating others’ difficulties and complexities of their situation. Accommodation is the very essence of dialogical culture. 9) One has to understand the difference between dialogue and monologue for effective dialoguing. The desire to dominate in the dialogue leads to monologue. Each dialogue partner should get equal opportunity to explain her/his point of view. Dialogue can take place only in true democratic spirit recognizing the rights of all concerned in the dialogue. 10) Lastly one must understand that an effective dialoguing is possible only when one not only listens to the others’ point of view but understands and appreciates it in the given context. Even the scriptural text has to be situated in a

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particular context unless it be a value-statement. Criticism of the text is often based on ignorance of the context. If these ground rules are followed in inter-religious and intercultural dialogues the result will be quite encouraging.16 Asghar Ali strongly believes that the mosaic model of society can retain its beauty only in harmony and conflict will only reduce this mosaic into complete disjunction due to stress and strain. He has also written about the dialogue of life which is continuously taking place at the level of the masses. The dialogue of life consists in living together with all its problems and stresses and strains and sharing each others’ joys and woes in human partnership. As he rightly thinks, we witness this living in togetherness and celebration of life at the level of masses. This is real dialogue of life, a dialogue through living together and sharing together.

Amartya Sen, the world famous economist and philosopher has made a thorough search in the long history of India to prove the fact that pluralism was the ancient heritage of India and also to show that the manipulations of the history by the fanatics to promote interreligious confrontations is baseless. He highlights the rich tradition of the peaceful presence of different faiths side by side in India. Persecuted minorities such as Jews, Christians, and Parsees from abroad who came to India many centuries ago used to experience a comfortable life in this part of the world. Amartya Sen sees a continuation of that tolerant and receptive tradition in the liberal writings of modern-day political or literary leaders such as Gandhi or Tagore and also in the speeches and religious writings of many non-aggressive Hindu leaders such as Vivekananda. He unambiguously argues that India is not a ‘Hindu country’ even before the arrival of Islam. Buddhism was the dominant religion in India for nearly a millennium. Indeed, Chinese scholars regularly described India as ‘the Buddhist kingdom.’17 So Amartya Sen vehemently opposes the Hindu sectarian perspective of a theocratic Hindu state that might see Hinduism as 16 17

(http://andromeda.rutgers.edu/~rtavakol/engineer/theology.htm) Amartya Sen, The Argumentative Indian. 2005, p. 56

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its official religion. As a general principle he says that “the respective sizes of the different religious communities should not be allowed to disrupt the rights, including the sense of belonging that every citizen should be able to enjoy.”18 He makes a powerful plea to struggle against the miniaturization of India by the fanatic forces: “Through their attempts to encourage and exploit separatism, the Hindutva movement has entered into a confrontation with the idea of India itself. This is nothing short of a sustained effort to miniaturize the broad idea of a large Indiaproud of its heterodox past and its pluralist present- and to replace it by the stamp of a small India, bundled around a drastically downsized version of Hinduism. In the confrontation between a large and a small India, the broader understanding can certainly win. But the battle for the broad idea of India cannot be won unless those fighting for the larger conception know what they are fighting for.”19 Because of the majority status of Hindus in India, not only the Hindutva enthusiasts, but some other intellectuals are also tempted to identify India as a pre-eminently Hindu country. For example in his famous book, The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of World Order, Samuel Huntington places India firmly in the category of the ‘Hindu civilization’. Amartya Sen criticizes this reductionist view of Huntington which downplays the fact that India has many more Muslims (more than 140 million- larger than the entire British and French population put together) than any other country in the world with the exception of Indonesia. Added to this emphasis on pluralistic nature of the past and present India, Amartya Sen also stresses the fact that our religion is not our only identity.

CERTAIN ORGANIZATIONS COMMITTED TO HARMONY AND PEACE

It is by understanding the gravity of the issue of religious conflicts and violence that many individuals and educational, religious and secular organizations in India came forward to take up harmony 18 19

Amartya Sen, The Argumentative Indian. 2005, p. 55. Ibid., p. 72.

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making mission seriously. Sri Rama Krishna Mission, Gandhi Peace Foundation and Study Centers, Catholic Bishops Conference of India (CBCI), National Council of Churches in India (NCCI), Inter Faith Coalition on Peace(ICP), Senate of Serampore College, India Peace Center, Nagpur etc., have contributed a lot to the cause of peace in this country and worldwide. The following are a few important organizations recently developed and deeply committed to dialogue and peacemaking in India. Henry Martin Institute (HMI), Hyderabad, is striving to create better understanding between people of different faiths and facilitates the process of dialogue and reconciliation. With the resources of a well regarded faculty, multi language library, and modern conference center, HMI has built a reputation for scholarship on inter faith relations, especially involving Hindus, Muslims and Christians. Citizens for Justice and Peace (CJP) was the response of a group of citizens from Mumbai to the Gujarat genocide in 2002. Its major objective is to promote communal harmony in India. Providing legal advice and guidance to the victims and bringing together the affected families of the two tragedies in Gujarat—the riot victims of 2002 and victims of the July 26th 2008 serial bomb blasts in Ahmadabad—to create a bridge between the two religious communities were just a few peace initiatives of CJP. Samerth is an Ahmadabad based NGO founded in the early nineties. It focuses on conflict resolution, peace building and education. Since 2003 they work in the Juhupura, Sarkhej, Jivraj, and Vejalpur areas of Ahmadabad towards economic restoration of both Hindu and Muslim communities. They carry out peace education with school children, youth and adolescents, community leaders. Dharma Bharathi Mission: This is a mission for national integration under the leadership of Swami Sachidananda Bharathi and presently centered at Dharma Bharathi Ashram, Mulunthuruthy Kerala. Swami believes that the regeneration of India would be possible only if the religions could join hands as one people, ‘the people of India.’ The mission is based on the conviction that peace and Value education is the only remedy to the problems of corruption, communalism and the growing consumerism. Swami initiated the National Regeneration

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Movement (NRM) during the Golden Jubilee of India’s Independence. The Aikiya Alayam or Temple of Unity founded in Chennai by Fr. Ignatius Hirudayam in the early seventies was a well known centre of inculturation and inter-religious dialogue. It was founded as an Indian Ashram. Gradually it was evolved into the institute of Dialogue with Cultures and Religions (IDCR). With this evolution, the emphasis was shifted to research into causes and concrete efforts at conflict transformation. The institute got itself recognized as a research institute of the University of Madras. Dialogue with culture is strengthened by the presence of De Nobili Research Centre in the same building and both centers being managed by the same team. Divyodaya is aninter religious dialogue centre in the cosmopolitan city of Coimbatore. Divyodaya means “Divine awakening” ie the ability to view the whole of humanity as one family. Its founder director is Fr. John Peter CMI. Today Divyodaya became a landmark for promoting religious harmony, peace, mutual understanding and an inspiration for similar initiatives and activities by other social and religious organizations. Inter religious living together called ‘Sangamam’ is an important yearly programme organized by Divyodaya. ‘Divyodaya Journal of Religious Harmony and Integration’ is serving to accelerate the dialogue ministry. Ashirvad, and the Inter Religious Harmony Movement in Bangalore: It was in the middle of seventies that the interreligious prayer meeting started at Ashirvad, 30 St. Marks Road, Bangalore. Still an inter-religious group meets there on a regular basis with bhajans, with mediations and readings from various scriptures. Occasionally a full day program with a seminar on a spiritual topic and every year a residential week end annual retreat in a quiet place are organized. Focusing on the students and teachers in educational institutions the Harmony Forum organizes two-day programs entitled ‘Understanding Religions’. The program includes a reflection on the importance of and the means to harmony, and talks on major religions.

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Snehalay is a centre for inter-religious dialogue and spirituality at Indore. Fostering ties of friendship across communities is the major objective of the centre. Snehalay opens its premises to people of all faiths.20

INTER-FAITH FORUMS’ METHODOLOGY OF PEACE MAKING Elimination of misconceptions and fears regarding the other and efforts to foster friendship beyond the religious boundaries through dialogues, visits and common celebrations are basic to almost all peace initiatives. Inter-religious live together camps, especially for youngsters, serve as an antidote to faith crisis and growing communalism. Recently NCCI organized an Interfaith Youth Summer Institute with the motto “Living Together is Possible,” with fifty youth representing Bahai, Hindu, Muslim, Christian and Buddhist faiths at the Pillar Retreat Center in Goa from June 16th to 21st 2009. The program began with interfaith worship prepared by the delegates from various religious backgrounds. It was refreshing to see representatives of different religions and places unite their focus to interlink their faiths. As Mr. Pushparajan rightly says “When students belonging to different religions live together under the same roof for a few days with a genuine interest in spirituality, and pray together, and discuss together in spite of the differences and specialties, it will be a powerful joint witness to the life of genuine faith.”21 Inter religious prayer meetings are conducted in schools and colleges to transform the minds and equip the youngsters to address an injustice or crisis creatively. Some inter-faith agencies organize inter-religious pilgrimages as an effective tool of peacemaking. The participants of the pilgrimage get an opportunity to visit all the important worshipping places such as Temple, Church, Mosque, and Gurudwara. This is an occasion for them to Dialogue Initiatives in India ed. Sebastian Painadath. Jeevadhara, vol. XXXVII. 21 A. Pushparajan, ‘Formations Programmes for Inter-religious Harmony,’ in Jeevadhara, Sept 2007, p.426 20

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listen to and interact with the religious leaders of that particular religion. The visit helps the participants to acknowledge the spiritual and moral truths found in their religions. Certain inter-faith agencies organize combined celebration of festivals to engage people of all religions. Festivals like Baishaki, Ram Navami, Ide-e-Milad and Easter are jointly celebrated. Harmony Inter faith Forum helped people in Patna in 2006 to celebrate ‘Holi’ the Hindu festival of colors in the campus of a Mosque in the thickly populated and mostly Muslim area in the outskirts of Patna. The highlight of the event was the singing of the traditional ‘Holi’ songs written by a Muslim Sufi poet Amir Khusro. In 2007 the same event was held in a Christian milieu and it evoked the same response. Common celebration of the feasts of saints from different religions and reflection on the lives of these saints is also an enriching experience. Many inter faith organizations encourage certificate courses, deep studies and researches to remove prejudices and to strengthen the bond between religious communities. Inter-religious classes given to the students in the schools by a team of resource persons from various religions is also an effective approach. Publication of enlightening books and documentaries are also important. Books like Quest for Harmony an Anthology of Religion in Dialogue (2002) by Vincent Shekhar, Making Harmony. Living in a Pluralist World (2003) and Dancing Cosms (2003) by Michael Amaladoss, Religions for Social Transformation; Inter Religious Dialogue from a Subaltern perspective (2006) by A. Alangaram are part of the publications project to Aikiya Alayam of Chennai An emphasis on the social causes is characteristic of recent trends in interreligious dialogue. People belonging to different religions join hands to serve the victims of calamities and injustices, concern for the environment and social justice are becoming prominent in inter religious peace initiatives. For Tarumitra (Friends of Trees), an ecological movement for children initiated by a Jesuit priest Robert Athickal in Patna, it attempts to make environmental protection an inter-religious affair. In his Eco-camps he enlightens the students with ecological concern inherent in various religious texts and traditions.

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RE-READING OF HISTORY AND EXPOSITION OF TRUTH When fanatic forces in India tried to manipulate history to achieve their communal agendas by spreading prejudices and misunderstandings, many historians, activists and teachers came forward to shed light on history to overcome misconceptions. Romila Thappar, Ram Punyani, Amartya Sen are just a few of them. The main purpose of this was to ensure a harmonious living of Hindus and Muslims. They prove that in most of the cases the destruction of temples by Muslim rulers was not to humiliate Hindu religion. Why did Mohammed Ghaznvi choose to demolish the Somnath temple? While coming from Afghanistan, he passed by many temples but he destroyed Somnath temple only. In medieval times some temples had enormous wealth. It is said that the Somnath temple had jewels, diamonds, gold and silver worth 200 crore rupees. Ghaznvi looted the entire wealth and proudly asserted that he demolished the temple in the name of Islam. It is also noticeable that before coming to Somnath, he had a battle with Abdul Fath Daud, the Nawab of Multan because he denied permission to pass through the Multan. In this battle, Multan’s ‘Jama Masjid’ was also demolished. It should also be noted that Ghaznvi’s army had onethird Hindus as soldiers and out of 12 generals five were Hindus. Shivaji is presented as an anti-Muslim Hindu king. But this is far from truth. His army, especially Navy had many Muslim soldiers and his lieutenant Siddi Sambal is very famous for his association with Shivaji. Similarly his confidential secretary was Maulana Haider Ali. Shivaji had a great regard for a Sufi saint Hajarat Baba Bahutthorwale and Fr. Ambrose Pinto of Surat. He had instructed his armies that during their plunder campaigns if they came across some holy book, they should not defile it but instead return it to the person belonging to that religion.22 Dara Shikoh, the Muslim Emperor Aurngazeb’s elder brother, translated into Persian some significant parts of the Upanishads, the ancient Hindu scriptures, and compared them with the Koran. Ram Puniyani, ‘Making of a Nation’, Indian Currents, 04–10 August 2008, p. 59–61. 22

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It is this translation that gave many people in West Asia and Europe their first glimpse of Hindu philosophy. Aurengazeb killed this legitimate heir to the throne of his father Shajahan and became emperor.

A RECONCILIATION ORIENTED VERDICT AND FUTURE It was while this article was being prepared that the announcement of the verdict by the Lucknow Bench of the Allahabad High Court in the six decade old title suit on the 2.77 acres of land in Ayodhya on which the Babri Masjid once stood, came on September 30th, 2010. In brief the majority verdict from three judges is as follows: That the disputed land in Ayodhya be divided into three equal parts among the parties to the dispute of which two were of Hindu religious tradition and one was the Sunni Central Waqf Board of Muslim tradition which claimed to have had possession of the disputed structure and the land around it since the 16th century. The verdict also held that the central dome of the demolished Babri Masjid is the birthplace of Ram as per the faith and belief of Hindus as represented by TN Pandey. The joyous aspect of the verdict is that there was no violence in India followed by the verdict as expected by many. Nobody claims it as full victory for their side. All parties are planning to appeal to the Supreme Court for getting the exclusive possession of the disputed land. However most of the leaders of the Sangha Parivar, the fanatic face of Hindu religion, think that the verdict justifies the authenticity of their movement for the possession of the birth place of Rama the deity in Ayodhya and the construction of the Ram Temple there. They ask the Muslims to give up their claims and make use of this opportunity to participate in the construction f the temple to ensure reconciliation and harmony of the country. But majority of the Muslims are of the opinion that the verdict was a betrayal of justice to the Muslims. Many of them think that this verdict inflicts another wound like that of the demolition of the Babri Masjid on December 6th, 1992. Legalists and political leaders who are strictly faithful to the secular school of thought are also criticizing the verdict because faith and belief also

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play significant role in shaping this verdict. Justice Rajindar Sachar, the former Chief Justice of the Delhi High Court who has emerged as one of the most critical voices against the Ayodhya verdict opines that ‘faith has no meaning in a court’.23 In spite of these criticisms and mixed responses to this verdict which deviated from the usual method of legal verdicts, the verdict seems to be a strong call for reconciliation. The fact that there is no exclusive victory in this very long dispute to any party is very decisive. The present situation seems to be more suitable for a search for reconciliation. Usually one party is defeated and the other party wins at the announcement of the verdict and the opportunity for a dialogue for reconciliation will be closed thereafter. A few options can be considered as solutions to this dispute through dialogue: 1. A beautiful centre of religious harmony can be built up in the disputed spot which will be a glorious witness to the ancient Indian culture of religious pluralism and harmonious living. 2. Understanding the sentiments of both the religious communities there should be an initiative to build one mandir and one masjid there. An interreligious forum is essential to get it materialized by acquiring a few more acres from the government. 3. As Muslims have Mecca, Christians have Jerusalem and Jews also have Jerusalem as their unique and uniting pilgrim centre. The non Hindus must understand the feelings of Hindus to have such a sacred pilgrim centre. Muslims need to take initiative to prepare a ground for the construction of the Ram temple and get involved in the fulfillment of the project. Then the Hindu voluntary servants should also help Muslims to build up a ‘Babri masjid’ on another place where the Muslims agree to have it. If such a movement becomes a reality, it will contribute tremendously to the fostering of religious fellowship in India. 4. Instead of a mandir or masjid, a humanitarian centre which will take care of the extremely poor HIV/AIDS patients or the aged can be built up in the disputed spot. None of these solutions will be achieved without an inter-religious dialogue.

‘Interrview with Justice Rajindar Sachar’ by Ajoy Ashirwad Mahaprashasta in Frontline, October 22, 2010, p. 22. 23

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WAY AHEAD Pure secularism cannot be an effective remedy to the issue of religious violence and communalism in India, the land of religions. Misuse of religions, misconceptions regarding other religions and over self-sufficiency consciousness of one’s own religion are hindrances to inter-religious dialogues and peace initiatives. Governments, Politicians, educationists etc must also be able to take more initiatives to make use of the religious resources especially the scripture of various religions to strengthen the bond beyond the religious boundaries. Lawsuits and legal verdicts will never be able bring about peace in society. Only through a dialogue, both the Muslims and Hindus can adopt one of the above mentioned solutions for the mandir-masjid issue. Political leadership as well as leaders of various religions should also take initiative to bring both the parties for such a dialogue and to ensure the progress of such an interreligious dialogue. Most of the peace efforts mentioned above are initiatives of individuals or organizations focusing on their specific localities. These should become a franchise in the national level. Added to that, states should encourage the setting up of inter-religious forums in all villages, towns and cities. An inter-religious peace education needs to be developed and introduced in all educational institutions in the country. An understanding of the specific and unique features of each major religion and commonalities of all religions need to be an important objective of education. More and more dialogues in the level of spirituality and socially committed actions are to be encouraged. All religions have to identify true enemies of humanity like climate change, poverty, diseases like cancer, HIV/AIDS etc and join hands to fight against them. The Peace initiatives in different parts of the country are rays of hope in the midst of the rise of religious fanaticism and violence. But these need to be strengthened and popularized by the religions as well as States. Unity in diversity is characteristic of the universe and ancient pluralistic culture in this country is in tune with the kingdom of God vision. Religions have to get rid of the scissors of fanaticism that cut the society into pieces and use the needles of spirituality and religious dialogue to knit together a harmonious and just society. This is a calling to be part of the mission and initiative of God himself.

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BIBLIOGRAPHY Aleaz, K.P. For A Christian Philosophy From India. Tiruvalla, India: 2006 Aleaz, K.P. Theology of Religions; Birmingham Papers and Other Essays. Cualcutta: 1998 Gregorios, Paulos Religion and Dialogue. Delhi: MGF and ISPCK, 2000. Gregorios, Paulos. The Secular Ideology, An Impotent Remedy for India’s Communal Problem. Kottayam, 1998. John, V.J., ed. Many Ways of Pluralism. Kolkatta: 2010. Kuriakose, Karikkottuchira K., ed. Religion, Terrorism and Globalisation. Nonviolence: A New Agenda. New York: 2005. Painadath, Sebastian., ed. Dialogue Initiaties in India in Jeevadhara. Vol. XXXVII, No. 221, Sept, 2007. Pathil, Kuncheria. Religious Pluralism: an Indian Christian Perspective. Delhi: ISPCK, 1991. Patta, Raj Bharath. A Violent Sight on a Silent Night. ISPCK/NCCI, Delhi: 2009. Philip, Bijesh. Christian Faith and Global Peace. Tiruvalla, CSS: 2009. Punyani, Ram. “Making of a Nation, Twists and Turns,” in Indian Currents 4–10 August, 2008, pp.39–98. Sen, Amartya. The Argumentative Indian. Penguin Books, 2005.

CHAPTER 9 AN UNFAMILIAR PEACE DERRICK MCQUEEN “So yes, the instruments of war do have a role to play in preserving the peace.” President Barack H. Obama Nobel Prize Acceptance Lecture “A Just and Lasting Peace”

What would the world really look like if our conception of peace really were our reality? It is interesting idea to visualize what it would look like if all of the militaries throughout the world laid down their weapons, if all of the nuclear devices were forever dismantled, if human memory could forget images of weapons and violence and have no way to recreate such mayhem as war and the ethos of world community through dominance? Would that be peace? How would it be declared worldwide or who would declare this peace? But then again, who would actually hear it? The world is now communicating at a pace and level before experienced in human existence. And yet, if peace were declared as a worldwide phenomenon today, there would still be pockets of peoples who might not get the information for a long time. It can be likened to the African American idea behind Juneteenth. Although the Emancipation Proclamation went into effect on January 1, 1863 the last group of slaves who heard the message was

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in Texas on approximately June 19, 1865.1 And it was the unique circumstances in which this Proclamation was born that are partly to blame for this late communication. The Emancipation Proclamation was never meant to free all slaves in the United States. Rather, it declared free only those slaves living in states not under Union control. William Seward, Lincoln’s secretary of state, commented, "We show our sympathy with slavery by emancipating slaves where we cannot reach them and holding them in bondage where we can set them free.” Lincoln was fully aware of the irony, but he did not want to antagonize the slave states loyal to the Union by setting their slaves free. The proclamation allowed black soldiers to fight for the Union—soldiers that were desperately needed. It also tied the issue of slavery directly to the war. As was the case two hundred forty-five years ago, the confidence in humankind’s ability to get information to all is a daunting prospect. It is high time the global communities in the majority realize that this technologically connected world, touted as the “Information Age”, is a mythical misnomer. It is the “Information Age” for those countries that have the infrastructure to support the technology necessary to share information instantaneously. But of course the issue is whose voice would be the dominant voice? Whose voice would set the tone and who would regulate the flow of information throughout the world? If worldwide peace were declared tomorrow in all likelihood the pronouncement would come from a government entity that would also take responsibility for such a peace. That entity would most likely be the one who has military dominance in worldwide politics. In this time it would be the American Empire that would most probably take credit for and retrospectively take responsibility for this peace, this Pax Americana. In contemporary history the groundwork for this credit/responsibility formula has been clearly laid out in President Obama’s acceptance lecture for the Nobel Prize for Peace in Oslo on December 10, 2009. He very clearly declared his commitment “Historical documents: Emancipation Proclamation 1863”, Africans In America, PBSonline, , 1998. 1

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to peace. But as he went on to describe that peace it became very clear that from his political point of view peace could only be attained through the concept of “just war” evoked throughout the speech.2 “The term ‘just war’ is employed to refer in a shorthand way to the set of norms or criteria for assessing whether a government’s recourse to force is morally justified. The justwar tradition is expressed in many forms: in international law, in the codes of conduct of national military forces, in moral philosophy and theology, in church teaching. The just-war norms embrace two sets of criteria. One, the ius ad bellum, identifies criteria for judging whether the resort to force is justified. These are sometimes called the ‘war-decision’ rules. The second set of criteria, ius in bello, regulates and limits the use of force in combat. These are sometimes called the ‘war-conduct’ rules. “Ius ad bellum. The ius ad bellum contains six (or seven) criteria to determine whether resort to force is justified. They are: (1) just cause, (2) competent authority, (3) right intention, (4) last resort, (5) probability of success, and (6) proportionality. To these is sometimes added the criterion of comparative justice, which assesses which of two adversaries is ‘sufficiently right’ to override a presumption against the use of force. Just Cause. According to The Challenge of Peace, “War is permissible only to confront ‘a real and certain danger,’ i.e., to protect innocent life, to preserve conditions necessary for decent human existence, and to secure basic human rights.”

And although “just war” are rules for engagement well known its practice in the early Catholic Church, its use during the Roman Empire, Pax Romana, is its origin. It is a bit ironic that dominant world leaders find it necessary to justify aggressive and defensive military actions for the precept from the world court. The precept presupposes that the command New Catholic Encyclopedia, 2nd Edition, published by the Catholic University of America (2003). See volume 14, pp. 637–64 2

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or consent given is to a subordinate in the relationship. Caesars’ pretense in asking permission to go to war is much like America’s pretense in asking the world court of opinion for its blessing on American military endeavors. Although George Bush’s pre-emptive war strategy barely meet any of the “war conduct rules” under “just cause” his administration’s stance on their power to enter into war without (which many debate) diplomatic protocol, he at least had the audacity to claim the America as Empire’s right and duty to move forward in battle. The parallel with Roman history is strong. As the Roman Empire became more confident in its dominance, many Caesars dropped their pretense of asking for the Senate’s permission as well. Whether American leaders act on the pretense or not, they know that the power is ultimately on the side of the American military. It is this power and control over the world arena that allows the American to define peace with its allegiance to the theory of Pax Americana. Pax, this idea of peace, is considered a period of general stability in world affairs under the influence of a dominant military power. Peace can only exist under the influence of a military power. This attitude seems to be a leftover from the Enlightenment period, when humankind believed it could manage all manner of things through its own created systems and theories. Even in its oxymoronic articulation and humankind’s Enlightenment arrogance, peace has yet to find itself manifested. Perhaps it is because peace has come to mean the absence of strife mostly associated with military and/or political situations. Definitions of peace, although multivalent, are primarily based in the elusive concept of a non-warring world arena. The number of wars and conflicts that are happening in the world right now reveals the elusive reality of this concept. The regularly updated website www.warsintheworld.com have tallied no less than 46 countries involvement is such conflicts. That means that 23% of the world, almost one quarter, is involved in military or violent conflicts. But of course even this statistic is problematic. How many countries are there in the world? The recognized countries total 194, but counting one country not normally recognized there are 195. It is problematic modern civilization deems itself the judge of who can or cannot declare itself a country. People do not have the self-determining right to collect themselves and declare their autonomy unless it is given permission to do so by the consensus of world leadership. Of course, modern sensibility calls for some

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way of accounting for constituency in the political and global membership and consensus of world opinion is the agreed upon method for doing so. But what does this mean for peoples (and ultimately countries are made up of its people and not its mapped boundaries) who struggle for autonomy in their own right? In objectively evaluating the 1988 declaration of statehood by the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) for world recognition for legitimacy, this complicated formula was (and remains) a contested evaluation of global policy. In this declaration, Palestine declared its statehood as an unboundaried state including Palestinians in Diaspora, “The State of Palestine is the state of Palestinians wherever they may be”.3 Even with a role of observer in the United Nations since 1974 and this Declaration of Independence of 1988, there is still debate in 2010 as to the validity of the statehood of Palestine. This statement is an apolitical fact. It is this very self-identity, disputed by outside forces that quickly points toward a global reality. Even though there are over 100 countries that do recognize the statehood of Palestine, the United States refusal to recognize undermines the legitimacy of the Palestinian peoples’ selfdetermined right to statehood. The dichotomy is that while independence and self-determination is a political ideal, in its practice, permission from more powerful entities is needed to allow the sustained actualization of independence and self-determination. Which leads one to wonder, is there such a thing as independence and self-determination if its existential practice is contingent upon the dominant? These lofty ideals of independence and self-determination in practice then are not declarative markers of freedom, are not as inalienable as the democratic promise found in the Constitution of the United States, that we “are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness”. Although these terms “Life, Liberty, pursuit of Happiness, self-determination, independence and freedom” are principles humankind has aspired to both individually and collectively throughout history, placed within a political 3

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context their fundamentality has been compromised through the lens of whichever dominant entity is power at the moment. Just as with country membership in the global body politic, these ideals are also meted out or measured by outside forces as to when they have been attained and are not goals that can be truly be self-actualized, be it cultural or individual. Most of the terms themselves lose their iconic stature and are seen as hollow and failing in their realization. The only term that holds up to this criticism is “pursuit of Happiness”. It is the only ideal that never promises an outcome. It is an ideal of continuous action whose only promise is to offer the directive and permission to embark upon a journey toward the elusive goal of self defined happiness. But what happens when one woman’s happiness is an infringement upon another’s? That is the dilemma of the romanticization of entitlement ideology “Pursuit of Happiness”. In the American context this is not just an ideology but part of an American theology of entitlement. The Creator has endowed the American public with is unalienable right summarily excludes the humanity as a whole from this particular right. The American dream does not cling to this theology on paper but it most certainly does in practice. There is the disconnect, how can an empire that claims responsibility as the sentinel of the ideation of world peace live up to its claim when it holds its self interests as the lens through which all other world standards of excellence must be seen. Variant possible solutions to this dilemma can only be explored when the individualized and personal goals are sought after in the context of the other, the neighbor, and the communityat-large. But in a multi-faith society, this is where the conversation hits its point of contention. Just how far does this accommodation of the other extend into the world community? From one Christian context the responsibility to the world community only extends as far as those who profess in the salvific efficacy of the birth, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Translating that into a social context, it means world community is usually only extended to those who share commonality of belief in a Christocentric formed dogmatic Christianity and not an existential and practiced Christianity as modeled by the career of Jesus.

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“Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your heart be troubled, and do not let them be afraid.”4 “Peace I leave to you, Peace of me I give to you. Not as the world gives I give to you. Let not troubled be your heart nor let it be cowardly.5

In the textual analysis of this bible verse that focuses on peace, there is an understanding of peace that is completely unfamiliar to modern sensibilities. It assumes that peace is an individual asset that must somehow be transferred. It is this process of transference in which the peace of the nations is manifested. In understanding that this statement of Jesus’ occurred in the historical context of the Pax Romana it is a profound renunciation of the political reality that Caesar alone claims total and full responsibility for the “global peace” as it was defined in the 1st century C.E. The boldness of claiming hold of peace as existent inside of the hearts of humanity, strikes blows at empiric presentation of reality. For if it is through relationality that the seeds of peace are sown, and not conquering and assimilation of other countries, resistance to Roman claims of peace is seen for what it is, an oxymoron. The brilliance of the Christian model of peace however, is not so much in how it is given. It is how it is not given, “I do not give to you as the world gives”. As a resistance strategy this is call to non-violence. Roman peace is defined by what it takes away, who it conquers, how many it kills and by how it maintains order by mass crucifixion executions and arena games. The fear and intimidation needed to claim that peace is exactly the opposite of what is called for in this text. One must make war to make peace in the militaristic model of Pax Romana. Christian peace is a matter of giving peace in order for peace to be empowered. It is this Enlightenment view of peace, something to be created and controlled by humankind that has failed empires time and time John 14:27, NRSV. J.D. Douglass, Ed., The Greek-English Interlinear New Testament (Carol Stream, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, 1990) 382. 4 5

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again. Christ’s peace relocates peace as preexistent to humanity, a gift from the cosmic God, whose captivity must be ended so that it to may be realized in its divine place in the reestablishment of the order of things. The version of this last part of the verse as translated in the New Revised Standard Version (NRSV) of the bible, “Let not your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afraid” speaks to the great risk involved when the decision is made to give peace. In truth, peace is equated with weakness. Most of our modern cultural sensibilities call for all weaknesses to be either forced out of existence or controlled by domination. Peace that does not come from trouble nor from fear is the true peace. It is the lasting peace “and the peace of God which surpasses all understanding.”6 The call to the misunderstood strength in the call for peace in this text from John is even clearer in the transliterated translation of the Greek, “Peace I leave to you, Peace of me I give to you. Not as the world gives I give to you. Let not troubled be your heart nor let it be cowardly.” The directive for the heart is no longer to simply have no fear, but it is the more emphatic command for the heart not to “be” cowardly or for it not to retreat in its offer of peace. And there is such an ironic twist that language used to speak of how to strategically engage in peace is militaristic. This translation more clearly captures the danger in offering and giving peace. When Jesus entreats for bravery over cowardice it implicitly tells the reader or hearer that the situation calls for strength and that those who give peace will face opposition that in a very real sense, may endanger their lives. Why does giving the gift of peace threaten such sacrifice? The threat of peace is the fear of the uncertainty of its sustained success. And so everyone, human and nation alike, prepare for its failure thereby ever chipping away its survival. It is this structure that must be turned on its side. It is this lack of faith in peace that with suspicion, undermines, the mutuality needed in order for peace to exist even in its basic form between one another. Excising suspicion is a critical element that must happen for the table to be a place where all can gather, equally. 6

Philippians 4:7, NRSV.

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“Love your neighbor as yourself,” (Mark 12:33) this is the new commandment of Jesus. It seems simple enough to do, easy enough to manage. This commandment is often viewed as idealistic and unrealistic when applied to issues of political and personal peace. But there is a much bigger issue at stake then just loving the other as mandated. The full command implies that the “you” in “yourself” already knows how to love the self. The same insecurities of self, lack of trust of self and fear of what self might not measure up to, that is projected onto the neighbor. The power of this commandment is not in the bestowal of the grace of love upon the neighbor. It is in the forgiving grace by which we learn to love ourselves wholly and to see our selves as God sees us. This lens of grace then becomes the one through which we view our neighbor. And because we are seeing others as God intents for us to see, the end result is the inability not to love your neighbor. In an effort to keep this spiritually lofty ideal grounded in text. It is important to move from the Gospels in order to see how this idea was made practical by the followers of the way of Christ in the early church. In Acts 11, Paul address the issue of the community of believers’ commemoration of the meal Jesus shared with his disciples. The chapter focuses on the disparity of those who come to the table. They were gatherings where all were to bring resources to the communal table for all to share rich, poor, weak, and strong, and metaphorically, a place where all of these binaries were equalized. In a relatively short amount of time those who brought more ate and drank more, leaving little for those who had little. By the time it came to what is now called communion, there was discord and ill will around this table. Paul’s chastisement included a questioning of the motives of those who came to the table first. In this case it was to tell those who brought greater portions, if you come here to eat, eat at home. If you come to be a part of the community, examine yourselves before you come to the table. Global peace is much like this meal from which we all are to share. We come to the table, some with more and some with less, but determined that no one leave unfulfilled. The fruits of peace, as in this early church expression, are in the celebration of the grace ritualized in the partaking of the communion. Bringing the peace that dwells within to the table is a place worthy of the communion, not just of bread and wine, but the communion of humanity. Until the world stops seeing guns, armies, and weapons of mass

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destruction as elements of peace in this age of Pax Americana it will never stop piling them on the table to see who has more who is more capable of destroying the other. That these “gifts” are brought to the table of peace is the most damaging of lies we tell ourselves. In an article in Tikkun Magazine, Rabbi Michael Lerner wrote that we must, “replace the ‘war on terror’ with a Global Marshall Plan that roots homeland security in a strategy of generosity and concern for the well-being of everyone on the planet.”7 While agreeing whole-heartedly with Rabbi Lerner and understand that he is writing in the context of the American experience, the call must be put out to all nations and all peoples. Pax Americana as based on the historical realities of Pax Romana is nothing more than how history traditionally plays itself out. Afraid to try a new way of being, humanity chooses old models of strategies and builds up enough egoist fortitude to think, ‘We’ll get it right this time!’ It is time for an unfamiliar peace, a peace that is given freely and not constructed by sacrifice.

A CASE STUDY Each year, in the boroughs of the city of New York, there are incidents of violence involving law enforcement and persons of color. Most of the officers in many of the instances are investigated and found to be innocent of all charges. It is a system that demoralizes the communities of color, instilling feelings of helplessness, fear, and deep seeded anger. It is yet another localized example of the notion of Pax Americana. Using violence to secure peace. The privileging of law enforcement’s right to safety usually mitigates the violence in these incidents. The civic understanding of the duty of law enforcement is expressed in the motto “To protect and serve”. The public representation of the New York City police department (NYPD) motto can be found on all of its vehicles, “Courtesy, professionalism, respect.” However, the official motto for the NYPD is “Fidelis ad Mortem” translated from the Latin as Michael Lerner, “Save Obama’s presidency by challenging him in the Democratic Presidential Primaries,” Tikkun, December 04, 2010, 7

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“Faithful unto death.” This motto has historical importance for this argument of American fascination with the Roman Empire as it is an inscription found in Rome in relation to S P Q R Marcus Fulvius Fides (the Faithful) Roman Citizen in the first century B.C.E. This becomes an interesting point because the inscription as it relates to Marcus Fulvius Fides is to celebrate his obeisance to Rome. The motto as used by the NYPD is meant to celebrate an officer’s dedication to the people of New York. But the communities of color in their experience find this claim to be a dubious one at best. Many in these communities would see the similarity to Marcus Fulvius’ allegiance to the state instead of an allegiance to the people. On March 14, 2010, an African American Dean of a high school in Brooklyn accompanied his basketball team to Lehman College in the Bronx for a playoff game. He ended up beaten, handcuffed arrested and jailed in the 52nd Precinct. His apparent crime was in trying to get his students back on the bus to safely return back to Brooklyn. After the game, which was lost by the Brooklyn team, the winning team started taunting the team they had just defeated. School safety officers in their eagerness, began pushing everyone out of the area. As he was attempting to safe guard his students the Dean was punched in the face by an angry police officer. He asked the officer, “Did you punch me?” To which the officer replied, “You damn right I did.” Within the course of the next few minutes the Dean was thrown to the ground, beaten and kneed as several officers piled on top of him. Unable to breath, he asked the officers to get off of him. He was thrown in to the back of a police car and driven to the precinct. His son accompanied the group in support of his father while on a visit from college, also suffered injury to the face. As this was going on the principal of the winning school team and the students tried to convince the police that the Dean was simply trying to help the situation stay under control, but their pleas were ignored. Witnessing this incident traumatized many of the students. The Dean’s own son had to delay his return to university because

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he was so shaken by what had taken place. The Dean was charged with disorderly conduct.8 There were several comments on this piece. The comments speak to the 1.) the commonness of this kind of thing happening to people of color in New York city, and 2.) the power of abuse and brutality to enforce a systematic control over communities. This Dean who was the victim in this incident of police brutality was a respected member of the community with no previous involvement in with the legal system. He is the American aspiration for many people of color. He is an African American male, educated, employed with a measure of prestige in the educational system in the City of New York. But he is also the son of a prominent educator, the Vice Chancellor Emerita of the New York State Board of Regents.9 The insidious nature of this kind of attack is that the community’s morale is shattered. The American Dream becomes qualified: You can rise to the heights, if you remember your place as a minority. The system is no longer open to you as an American citizen. As a person of color you are reminded that there is always a part of the system into which you will never be invited and you are a second class citizen. This concept is also historically similar to how Roman citizenship was bestowed upon its conquered. Regarding the Dean in the incident described above, one might think he could enjoy the protection of his status in society as a protection against police brutality. But he is painfully aware that his reality does not afford him this protection. He says of his fear at the time of his arrest, “I was fearful for my life. I know what often happens to Black men who are arrested in a precinct, many end up dead.” Another comments about this incident read this way, “I Harlem World Blog, Son of Board of Regents Vice Chancellor Suffers Police Brutality, http://harlemworldblog.wordpress.com/2010/03/24/son-of-board-ofregents-vice-chancellor-suffers-police-brutality/ (January10, 2011) Source chosen to give community viewpoint. 9 The Regents are responsible for the general supervision of all educational activities within the State, presiding over The University and the New York State Education Department. 8

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know that precinct, I lived on Marion Avenue and Bedford Park Blvd., they are really vicious when it comes to black people. They were problems with those cops before, time and time again.” And yet another responded, “It is sad that in 2010 African Americans are still treated like they are less than dirt. Less than a year ago I was hassled by two white cops in Harlem because I decided to do laundry at 3 am. My crime was walking while black. The only reason why they left me alone was because all the people on the street started hazing them. I guess a black woman threatens white cops because she is pushing laundry down the avenue.”10 This case is still under investigation and has left the headlines of the public media. Admittedly Christ’s call for peace seems all but a farce when faced with a very real and tangible situation such as this. How does one give peace while a group of police officers are piled upon your back and you are in fear of your life as you are thrown into a jail cell? There is no answer for this question. (Or if there is, it escapes from thought.) But it does bring to the fore the sacrifice needed when a commitment is made to peace. The Dean’s idea of peace in this instance had nothing to do with his own safety. He indicated that he was more worried about the well being of the students than his own safety. His response was not to give peace to the abusive powers of the system attacking him, but it was to give his peace to the frightened and fearful students who witnessed this act. Jesus gave his peace to his disciples, not to the Roman legions outside the doors of the locked room who were looking for them. It is that peace that helped the students deal with the trauma of what they saw on that night. The Harlem World Blog, the source of this account, is also another strategy to love neighbor and share peace. It is a grassroots means of communication that is accessible for all the world to see. It subverts the system that controls the outcomes of many of these situations. The courts, the standard media, the community review boards set in place to investigate and speak to these kinds of incidents are no longer deemed as reliable in the public sphere to help stop this kind of brutality. But giving voice to the victims, 10

Harlem World Blog.

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such as those quoted with comments, has a way of informing the community of what is wrong. It builds a body of evidence that empowers people to demand change not just for one Dean but of the whole system. That is the powerful nature of giving peace away to those who need it. The system needs change, not peace. And the people need each other’s peace to make change. There is power in this kind of unfamiliar peace. Police brutality, demoralization of communities by the abuse of authorities and systems depend on disempowerment. The idea of share peace as a preexistent gift of humanity amongst those who are likely to be downtrodden is a powerful weapon. It is this radical courage to share peace that can aid in disempowering the empowered systems of domination. May peace find a way to encourage the creation of this new mode of human interaction.

CHAPTER 10 SOCIAL ACTIVISM AND THE ROLE OF THE AFRICAN AMERICANS CHARLES BLAKE Being a member of a predominantly African American church for my entire life, it didn’t occur to me that my experience in a Black church was very different than the experiences of other members of my denomination (Catholicism) until I started College. Given the high level of the uniformity of church rituals during mass, this was all the more surprising. One major difference between the churches I had attended growing up and those I observed while away from home was the level of social activism being espoused both in word (by our clergymen) and deed (by the larger church community). My church, for instance, provides free after-school services for elementary school children, distributes clothing and food to the needy, offers alcoholics and narcotics anonymous classes, and supports an apartment complex for mid- to lowincome residents; this is in stark contrast to the church I occasioned in college, where donating to the “poor box” was the closest many parishioners came to actively engaging the local community. By Black (or African American) church, I refer to Christian churches that minister to predominantly African American populations in the United States. Some Black churches, such as the African Methodist Episcopal (AME) church, began as independent churches serving primarily African American populations; many other Black churches are members of predominantly white congregations (Public Broadcasting Service, 1998b). Although these churches differ in many respects (in terms of dogma, the non-racial demographics of their constituents, and the size of their 207

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congregations, to name a few), Black churches tend to be more active, both politically and socially. My interest in social activism in the Black church stems from my belief that activism and outreach provides a constructive, peaceful outlet for social tensions that otherwise might lead to violence and destruction. This chapter examines social activism and community outreach within the African American church. It begins by tracing the activist origins of the first Black churches. The chapter then looks at the role played by Black churches in the African American Civil Rights movement. It goes on to explore the role of activism and outreach in today’s Black church, highlighting some of the issues confronting those who wish to see a greater activist role for the church. Finally, the chapter discusses the intersection of social activism and education, exploring the role Black churches could have in fostering social activist values through both formal and informal education.

ACTIVISM/OUTREACH AND THE BEGINNINGS OF THE BLACK CHURCH The first Black churches date back to the end of the 18th century (Public Broadcasting Service, 1998b). The precursor to the AME church, for example, was started by Richard Allen in Philadelphia in 1793 (Public Broadcasting Service, 1998a). Allen, a former slave, converted to Methodism at the age of 17 and began to evangelize members of his community. At first, Allen and other Black converts to Methodism joined the predominantly white congregation at St. George’s Methodist Episcopal Church. As the number of Blacks in the congregation grew, so did the animosity of whites towards them. On one occasion, Black members of the church were sent to the upstairs gallery instead of being allowed to sit in the main hall during a service. When these members then mistakenly sat in seats not designated for them, seats they had helped build, and were asked to move, they left en masse and vowed to form their own church. Scholars continue to examine the factors that led to such large scale conversions. One widely accepted reason for Black conversions was the anti-slavery message advocated by denominations such as the Anabaptists, Quakers, Mennonites, and Methodists (Robinson, 2006). The owner of Richard Allen, for example, allowed Richard to buy his freedom after listening to a

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Methodist sermon that argued slaveholders would be judged unfavorably by God (Public Broadcasting Service, 1998b). Of these groups, the Baptists and the Methodists were most successful at recruiting Blacks (Alkalimat, n.d.). Conversion to Christianity also gave African Americans access to the white world (Alkalimat, n.d.). Many slaves attended church services with their owners and were considered morally superior and more civilized than their non-Christian brethren. While the most fortunate may have been afforded the opportunity to buy their freedom, it provided many others the chance to engage their owners on a more neutral playing field. Christianity also provided an outlet for the preservation of a number of African traditions in the New World. Not only was it illegal in many places for slaves to congregate, but many states banned the practicing of African religions (Alkalimat, n.d.). Many Black churches, however, incorporated familiar African rituals such as the “call and response” interaction between preacher and congregation. Call and response is a technique, primarily used in worship and music, in which a person leads a group by singing or saying a phrase which is answered by the audience (Estrella, 2011). Other such rituals with African roots include having displays of bodily possession, signified by the catching of the Holy Spirit, and full body submersion, signified by Christian Baptism (Alkalimat, n.d.). These practices provided Africans in the US with a link to African religion and culture. Another reason Blacks may have converted to Christianity is because it afforded them a venue where they did not have to be segregated from their white countrymen (Alkalimat, n.d.). A number of congregations preached the equality of men in the eyes of God and in some churches Black slaves were able to pray next to their masters. In churches where Blacks continued to feel discriminated against, many broke off to form their own congregations. The AME church, for instance, was an offshoot of St. George’s Methodist Church in Philadelphia (Public Broadcasting Service, 1998b). Three Black members of the church decided to found their own church in order to “to arise out of the dust and shake ourselves, and throw off that servile fear, that the habit of oppression and bondage trained us up in (Public Broadcasting Service, 1998c).”

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Although the conversion of Blacks to Christianity began before the Civil War, it is important to note that this was primarily a northern states phenomenon; very few African American churches came into existence in the South during this period (Hines, 2007). According to Johnson (1997), this was largely due to fears that the Christian message would encourage slaves to resist or revolt against their masters. Many white slave-owners were nominally Christian, at best, and did not welcome missionaries ministering to them or their slaves (Johnson, 1997, 298). When a slave-owner did allow a missionary to preach to slaves, the missionary was often paid by the owner and took direction from the owner as to which subjects were appropriate (Johnson, 1997, 300). Thus, while Blacks in the North were being told that slavery was un-Christian, missionaries in the South were often preaching messages of obedience. The self-serving nature of such messages was recognized by many Blacks, as evidenced by the following quote from a Black bondsman: “When the white preacher come he preach and pick up his Bible and claim he gettin’ the text right out from the good Book and he preach: ‘The Lord say, don’t you niggers steal chickens from your missus. Don’t you steal your master’s hogs.’ That would be all he preach (Johnson, 1997, 300).”

Not only was the message being preached by missionaries in the South very one-sided, but slaves had very little access to other sources of information (religious or otherwise). It was often plantation policy that Blacks not be taught to read, with many receiving no formal education whatsoever (Johnson, 1997, 300– 301). They, therefore, had no way to read and interpret the Bible for themselves nor did they know what was happening in the North. With respect to having religious services, Blacks in the South were often not allowed to meet in numbers for fear of a revolt or escape and many were beaten if they tried to sing or dance (Alkalimat, n.d.; Johnson, 1997, 300–301). Given that the overwhelming majority of Blacks lived in the South until the early 20th century, most African American denominations were not started until after 1865; up until 1860, only about 11% of Blacks in the United States were members of Christian denominations (Hines, 2007).

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Harris (n.d.) argues strong emphasis on community outreach in the Black church originated in the post-Civil War period, where “Black churches became the center of Black life, operating not only as places of worship for congregants but also as the incubator behind schools, business enterprises, charity, politics, and recreation (141–142).” Urban churches encouraged congregants to assist the sick in hospitals and to give food and clothing to the poor and indigent; many institutions (hospitals, orphanages, nursing homes, etc) were founded and maintained by such activist church communities (Harris, n.d., 142). One area many churches strove to improve services was in the provision of education to freedmen. Many freedmen saw education as the primary way to “advance the race” and congregations often pooled funds to pay teachers, buy books, and rent classroom space (Montgomery, 1993, 148). Although church-based outreach expanded around the turn of the century to combat the erosion of the rights afforded Blacks under Reconstruction and the expanding Black migration from the rural South (to cities in both the North and South), the high incidence of poverty among church members made it very difficult for Black churches to fully support the needs of the Black community (Harris, n.d., 142–143). One example of a church created to help poor Blacks was the Institutional Church and Social Settlement, a short-lived A.M.E. church founded by the minister Reverdy Ranson in 1900; the church was created in order to address the needs of Black migrants to Chicago (Harris, n.d., 143). The church “offered migrants desperately needed social services, including manual training, an employment agency, and a nursery (Harris, n.d., 143).” The church did not last, however, due to concerns (of the church hierarchy) that the focus on social betterment had resulted in the neglect of the spiritual needs of the community. The formation of Black denominations was also a major factor in fostering social activism in the Black community. According to Harris (n.d.), churches provided space for political meetings, church members served as delegates to state conventions and ran for office, and political news was often conveyed through churches (147). Although many African American churches continued their political activities into the 20th century, Black church political participation declined in the early 1900s as a result of Black disenfranchisement. Blacks did not have much political

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representation and those who were elected often faced predominately white assemblies which operated in the interests of their constituents, who were predominantly White. Black interests (especially pertaining to social equality) were often at odds with White interests. Blacks and whites lived separately and were educated separately; thus, a problem or issue facing the Black community often was not a problem facing the white community. Predominantly Black churches often provided the venue through which African Americans could voice their concerns and engage in collective activities serving their communities (Billingsley & Caldwell, 1991). Given the myriad of benefits associated with being a member of a church, it is no surprise that the Black church became the most important social institution of the Black community (Alkalimat, n.d.). Discriminatory laws and practices also made it difficult for intelligent and motivated Blacks to enter many professions. This led many to the clergy, one of the only lucrative professions available for Blacks (Maffly-Kipp, 2005). It was the combination of these factors that made Black churches the ideal mechanism for the Civil Rights Movement.

THE CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT The Civil Rights movement is perhaps the most shining example of how Black churches and Black religious figures spearheaded a social movement. African Americans (and many Whites) were appalled at many of the segregationist policies being employed in the American South. Blacks attended separate schools from Whites, had to utilize different public facilities (bathrooms, water fountains, etc), and often had to defer to Whites in all matters of course (sitting at the back of public buses, etc). Although some argued the separation of races led to separate but equal conditions, the societal resources allocated to Blacks was far inferior to those allocated to Whites. In response to these unjust practices, many Blacks rallied around religious institutions and leaders that gave voice to their discontent. One of the major institutions involved in the movement was the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), a non-denominational collective of religious leaders dedicated to non-violent, but direct, resistance to racially unfair policies in the South (Southern Christian Leadership Conference, n.d.). The SCLC not only brought Black religious leaders together

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to coordinate their activities, it provided a platform for teaching members of the Black community how they could peacefully resist racist policies (boycotting certain businesses, etc.) and providing training and support to those who would lead the movement. The first president of the SCLC, the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, is known for advocating a non-violent approach to social action. While the influence of individuals such as Gandhi and Thoreau upon him is well known and often cited, less attention has been placed upon the role religion played in framing his thought and actions. In Stride Toward Freedom (1958), a depiction of the events surrounding the Montgomery Bus Boycott, Dr. King is more open about how his religious principles shaped his activist ideology. At the core of Dr. King’s ideology was the love and forgiveness ethic espoused by Jesus in passages such as the Sermon on the Mount: “And seeing the multitudes, he went up into a mountain; and when he was set, his disciples came unto him: And he opened his mouth, and taught them, saying, Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted. Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth. Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled. Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God. Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness’ sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake (Matthew 5: 3–12).”

Jesus emphasizes the importance of standing up for justice here, but also emphasizes that His followers will need to suffer in its pursuit. His love is not vengeful; the blessed should always maintain a pure heart and strive for peace. It is this message that rang true not only to Dr. King, but to so many of the movement’s followers who turned the other cheek as their houses were burned,

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as they were unjustly beaten and imprisoned, and as they sacrificed money and time to support the cause (King, 1958). Dr. King also explains in Stride Toward Freedom why Gandhi’s message so impressed him: Gandhi espoused a philosophy that showed King how Jesus’ love ethic could be elevated to encompass society as a whole. Before reading Gandhi, King could only relate Jesus’ message to individual social interactions. “Gandhi was probably the first person in history to lift the love ethic of Jesus above mere interaction between individuals to a powerful and effective social force on a large scale. For Gandhi love was a potent instrument for social and collective transformation. It was in this Gandhian emphasis on love and nonviolence that I discovered the method for social reform that I had been seeking for so many months…I came to feel that this was the only morally and practically sound method open to oppressed people in their struggle for freedom (King, 1958 78–79).”

It is important to note that while Dr. King and the SCLC were striving for peaceful resolutions to social injustice, there were many forces working against this. The Black Power movement, for instance, did not see non-violence as a reasonable response to the violence being perpetrated on Blacks (Black Power Movement, 2010). “By any means necessary” became the mantra of Black Power advocates, who felt white society would never grant equality to Blacks unless Blacks were willing to fight, sometimes through violent means, to gain equal rights. Racial tensions were so high during the 1960s that a number of incidents sparked riots in several cities. Many Blacks associated their poor living conditions and the lack of opportunities with America’s racist legacy, using violence as an outlet for their frustrations. That the non-violent, “turn the other cheek” approach was so successful is perhaps a testament to the force of the church in the lives of many Blacks.

WHAT THE CHURCH DOES TODAY The Black church remains one of the primary providers of community outreach in Black communities (Blank et al., 2002; Thomas et al., 1994). A survey conducted by Thomas et al. (1994) found that 67% of Black churches engaged in at least one form of

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community outreach and that more than 40% engaged in three forms of outreach or more (576). Blank et al. (2002) cites the role the Black church has had in providing services in “4 areas of community medicine: primary care delivery, community mental health, health promotion and disease prevention, and health policy (1668).” Thomas et al. (1994) also points out that Black churches have offered services such as feeding the unemployed, offering health clinics and providing child care since the early 20th century (576). Not only have Black churches been actively engaged in outreach activities for decades, but they are willing to work with new partners to implement new, socially beneficial projects. A study conducted by Davis et al. (1994) looked at the potential of minority (Black and Latino) churches to implement a cervical cancer education program. The researchers found that minority churches were very receptive to implementing the outreach program and that recruitment by church members was very successful at garnering the participation of the target population (women at risk for cervical cancer). Thomas et al. (2002) also found that 71% of Black churches collaborate with either secular organizations or other churches to provide services. Interestingly, Billingsley and Caldwell (1991) found that the majority of education services offered by Black churches served members of the community who were not members of the congregation (431). The role the Black church has played in offering services has led to calls for the inclusion of churches in other outreach activities (Blank et al, 2002; Davis et al., 1994). Blank et al. (2002) see the Black church as very important potential ally in the provision of mental health services. Davis et al. (1994) see the Black church as instrumental in the fight against cancer. Both Blank and Davis, however, acknowledge that service providers will need to reach out to the Black church for this to occur, something many organizations are remiss to do.

CURRENT PROBLEMS AND POTENTIAL SOLUTIONS Although the Black church has been instrumental in securing the rights of minority groups in the United States and continues to do outreach, predominantly African American communities remain among the most socially and economically disenfranchised groups in America. Drugs and gang-related violence have been plaguing

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the inner cities for decades, and Black churches have been relatively unsuccessful at combating these problems (Holmes, 2002). In addition, many African Americans are still poorer and have access to poorer quality education than the average American. The question I ask myself, then, is “Where can the Black church go from here?” The Black church is less successful at mobilizing the community in part because (proportionally) fewer individuals are attending church than before (Roberts, 2009). Also, there is less cohesion among Black denominations than during the Civil Rights Movement; in my experience, Black churches within a two block radius of each other often do not collaborate or even communicate. This has to stop if Black churches hope to mobilize and confront these issues. That Black participation in the church is down does not mean that there is no role for church activism and community outreach. Harris (n.d.) points out that, according to the 1992 National Black Politics Study, Blacks remain positive about God’s role in the Black community (145–148). When surveyed, 86% of Blacks felt that God has been a positive force in the Black community and 75% believed that recent progress made by Blacks has been due to God. Such opinions imply that members of the Black community remain open to the prospect of increased church political/outreach activities. The study also found evidence that community outreach has increased significantly since the middle of the 20th century (146). The majority of Blacks also feel positively about the role of the Black church (Blank et al., 2002; Taylor et al., 1987). In a study examining the perceptions of Blacks regarding the historical importance of the church, almost 83% of respondents felt that the church had helped the condition of Blacks in America and less than 5% felt the church had hurt the condition of Blacks (Taylor et al., 1987). Although there were very compelling reasons for the forming of Black congregations after the Civil War, it is surprising that many of these congregations have remained segregated from their White counterparts into the 21st century. Some argue this level of racial segregation reflects the racism that still pervades our society (Thomas et al., 1994, 575). If this is true, higher levels of church integration might improve the White community’s awareness of the issues facing Blacks in many parts of the country.

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Many megachurches have been successful at incorporating individuals of every creed into their congregations (Black Mega churches’ Mega-outreach, 2004). Megachurches are Protestant churches that have very large congregations; most megachurches are evangelical or Pentecostal and tend to be semi-independent from the major Christian denominations (Hartford Institute for Religious Research, 2006). Megachurches, however, have been attacked because of their reticence to be as actively involved in social activism as their predecessors (Rivera, 2002). These churches, which their detractors refer to as having a “shake and bake” atmosphere, have several features in common: “professionally performed music that will bring a congregation to its feet; dynamic and inspiring preaching; and a sense of freedom in the congregation to respond as the Spirit moves-shouting, clapping, dancing, speaking in tongues, healing and a sort of swoon known as being “slain in the Spirit (Rivera, 2002).” The emphasis of these churches is on the individual and they eschew politics and social organizing. According to one megachurch minister, “I think the frustration [the civil rights ministers] feel is we are not making as many placards, we’re not holding as many rallies…But on the other hand, we’re having many more revivals and teaching sessions and seminars, trying to equip our people to be family, to have sanctity of family, have respect and reverence for the house of God and the people of God. And the balance is absolutely necessary (Rivera, 2002).”

The minister’s quote represents a divide between younger churches in America and those that are older; the phenomenon is not particular to Megachurches. Thomas et al. (1987) found evidence of this when they observed that age was a significant determiner of the level of community outreach; in their study, 78% of churches over 75 years old participated in community outreach compared to 62% of churches younger than 41 years old (577).

CRITICISMS OF THE CHURCH I have been discussing the support the Black church has in the Black community, but believe I should also address some of the criticisms voiced by members in the community who do not support the church. Adherents to the assimilation-isolation model of acculturation, which argues that all-Black institutions (such as the

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church) retard the process of assimilation or integration into mainstream society, feel that the power of the church needs to be weakened if Blacks are to prosper (Taylor et al., 1987, 125). Proponents of this model argue that: “By socially segregating its members, Black churches impede their level of participation in other voluntary and civic associations and activities. Characterizations of the religious behaviors of Blacks as primarily emotional and otherworldly, which consequently impede direct social action and participation in electoral politics, are consistent with this model (Taylor et al., 1987, 125).”

While the assimilation-isolation model of acculturation depicts the Black church as an impediment to Black progress, there are other models which see the Black church as an asset to the Black community. The compensatory model, for instance, argues that the Black church acts as the primary voluntary association of Blacks (Taylor et al., 1987, 125–126). From the point of view of adherents to this model, the Black church provides an outlet for Blacks to engage in the types of activities denied by more mainstream institutions; the church here is seen primarily as a response to racial discrimination. The model most in-line with my beliefs is the ethnic community model, which “emphasizes the role of the church for enhancing individual self-worth and building a functional community that is based on a sense of group identity and collective interest (Taylor et al., 1987, 126).” While racial discrimination may have led to the formation of Black churches, these institutions are more than just a reaction to racism. Another concern has been raised by members of some nonChristian religious communities, who argue that Christianity is a product of White culture and is therefore detrimental to Black culture and traditional beliefs (Taylor et al., 1987, 133). Others see the church as a corrupt institution that has become consumed by greed (as evidenced by the salaries of many of the preachers in the larger churches). In response to those who argue that the Black church has eroded Black culture, there is evidence that the Black church has integrated many African religious and cultural practices not seen in their predominantly White counterparts (Alkalimat, n.d.). The claim that the Black church is a corrupt institution may be well-founded,

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though this may be a symptom of our society or human nature; I have found little evidence to suggest the Black church is any more or less corrupt than any other institution. There is one other criticism of the Black church I do think is valid and something the Black community needs to address; Black churches tend to be more socially conservative than mainstream Americans and as a result do not support a number of the interventions and policies promoted by secular organizations. One area where this has been a major issue is with regards to HIV. Many health NGOs support the use of condoms and assume people will have premarital sex; many churches, however, do not support the use of condoms and avoid the topic of premarital sex. Davis et al. (1994), who sees the role of the church in offering mental health services, acknowledges that many churches do not agree with the current medical interpretations of mental illness. There is no simple resolution to this issue. Taylor et al. (1987) believes that Black churches and secular providers can reach a middle ground, with churches staying away from topics that conflict with their values but providing other types of assistance that complements the provider’s contributions. I favor this view, but understand that such negotiations must be handled carefully.

IMPLICATIONS FOR EDUCATION Although many people may understand the legacy of the Civil Rights movement and the role the Black church has played in it, they may not see how this is related to education. Education, as I define it, is any activity or experience that has an effect upon the mind, character or soul of an individual. Developing an understanding of how to organize to push for one’s rights and the rights of others (who may not be able to fight for themselves) is educational in that it shapes the mind and character of the activists. The individual who engages in social activism is not the only one educated through the process; members of society are also influenced by the activist’s actions. By advocating for civil rights, for instance, Blacks alerted whites to the unfairness of existing policies and emphasized the willingness to peaceably resist such policies; if Black churches and organizations had been complacent, larger society may not have recognized the error of its ways. In addition to forcing America to reevaluate its treatment of Blacks, the movement spawned several other domestic civil rights

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movements, such as the women’s and gay rights movements of the 1960s–1980s. Not only did civil action have ramifications in the United States, but the Civil Rights movement became the inspiration for liberation movements throughout the world. Groups with no ties to the United States learned from the model of Reverend Dr King and others how they might contest unfair, discriminatory polices and practices in their part of the world. The Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association (NICRA), for example, came into existence in the late 1960s to address discriminatory policies against Catholics (BBC history, 2007). Instead of violence, NICRA relied on documenting and publicizing (through public marches and a strong lobbying mechanism) unfair housing, electoral and employment practices. Not uncoincidentally, the end of the African American Civil Rights movement coincided with a number of peaceful student protests calling attention to political and social grievances (Resource Center of the Americas, 1998). From Mexico to Egypt to Yugoslavia, people began voicing their concerns, organizing strikes, and protesting on the streets. The role of the African American Civil Rights movement cannot be understated in fostering these events; one of the major benefits of social activism is that it empowers others to take action. Just as the social action and writings of those like Gandhi inspired and shaped the practices of Dr. King and the SCLC, the US movement empowered another generation of peaceful activists. I find social activism important not only for its ability to right wrongs, but for the positive effects it has upon those who engage in it. In my experience, those who feel wronged but do not know how to combat/redress that wrong become fatalistic. I was acutely aware of this while teaching and living in both East and North Africa. Many of the people I met felt that they had been cursed by God for being born into their societies. While many things were out of their immediate control, I found that they often failed to act even when a goal was obtainable. For instance, (almost) all of my students wanted to complete secondary school and go on to University, but many did not think they could get in through their own efforts. Instead of increasing the amount of studying or coming to me (or their other teachers) for assistance, many spent most of their time praying a mysterious benefactor would provide them with a scholarship to study in the United States (not realizing,

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of course, that admission to schools in the US would require very high test scores, as well). While anyone can (and everyone probably should) engage in some form of activism, activism is most needed in poor and disenfranchised communities. Many of these communities in the United States today (especially in the inner cities) are primarily composed of minorities who are struggling to gain access to resources and a standard of living most other Americans enjoy. That said, little emphasis is placed in the public school setting on social activism or helping students/members of the community push for the changes in policy that will improve their lives. This is why the Black church continues to be important; it remains a major source for social activism/empowerment education in Black communities. Another way society/the church can help confront the problems facing the African American community is to teach social activism to youth both in the church and at schools. By providing young people with the skills they would need to mobilize others for positive social change, Black churches would foster the growth of the leaders of tomorrow. In the church setting, social action could be framed in Christian terms. Jesus’ call to seek justice in a loving and peaceful way even if you are persecuted, is a compelling one. In the public school environment, Christian themes would have to be deemphasized. The values of compassion, fairness and forgiveness could be employed instead as a means of justifying non-violent social action. Admittedly, the suggestions I’ve outlined above are rather vague. My intent here was to call attention to a perceived problem in the African American church and start a conversation that can be further developed in the future. More importantly, I think every church will need to deal with its problems on a case by case basis. My church, for example, already has a very active social community; it could focus more of its efforts, though, on working with the three other Black churches located within the same community.

CONCLUSION In this paper I attempted to describe many of the factors that have shaped the African American church into a force for social activism. I listed several factors that may have contributed to the

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conversion of Blacks to Christianity and to the formation of Black churches. I then examined the Civil Rights Movement and the role religion played in it. Finally I addressed some of the problems facing Black churches today and outlined possible solutions. Our society is constantly evolving and it is impossible to foretell the role institutions like the Black church will play throughout the 21st century; that said, the church has the potential to be a significant force for righting social injustices and bringing communities together. Given the social ills we (all Americans, not just African Americans) are facing today, there remains a huge role for activism

REFERENCES: Alkalimat, A. et al. (n.d.). Religion and the Black Church. Introduction to Afro-American Studies (6th ed.). Chicago: Twentyfirst Century Books and Publications. Retrieved from http://eBlackstudies.org/intro/chapter10.htm. Bankard, B. (n.d.).Richard Allen. In Unbound: Profiles in Black History. Retrieved from http://www1.phillyburbs.com/bhm/Allen1.shtml. BBC history. (2007). Civil Rights. Retrieved from http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/recent/troubles/the_troubles _article_03.shtml. Billingsley, A. & Caldwell, C. (1991). The Church, the Family, and the School in the African American Community. The Journal of Negro Education, 60(3), 427–440. Black Mega churches’ Mega-outreach (2004, Sept 8). In ReligionLink.com. Retrieved from http://www.religionlink.com/tip_040908b.php. Black Power Movement. (2010). Free Legal Encyclopedia. Retrieved from http://law.jrank.org/pages/4776/BlackPower-Movement.html. Blank, M., Mahmood, M., Fox, J. & Guterbock, T. (2002 Oct). Alternative Mental Health Services: The Role of the Black Church in the South. American Journal of Public Health, 92(10), 1668–1672. Davis, D. et al. (1994). The Urban Church and Cancer Control: a Source of Social Influence in Minority Communities. Public Health Reports, 109(4), 500–506.

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Estrella, E. (2011). African Music. Retrieved from http://musiced.about.com/od/historyofmusic/a/africanmusi c.htm Hartford Institute for Religious Research. (2006). Megachurches. Retrieved from http://www.hartfordinstitute.org/megachurch/megachurches .html. Hines, M. (2007, April 22). Black Churches. Retrieved from http://www.christianchronicler.com/history1/Black_churche s.html. Holmes, C. (2002). Crime and Poverty. In Orange County Public Defender website. Retrieved from http://www.pubdef.ocgov.com/poverty.htm. Johnson, W. C. (1997) “A Delusive Clothing”: Christian Conversion in the Antebellum Slave Community. The Journal of Negro History, 82 (3), 295–311. King, M. L. (1958). Stride Toward Freedom: the Montgomery story. New York: Harper. Marsh, T. (2010). The Role of the Black Church in the Civil Rights Movement. In Helium.com. Retrieved from http://www.helium.com/items/872125-the-role-of-theBlack-church-in-the-civil-rights-movement. Maffly-Kipp, L. (2005). African American Christianity Part I: To the Civil War. In Teacherserve.com. Retrieved from http://nationalhumanitiescenter.org/tserve/nineteen/nkeyinf o/aareligionb.htm Montgomery, W. E. (1993). Under Their Own Vine and Fig Tree: The African- American Church in the South, 1865–1900. Baton Rouge, La: Louisiana State University. Public Broadcasting Service (1998a). Richard Allen. In Africans in America. Retrieved from http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part3/3p97.html. Public Broadcasting Service (1998b). The Black Church. In Africans in America. Retrieved from http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part3/3narr3.html Public Broadcasting Service (1998c). The Causes and Motives for Establishing St. Thomas’s African Church. In Africans in America. Retrieved from http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part3/3h1588.html.

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Resource Center of the Americas. (1998) Students Confront the Government: the Massacre at Tlateloco (handout). Retrieved from http://www.civilrightsteaching.org/Handouts/MassacreatTlat elolco.pdf. Rivera, J. (2002, Aug 25) Neo-Pentecostals: Traditional congregations bristle at stress on the individual over social activism. The Baltimore Sun. Retrieved from http://www.religionnewsblog.com/577/a-shift-in-theirfocus-for-Black-churches Roberts, T. (2009, May 15). Among Black Catholics, a deep loss. National Catholic Reporter, p.7. Robinson, B. (2006, June 25). Christianity and Slavery. In Religious Tolerance.org. Retrieved from http://www.religioustolerance.org/chr_slav.htm. Southern Christian Leadership Conference (n.d.). In Encyclopedia Britannica online. Retrieved from http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/556708/Sout hern-Christian-Leadership-Conference. Taylor, R., Thornton, M., & Chatters, L. (1987 Dec). Black Americans’ Perceptions of the Sociohistorical Role of the Church. Journal of Black Studies, 18(2), 123–138. Thomas, S., Crouse, S., Billingsley, A. & Caldwell, C. (1994 Apr). The Characteristics of Northern Black Churches with Community Health Outreach Programs. American Journal of Public Health, 84(4), 575–579.

CHAPTER 11 EMBODIED PEACEMAKING: LIVING SHALOM CLOSE TO HOME PAUL KEIM Peace comes from being able to contribute the best that we have, and all that we are, toward creating a world that supports everyone. But it is also securing the space for others to contribute the best that they have and all that they are. Hafsat Abiola

In an earlier essay on the theological foundations of Christian pacifism, I attempted to describe the essential features of a biblical theology of peacemaking, one identified with a particular set of biblical, Christian, Anabaptist traditions.1 The theology of Christian pacifism depicted there is rooted in biblical teaching across both testaments, and filtered through the hermeneutical lens of the life, teachings, death and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth. The foundational themes of such a biblical commitment to nonviolence in the Christian tradition include: ƒ ƒ ƒ ƒ

Love of Enemy Love of Neighbor The Discipleship of the Cross Commitment to Nonretaliation

Paul Keim, “Foundation of Christian Nonviolence,” in Karikottuchira K. Kuriakose, ed., Religion, Terrorism and Globalization, Nonviolence: A New Agenda,” pp. 175–188. 1

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In the current essay, I attempt to describe the various ways in which such a theology has been put into practice in one small community. The essay is not strictly thematic because it is set within a cultural and historical context, tracking significant changes over time. The implicit question driving the narrative is that of coherence and integrity. Do the practices lifted out for consideration relate coherently to the theological foundations upon which they are supposedly dependent? Do the practices maintain an essential integrity though subject to change over time? In bringing together theologies, philosophies and ideologies of nonviolence on the one hand, with peacemaking strategies, practices and actions on the other, the current volume may seem at first blush to be an unnecessary exercise. But just as belief in the transformative power of nonviolence must be taught and learned, so too is there a pedagogy of peacemaking. The global influence of Gandhian nonviolence has invigorated both the conversation and the practice of peace and justice in religious communities.2 The pedagogy of peacemaking takes many forms, some embedded in the cultural practices of families and societies, some discovered and nurtured in the conscience of the individual. The wisdom of peacemaking practice is transmitted from generation to generation by example, by oral instruction and by written resource. A wonderful example of the latter is the workbook produced by Rev. K. K. Kuriakose.3 An extensive list of peace resources for children, youth, parents and adults is available on the website of Mennonite Church, USA.4 When we speak and write of nonviolence we lift out universal principles and enduring strategies, those beliefs and practices that For a cogent review of Gandhian nonviolence and its contemporary relevance see Noel Sheth, “The Nonviolence of Mahatma Gandhi,” in Kuriakose, op. cit., pp. 33–49. For a summary of the influence of Gandhian teaching on peacemaking ideologies and strategies in the West, as well as its adaptation for the “age of terrorism;” cf. also David Cortright, Gandhi and Beyond: Nonviolence for an Age of Terrorism, Paradigm Publishers, 2006. 3 Nonviolence: The Way of the Cross, Xulon Press, 2004. 4 http://peace.mennolink.org/resources.html 2

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have stood the test of time and have proven adaptable in different cultures and effective in different conflicts. Yet much of the practice of peacemaking takes place in contexts that are unique and particular. The best of creative peacemaking strategies may not lend themselves well to generalization or universal application. The present essay is intended to test the extent to which local peace and justice initiatives may provide encouragement, ideas and inspiration without necessarily suggesting any normative principles of universal application. In particular I am interested in pursuing what happens in a community where the values and rhetorical strategies of peace shift and change over time. How do changing modes of doing peace work emerge out of an evolving theological framework, and how do changing alliances and practices work at shaping theological rationalizations? For many years the Anabaptist groups of North America maintained a relatively separate lifestyle from their “English” neighbors. But especially in the 50 plus years since the end of WWII Mennonites have been slowly assimilating into the social, economic and religious life of the surrounding community. Although many of the ethnic distinctives that separated Mennonites from others have been discarded (distinctive dress, use of German dialect as first language, etc.), a strong tradition of Christian pacifism5 has been retained. During the many years when Mennonites were socially separate from the rest of the community, the expression of their pacifist beliefs was mostly confined to nonparticipation in civic and national institutions. This was especially the case in nonparticipation in the military or police force. The ways in which Mennonite “pacifism” expressed itself during this time in daily life included rejection of military service, opposition to capital

Called “nonresistance” by earlier generations, but more recently “nonviolence.” These and other terms, such as “pacifism” and “peacemaking” will be used synonymously in this essay. For a fascinating account of the way the rhetoric of peacemaking both reflected and shaped Mennonite belief and practice over the past 100 years see Ervin R. Stutzman, Nonresistance and Justice (Herald Press, 2011). 5

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punishment, not filing lawsuits, or holding public office.6 By definition, any professions perceived to be associated with government or military were considered off limits. This form of nonresistance was part of a larger impulse to remain distinct and separate from the surrounding society in significant (though not all) ways. As the ethic of Christian peacemaking began to express itself theologically in terms of justice as well as the absence of conflict, the nature of its outward expression began to change as well. A variety of factors influenced these changing perspectives. Some Mennonites made common cause with African Americans in the Civil rights campaigns of the 1960s. After WWII thousands of young Mennonites served in development work around the world and were able to see firsthand some of the negative effects of war in general and of American foreign and military policy in particular. By the time of the Vietnam war a convergence of such factors led to participation in public demonstrations and other forms of political participation, often in collaboration with perceived allies from other faith traditions, or from similar political commitments. This gradual shift from a relatively disengaged, socially separatist ethic of nonresistance to a more assimilationist, more socially and politically engaged ethic of justice and nonviolence influenced the way foundational and formative biblical texts were read and interpreted, affected perceptions in the community of what “peacemaking” was about and what it looked like. It influenced the kinds of issues that were identified and the kinds of social action that were contemplated.7

Mennonite Peacemaking: From Quietism to Activism, Leo Driedger and Donald B. Kraybill, Herald Press, 1994, p. 50. 7 The story of this (ongoing) transformation is told in a remarkable series of publications by Anabaptist social scientists and include, but are not strictly limited to, the following: Anabaptists Four Centuries Later, J. Howard Kauffman and Leland Harder, Herald Press, 1975; The Mennonite Mosaic: Identity and Modernization, J. Howard Kauffman and Leo Driedger, Herald Press, 1991; Mennonite Peacemaking: From Quietism to Activism, Leo Driedger and Donald B. Kraybill, Herald Press, 1994; Road 6

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It is not the intention of this essay to idealize this particular tradition and its constiuent communities in any way. The generations of peacemaking in a quietist mode did not mean that Mennonites and related groups of religious pacifists were totally apolitical or totally disengaged from the concerns of their local communities. Nor did such a stance mean that local communities were immune from internal conflicts and even violence.8 The intent is rather to demonstrate how, given the gradual shift from separatist to assimilationist tendencies within North American society, peacemaking came to signify a broader set of concerns as well as more ambiguous applications of individual and community ethics. This sometimes made for strange bedfellows and unequal alliances, which both reflected and exacerbated the internal tensions of the communities in transition. In narrating the part of these events that relate to “peacemaking” it is hoped that other communities of peacemakers might benefit and come to see peacemaking as a calling, a way of life, a set of commitments and behaviors that both express an underlying ethos and also shape that ethos in new ways. Though there were stirrings of new concerns and activities among Anabaptist groups in the first half of the 20th century, it would seem to be the general upheaval of the 1960s, the struggle for civil rights, and in particular the widespread and generationally marked opposition to the Vietnam war in the United States that helped to galvanize the growing conviction among Mennonites that peacemaking is more than refusing to participate in warfare or taking human life. Public demonstrations against the war offered a putative legitimacy to social protest for Mennonite youth who felt compelled to express their solidarity with the anti-war movement. The issue of conscription also came into play, with the option of doing alternative service in lieu of serving in the military—an Signs for the Journey: A Profile of Mennonite Church USA, Conrad L. Kanagy, Herald Press, 2007. 8 Cf. Jeannette Harder, Let the Children Come to Me: Preparing Faith Communities to End Child Abuse and Neglect (Herald Press, 2010); also Isaac I. Block, Assault on God’s Image: Domestic Abuse (Windflower Communications, 1992).

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accommodation worked out for conscientious objectors from the “historic peace churches” already in the 1940s. Rubbing shoulders with other anti-war activists, some religious and many not, induced Mennonites to explore issues of social justice and political engagement in new ways. Driedger and Kraybill summarize the shift this way: “As Mennonites moved into the mainstream of modern life in greater numbers in the midtwentieth century their traditional theological categories began to collapse. The boundaries between church and world grew ambiguous as they entered professions and shouldered civic responsibilities. The nonresistance which rang with credibility in segregated rural communities sounded hollow in the midst of urban violence and oppression.”9 Goshen, Indiana (U.S.A.) is located in the American Midwest, about 90 miles East of Chicago. Goshen is the county seat of Elkhart County, and with a population of just under 32,000 (2010 census), it is the second largest city in the county after the city of Elkhart. North Central Indiana is home to the third largest settlement of Mennonites and Amish in North America, located primarily in the counties of Elkhart and Lagrange. There are at least 14 Mennonite congregations with Goshen addresses affiliated with the largest denomination—Mennonite Church, U.S.A. Numerous others belonging to smaller Anabaptist conferences and there are more than 20,000 Amish in the area. Two higher education institutions sponsored by the Mennonite Church are located in this region: Goshen College,10 a 4 year liberal arts institution about 1,000 students established in 1892, and Associated Mennonite Biblical Seminary,11 located in the nearby city of Elkhart, integrating two originally separate Mennonite theological schools. In addition, a Mennonite Middle and High School, Bethany Christian,12 has flourished in the community since 1954. The move from “nonresistance” to “peace and justice” has changed the face of Mennonite peacemaking at the national and Mennonite Peacemaking, p. 55. http://www.goshen.edu/ 11 http://www.ambs.edu/ 12 http://www.bethanycs.net/ 9

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regional levels. But the change is most poignantly evident at the local level. What follows is not an exhaustive list of local initiatives self-identified as part of a larger vision of peace and justice work, but a representative sample of organizations and activities that illustrate the broadened scope of peacemaking in the local community.13

1. CONGREGATIONAL PEACE AND JUSTICE COMMITTEES Many local Mennonite and related Anabaptist congregations have active peace and justice committees which collect and disseminate information and provide opportunities for active engagement. One such organization that that provides a venue for retired church members from the area is called Seniors for Peace. Members of this group have helped to plan, organize and participate in a weekly prayer vigil on the courthouse lawn in downtown Goshen to protest the ongoing wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Participants hold signs and express solidarity with others across the country opposed to war, or these wars, from a variety of motivations.14 Another significant initiative of Seniors for Peace, known as the Just Peace seminars, led to the organization of a series of seven presentations in the community primarily on the topic of Christian-Muslim relations.15

2. SCHOOL PEACE ORGANIZATIONS Students in the local schools, college and seminary have long been engaged in peace-related activism since at least the era of the Vietnam War. The longest running of these is the Pax Club at Goshen College, which had its origins in 1930s and continues to this day. For decades this was the sole Goshen College student A thought-provoking list of ways in which Christian pacifists have engaged actively and creatively in civic life at the local level without compromising their principles may be found in John D. Roth, Choosing Against War: A Christian View (Good Books, 2002), pp. 169–196. 14 http://goshennews.com/local/x395793065/Anti-war-vigil-held-inGoshen/print 15 http://peace.mennolink.org/articles/shenk.html 13

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organization dedicated explicitly to peace convictions and activism. More recently other organizations have arisen alongside Pax that represent related areas of concern. The largest and most active of these is Eco-Pax, a group concerned with sustainability. Their mission statement clarifies the scope of their advocacy: Ecopax is dedicated to ƒ ƒ ƒ ƒ

Communicating with and between the Goshen College student body, administration, and the greater community on all issues pertaining to the environment Promoting and exploring ecologically sound lifestyles Taking active steps to change the existing unsustainable practices of our immediate and broader communities Fostering enjoyment of and an interest in the earth through a spirit of hope, passion, and peace.16

3. DENOMINATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS AT THE LOCAL LEVEL The Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) Peace Office engages in a variety of peace and justice related projects at the national level. The regional headquarters of MCC Midwest is located in Goshen. On its website two emphases are highlighted— an immigration listening project, and a call to prayer and fasting.17

4. OTHER LOCAL PEACE AND JUSTICE-RELATED INITIATIVES A. Center for Community Justice Peace and justice concerns are expressed in a variety of ways at the local level. One way that has become established in the past 20 years or so is mediation services. This involves a variety of mediation contexts, from divorce and other family conflict contexts to disputing business interests looking for out-of-court mediation options. One of the most significant of these is the 16 17

http://www.goshen.edu/clubs/ecopax/Home http://greatlakes.mcc.org/whatwedo/peaceandjustice

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Victim-Offender Reconciliation program (VORP). Victim Offender mediation or reconciliation “is a restorative justice approach that bring offenders face-to-face with the victims of their crimes with the assistance of a trained mediator, usually a community volunteer.” The Center for Community Justice is the VORP organization of this area. It has recently expanded its program to include community and family mediation services.18 VORP is also the umbrella organization for the ministry of Anabaptist Disabilities Network. Organized in 2003, Anabaptist Disabilities Network (ADNet) is a national inter-Mennonite advocacy ministry dedicated to supporting families and equipping the church to include persons with all types of disabilities. A member organization of Mennonite Health Services Alliance, ADNet provides resources via print, videos, and an extensive website. ADNet is a national membership organization of congregations, families, friends, and persons living with mental illness and/or other disabilities. We are shaped by the Anabaptist tradition (Mennonites and related groups). Our resources are available to anyone who finds them useful.19 B. Just Help This organization, currently in its second year of operation, strives to provide “quality, timely and affordable legal services” to members of the local community. Many of its clients are recent immigrants.20 C. Immigration services With Hispanic immigrants making up 14% of the population in Elkhart County and 28% in the city of Goshen, there are a number of organizations in the local community dedicated to provide social, medical, tutoring, mediation and other services to this

http://www.centerforcommunityjustice.org/CMP.html www.adnetonline.org 20 http://www.justhelplegal.org/ 18 19

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under-served group. 21 A recent forum on immigration sponsored by the Community Relations Commission22 attracted almost 400 people to engage the issues and opportunities facing the city.23 D. Peacemakers Academy This is an organization devoted to addressing the issue of violence among youth and against women. Started in the year 2000 by a local Mennonite pastor, Peacemakers Academy is devoted to “empowering people to live in peace by training youth and adults in both verbal and physical skills for preventing violence and transforming conflict.”24 The academy program teaches alternative responses to violence that integrate conflict transformation and martial arts skills. Through physical fitness, skill training and role play, youth learn to build self-confidence and self-control when confronted with violent aggression. They learn to manage fear, anger and aggression, to diffuse threatening situations, to learn courage, build self-esteem and respect others as a foundation for peace. This is easily the most nontraditional form of peacemaking to have evolved out of the local community of Christian pacifism. It remains somewhat controversial and is not accepted by all, especially because of the use of martial arts training. But in the past decade of its work in the community it has won many supporters because of its positive impact in the community. Peacemakers has recently been authorized to work at anti-bullying in the local schools, where the focus of the curriculum is on “pursuing peace; managing oneself by controlling fear, anger and aggression; engaging others through communication and problem solving; and character building.”25 For those that look carefully at its mission, programs, curriculum and teaching methods, it is clear that http://www.lacasagoshen.org/learn/mission.phphttp://www.nec. org/Bienvenido/Bienvenido%20Newsletter%20October%2008.pdf 22 http://www.ci.goshen.in.us/1039536.html 23 http://goshennews.com/local/x1479020842/Roughly–375-attendsfirst-immigration-forum-at-Goshen-High-School 24 http://peacemakertraining.org/ 25 http://www.etruth.com/wireless/story.aspx?ID=530223 21

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Peacemakers represents a sincere attempt to think outside the box and bring the healing, reconciling power of peace to some of the most vulnerable members of the community.

SUMMARY Doing the grand work of peace and justice may seem at times like serial exercises in futility. We see the injustice, conflict and war all around us. We may—or may not—know how to respond. We may—or may not—know what strategies will lead to greater justice. We may—or may not—know how to measure “success,” e.g., an increase in justice, a lessening of animosity between individuals or communities. Unlike the global stage, the absence of peace locally does not usually take the form of war but lower levels of conflict, disharmony and dysfunctionality. What the sources of such “peacelessness” might be are hard to discern or uncover; harder still to know what strategies might lead to greater harmony, equity, peace. Justice activism may not lead directly to peace, but provoke conflict instead. This has been the case in dealing with such issues as inclusion of women in leadership, immigration, affordable housing, anti-racism and advocacy for acceptance of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered people in the community. For conscientious peacemakers it may be difficult to separate a tangible increase in peace and justice from a sense of satisfaction that one has taken up the struggle on behalf of others. Expressions of solidarity are important, but they do not themselves constitute justice being done, nor do they necessarily lead directly to peace. Typically peace activists see themselves as somehow outside of the conflict, mediating between oppressor and oppressed. In such cases it can be difficult not to fall into a mindset that sees only winners and losers in a political battle. In true peacemaking enemies are not defeated but won over, ceasing to be enemies, they become friends. This may be a more difficult outcome than simply winning political battles and finding oneself in a position to impose one’s values over the former enemy. These are not necessarily exclusive paths, but the ultimate goal of peacemaking is to reconcile enemies.

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EXCURSUS In response to an explicit inquiry from the editor I am pleased to reflect briefly on the peacemaking activities of European Mennonites.26 Anabaptist Christians have maintained a witness of Christian pacifism in Europe since the time of the Reformation— expressed foremost in their consistent refusal to engage in warfare. Persecution for this and other distinctives of theology and practice led them to migrate in search of refuge and toleration, a search that led Swiss, German and Dutch Mennonites to seek refuge throughout Europe, moving eventually eastward to Poland and Russia, and westward to North America. More recently, the practice of Christian pacifism lay dormant for long periods in the heartlands of 16th century Anabaptism. A number of factors have contributed to a reawakening of the Christian peace witness in Europe. After WWII Mennonite Christians joined their Catholic and Protestant neighbors in soulsearching. Much of Europe lay in ruins. Tens of millions had been killed. Why had the churches, for the most part, supported the war and even tried to justify it? How might the churches contribute to the rebuilding their shattered lands, and also to laying the foundations for a lasting peace? Under the auspices of the World Council of Churches, Christians were encouraged to consider the theological foundations of war and peace. The historic peace churches (Quaker, Brethren, Mennonite) also engaged in such a process, organizing various consultations and discussions. Among the first of these were a series of dialogues called the Puidoux Conferences.27 Between 1955 and 1962 representatives of these Free Church traditions from Europe and North America met with scholars and church officials from the Mennonite peacemaking in Europe today is best understood from a global perspective, q.v., From the Ground Up: Mennonite Contributions to International Peacebuilding, Cynthia Samson, John Paul Lederach, eds. (Oxford Univ. Press, 2000). 27 The best source on the Puidoux Conferences (named after the Swiss village where the first meeting was held) remains Donald F. Durnbaugh, ed., On Earth Peace: Discussions of War/Peace Issues Between Friends, Mennonites, Brethren and European Churches, 1935–1973 (Brethren Press, 1978). 26

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continental Lutheran and Reformed theological faculties, along with the International Fellowship of Reconciliation to consider the general theme: “The Lordship of Christ over Church and State.” Thus an important factor leading to the revival of Mennonite peace witness in Europe was an ecumenical movement of Christians from across Europe pursuing the problem of peace. Mennonite Central Committee, the relief and service agency of North American Mennonites, has long supported and facilitated peace work in Europe. Starting already in 1942 the Peace Section of the Mennonite Central Committee has been an active force in promoting international peace education, witness and service.28 The revival of European Mennonite peace witness has not only been characterized by ecumenical cooperation but has also promoted unity among Mennonite denominations previously unaffiliated or burdened by longstanding schism.29 One corollary of interMennonite and inter-confessional cooperation in peace work has been a significant growth of conscientious objection to conscription into the armed forces throughout Europe and the promotion of alternative civilian service. Peace activism among European Mennonites in its various forms has continued to grow. Dutch,30 German31 and Swiss32 Mennonites have active peace committees engaged in a variety of programs that include: counseling of conscientious objectors, For a brief history of the MCC Peace Section see GAMEO (http://www.gameo.org/encyclopedia/contents/M4658.html). 29 For a brief historical summary of inter-Mennonite cooperation, see the online article in the “Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online (GAMEO), http://www.gameo.org/encyclopedia/contents/I584ME.html. 30 Since 1981 the Dutch Mennonite Peace group has been part of a single administrative structure encompassing peace, missions, relief and development initiatives; see GAMEO (http://www.gameo.org/encyclopedia/contents/S248.html) 31 See their facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/pages/TheGerman-Mennonite-Peace-Committee/132910486744870. 32 From GAMEO: http://www.gameo.org/encyclopedia/contents/S3871.html. 28

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sponsorship of peace-related conferences and seminars, publishing and interdenominational dialogue. In addition there are several independent Mennonite peace centers in Europe, including the Brussels Mennonite Centre33 and the Mennonite Peace Center in Berlin.34 The revival of peace witness and engagement among French Mennonites in the 20th century is proceeding in a distinctive way, influenced in part by American Mennonite historiography and peace theology.35 European Mennonites have been active participants in the work of “Eirene,”36 an ecumenical, international peace and service organization started in 1957 as a cooperative effort of different Christian denominations committed to nonviolence and a common witness against the rearmament of Europe, the introduction of conscription in the Federal Republic of Germany and for peaceful coexistence in the midst of the Cold War. Eirene sponsors over 100 volunteers engaged in projects around the world promoting peace, justice and environmental sustainability. Eirene is an officially authorized provider of alternative civil service assignments for conscientious objectors to military service in Germany. Many peace activists among European Mennonites are affiliated through the organization Church and Peace.37 This ecumenical peace church network is made up of individuals, congregations, intentional communities, training centers, peace organizations and peace service agencies. Growing out of the postwar engagement and reflection of Eirene and the Puidoux Conferences, Church and Peace attempts to strengthen the links between peace theology and peace practice. Its work is predicated on the question: What does it mean to be a peace church today? http://www.mennonite.be/. http://www.menno-friedenszentrum.de/friedenszentrum.html 35 For an enlightening summary of these developments in historical context see Neal Blough, “The Anabaptist Vision and Its Impact Among French Mennonites” (http://www.goshen.edu/mhl/Refocusing/BLOUGH795.HTM) 36 http://www.unhcr.org/48fdebf720.html 37 Website: http://www.church-and-peace.org/ 33 34

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The scope of the activities of its constituent members is broad and includes the following (from the Church and peace website): ecumenical worship, living in intentional community, prison visitation, hospitality, care for refugees, peace education and alternative service, theological training and reflection, conflict mediation, nonviolence training, providing peace education in schools and other settings, peace tax counseling, advocacy for disarmament and demilitarization, nonviolent direct action, trauma counseling, peacebuilding in areas of overt conflict, development of alternative economic structures, and inter-religious dialogue. One final indication of the extent to which peace theology and peace practice have regained a solid footing among European Mennonites comes from the Netherlands. In late June of this year at the Congress of Just Peace held at the Free University of Amsterdam, a new chair in Peace Theology and Ethics was inaugurated. Funded by the Dutch Mennonite Church, the first incumbent of the chair is Dr. Fernando Enns, prominent Mennonite theologian and peace activist, among whose notable achievements include initiation of the World Council of Church’s recently completed “Decade to Overcome Violence.”38 The revitalization of Christian peace witness among European Mennonites has been characterized by ecumenical engagement and international cooperation. Under the auspices of national peace committees, European Mennonite relief, service and development agencies, Mennonite Central Committee and Mennonite World Conference, peace in all its dimensions has again come to mark the ethos of European Mennonite communities.

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CHAPTER 12 JANUS, TERRORISM AND PEACEMAKING RON DART For it was a witty and a truthful rejoinder which was given by a captured pirate to Alexander the Great. The King asked the fellow, ‘What is your idea, in infesting the sea?’ And the pirate answered with uninhibited insolence, ‘The same as yours, as in infesting the earth! But because I do it with a tiny craft, I’m called a pirate: Because you have a mighty navy, you’re called an emperor’. St. Augustine City of God (Book IV, Chapter IV)

I. EMPERORS AND PIRATES Janus was, in Roman myth, the god who had two faces, one at the front and the other at the back of his head. Janus looked in both directions, and, being able to do so, could not be taken in by a single perspective. The language of terrorism is very much with us these days, and the political use of the term has certainly intensified since 9–11. Janus can very much be a guide for us in this paper, as we ponder how the language of terrorism is employed, who uses it and to what end. In short, it is essential to gaze in all directions as we dissect the functional use of the language of terrorism. The apt and insightful passage from St. Augustine in City of God mentioned above can, if heeded, clarify some often ignored realities. Terrorists are usually defined as those that threaten and disrupt the national security of the state. This does beg an important and significant question, though. What have been the decisions made by a state, at domestic and foreign policy levels, 241

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that threaten national security? The terrorists, like the pirates, are usually seen as the problem, but the state, like Alexander, is exempt from such questioning and scrutiny. And yet, it is often the state, like Alexander, that has much greater capacity to silence opposition and use greater violence against the pirates-terrorists. Many states often, in domestic and foreign policy, oppress and terrorize others through the use of death squads and the military, but when those who have been terrorized dare to fight back (with fewer arms and less sophisticated technology), they are branded with the terrorist term. Alexander can inflict massive hardships and brutality on people, but because he is emperor, he cannot be defined as a terrorist. The small scale pirates that oppose the emperor are called the terrorists. This simple yet often ignored point must be held front and centre in our understanding of how ‘terrorism’ is used. The large and vicious sharks are not seen as such, but the smaller fish, when they, in their limited sort of way, attack the sharks, are seen as the enemies of state security. Let me offer a few illustrations of this point. I was on a Sabbatical when 9–11 occurred. Our university hosted an event to discuss the terrorist threat. I was invited to be on a panel to ponder how 9–11 should be interpreted. Most on the panel deplored the terrorist event, and suggested more security was needed. My question was rather simple yet direct: why did such an event take place? What was the nature of historic USA foreign policy in the Middle East that created such a response? I listed the many post WW II CIA covert (and not so covert) operations in the Middle East that destabilized states. I suggested one and all read William Blum’s Killing Hope: U.S. Military and CIA Interventions since WW II (1995). I then asked how those of us in North America might respond if we had had all sorts of Middle Eastern states attempting to threaten and destabilize our regime order and drain our natural resources. I’m sure those in North America would fight back if a foreign invasion and occupation occurred. But, we are often blind to the fact that what we do to others we would never allow to be done to ourselves. If the Middle East had become the dominant empire after WW II, and Middle Eastern states needed our resources (and we refused to offer them up), Americans would be called the terrorists for seeking to protect their own. There is no doubt that the USA after WW II had become the dominant empire on the stage of world

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politics. The USA was the Alexander the Great, and those who dared to oppose them (with lesser might and power) were defined as the pirates and terrorists. It was virtually impossible after 9–11 to raise questions about historic American complicity in that tragic day. I am Canadian, and in Canada, the major media were all pro-American after 9–11. There was rarely a serious question asked about the deeper reasons for 9–11. Sunera Thobani (a significant west coast academic and activist) had the public courage to say that American foreign policy was ‘soaked in blood’, and the USA was ‘the most dangerous and powerful global force unleashing horrific levels of violence’. The national media in Canada turned on Thobani as public enemy number one. Surely, such comments were not true, and even if true, should not be publically spoken. Was this not a case, though, of a friend of the pirates/terrorists blowing the whistle on Alexander the Great?

II. TERRORISM: RETAIL, NEFARIOUS, BENIGN, CONSTRUCTIVE Edward Herman has made a valuable distinction in The Real Terror Network: Terrorism in Fact and Propaganda (1982) between three ways of understanding how the language of terrorism is employed: Constructive terror, Benign terror and Nefarious terror. Constructive terror is that which fulfills the aims and ambitions of the USA. The actions of the USA in Indonesia in bringing Suharto to power and overthrowing Sukarno in 1965–66 (and the countless lives lost), the political murders in Chile in 1973–74 when Pinochet was in power, the carnage of Vietnam, the support of the Shah of Iran from 1953–1979, the American support of the state of Israel (and the impact on the Palestinians), and the invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq are just a few instances of terror unleashed by the USA for national security reasons. But, because the use of violence was done for the USA, it is not deemed a terrorist activity. It is seen as a constructive activity because done by Alexander. Benign terror is something not directly done by an imperial power, but by a client state of the USA to consolidate power in an area. The Indonesian invasion of East Timor in 1975 is a case in point. The USA supported Indonesia, hence little was said when Suharto invaded the Island. American support of Israel means that the terror unleashed by political Zionism on the Palestinians

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(although not explicitly sanctioned by the USA) is rather benign in terms of direct American involvement. Nefarious terror is what enemies of the 1st world do to other states that play into the larger propaganda system. The Pol Pot regime in Cambodia proved how vile communism could be and why vigilance must ever be attentive. The same notion of nefarious terror could be applied to the USSR and its client states in the Cold War. We could also argue in the postcold war and ‘clash of civilizations’—9–11 era we are in, Islamism has become the new focus of nefarious terror, Iran leading the way. Nefarious terror is, in fact, what the enemies of the west do to the west or others. The fact that constructive terror has killed millions of people since WWII is often ignored. Alexander does it, he is emperor, so the actions taken cannot be deemed terrorist. But, when enemies of the west (pirates) threaten the west, they are nefarious and called terrorists. The fact that the USA has far greater power and can either directly or indirectly prop up or destabilize states that do not please them, and do so in a violent way, does justify the use of the term terrorist being applied to them. Only opposition states or small activist cells that use violence are terrorists. We need, perhaps, to further unpack how and why the language of terrorism is used the way it is. Hannah Arendt was one of the finest political philosophers of the twentieth century. The publication of Arendt’s The Origins of Totalitarianism (1951) became a sort of Cold War text book on what the USA and the 1st world opposed. The 1st world had fought totalitarian states in WWII (Japan, Germany, Italy) under the banner of liberty and democracy, and post WW II totalitarian states such as the USSR and China were questionable political regimes. The Origins of Totalitarian States is a complex and dense tome, and needs many a reread, but the language of ‘totalitarianism’ was often linked to the terror done by those Nefarious states that threatened the 1st world. Many horror stories could be drawn forth to amply illustrate how these totalitarian states in foreign or domestic policy terrorized their people. The merging of totalitarian states and nefarious terror was a hand in glove fit for planners in the 1st world. The fact that the world is not neatly divided (and never has been) into free and democratic states and totalitarian regimes meant that the USA after WWII had to

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make some hard decisions. There is no doubt totalitarian states were the enemy and problem, but choices had to be made. A distinction was made between those states which were totalitarian and those which were authoritarian. Authoritarian states could be worked with even though such states were quite willing to terrorize opposition groups and deem such opposition terrorists. But, this was constructive terror, that is terror done in the name of Alexander. So, just as totalitarian states were viewed as agents of nefarious terror (real terrorists), authoritarian states were agents of constructive terror (that is, violence done that serves the aims and ambitions of the 1st world). The litany of authoritarian states supported by the USA in the th 20 century is a long list: Guatemala (Montt), Indonesia (Suharto), Chile (Pinochet), Nicaragua (Somoza), Philippines (Marcos), Iran (Shah), Saudi Arabia (Saud family), Iraq (Hussein in the 1980s), Greece (Tsaldares), South Korea (Rhee), Haiti (Duvalier), Cuba (Batista), Portugal (Salazar), Franco (Spain), Thailand (Phibun), Pakistan (Zia) and many other authoritarian states. The amount of terror unleashed in these states is not seen as such for the simple reason it is constructive. The American state has subverted other states such as Guatemala (Arbenz), British Guyana (Jagan), Iran (Mossadegh), Dominican Republic (Bosch), Indonesia (Sukarno), Brazil (Goulart) and Chile (Allende). The level of terror and violence perpetrated by the authoritarian regimes backed by the USA when they toppled Alexander’s ambitions cannot denied or ignored. The shortest reading of Amnesty International annual reports or special publications brings the ominous facts to gruesome and graphic light. The language and use of terrorism has often been reduced to the actions of violent opposition groups such as the IRA, Shining Path, PLO—this can be called retail terrorism. When this approach to terrorism is used, state terrorism tends to be left out of the discussion. But, it is states that have the greatest power to inflict the greatest amount of damage on citizens. The fact of small scale retail terrorism cannot be denied, but there is much more to the terrorist story than this. The way large scale terrorism works is through a more subtler form of propaganda. States that are totalitarian (communist in the cold way, Muslim in the 9–11 world) are viewed as nefarious terrorists for the simple reason their agenda

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and use of violence (which cannot be denied) threatens the Alexander of the West. The use of equally brutal violence by authoritarian states is accepted approved by the west for the simple reason it aids in the constructive vision and agenda the west.

III. CONSTRUCTIVE TERRORISM The publication in 1995 by Jonathan Pickle and Franklin Jones of a 20-volume dossier of U.S. violence from 1791–1995 tells a graphic and gruesome tale in a factual and not to be denied manner. The globe is scanned and the painful history told in rigorous detail: Vols. 1–3: North American Indians Vols. 4–6: Blacks Vol. 7: Philippines Vol. 8: Indonesia Vol. 9: China Vol. 10: Japan Vol. 11: Indochina Vol. 12: Central America Vol. 13: Caribbean Vol. 14: Cuba Vol. 15: South America Vol. 16: South Africa Vol. 17: Zaire Vol. 18: Greece Vol. 19: Iran Vol. 20: Middle East Those who have taken the time to read through these well researched volumes by former State Department researchers cannot help but get the overwhelming feeling that Alexander, indeed, has terrorized many, but most are either unaware of the facts or simply ignore them because of who Alexander is in the global village. Captain America and the Crusade against Evil: The Dilemma of Zealous Nationalism (2003), by Jewett/Shelton, amply illustrates in an equally detailed but more philosophical manner the underpinnings in American religious and political thought that have created the Captain America syndrome. Alexander and Captain America are now one and the same. A read of Sardar Ziauddin/Merryl Wyn Davies’ two books, Why Do People Hate America (2002) and American Dream, Global Nightmare (2004) clarifies much for the curious and confirms the work of Pickle/Jones and

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why many see through the language of constructive terror, particularly those that are the victims and recipients of it.

IV. THE CLASH OF CIVILIZATIONS AND ORIENTALISM Samuel Huntington published a controversial article in Foreign Affairs in 1993 called ‘The Clash of Civilizations?’ The article was developed into a book that was called The Clash of Civilizations and the Reality of World Order (1996). The burden of the article/book was rather simple, and the implications of the article/book ominous. Huntingdon argued that the ‘clash of ideologies’ that dominated the post-WWII era had come to an end in 1989. Capitalism had defeated communism, and those in the West had much to be grateful for. But, a new war was in the making. Huntington argued that world politics was about to enter a new phase, and the West had better be preferred for this tougher challenge. The West was about to face the incoming fact that civilizations were arising again to challenge the dominance of the West, and of the many civilizations Huntington mentioned that will threat the Alexander of the West, Islam is the dominant one. The rise of Islamism and the violence and terrorism that could and would emerge from such a civilization must be noted and guarded against. Huntington had dipped his bucket in the well of a better known Western Islamic scholar, Bernard Lewis, for his Western read of Islam. Lewis had published many books on Islam, and central too many of his arguments is the notion of ‘Muslim Rage’. Islam was on the march again, and the West had best prepared for a new war. This time the enemy was not communism but Islam. This negative view of Islam by Lewis-Huntington certainly played into the Alexander-pirate, authoritarian-totalitarian model and dualism that so shaped much of American thought. The ‘clash of civilizations’ argument also reinforced, from another perspective, Edward Said’s ‘Òrientalìsm’ thesis. Said had argued, in his classic tome, Orientalism (1978), that the West had a historic habit of depicting the Orient in a way that was thick with clichés, caricatures and, for the most part, negative. The many images the West constructed about the Orient served, in an imperialist manner, to see them as a lesser people that needed to be civilized by the more advanced west. The Orient was a threat to the West, and the way the West fabricated images of the Orient further reinforced this cultural read of the Orient. The thinking of Lewis-

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Huntington merely perpetuated Said`s main thesis. The West and Islam could not be reconciled, and the clash between these civilizations was inevitable. The clash model of Lewis-Huntington and the co-existence and humanistic model of Said do have serious implications when fleshed out in the real world of activism and politics. Is Islam, by its very nature, aggressive and violent, and must the Christian West be vigilant and on guard against Islam? It does not take a great deal of thought to realize that Islam is a complex religious tradition, and the form Islam takes in Turkey and Indonesia is quite different than the form Islam has taken in Southern Russia and the Balkans. Islam in Iran and Sudan is quite different than Islam in Egypt and Saudi Arabia. Islam in Pakistan and India takes on different forms than Islam in the USA and Europe. In short, Islam, like Judaism and Christianity, Hinduism and Buddhism, Confucianism and Sikhism are not homogenous groupings. There is no doubt that there are tendencies towards violence within each of these traditions, but these religions also have strong and committed peacemaking heritages that are more committed to co-existence than a perpetual clash with one another. It is simply false and wrong to merely to see Islam and Islamism in a negative and violent way. The Christian West, as I have mentioned above has certainly exerted a great deal of constructive terror on those that have dared to oppose Captain America. Those whose minds are locked within a Christian West-Islam Orient dualism (the former often idealized, the latter demonized) rarely use their critical thinking on their own tradition in the way they use it ruthlessly on the tradition of the Other. There can be no doubt that the Christian West in the 20th century has used a great deal of violence on the Orient. Why is it, then, that the Islamic Orient is seen as the terrorists? Is this not a classic case of the mote-beam syndrome? Constructive terror wielded against those that oppose American interests is rarely viewed as terrorism. Modern Islamism is now targeted as an agent of nefarious terror: Taliban, Hamas, Al-Qaeda, Muslim Brotherhood, Hezbollah are all seen as terrorist groups and their various sleeper cells are seen as spreading far and wide. The West has often caricatured and demonized the Orient and idealized and romanticised its own heritage. But, just as in the souls

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of one and all, the good, mediocre and evil wage warfare, the same is the case in civilizations. The BBC production, The Power of Nightmares, makes this obvious fact poignantly clear and obvious. The Power of Nightmares demonstrates how a form of Islamism is violent, and how an ideal can lead to the worst form of ideology. The same is true, though, for the USA and Britain. The line and lineage of Reagan-Bush-Blair were as ideological in their views of communism and Islamism as were the Islamists towards the West. Both groups viewed political reality through a simplistic black-white lens, both thought the other was dark and menacing, both groups thought their own vision the truest and best, and both groups were prepared to use violence on the other. The point to be noted here is this, though: the West, like Alexander, had the overwhelming power. Muslims, like the pirates, had minimal ability to serious match or oppose the West. But, when the Muslim pirates dared to use violence against Alexander, terrorism was the charge levelled against them. The Power of Nightmares makes it more than obvious that variations of the Muslim Brotherhood (and their line and lineage) and the political philosophy of Leo Strauss (and his academic and activist children) are merely mirror images of one another. The film does not press the point, though, that in this clash of civilizations, one tribe has much more power than the other, and this is an important point to realize. Alexander has the political will and power to define the terms in a way the pirates do not. Sarkar/Wyn Davies American Dream, Global Nightmare (2004) take the argument beyond Power of Nightmares and illustrate my point quite well.

V. AUGUSTINE, JUST WAR AND PEACEMAKING There is a predictable habit by many in the West to see Augustine as the Christian Father of the ‘Just War Tradition’, hence the merging of faith and war under certain conditions. Thomas Merton had this to say about Augustine in Peace in the Post-Christian Era: ‘St. Augustine is, for better or for worse, the father of all modern Christian thought on war’ (p. 41). Or, again: ‘Thus Augustine becomes also the remote forefather of the Crusades and the Inquisition’ (p. 42). The ‘Just War Tradition’ can be interpreted in a variety of ways when principles are applied to a particular historic context, and this is where the nub of the issue remains a perennial

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problem. Jean Bethke Elshtain, for example, in Augustine and the Limits of Politics (1995), and of much more importance Just War Against Terror (2003), has been more than willing and eager to use Augustine notion of ‘Just War’ to legitimate American invasion and occupation of independent and sovereign states. Elshtain and many other American political theorists on the soft republican right in the USA use Augustine in a way that can be seriously questioned. Just War Against Terror remains the landmark book in the last decade on the use of the ‘Just War Tradition’ for American imperial purposes in their constructive use of violence against the neo-pirates and nefarious terrorists that threaten America in the clash of civilizations. There is an argument that the Christian Tradition was a peacemaking and pacifist tradition until the coming of Augustine. This argument is problematic, but it tends to hold the attention and committment of some in the Christian Peace Tradition. Is this argument true and faithful to the more complex Christian peacemaking heritage? And, can peacemaking be equated with pacifism? This is what Augustine was trying to make sense of as Roman civilization was under siege and wanton violence was spreading at work at the time. How should communities respond to those that are committed to the burning of villages, towns and cities and, worse yet, the rape, pillage and slaughter of men, women and children? Can, under certain conditions, defensive violence be used? This is what Augustine was pondering in his Christianized version of the Roman ‘Just War Tradition’. Augustine did not idealize the Roman Empire. He knew in his bones the aggressive violence that Rome perpetuated on others that were not Roman. He, like Janus, knew how to look both ways. Augustine was also keenly aware that the various tribes and clans that were in the process of destroying the Roman Empire in the 5th century could be just as vindictive and violent as Rome. Rome was the Alexander that defined the terms. The pirates that assaulted Rome in this classical clash of civilizations were the terrorists. Augustine held high the ‘City of God’, but he was also aware that humanity lives in the ‘City of Man’, and the difficult task was to know how, in trying times, to live in both. The issue of war and peace was one of the issues that had to be thought through and lived forth in this fragile dilemma. The issue of war and peace was more poignant in Augustine’s era for the simple reason the ‘Pax Romana’ was

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deteriorating and many were vulnerable to the war like tendencies of the barbarians (pirates). There is no doubt that Augustine’s attempt to articulate a theory of ‘Just War’ must be set within the context of the rapacious nature of his time. Augustine was no supporter of a holy war ideology or the imperial nature of ‘Pax Romana’. He would, if living, be opposed to ‘Pax Americana’. The passage from Augustine that I began this paper with makes it clear that Augustine saw quite clearly how terms could be used by the powerful to define who the terrorist-pirate was and why. Alexander-Rome-USA could not be the terrorist because it is they who have the power to define the terms. Yet, ironically, it is they who have the power and use it to commit more violence than those they accuse of being the pirates, terrorists or barbarians. Augustine had this to say about Kingdoms and empires that are not grounded and rooted in justice. ‘Remove justice, and what are Kingdoms but gangs of criminals on a large scale?’ (City of God: Book IV, Chapter IV). Such a statement and incisive comment very much reinforces the Kingdom-pirate motif that St. Augustine was only too well aware of in his time. But, there still remains the legitimate discussion of peacemaking, pacifism and just war. There have been, as I mentioned above, those that, rightly so, see Augustine as the father of the Christian Just War tradition. The next step tends to be more worrisome, though, and Augustine is often seen as a key component of this secondary step. The Just War Tradition often gets equated with the ambitions of nationalist or imperial politics when states or empires are threatened by pirates-terrorists. Constructive terror and Just War are often linked within such a scenario, and Augustine is seen as the father of such a questionable approach to peacemaking. I’m not sure Augustine can be used to service such a position, but he often is, sadly so. It is significant to note that the English Humanists of the 16th century (John Colet, Thomas More, Erasmus, Juan Vives) were at the forefront of peacemaking at the time, and most the English Humanist peacemakers were quite fond of Augustine’s City of God. More gave lectures on the massive tome as a young man, and Ronald Musto has this to say about Vives: Vives’s edition and commentary on Augustine’s City of God, commissioned by Erasmus for Froben’s Basel press in 1520, is

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TERRORISM, RELIGION, AND GLOBAL PEACE one of the great Humanist texts. Vives saw Augustine’s work as a basic commentary on Christian peacemaking amid the fall of empires and warring kingdoms. The Catholic Peace Tradition p. 119

The fact that Augustine could be and was used by the English Humanists in the 16th century in their peacemaking quest speaks much about an alternate read of the City of God. Musto’s The Catholic Peace Tradition is, of course, a must read for those interested in the long and complex nature of peacemaking (past and present) within the Roman Catholic tradition. I think it can be legitimately argued that the ‘Just War Tradition’ cannot be equated, obviously, with various types of pacifism, but there are various ways to interpret the principles of ‘Just War’ in particular historic contexts. The English Humanists were certainly not absolute pacifists, but their stringent and dovish read of the ‘Just War Tradition’ made it virtually impossible for many of the wars of their time to be called just. The same read of the ‘Just War Tradition’ can be applied in our time. The ‘Just War Tradition’ need not be taken captive by right of centre politics to justify the going to war in Iraq and Afghanistan.

VI. COUNTER TERRORISM There is, as I have mentioned above, various ways of understanding and defining terrorism and peacemaking. The dominant imperial strategy tends to be ‘peace through strength’, and the state that has the largest and most imposing military can make peace through the strength, might and power of the military. Those that threaten the peace of an empire or large state through violent actions are targeted as the terrorists. When ‘Pax Romana’ was threated, the Roman military and centurion guards were quick to counter the terrorist threat. When ‘Pax Americana’ is threatened, counter terrorist threats are monitored by the CIA-FBI, then acted upon to preserve the peace. Such an approach, of course, elevates the peace of one people, state, regional alliance over and against another rogue state or terrorist cells/movements. It is often nonstate terrorist movements that are defined as terrorists. Walter Laqueur’s Terrorism did much to create this establishment position in the peace-terrorism tradition. Once Laqueur’s approach to terrorism is accepted, states can, will and do define those who

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oppose them in violent ways as the terrorists. The state which opposes such terrorists in a counter terrorist way is a maker and broker of peace for innocent citizens and civilians. The language of counter terrorism, therefore, feeds nicely into the constructive approach to the terrorist problem. This model is, obviously, played out in the Russian state peacemaker—Chechen Muslim terrorists or Post 9–11 American peacemaker—Al-Qaeda Muslim terrorist motif. The language of peace, like terrorism, is a malleable word that is often defined by the user to serve larger political and propaganda ends and purposes. There is no doubt that terrorist movements use violence to achieve their ends, but terrorists movements tend to be quite limited in their capacity to inflict violence in comparisons to militaristic states (whether of a totalitarian, authoritarian or democratic nature). It is essential, therefore, when we hear the language of counter terrorism that we ponder who is using the language and whose political ends it is serving.

VII. CONCLUSION Augustine’s distinction between Alexander and pirates must be kept in mind. The powerful kingdoms and emperors often see those that challenge them as the terrorists. There is no doubt that the clash of civilizations plays nicely into this view of the world. Constructive terror by the powerful is often seen as a categorical imperative against those pirates who use nefarious terror against the powerful. It is often needful for Alexander to align himself with authoritarian states to oppose terrorist and totalitarian states. The fact that Alexander has committed many crimes against humanity need not be noted by the followers of Alexander. The task is to locate the pirate-terrorist and use all manner of military might against the pirates to preserve order in the world. Constructive terror is not seen to be terror, and if it is, it must be used to protect the world against nefarious terrorists like Islamists. Sadly so, the ‘Just War Tradition’ is often used to legitimate the actions of Alexander and his military deeds of constructive terror. Augustine is frequently used by the mild and sophisticated hawks like Jean Bethke Elshtain to justify the aggressive actions of the empire she inhabits and feeds well off. But, can Augustine be used in this way? Is there a dovish read of the ‘Just War Tradition’ that cannot be coopted for hawkish purposes? In sum, the English Humanists can

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be seen as guides, mentors and models in a way that blends and synthesizes the ‘Just War Tradition’ with a firm and solid commitment to peacemaking. Books such as Ronald Musto’s The Catholic Peace Tradition and Jim Forest’s For the Peace from Above: An Orthodox Resource Book on War, Peace and Nationalism illustrate and illuminate how peacemaking in the Roman Catholic and Orthodox Traditions has taken place, at the level of theory and praxis, in the past and present. Such books highlight, in the clearest possible manner, how peacemakers have confronted the duplicity of terrorism by being Janus like (having the wisdom and discernment to look both ways), hence refusing to be taken in by the ideological narrowness of any tribe, clan, state or empire.

CHAPTER 13 PEACE BE WITH YOUR BODY AND SPIRIT: A KOREAN CHRISTIAN FEMINIST REFLECTION ON PEACEMAKING K. CHRISTINE PAE Anne Joh, a Korean-American feminist theologian reflects on the Demilitarized Zone between North and South Korea: “The DMZ reminds one of a visible scar, a wound running along the body of Korea…This wound is constantly poked and torn open fresh with barely enough time to form a scab.”1 Since I moved into the United States from South Korea, I have been reminded that I come from a “war zone” by Americans who are concerned about North Korea’s nuclear weapon or consistent threat and hostility toward South Korea and the United States.2 Although I have never experienced armed conflict or always been conscious of the unfinished Korean War, just as Anne Joh articulates, my Korean identity sometimes gives me the feelings of horror, uncertainty, and

Wonhee Anne Joh, Heart of the Cross: A Postcolonial Christology (Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 2006), 29. 2 Kwok Pui-Lan argues that before Asia emerged as a market for U.S. global capital, Asia was primarily seen as a war zone. See Kwok Pui-Lan, “Fishing the Asia Pacific” in Off the Menu: Asian and Asian North American Women’s Religion and Theology, eds. Rita Nakashima Brock (Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 2007), 4. 1

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deep sorrow caused by war and by the division of the Korean peninsula. For this reason, my feminist theo-ethical contemplation has revolved around war and peacemaking. The more I study and research theological understanding of war and peace, however, the more frustrated am I because of the lack of gender analysis and women’s voices in it. For example, Korean women’s experiences of sexual slavery for the Japanese military during World War II and of U.S. military prostitution during and after the Korean War (1950– 1953) were rarely known until recently. Even after known, their experiences were considered the unavoidable byproduct of armed conflict rather than war crimes and the significant violation of women’s human dignity. Theo-ethically contemplating women’s experiences of armed conflict, I am convinced that because women and children are the majority of the civilian victims in conflict zones across the globe, without listening to their stories or examining war through a gender analysis, religious discourse on peacemaking would merely reproduce a language of peace. Furthermore, regardless of where they live, women are frequently exposed to violence—physical and verbal abuse, sexual assault, genital mutilation, date rape, wartime rape, and forced prostitution only to name a few—peace is not simply a dream for them to achieve in the future, but what must be done here and now. This essay delineates a Christian feminist perspective on nonviolent peacemaking. More specifically, considering women’s various experiences of war and gender-based military violence as the cases for theological contemplation, my essay will examine why women’s perspectives on peace are important in Christian theological reflection on nonviolence; what particular perspectives on nonviolence feminist reflection would offer; and how women and men together create spirituality for peace and life which aims to counter transnationalized militarism. In order to create peace through nonviolence, feminist reflection must first critically analyze the essentialist gender dichotomy such as peaceful women versus hostile men. As nonviolence is considered a female trait, our society has (un)consciously treated women as naturally passive nonviolent peacemakers. As a result, peace through nonviolence is easily associated with feminine traits of passivity, silence, or in the worst case, submission to systemic suffering. At the same time, however,

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our society often fails to analyze what makes women play a significant role in wartime violence. Although my essay takes women’s experiences of military and wartime violence into theological consideration for nonviolent peacemaking, it does not make an essentialist claim that women are more peaceful than men. Rather, nonviolence as women’s active resistance of violence will be considered a voice for solidarity with the suffering in order to embody spirituality for peace and life.

WOMEN’S EXPERIENCES OF (POST) WARTIME VIOLENCE War affects women’s life disastrously. In many parts of the world, once war breaks out, numerous (civilian) women are trafficked, raped, tortured, killed, and forced into prostitution. Some of them raise the children of rapists who later remind them of physical and spiritual violence again and again. Women, however, are not simply the victims of wartime violence. They also actively take part in war by participating as military agents or by supporting the war. The United Nations’ study on the Impact of Violent Conflict on Women and Girls (2002) demonstrates the multiple faces of violence that women and girls experience during and after armed conflicts around the world. The study argues that the specific experience of women and girls in armed conflict is linked to their status in societies.3 Where cultures of violence and discrimination against women and girls exist prior to conflict, they are exacerbated during conflict.4 Furthermore, since women are often viewed as bearers of cultural identity, or equated with the land, they become prime targets. Namely, conquering women means conquering the enemies and their land as well as emasculating male enemies. As a result, gender-based sexual violence has increasingly become “weapons of warfare and one of the defining characteristics of contemporary

3

United Nations, Women, Peace, and Security: Study Submitted by Security-General Pursuant to Security Council Resolution 1325 (2000) (United Nations Publication, 2002), 2. 4 Ibid.

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armed conflict.”5 Quoting the UN report, Anne Murray lists gender-based violence that includes rape, forced impregnation, forced abortion, trafficking, sexual slavery and the intentional spread of sexually transmitted infections (STIs), including human immunodeficiency virus/acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS). These all are the elements of contemporary conflict.6 Needless to say, women and girls are easily excluded from medical service during the wartime—even at refugee camps, because raped women are ostracized and men’s health is considered more important than that of women. Today, there are approximately thirty major conflicts happening in nineteen countries.7 At the turn of the twenty first century, approximately twenty countries, including Bosnia and Herzegovina, experienced armed conflict. The majority of civilian victims killed in these wars are women and children. They make up 80% of those who have fled their homes because of conflict and human rights violations.8 Although women are major noncombatant victims in all forms of warfare, be it international, internal, religious, ethnic, or nationalistic they remain invisible. For example, while many Bosnian Muslim women were raped and killed during the war between Bosnia and Herzegovina, the international crime court did not seriously investigate the rape cases as the systematic military violence against girls and women. Only individual soldiers who raped Bosnian women were inquired and punished, although these soldiers consciously or unconsciously acted upon the given orders or largely shared patriarchal assumptions of what to do toward enemy women.9 Similar to what 5

Ibid., 3. Anne Firth Murray, From Outrage to Courage: Women Taking Action for Health and Justice (Monroe, ME: Common Courage Press, 2008), 135–6. 7 Ibid., 135. Afghanistan, Algeria, Burundi, Columbia, the Democratic Republic of Congo, India, Indonesia, Iraq, Israel, Pakistan, the People’s Republic of China, Peru, the Philippines, Liberia, Nigeria, Russia, Somalia, Sudan, and Uganda 8 Ibid. 9 See Cynthia Enloe, Curious Feminist: Searching for Women in a New Age of Empire (Berkley, CA: University of California Press), 99–116. 6

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happened to Bosnian women in the 1990s, since the U.S. invasion of Iraq, Iraqi women have experienced severe poverty, the coercion of sexual commodification such as a sex trade, and rape followed by murder committed by U.S. soldiers or U.S. trained Iraqi police. Iraqi women have been forced to be silent, however.10 Physical, psychological, and sexual violence against women is not simply over when the war ends. Many victims suffer from posttraumatic stress disorder, raise the children who resulted from forced pregnancies, take financial responsibility for their families, enter voluntary or involuntary prostitution and transnationally migrate for better economic opportunities or safe living environment. For instance, the victims-survivors of the Japanese military ‘comfort women’ system demonstrate how long women can suffer from wartime violence. 11 During World War II, imperial Japan kidnapped or drafted women from their occupied territories such as Korea, Northern China, Indonesia, the Philippines and Taiwan. These women were forced to be sexual slaves for Japanese soldiers. Although World War II was over more than sixty years ago, almost all women survivors report psychological and physical health issues continuing into the present—many of them died after having suffered from physical and psychological illnesses. The survivors also experienced ostracism or retribution.12 Unfortunately, the experiences of the “comfort women” survivors are not unique but have been repeated in the various parts of conflict zones. According to a 2002 study by the International Red Cross, in post-conflict African countries such as Rwanda, survivors of rape or sexual violence are accused of

10

Huibin Amelia Chew, “What’s Left? After ‘Imperial Feminist’ Hijackings”, Robin Riley, Chandra Mohanty, and Minnie Bruce Pratt, ed., Feminism and War: Confronting U.S. Imperialism (New York, NY: Zed Books, 2008), 75–80. 11 The official title for the “comfort women” is the Korean Women Forcefully Drafted by the Japanese Military for Sexual Slavery. 12 See C. Sarah Soh, The Comfort Women: Sexual Violence and Postcolonial Memory in Korea and Japan (Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press, 2009).

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adultery and prostitution,13 and experience similar problems to those of the Japanese military “comfort women.” Furthermore, in the Rwandan genocide, the survivors of rape bore three to five thousand children. These children, called “unwanted children” or “children of bad memories,” have faced rejection from their society.14 Similarly, bi-racial children born between Korean women and American soldiers during and after the Korean War have been given up for transnational adoption or forced to endure social discrimination in South Korea. Among them, like their mothers, biracial women born of Korean sex-workers often grow up to work in sex industry around U.S. military camps. These children have not been fully recognized as Koreans because of their different appearances and Korea’s neo-Confucian and Christian morality of female chastity and nationalistic emphasis on “pure blood.”15 If military pollution and nuclear weapons were considered, the full list of the impact on women’s lives caused by war and violence would be longer. The environmental destruction caused by military pollution and nuclear weapons harms human life for an indefinite time period. Cambodian and Vietnamese women have given birth to children with severe disabilities because of “orange” used by the U.S. military to deforest Indochina during the Vietnam War.16 Over “three-hundred-forty tons of depleted uranium dropped on Iraq during the first Gulf War” later caused birth defects, pregnancy complications, and maternal mortality.17 As the current Iraqi war prevented women from accessing reproductive healthcare and contraceptives, back-alley abortions increased, which jeopardized women’s health more.18

13

Murray, From Outrage to Courage, 155. Ibid., 156. 15 See K. Christine Pae, “Western Princesses in the Borderlands: Missing Story—a Christian Feminist Analysis of U.S. Military Prostitution in South Korea,” in Journal of Society of Christian Ethics 29, Vol. 2 (2009): 121–139. 16 Murray, From Outrage to Courage, 158. 17 Chew, “What’s Left? After ‘Imperial Feminist Hijackings,” 80. 18 Ibid. 14

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Women’s stories from conflict zones show that if war is analyzed through women’s eyes, all wars throughout history have failed to decrease women’s suffering or to bring peace in women’s lives.

FEMININE FACES OF VIOLENCE Although it is true that women and children are the most vulnerable victims of war, women often become active agents and participants in conflict. The UN’s report argues that women and girls may actively choose to participate in the conflict and carry out acts of violence because they are committed to the political, religious or economic goals of the parties to the conflict. Women and girls may also be manipulated into taking up military or violent roles (such as girl soldiers and female suicide bombers) through propaganda, abduction, intimidation and forced recruitment.19 The report continues: Women and girls may also provide non-military support for war. They can directly support combatants through cooking and cleaning for soldiers, acting as porters and messengers and through performing other tasks required by militaries. They can also indirectly support war efforts by developing and disseminating propaganda, encouraging their children to go to war, voting for Governments that launch military campaigns and fomenting distrust.20

Despite the reality of women’s involvement in armed conflict is true, the UN’s study does not analyze the reasons behind it. Why does a woman apply for active combat? Why do female military personnel participate in brutal violence such as torturing enemy soldiers? Cynthia Enloe uncovers women’s involvement in war activities through the analysis of the racialized and sexualized case of the torture at Abu Ghraib. Analyzing the Private First Class Lynndie England’s role in torturing the Iraqi prisoners at Abu Ghraibin in 2003 and 2004, Enloe argues that England’s military 19 20

United Nations, Women, Peace, and Security, 3–4. Ibid.

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life must be considered in light of the patriarchal U.S. military culture. Presumably, England had to be socialized with and attached to higher ranking male soldiers in Abu Ghraib where was a prison in Iraq isolated from the larger U.S. military camps/bases. For survival, England might have acted like a hyper-masculine man. In addition, a woman like England is often used as an effective tool to intensify the humiliation of the enemy men.21 The military tactic of using a woman to dehumanize the rival men is not new. Women’s participation in military activities and armed conflict is spreading more and more over the world. Their involvement in conflict needs to be scrutinized because it does not simply mean gender equality or women’s autonomous choice for profession. Even women’s indirect participation in war activities by working for soldiers or by sending their sons, husbands, brothers, and boyfriends to the military should be examined more carefully. In the dangerous world of armed conflict, the patriarchal gender ideology is strengthened in a way that women become patriotic mothers and daughters who would do anything for their fatherland. Although women often play important roles in armed conflict, it is necessary to further examine what makes these women participate in violence and why.

CHRISTIAN FEMINIST REFLECTION ON WOMEN’S INVOLVEMENT IN THE MILITARY Christian feminist scholars recognize women’s complicated relationship with war and violence—both victims and participants. They seek to discover what would be the proper understanding of women’s involvement in the military from a Christian feminist perspective. Is women’s involvement in combat considered gender equality because military combat has been traditionally reserved for male warriors? Mary Hunt, a Christian feminist ethicist contemplates this question. Expressing her commitment to peacemaking activism, Hunt raises three questions: first, how to 21

Cynthia Enloe, Globalization and Militarism: Feminists Make the Link (Landham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield Publisher, 2007), 95–97.

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understand gender equality in the military combat, namely whether allowing women to enlist in combat is a lesser evil for the sake of gender equality; second, how to recognize the contradiction between “supposed equality of women in combat and the reality of the unequal burden that always accuses to women in a patriarchal culture”; and finally—most importantly—“what is a religious feminist for peace to do.”22 First of all, Hunt argues that whether women are qualified for combat is an absurd question. Those who attempt to enlist or avoid women in combat try to justify their decision by either making a claim on women’s physical and emotional capability to fight the war or women’s lack of ability to fight with men.23 For Hunt, this type of question misleads people because the legitimate question is not whether women are qualified, but whether we should send anyone to combat because warfare jeopardizes a soldier’s life as well as the well-being of her/his family.24 In addition to Hunt’s argument, I highlight that women, compared to male soldiers, do not receive equal benefits in the military. Sexual harassment is common for women. Women often experience discrimination in military promotion due to the patriarchal belief in women’s intellectual, physical, and psychological inferiority ingrained in military culture. In addition, military patriotism is still linked to the gender ideology rooted in hierarchically divided gender roles in the time of war. Namely, active combat assigned with male warriors is considered more important and valuable than women’s work such as taking responsibility for their families. The deaths of soldiers in combat are considered more sacred and patriotic than those of civilians. We must resist the misleading of the public discourse which says, “By all means, they are men who die in battlefields.” Yes, many male soldiers may die during their military duty. But we should also remember that war destroys so many ordinary people’s lives which 22

Mary Hunt, “Medals on Our Blouses?: A Feminist Theological Look at Women in Combat”, Lois K. Daly, ed., Feminist Theological Ethics (Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox, 1994), 316. 23 Ibid., 318. 24 Ibid., 318–19.

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are as sacred as those of soldiers. Therefore, it is naïve to question whether women’s participation in combat brings gender justice. Women do not need to prove their capability and value as human beings by joining the military. Rather we should continuously redirect the analysis of military culture by asking how to reform the military culture and what would happen if gender equality were enacted in the military. By the same token, we should avoid an essentialist claim that war is masculine and peace is feminine. We must be critically aware that only a small number of women in our society participate in the decision-making to go on war because most politicians in international affairs are men. For gender equality, the ethically right question to be asked is “whether women equally participate in making the decision of war” rather than who carry out warfare.25 Hunt believes that just as women should be involved in the decision-making process of war, so peace should be considered a shared responsibility between men and women.26 Emphasizing the importance of male involvement in child-rearing, feminist scholars and activists have opposed the essentialist claim that women are natural care-givers. We must adopt their strategy to promote solidarity among men and women for peace, as well as to break the essentialist claim on women’s inclination to peace. Hunt further argues that both gender equality and peace can be pursued “through creative educational programs, counseling for women and men about alternatives to military service that will result in job skills and express their patriotism.”27 The Christian understanding of peace inspires a religious feminist to promote peace education, and organized nonviolent peace activism.

CHRISTIAN FEMINIST PRAXIS OF SPIRITUALITY FOR PEACE AND LIFE “Peace be with you” said Jesus when he appeared to his disciples after his resurrection. The spirit of God is not fear or violence, but 25

Hunt, “Medals on Our Blouses?,” 322. Ibid., 324. 27 Ibid., 325. 26

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peace and the courage to choose to live this peace. This spirit must be lived and practiced in our daily life. Living with a peaceful spirit everyday is especially urgent because these days militarism is rapidly transnationalized, giving ordinary people the fake promises of economic gain and peace. Contemplating the possibility to transform the military spirit, Susan Thistlethwaite, a Christian feminist theologian, delineates spirituality for peace. Thistlethwaite specifically analyzes how militarism separates the human body from the spirit. With a goal to train a soldier to be a “lean, mean fighting machine,” the military ideology causes the splitting of the body, to be controlled and suppressed for killing, from the spirit, which may invoke the soldier’s conscience during the wartime.28 The separation of body and spirit is a popular military strategy. A soldier is trained to follow the military orders without questioning them. Rape or forced sexuality in war, according to Thistlethwaite, underlines the separation between power and embodiment and relegates the body to that which must be controlled.29 Within the status of this separation, we can hardly expect meaningful human relationships. Therefore, war and military violence do not only destroy one’s body as the container of her/his soul but also human relationality, the backbone of human society of peace and harmony. According to Thistlethwaite, the separation of the spirit and the body must be reconstructed in “Christianity toward an integration of sensuality and spirituality” redefined by the womanist and feminist theologians—human power to love and to create each other through the action of (erotic) love.30 Nonviolent peacemaking is an effort to create spirituality that brings the spirit and the body together; to strengthen human power to love; and to heal human relationality through love and unity in body and spirit.

28

Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite, “Militarism in North American Perspective”, Mary John Mananzan, eds., Women Resisting Violence: Spirituality for Life (Eugene, Oregon: Wipf and Stock Publishers, 2004), 121. 29 Ibid. 30 Ibid., 122.

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Ursula King, a feminist theologian, who experienced the destructive power of World War II, articulates the importance of women’s understandings of peace and spirituality for life. King understands spirituality as “the breath and blessing of life” resisting violence in every moment of human life.31 In spite of active interfaith dialogue for peace on a transnational level, King points out the absence of gender analysis or women’s perspectives on peace, while many women suffer from war and violence. According to King, if we truly want to work realistically for peace and for the creation of a more humane, more just, new social order, women should be affirmed, empowered, and made more visible in all the religions on our planet.32 What King argues reminds us that women are not merely the victims or participants of war. Rather, women are the actors of international peacemaking. In order for women to be more active in peacemaking, world religions must rediscover women’s practices of spirituality for peace: how women have breathed their spirituality countering war and violence. Women’s interfaith grassroots movements for peace found in almost all conflicted areas may exemplify women’s active roles in living the spirit of peace. True spirituality for life is possible only when we responsibly react to others’ suffering in an empathetic and peaceful way. Dorothee Soelle emphasizes that the only way for us to overcome suffering—death, brutalization, insensibility, mutilation, and injury (caused by war, violence, and injustices)—is “sharing the pain of sufferers with them, not leaving them alone and making their cry louder.”33 Nonviolent peacemaking may begin from consolation for the sufferers: not only emotional consolation but also active action to create peaceful and just social order dismantling the causes of violence. This active action would be continuously renewed and refreshed only when we courageously let other people’s suffering flow into our hearts and vice versa; let our hope 31

Ursula King, “Spirituality for Life” in Mananzan, eds., 2004, 154. Ibid., 159. 33 Dorotee Soelle, Suffering (Minneapolis, MN: Fortress Press, 1975), 178. 32

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and dreams flow into other people’s hearts even in the midst of suffering and vice versa.

CONCLUSION: PEACE BE WITH YOUR BODY AND SPIRIT Concluding this paper, I, again think about many Korean women who have been violated by the imperial Japanese military during World War II, by the Korean military and state, and by the U.S. military. Over the winter of 2010 and 2011, the world media competitively reported North Korean attack to Yeonpyung Island in the West Sea of South Korea. The attack was responded by South Korean—U.S. military exercise at the Island. None of the reports addressed how this escalated conflict affected and will affect women’s lives. What was the worst is that the voice of nonviolent peacemaking in the Korean peninsula was rarely heard as if military action and demonizing North Korea were the only ways to subsidize North Korean animosity. Kwon In-Suk, a Korean feminist, argues that the entire nation of South Korea is a military troop. Since military service is required for all Korean men over eighteen years old, the military system controls the discourses on peace and security; defines the nation’s responsible and legitimate citizens; consistently distinguishes men from women and manly men from unmanly men; and sustains militarized society.34 In spite of Korea’s reality analyzed by Kwon, I hope someday the Korean peninsula will become the center for nonviolent peacemaking and that the reunification of two Koreas will come peacefully. This peace will embrace and heal many Korean women whose bodies have been sexually violated by excessive militarism. For peace not only in the Korean peninsula but also in the globe, Christians need to pay attention to women’s spirituality. Women’s spirituality embodied through active nonviolent peacemaking has a long history in Christianity. Women mystics such as Julian of Norwich, Hildegard of Bingen, and Teresa of Avila all articulated Jesus as the Prince of Peace and taught 34

Kwon In-Suk, Republic of Korea Is the Military Troop: Peace, Militarism, and Masculinity from a Feminist Perspective (Seoul: Chong Nyun Sa, 2003), 9–16.

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nonviolent peacemaking transforming the violent world. Sojourner Truth and Ida B. Wells utilized nonviolent peacemaking in order to abolish brutal African-American slavery and lynching. In the twenty-first century, women activists are involved in nonviolent peacemaking more and more and further criticize the patriarchal nature of peacemaking activism. Needless to say, nonviolent peaceactivism would be productive and fruitful if we embraced feminist insights of the nature of God35 and commitment to nonviolence which means to recognize the sanctity of human life and the spirit of God living in every human being.36 This essay is an effort to include women’s experiences of war, violence as well as nonviolent activism in the peacemaking movement. In spite of women’s increasing suffering caused by armed conflict, women’s understanding of peace has been neglected in the peacemaking movement. Women’s insights suggest that women’s participation in armed conflict and militarism does not mean gender equality or women’s autonomous choice in military conflict. Rather, women raise a question of whether it is right to send anyone to war when modern warfare jeopardizes human life. In addition, we should scrutinize what makes women choose certain behaviors during times of war. Nonviolence from a Christian feminist perspective accentuates the importance of spirituality—the Spirit of God manifested through reverence for human life and sanctity in all living beings. The only way to protect sanctity—God’s living spirit—in all living beings is nonviolent peacemaking. More specifically, feminist theologians articulate an alternative spirituality to overcome the military ideology that separates the body from the spirit. Finally, nonviolent peacemaking in feminist perspective suggests an alternative understanding of power. The hierarchical power structure rooted in domination and subjugation inevitably 35

Shelley Douglass, “Nonviolence and Feminism” in Walter Wink, ed., Peace is the Way: Writings on Nonviolence from the Fellowship of Reconciliation (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis, 2004), 48. 36 Mairead Corrigan Maguire, The Vision of Peace: Faith and Hope in Northern Island (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis, 1999), 38.

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creates violence in order to humiliate and rule over the others. Women considered inferior and weak in our society have been consistently exposed to violence not only during the wartime but also during so-called peace time—absence of war. For long lasting peace, we need an alternative understanding of power, which can guide nonviolent peacemaking. In her imagination of Mary Magdalene’s meeting with the risen Christ, Rosemary Ruther depicts the vision Jesus was creating, a world where there would be no longer be masters and slaves or rulers and the ruled. The world envisioned by Christ was the egalitarian community rooted in shared power and reverence for each one’s life.37 Eventually peacemaking activism should bear a fruit of the egalitarian community (kin-dom of God). Absence of war is merely a transition toward the egalitarian community of shared power. Nonviolent peacemaking is an on-going spiritual practice. Those who are committed to peacemaking should breathe the spirit of peace every day and take concrete action every moment of our lives. As we make spirituality for life as an everyday practice, we shall be called “the children of God” (Gospel of Matthew 5:9, NRSV).

BIBLIOGRAPHY Chew, Huibin Amelia. “What’s Left? After ‘Imperial Feminist’ Hijackings.” In Robin Riley, Chandra Mohanty, and Minnie Bruce Pratt, eds., Feminism and War: Confronting U.S. Imperialism. New York, NY: Zed Books, 2008: 75–90. Douglass, Shelley. “Nonviolence and Feminism.” In Walter Wink, ed. Peace is the Way: Writings on Nonviolence from the Fellowship of Reconciliation. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis, 2004: 46–48. Enloe, Cynthia. Curious Feminist: Searching for Women in a New Age of Empire. Berkley, CA: University of California Press. Globalization and Militarism: Feminists Make the Link. Landham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield Publisher, 2007.

37

Rosemary Ruether, Sexism and God-Talk: Toward a Feminist Theology (Boston, MA: Beacon Press, 1993), 9–11.

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Hunt, Mary. “Medals on Our Blouses?: A Feminist Theological Look at Women in Combat.” In Lois K. Daly, ed. Feminist Theological Ethics. Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox, 1994: 315–325. Joh, Wonhee Anne. Heart of the Cross: A Postcolonial Christology. Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 2006. King, Ursula. “Spirituality for Life.” In Mary John Mananzan, eds. Women Resisting Violence: Spirituality for Life. Eugene, Oregon: Wipf and Stock Publishers, 2004: 147–160. Kwok, Pui-Lan. “Fishing the Asia Pacific” in Off the Menu: Asian and Asian North American Women’s Religion and Theology. Edited by Rita Nakashima Brock, Jung Ha Kim, Kwok Pui-Lan, and Seung Ai Yang. Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 2007: 3–22. Kwon, In-Suk. Republic of Korea Is the Military Troop: Peace, Militarism, and Masculinity from a Feminist Perspective. Seoul, Korea: Chong Nyun Sa, 2003. Maguire, Mairead Corrigan. The Vision of Peace: Faith and Hope in Northern Island. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis, 1999. Murray, Anne Firth. From Outrage to Courage: Women Taking Action for Health and Justice. Monroe, ME: Common Courage Press, 2008. Pae, K. Christine. “Western Princesses in the Borderlands: Missing Story—a Christian Feminist Analysis of U.S. Military Prostitution in South Korea.” Journal of Society of Christian Ethics, 29, 2 (2009): 121–139. Ruether, Rosemary. Sexism and God-Talk: Toward a Feminist Theology. Boston, MA: Beacon Press, 1993. Soelle, Dorotee. Suffering. Minneapolis, MN: Fortress Press, 1975. Soh, C. Sarah. The Comfort Women: Sexual Violence and Postcolonial Memory in Korea and Japan. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press, 2009. Thistlethwaite, Susan Brooks. “Militarism in North American Perspective.” In Mary John Mananzan, eds. Women Resisting Violence: Spirituality for Life. Eugene, Oregon: Wipf and Stock Publishers, 2004: 119–125. United Nations, Women, Peace, and Security: Study Submitted by SecurityGeneral Pursuant to Security Council Resolution 1325 (2000), United Nations Publication, 2002.

CHAPTER 14 LANGUAGE, RACE AND ETHNICITY: CONFLICT RESOLUTION IN SRI LANKA NIMALKA FERNANDO INTRODUCTION Peace building and non-violence are difficult subjects to deal with due to the complexities related to struggles for self-determination. South Asia has been embroiled in struggles since nation-states emerged after the colonizers left our shores leaving behind what political analysts have branded as `divide and rule’ policy. Sri Lanka has gone through several phases of this conflict related to nation making in the post-colonial era. In the early era the campaign of the Tamil community emerged as a demand for recognition in the process of constitution making. Subsequently the struggle ignored and stifled by the nation makers who were predominantly moved by the Sinhala Buddhist campaign turned the resistance from a non-violent action into a full fledged armed struggle given leadership by the Tamil youth. A short article such as this is not the place for a long history lesson, but not every reader might know a great deal about this beautiful country in the Indian Ocean, so a few introductory paragraphs should be essential. Sri Lanka is a country inhabited by 21 million people. Over 70% are Sinhalese, about 12% are the so called indigenous Tamils, 6% are Upcountry Tamils and 6% are Muslims who too have their own identity and culture. Economically, it is a below middle-income country with a nominal per capital Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of about US $1,600; literacy, life expectancy and social welfare are moderately good by Asian standards. 271

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The indigenous Tamils who have been in the country from ancient times are settled primarily in the north and east, although a large number (around a quarter) now live in the southern parts of the country to avoid the devastation of the war or for a better economic prospects. The Upcountry Tamils speak the same language as the indigenous Tamils with a different accent, but are a somewhat culturally distinct community. They are the decedents of indentured labourers brought by the British from south India about 150 years ago to work on the tea plantations; they live mainly in the central hill country and most of them are still plantation workers (agricultural workers). Muslims are spread across the entire country with a few areas of higher concentration such as in the east; they have their own distinct identity based on their religion. Ethnic separation within the country is primary but it is overlapped by religious difference. Over 90% of Sinhalese are Buddhists and a similar proportion of Tamils are Hindus. The remaining population within these two groups are Christians are largely Roman Catholics. The Christian community is approximately 6% of the population.

HISTORY OF THE CONFLICT The ethnic conflict in Sri Lanka, however, is not a religious conflict; it is mainly about language and “race”. Probably there is nothing really genetically different to distinguish the Sinhalese and Tamils; for over two thousand years of recorded history the two groups have intermingled, intermarried and localized kingdoms have conquered each other. Nevertheless, in people’s minds the Sinhalese and Tamils still think of themselves as racially separate (apart from language alone) because of the prevailing mood of conflict. Peace building is a broad concept that includes formal and informal activities which leads to promote inter-racial harmony. It is easy to reflect on my personal involvement in peace building in the early stages of the conflict in the early seventies. As a member of the Student Christian Movement I visited Jaffna in the late seventies to participate in an annual conference. Brought up by parents who strictly adhered to protection regime this was some what breaking new grounds by me to be away from home for several nights with friends and also 250 miles away from the searching eyes of the parents. During this conference our attention was drawn to the tensions prevailing in Jaffna due to the drop of

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intake of students from the North to the Universities as a result of a new marking scheme. The government has introduced a new `standardization policy’ which has resulted in this result. Further we realized that everything is not going to be well and it was resolved that all efforts should be made to document the practices of discrimination which is going to undermine the equal privileges enjoyed. As we continued to keep the interest in this issue the political struggle emerged on the horizon with the emergence of the violence resistance from the youth in Jaffna. Since then I have been involved in initiatives for over 25 years related to peace building, inter-racial harmony and for a political resolution to the national question in Sri Lanka. Every phase has taught me how difficult and complex is the issue of developing confidence and trust among people. It took only few months for this resistance to emerge as a movement for liberation. The armed struggles finally came under the LTTE leadership while the democratic struggle was lead by the Tamil United Liberation Front in the late 70s. As a member of the SCM facilitated by seniors of the SCM in the North we visited Jaffna in a delegation to discuss the emerging violence and possible resolution. For me this would be the first attempt to respond to peace building efforts which taught me how complex the challenges are. The conflict intensified in 1983 with the state sponsored ethnic pogrom. Several attempts towards peace building took place with the signing of peace accords; 1987 the Indo-Lanka Peace accord and in 2002 Norwegian brokered Ceasefire Agreement. In the 1995 under the leadership of Her Excellency Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumarathunge an attempt was made to rekindle peace efforts as a local initiative. From the civil society, non-governmental organizations and women’s groups there were a continuous effort to keep hope alive for peace through a negotiated settlement. These attempts have been seen both at the local and national level from visits to affected areas in the North, Fact Finding missions to service delivery, exchanges, exposures, vigils, demonstrations, lobbying and advocacy.

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PEACE AS A POLITICAL CHALLENGE Peace building in Sri Lanka is a political challenge. It is a matter of recognizing the right of the others than that of the Sinhala majoritarianism. It is not purely the absence of violence or the issue of eradication of terrorism. Real peace will descend on Sri Lanka the day the Tamil and Muslim people feel that they are equals like the Sinhalese, their language and culture is also respected and they have dignified living in the land they call Sri Lanka where they were born. The LTTE has been defeated militarily but this has NOT brought peace to Sri Lanka. The issue of minority and national rights still remain unresolved. Thousands of Tamil people displaced as a result of war are living a daily existence not knowing when they will get a house or get a job. They have gone back to their villages surrounded by the Sri Lanka state armed forces. Their movements are watched. War has made men disappear and die. Today Sri Lanka has become a land of single women—North and East predominantly have more single women households than in the south. The challenge before us is how to speak about peace to these women who has no shelter, fears sexual harassment and rape, is without livelihood options and protection. Women’s participation in peace and democratic movements have been visible. They have brought innovative methods into peace building. Their activities have raised issues of accountability and preservation of democratic ideals. They have continued to challenge the conflict as a means of resolution to the ethnic conflict.

RESPONSE FROM WOMEN’S GROUPS Since the 1980 as a member of the Women’s Action Group we have been challenged to respond to the issue of peace, ethnic conflict, violence and violations of basic and fundamental rights. WAC was formed by progressive women’s groups representing many sectors of society, rural, workers, professionals, and peace and feminists activists. WAC had a close linkage with the left movement in Sri Lanka and was greatly influenced by the MarxistLeninist teachings regarding the ‘right to self-determination’ as well as the liberation theology’ of Latin America. WAC had close affiliation with women’s groups in Jaffna as well as in the

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plantation sector. The network played a vital role in assisting in the understanding of the ethnic conflict and responding to the violations and events that took place in the 80s. They focused on documentation, sharing of information, awareness raising and demonstrations for peace and harmony. The campaigns of the Women’s Action Committee was always linked to human rights and peace and called to end violence and demanded for a political resolution. As violence was unleashed on the Tamil civilians in Colombo in 1983 members of the WAC assisted in the camps and provided security and protection to Tamil friends and neighbours and worked for the displaced. As a women’s group the network stood firmly against the imposition of the Prevention of Terrorism Act and the militarization creeping into our society. This is the first women’s network which joined hands with the Mothers Front in Jaffna against violence experienced by Tamil women and openly criticized rape of women and sexual harassment used as reprisal against the ethnic minority. Towards the latter part of 1987 as the Sri Lanka state unleashed another attack against the Sinhala militants with fascist tendency and also with the presence of IPKF in the North the politics of violence took a different form. As tensions grew polarization inside the communities widened and even travelling to north became virtually impossible with restrictions and risks. The links we forged with the Tamil women slowly dwindled and work of WAC got affected by the repression of the regime. Male relatives of WAC members who were also progressives were hunted by the fascist forces as well as the regime. Women activists became targets of the hard line Sinhala fascist forces and had to go under-ground. Peace activists were targeted as tiger supporters both by the fascists as well as the state. During this difficult period the focus changed more towards human rights activism armed survival within south which further to some extent created a chasm between Sinhala activists and Tamil activists. We see the emergence of a movement for peace in the name of ‘Women for Peace’ and ‘Mothers and Daughters of Lanka’ in the late 80s. Women for Peace got initiated as a group of professional and academics signed a petition for peace while MDL was a re-convergence of WAC having disappearances as a main

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topic. Both organizations convened demonstrations, signed petitions, organized dialogues in the South for peace and denouncing violence of the government and armed actors. Women in Sri Lanka mobilized into movement were a strong catalyst in the late 80s despite the repression. Several prominent women giving leadership supported by progressive male political leaders formed the Mothers Front towards the latter part of 80s giving rise to a political force which finally toppled the then regime. We see the emergence of Her Excellency Chandrika Bandaranaike into power promising peace in 1994 within this back drop. Unfortunately while the repressive era changed into a progressive atmosphere she too failed to bring a resolution to the ethnic conflict. Therefore even after 1994 we were left with the work for peace building. Women’s organizations and civil society organizations like the Movement for Inter-Racial Harmony were pioneers in peace building efforts. Peace Agreements were founded on the work done by the civil society who has invested a lot both personnel and resources to raise awareness regarding to discriminations and violations faced by ethnic groups in Sri Lanka. The power sharing debate and discussion was taken into the village by the civil society of Sri Lanka with the assistance of few political leaders committed to peace and inter-racial harmony. Women have continued to play a vital role in responding to peace building, protection of human rights. Especially in the north they have borne the brunt of the war and also shared the burden of peace. Mothers and wives have had to play new roles as human rights defenders as they go in search of the missing husband or son, as they work out operations in a camp as displaced. Most often I have seen peace agency emerging as part of the affected community—another strategy for survival. Message sent in cards to the camps in Vavuniya during the year 2009–2010 when distributing relief items by MDL Dear Mother, Sister, Daughter & Friends, Mothers & Daughters of Lanka is a women’s network formed in 1989. We came together to seek justice for the disappeared in the era of the 80’s. We have longed and yearned to reach out to you on many, many occasions.

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We as women in the South have always expressed the need to have just peace in Sri Lanka. We wish to say `sorry’ to you for failing to stop the pain and hardship you underwent during the past months. As you came to Vavuniya and was put in camps our hands tried to reach you. But due to restrictions we could not visit you. Today we are happy to reach out to you tangibly as MDL to tell you we have been with you in mind and heart throughout the hard times you have faced. Your tears have been our tears. Your sighs have been our sighs. Your pain has been our pain. ... By this small token we express our heartfelt thoughts and sentiments of love, care and concern in sisterhood & friendship. May this small link begun today, continue to grow in strength & depth, in height and breadth, of love and solidarity as one human family in diversity, human dignity and justice. Holding hands together we shall work for this CAUSE. Mothers and Daughters of Lanka–2010

THE CONTRIBUTION OF WOMEN’S GROUPS TO CONFLICT RESOLUTION

The women’s Action Committee (WAC) Since the early 1980s women’s groups in Sri Lanka have been increasingly challenged by issues of human rights, ethnic politics and the armed conflict, in particular their impact on women. The first significant formation of progressive women’s groups was within the women’s Action committee, established in 1982. Based predominantly in the Sinhala south, these groups were organized among women workers, peasant women, students and church denominations. They also had contact with Tamil women’s groups in the northern city of Jaffna and among Tamil plantation workers in the central hill country. The work of the committee included documentation and dissemination of information, consciousnessraising, networking, campaigning, lobbying and advocacy. Its national-level public activities were centered around International Women’s Day, International Human Rights Day and International Labour Day. The WAC sought to link women’s rights with human rights and to establish a democratic culture that respected human and democratic rights. In the context of the ethnic conflict, it consistently and systematically called for political negotiation as

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opposed to military confrontation. At the micro-level, the work focused on awareness-raising. At the national level, the ethnic conflict was discussed at WAC National Conventions and was taken up in public campaigns –demonstrations, marches, pubic appeals and pickets. In July 1983, Tamil militants ambushed a group of soldiers near Jaffna, sparking a backlash of violence against Tamil civilians living in the predominantly Sinhala south. Thousands were forced to take refuge in makeshift camps in the south; many ultimately fled the country to become part of an ever-increasing Tamil diaspora living in Western countries and in India. The ultimate horror of July 1983 was the massacre of thousands of Tamil civilians who had taken no part in the armed hostilities between the state and the Tail militant groups. Individuals and organizations belonging to the WAC actively assisted, sheltered and worked among the displaced Tamil population. In the aftermath of July and into 1984 sentiments on both sides of the ethnic divide began hardening. The state and the Tamil militants, predominantly the LTTE, were engaged in armed combat. The Prevention of Terrorism Act and Emergency Regulations were invoked by the state to crush the Tamil movement and widespread cordon-and-search operations, detentions and extrajudicial assassinations became commonplace in the Tamil areas of the northeast. Throughout the 1980s, the WAC continued its call for a solution to the ethnic conflict, joining with other women’s groups. It sought to speak of the consequences of war; the right to selfdetermination of the Tamil people and the need to redress Tamil grievances, highlighting in particular human rights violations perpetrated against the Tamil people, the institution of nondemocratic structures and the abuse of state power. It also linked the ethnic conflict and the politics of violence to the deterioration of democracy with its consequences for all ethnic communities of Sri Lanka. ‘Women for Peace’ In the climate of fear, intimidation and insecurity fostered by increasing ethnic chauvinism on the part of the executive and the state, warmongering was the preferred policy. It was in this climate that the WAC joined forces with a group of women academics and

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professional women to call for peace. Realizing that they needed to forge the broadest possible support the call and at the same time harness the voice of influential women the group began canvassing support for an appeal published in December in the Sinhalese, Tamil and English language national newspapers. The petition, signed by 100 women, called for an end to the war and the commencement of talks that could lead to a politically negotiated settlement to the conflict. The women were among leading professionals –doctors, lawyers, writers, administrators, teaches, theater and media people, journalists, religious people, women’s rights and human rights activists, trade unionists and politicians. The appeal was issued in the name of a new formation called ‘Women for Peace’ and was extended for signature to all women. Within 30 days, more than 10,000 signatures had been collected. Together with this call for peace came the first round of political negotiations between the government and the Tamil militant leadership, this was the All-Party Conference, held in late 1984. Significantly, however not one woman participated in these negotiations. Throughout the second half of the 1980s, Women for Peace organized marches, vigils and protests, calling for peace and denouncing the anti-Tamil and undemocratic practices of the state. This campaign involved calls for the repeal of the draconian Prevention of Terrorism Act, the freeing of political detainees, the dismantling of security zones in the north, humanitarian assistance for the displaced and protests against illegal detention and disappearances. Mothers and Daughters of Lanka (MDL) In the aftermath of the Indo-Sri Lanka Accord and the advent of the Indian Peacekeeping Force politics in the south too underwent a violent transformation. The period 1988–1989 was marked by unprecedented violence on the part of government forces and the JVP alike. The JVP, now reorganized into an extremist political group, had adopted a position violently antagonistic to the Indo-Sri Lanka Accord and had established itself as a militant patriotic movement. It engaged in a campaign of unmitigated violence that included widespread assassinations of not only members of the security forces, MPs and leading members of the ruling party, but also those belonging to opposition parties. Through a sustained

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campaign of enforced work stoppages, arson and political assassinations, the JVP was seeking to bring the administration of the country to a complete halt. The state responded with counter-violence and repression against anyone suspected of belonging to the JVP or sympathizing with its politics. Using the same repressive mechanisms used to curb the Tamil struggle, the Prevention of Terrorism Act and Emergency Regulations, together with death squads, the state apparatus brutally suppressed the JVP rebellion with unprecedented detentions, summary executions and disappearances. Many of the victims were in fact totally unaffiliated with the JVP. A considerable number were members of the main opposition party, the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP). As in the north, women’s political activism in the south shifted to respond to immediate human rights violations— disappearances and summary executions. Initially, the WAC had welcomed the Indo-Sri Lanka Accord as a first step towards a political settlement to the ethnic conflict; now many of its members had to cease activity due to violent threats from the JVP. Many women activists living outside urban centres were forced to seek shelter in the relative safety and anonymity of the cities. The WAC was disbanded in 1989. However, the women’s groups reconstituted themselves, with broader participation, to form the Mothers and Daughters of Sri Lanka (MDSL) in December that year. As with the formation of Women for Peace at a critical juncture in the ethnic crisis, in response to state terror and armed conflict, the MDSL mobilized among women and went public with an appeal, this time calling for a ‘Stop to All Killings’. The Southern Mothers’ Front In another significant mobilization of ‘motherhood’, the Southern Mothers’ Front was born in Matara in 1990. This formation, according to its conveners, was inspired by the Mothers’ Front established by Tamil women in the north of Sir Lanka in 1984 as well as the Mothers of the Plaza del Mayo in Argentina. In response to continuing abuses of human rights, especially disappearance in the district over 1,500 women attended an inaugural meeting; soon the Front spread throughout the Sinhalamajority southern districts. However, it was organized under the auspices of the main opposition party, the Sri Lanka Freedom Party

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and its conveners were two male MPs. As the Front grew in strength it began to be used as a political weapon against the ruling United National Party. Its first national meeting and rally were held in Colombo in 1991, amidst heavy military presence, threats and malicious diatribe in the state-owned national press. The Front itself was a powerful presence. Admittedly, may of its members were members of the SLFP, but there were also women with no party affiliations, mothers and wives of police and military personnel who had been killed and even a few Tamil women who had lost family members in the ethnic war.

WOMEN’S ROLE IN CIVIL SOCIETY For the north and east of Sri Lanka, the immediate reality of the war for women has been the loss of men, of physical safety and economic survival. This has brought about a significant shift in the gendered roles of women. Men have died in the fighting as active combatants or as victims caught in crossfire. They have been detained by the state or disappeared, sometimes extra judicially executed. They have also fled the conflict areas to live in safer locations or have left the country. Women have also joined the combatants; they have died in the conflict or fled to safety. However, a far greater number have had to remain, experiencing continued armed conflict, fearful for the security and safety of themselves and their families. They are repeatedly displaced from their homes and relocated to unfamiliar surroundings. In their constant battle to keep themselves and their families fed and sheltered, they are trapped in gendered roles that demand that women assume sole responsibility for the care of families, children and elders, left behind to hold together the fabric of society. These women of Sri Lanka are survivors. Sheer necessity has made them forge creative and innovative survival strategies. Women socialized into belief that their role in society is linked to their biological functions of reproduction have also seen their socially constructed functions as nurturers and caregivers, restricted to the private spaces of family and home. As a consequence of the conflict, these women have had to become the breadwinners and protectors of immediate as well as extended families. They have crossed the barriers into public space. Today they are dealing with economic survival, competing in the marketplace, contending with

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political and military authority. In short, they have assumed the roles traditionally thought to be the preserve of men. In response, may women have begun to organize among themselves into women’s collectives or cooperatives—mainly for economic survival, sometimes for protection. Others have joined existing civil organizations or are employed by non-governmental organizations as service providers, social mobilizers, activists or the like. Some have initiated self-employment projects, venturing into non-traditional fields of work and income generation. These are some of the many non-formal organizations within which Sri Lankan women now play a role in public life. Such changing circumstances and gender roles reflect women’s experiences of coping with ongoing conflict and their aspirations for peace; they need to be better harnessed in the efforts to resolve the conflict. Women’s participation in civil society should be extended to a more political plane. The resolution of conflict needs to look at the root causes as well as the consequences of conflict. Root causes are often political in nature and require a political solution brokered by all parties actively involved in the conflict. For Sri Lanka, this is primarily the state and the LTTE. Women can be instrumental in bringing about such a process of brokering or mediation by identifying and by influencing key actors.

WOMEN AND PEACE INITIATIVES Women’s participation in the peace movement and in the movement for democratization are valuable examples of innovative approaches to conflict resolution. In addition, activism in the ‘Mothers’ Fronts’ challenged the state to end human rights violations and begin a process of investigation and to establish accountability. By virtue of the fact that they are the buttress of civil society in war zones, women are also challenging the continuation of conflict. They should increase their participation in the monitoring and documentation of violations of human rights and humanitarian norms. They should also call for the protection of human rights and humanitarian norms by aligning themselves with human rights and women’s rights organizations. There can be no doubt that many women have been active participants in opposing the conflict and the violations of human rights in Sri Lanka. The challenge now is to effectively increase

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women’s participation, at both the local and the national level, in a process that can bring about a permanent solution to the conflict. Political participation at the national level in terms of representation in Parliament is obviously a long-term goal. Women’s concerns arising from the conflict and aimed at influencing political reforms at assist conflict resolution can also be reflected in other spaces more immediately accessible to women. One possibility is by means of the media. Sri Lanka has a vibrant alternative press with wide public circulation and significant influence. Women can use this space to make their concerns heard. These interventions can help increase the participation of women in the push for political negotiations and in determining the contours of a political solution to the ethnic conflict in Sri Lanka. Ultimately, such a solution will also need to incorporate the gendered aspirations of women in broader civil society and not merely the rhetoric of political opportunism or desires for absolutist political power.

THE ETHNIC CONFLICT IN SRI LANKA: ITS IMPACT ON WOMEN In 1984, in the face of the escalation of the conflict in the north, an organization called “Women for Peace” emerged in the south. Comprising women from all ethnic and religious groups, Women for Peace issued a press statement signed by many leading women citizens and activists, calling for an end to the war. This petition was later signed as a mass appeal to which over 10,000 people place their signature within a matter of weeks. The repeal of the PTA, freeing of political detainees and the dismantling of security zones’ in the north were among the initial demands of the group. Over the years, WFP has engaged in many public education campaigns for peace and ethnic harmony. In 1986, it was Tamil women in Jaffna who challenged the authorities, when most men held back in fear of retaliatory attacks, arrest or indefinite detention. The women who called themselves ‘The Mother’s Front’ marched in the first public demonstration in Jaffna in many years, demanding that the authorities disclose the whereabouts of over 100 young men and boys arrested by the army. Following the repression of a southern-based insurgency by the state in 1990 and the disappearance of tens of thousands of young men, Sinhala women from the south organized themselves

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as a Mothers’ Front, demanding justice and information on the whereabouts of their family members. It is, perhaps, a measure of the powe4r and success of both groups, that their call was co-opted by mainstream political parties. As Kumudini Samuel points out, ‘the presence of the Mothers’ Front was without doubt a powerful catalyst in shifting the political power balance’1. Members of the Mothers’ Front featured prominently on opposition platforms at the 1994 elections and the President identified herself with them (her father and her husband had both been victims of political assassinations). In 1990, a broad network of women’s groups called ‘Mother’s and Daughters of Lanka’ also came into prominence organizing a multi-religious meeting at a time when all public demonstrations were banned. This group represented all ethnic and religious communities, and promoted peace as one of their principle slogans. Other groups have emerged in more recent years, such as the Women’s Coalition for Peace, the Muslim Women’s research and Action Front, the Sri Lanka Women’s NGO Forum and the Eastern Women’s Forum, which have all maintained a considerable focus on peace and democracy in their work. The Women’s Coalition for Peace, for example, has focused on the need for a collective approach to problem solving, on consensus building on political reforms, resumption of peace talks and third party facilitation. In addition, women form a large part of the membership of networks such as the National Alliance for Peace and the People’s Peace Front. In 1997, the Mother’s Front of Jaffna re-emerged along with the Guardian Association for Persons Arrested and Disappeared from Jaffna to negotiate with the state and with defence authorities regarding persons who had been arrested and disappeared in the north. Representatives of both groups have made several visits to Colombo in 1997 and 1988 to pressure the government to take some preventive and protective measures. They have also been active observers of the excavation of the mass graves at Chenmani in 1999. Two organizations comprising family members of soldiers listed as ‘missing in action’ have also emerged during this time. One of them has a focus on 1

Abeysekara, Sunila Ethnic conflict in Sri Lanka

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welfare issues relating to the families of soldiers who have died or disappeared during the conflict. The other, the Association of Relatives of Servicemen Missing in Action, has adopted a more political and militant stance, lobbying with the government to permit them to negotiate with the LTTE for the release of the over 600 persons believed to be presently in the custody of the LTTE. Cooperation between some of the southern women’s groups such as Mothers and Daughters of Lanka and Women for Peace, in collaboration with organizations such as Pem Vimochana Gnanodayam (working in the plantation areas) and the Suriya Women’s Development Centre (based in Batticaloa) has let to innovative work and perspectives on the issue of conflict and conflict resolution. Especially interesting are community-level initiatives aimed at peace building, especially in some parts of the east, as well as in the plantation communities where there are large numbers of Tamil women. This work is carried out with an understanding that a peace agreement between the two warring factions would need to be accompanied by major efforts for reconciliation and trust-building exercises between the different communities that have been driven apart by violence and mistrust over the past 15 years. Six strategic objectives were identified when the Platform for Action was drafted. They are: 1. Increase the participation of women in conflict resolution at decision-making levels and protect women living in situations of armed and other conflicts or under foreign occupation; 2. Reduce excessive military expenditure and control the availability of armaments; 3. Promote non-violent forms of conflict resolution and reduce the incidence of human rights abuse in conflict situations; 4. Promote women’s contribution to fostering a culture of peace; 5. Provide protection assistance and training to refugee women, other displaced women in need of international protection and internally displaced women. 6. Provide assistance to women of the colonies and non self-governing territories.

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Based on their experiences of working with women victims of violence and abuse, women were also able to bring their particular concerns regarding testimonies and witness protection to the discussions of\n the statute. The outline of the problems faced by women living in situations of armed conflict that I have set out above is based on experiences of working with different groups and individuals on issues of peace and democracy in Sri Lanka over the past years. While this has been an exercise in gathering together diverse and scattered impressions of reality of the situation, I hope that it may provide a basis for further inquiry and analysis into the issues, which certainly are very critical. Women’s involvement and participation in processes of peace-building and conflict— resolution remain critical to any possible democratic and peaceful resolution of the ethnic conflict in Sri Lanka. At the same time, ‘engendering’ the on-going discussions on peace and democracy poses a major challenge to our own modes of analysis of the conflict. Without focusing attention on the problems women face in conflict situations, including on issues of violence and subordination and without developing an analysis of patriarchy and militarization that enables us to fully understand the complexity of the issue, it would be impossible either to arrive at a humane understanding of the issues at stake, or to devise a modality for the resolution of the conflict that is respectful of the rights and dignity of all Sri Lankans.

BIBLIOGRAPHY Abeysekera, Sunila. Women & Peace in Sri Lanka: Some Observations. Dissanayake, T D S A. War or Peace in Sri Lanka. Mumbai: Popular Prakashan, 2004 Mihlar, Farah. Women in war in Sri Lanka. http://www.opendemocracy.net/blog/5050/women_in_war_ in_sri_lanka

CHAPTER 15 BLOOD AND BENEVOLENCE: VIOLENCE AND NONVIOLENCE IN BUDDHIST AND CHRISTIAN MYSTICISM KYEONGIL JUNG I. INTRODUCTION: CAN MYSTICS BE IMMORAL? In the early period of his monastic life, Thomas Merton, having freshly renounced a “worldly life,” had a strong desire to escape into deep solitude. Yet, paradoxically, the more Merton became spiritually mature in solitude, the more he was led to reconnect, mystically, with his fellow human beings. We see this from what many call Merton’s “second conversion” in Louisville, Kentucky, in the year 1958. Merton himself wrote about the experience, saying: “In Louisville, at the corner of Fourth and Walnut, in the center of the shopping district, I was suddenly overwhelmed with the realization that I loved all those people, that they were mine and I theirs, that we could not be alien to one another even though we were total strangers.”1 It was a mystical experience of oneness that reconnected Merton with all humanity and motivated him to commit to peace and nonviolence. For mystics, like Merton, there

Thomas Merton, “Conjectures of a Guilty Bystander,” in Thomas Merton, Spiritual Master: The Essential Writings, ed. Lawrence S. Cunningham (New York: Paulist Press, 1992), 144. 1

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are no others who may be ignored or hated because all beings are interconnected with them. This experience of oneness is one of the most common and universal denominators founded in mysticisms across faiths. As examples, take the Hindu view of the unity of Brahman and Atman, the Confucian teaching of the unity of Heaven and human beings, the Taoist notion of harmony, the Buddhist wisdom of the interconnectedness of all sentient beings, the Abrahamic monotheistic belief of the Union with all humanity, with creation, as constituting the one kinship of God. All of these point out the common mystical experience of oneness with the Other/other. What is important here is one of the ethical outcomes of mystical oneness: nonharming or nonviolence. Given the reality of oneness of all beings, to be violent against the other is nothing but to harm the self. While violence is rooted in the separation and fear of the other, the mystical experience is based on the oneness with and love of the other and may serve as a remedy or antidote for violence. Consequently, mystics are—or should be— compassionate and nonviolent toward all beings with whom they form an interconnected whole. However, in practice, as we will see, not every mystic is compassionate and nonviolent. Rather, some mystics harm others by being directly or indirectly involved in violence. It is important to investigate why and how such mystics become violent despite their experience of mystical oneness, because religiously motivated violence can be more pernicious than any other forms of violence. The connection between mysticism (and religion in general) and violence is actual in the contemporary world, even though many consider our contemporary period to be more secular than premodern times. “In talking with many of the supporters of these cultures of violence,” Mark Juergensmeyers points out, “I was struck with the intensity of their quests for a deeper level of spirituality than that offered by the superficial values of the modern world.”2 There is no doubt that religion is still a strong, though certainly not the sole, cause of violence. In this sense, mysticism, Mark Juergensmeyer, Terror in the Mind of God: The Global Rise of Religious Violence (Berkeley, CA.: University of California Press, 2000), 222. 2

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which William Johnston defines as “the core of authentic religious experience,”3 might be most destructive when it enthralls people‫׏‬s hearts, by sanctioning and sanctifying violence. Realizing that some mystics are compassionate and others violent, we come to face two fundamental questions: Can immoral persons have the mystical experience of oneness? Can mystics who have the mystical experience be immoral? This essay tries to find the answers to those questions through comparative investigation of contrasting cases of violence and nonviolence in the history and lives of Buddhist and Christian mystics. Before I begin, let me briefly explain why I deal with mystics specifically in Buddhism and Christianity. It is because these two faith traditions are, along with Islam, world religions in the strict sense of the word. That is, they transcend regional, national, cultural, and ethnic boundaries. In these transregional, transnational, transcultural, and transethnic ways, Buddhist and Christian mysticism has influenced the world, whether positively or negatively. So I would like to explore in this essay how these two world religions, Buddhism and Christianity, can contribute, through mutual challenge and collaboration, to making their traditions more globally responsible and universally relevant in their common efforts to end suffering and violence. I will first compare and contrast Buddhist and Christian mystics who champion either violence or nonviolence. Second, I will analyze why they are contrastingly different in their engagement in society despite their seemingly similar mystical experience. Third, and finally, as a conclusion, I will propose a socially engaged mysticism of nonviolence and peace in and for the world.

II. MYSTICS WHO HARM Admittedly, both Buddhism and Christianity are peace-oriented faith traditions. The Five Precepts of the Buddhist tradition and the Ten Commandments of the Judeo-Christian tradition commonly prohibit harming or killing others. Yet, as long as Buddhists and William Johnston, The Inner Eye of Love: Mysticism and Religion (San Francisco, CA.: HarperSanfrancisco, 1997), 31. 3

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Christians live in society, where both violence and nonviolence are equally possible, they cannot be entirely immune to violence. In this section, I will comparatively examine two groups of cases that show most conspicuously how Buddhist and Christian mystics are involved in violence: first, Devadatta and St. Athanasius, and, second, Peter the Hermit and Zen Master Nantembo Tozu Violence toward the Other–Within: Devadatta and Athanasius It is said that the Buddha transcended all the physical and mental conflicts caused by opinionated views. But, this does not mean that the Buddha did not experience any conflicts after his Awakening. As a matter of fact, according to the Buddhist scriptures, there was an acutely violent conflict even within the earliest Buddhist sangha (community), which Devadatta sparked. Devadatta was originally a cousin of the Buddha and became his disciple. Interestingly, despite Devadatta‫׏‬s bad reputation as the initiator of a violent schism in the sangha, some of the early Buddhist scriptures describe him as a great disciple of the Buddha. According to Reginald Ray: “In the vinaya of the SarvĆstivĆda, for example, we learn that for twelve years following his admission into the order, Devadatta conducts himself with faultless deeds and thoughts. He reads and recites the sutras, lives according to proper discipline, and strives in his practice of dharma.”4 That is, Devadatta was perfect in his deeds, thoughts, and practice. Moreover, continues Ray, in the UdĆna, “Devadatta is mentioned as a Buddhist saint among other great Buddhist saints.”5 Indeed, the Buddha himself named Devadatta as a brahmin, meaning “awakened saint.”6 Thus, as Ray tells us, Devadatta was considered a “realized master” by his contemporaries.7 Yet, the Buddhist scriptures tell further legendary stories about Devadatta’s evil deeds in the Buddha’s later years. It all began when Devadatta asked the Buddha to make five stricter dhuta Reginald A. Ray, Buddhist Saints in India: A Study in Buddhist Values and Orientations (New York, N.Y.: Oxford University Press, 1994), 162. 5 Ibid. 6 Ibid. 7 Ibid., 163. 4

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(the ascetic codes) mandatory to all renunciants, which required them to be forest dwellers, be beggars for alms, wear robes taken from the dust-heap, live at the foot of a tree, and abstain from eating fish and flesh.8 As Devadatta and his conspirators expected, the Buddha refused the proposal. Devedatta then accused the Buddha of not being rigorous in spiritual discipline. Furthermore, according to the Cullavagga, Devadatta agitated Prince AjĆtaœatru, King BimbisĆra’s son, led him to send assassins to kill the Buddha.9 When the plot failed, the scripture says, Devadatta himself attempted several times to murder the Buddha, but also failed. The Vibhanga says that Devadatta died, vomiting hot blood from his mouth.10 It might be controversial whether Devadatta should be known as a notorious evildoer or, as Ray describes him, a “condemned saint.” What is important here is not the historical fact, which is impossible to infer from the scriptures, but the meaning of the story which Buddhists have shared throughout history. After all, it is not controversial that, in the Buddhist world, Devadatta has been generally considered the personification of violence and evil. Needless to say, Christianity also contains violence, probably even more seriously than Buddhism. Surely, because Jesus taught nonviolence, and was himself a victim of brutal violence by the religious and political authorities, the early Christians were much less involved in violence than the later Christians. Furthermore, since martyrdom was often extolled by the early Church as the highest way of purifying sins and imitating Christ, even selfdefensive violence was infrequent among the early Christians in the midst of the persecutions by the Roman Empire. We should also add that the pre-Constantine Christians were limited in the possibilities of violence because they did not have power to harm others. They were powerless. However, as Christianity became de facto the official religion of the Empire, that is, a power religion, violence began to occur both inside and outside of the Christian

Ray, Buddhist Saints in India, 164. Ibid., 166. 10 Ibid., 167. 8 9

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community. The case of St. Athanasius of Alexandria (298–373) shows how violence began to permeate the Church. Athanasius is best known as the “Doctor of the Church” who laid the doctrinal foundations of the Catholic Church. However, it is not as well known that he was also passionate about spirituality. In his panegyric on Athanasius, St. Gregory of Nazianzus states: “He grew in contemplation, rich in splendour of life, combining them in wondrous sort by that golden bond which few can weave; using life as the guide of contemplation, contemplation as the seal of life.”11 Athanasius was not a contemplative or a mystic in the strict sense. But it is certain that Athanasius was deeply influenced by the Desert Fathers who pursued mystical saintliness. Athanasius himself lived several times among the monks in the desert when he was exiled. One such exile into the Egyptian desert, his third, was 7 years from 356 to 362.12 Through that experience, Athanasius praised the ascetic and solitary life of desert monks, saying, “The desert was made a city by monks, who left their own people and registered themselves for citizenship in heaven.”13 What is more, in his interpretation of the doctrine of incarnation, Athanasius asserted that “God became man so that we might become God.”14 The reason why Athanasius wrote the biography of St. Anthony, the Desert Father, was because he wanted to present Anthony as the embodiment of such deification. William Harmless states the point well: “Not only does Anthony articulate Athanasius‫׏‬s theology of deification; he becomes an icon for it. Anthony is Athanasius‫׏‬s portrait of what a human being renewed in the image and likeness of God should look like.”15 Though his spirituality was Quoted in Thomas Gerard Weinandy, Athanasius: A Theological Introduction (Aldershot, England; Burlington, VT: Ashgate, 2007), 1. 12 Ibid., 5. 13 William Harmless. Desert Christians: An Introduction to the Literature of Early Monasticism (Oxford; New York: Oxford University Press, 2004), 111. 14 Alister E. McGrath, Studies in Doctrine: Understanding Doctrine, Understanding the Trinity, Understanding Jesus, Justification by Faith (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1997), 327. 15 Ibid., 90. 11

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apparently mingled with theological and political motives, in my view, Athanasius himself had a strong admiration for authentic mysticism. However, Athanasius‫ ׏‬passion for the doctrines he championed was so strong that he could become quite tough on those who had different theological viewpoints. In a way, Athanasius‫ ׏‬theological intransigence was akin to the desert fathers who strove to win spiritual warfare against the demonic powers. Regarding mentality and ethos, I suspect, mysticism and militarism have a certain affinity for each other in that both can be hostile to their enemies. To Athanasius, the enemies were the Arians who asserted the superiority of the Father over the Son. While the Arians held that Jesus was “of similar substance” (homoiousios) to God, Athanasius held that Jesus was “of the same substance” (homoousios) as God. In other words, while the former emphasized the humanity of Jesus, the latter stressed the divinity of Jesus. The small letter, iota, caused a big, violent schism among the early Christians. Since both the Arians and Athanasius‫׏‬s sympathizers had their own solid biblical, theological, and philosophical references, it was difficult to reach a consensus through mutually respectful dialogue and discussion. Consequently, theologians and bishops were tempted to solve the problem easier and faster, even employing violence. All too often, violence occurs when people try to solve complicated problem easily and quickly. Violence between the followers of Arius and Athanasius became more and more frequent and ferocious. Athanasius and his followers attacked Arians and vice versa. According to Richard Rubenstein, violent conflict between Athanasius’ group and Arians was “close to civil war.”16 Ultimately, Athanasius won the conflict not by respectful dialogue but by power and authority, which included violence. The winner‫׏‬s view became orthodoxy, the loser’s heresy. It was an archetypal example of intra-Christian violence that has afflicted Christians (and non-Christians) throughout history. Richard E. Rubenstein, When Jesus Became God: The Epic Fight over Christ’s Divinity in the Last Days of Rome (New York: Harcourt Brace & Co., 1999), 141. 16

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Despite their religious and historical differences, there is a significant similarity between Devadatta and Athanasius. Most of all, they justified their violence by accusing their co-religionists of being impure and impious. Devadatta incited people to believe that the Buddha “is luxurious and strives after abundance,”17 and Athanasius asserted that “the Arian heresy is truly impious.”18 That is to say, their hatred and violence were fueled by their religious zeal for purity and piety. It is not surprising that many cases of the most horrendous violence in human history have been committed in the name of purification, whether religious or secular. The impure and impious ones are considered as the objects to be cleansed—even through violence. At this point, it is important to note that Devadatta’s and Athanasius’s conviction of purity and piety was closely linked with their truth claims. They believed that they possessed the only Truth while others did not, or that their truth claim was superior to all other claims. This over-confidence in their truth as the Truth provoked them to be violent toward the other–within who threatened the Truth. Violence toward the Other–Without: Peter the Hermit and Zen Master Nantembo Tozu The cases of Devadatta and Athanasius inform the connection between mysticism and violence. Yet, their violence targeted mainly their co-religionists who were different in practice and theology. As stated, it was violence against the other–within. Contrastingly, the following two examples—Peter the Hermit who is known as the spiritual initiator of the Crusade in Christianity and the Japanese Zen Master Nantembo Tozu who championed the Imperial Way Zen in Buddhism—will illustrate a more collective and structural violence against the other–without. To be sure, the nature of the Crusades in the history of Christianity was not a purely religious war. Certainly, there were social, political, and economic factors that galvanized the war Ray, Buddhist Saints in India, 165. Athanasius, “On the Council of Nicaea (De Decretis),” in Khaled Anatolios, Athanasius (London; New York: Routledge, 2004), 147. 17 18

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against the religious other. Nevertheless, it is also certain that religious enthusiasm to restore Jerusalem to Christendom and religious intolerance of other faiths were deeply embedded in the Crusades. Not only did the Church authorities and priests play their roles as the initiators, supporters, and even warriors of the Crusades, but so did mystics, ascetics, charismatics, and recluses. An example to consider is Peter the Hermit (1050–1115), who was one of the Crusade preachers. It is unclear who Peter really was due to the insufficiency of historical records. Yet, as the title “the Hermit” indicates, Peter would probably have been a recluse who devoted himself to spiritual pursuit. According to Albert of Aachen, a chronicler of the First Crusade, Peter made a pilgrimage to Jerusalem that was, at that time, in the hands of Muslim rulers. One day, when Peter was sleeping in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem, he had a mystical dream in which Jesus commanded him to “stir the hearts of the faithful to the cleansing of the holy places in Jerusalem, and to the restoring of the ceremonies of the holy places.”19 Then, Peter returned to Europe and urged Pope Urban II to prepare the Crusade. And Peter himself became the most electrifying preacher of the Crusade. One thing to note here is that Peter’s appearance as an ascetic—wearing rags, walking barefoot, not eating bread, etc.— was an effective means to motivate and mobilize people to take part in war. Thomas Asbridge explains why: “To an eleventhcentury audience, his peculiar habits simply indicated an unearthly piety, imitating the life of Christ’s apostles, and served to amplify the magnetic impact of his sermons.”20 Furthermore, Peter himself organized the “Crusade of the Poor.” In a nutshell, Peter made use of his mystical experience and appearance for a military expedition. The consequences Peter drew were so violent and cruel as to be hardly compatible with a hermit or mystic. The first victims of Peter’s crusade on the way to Jerusalem were not Muslims, but Albert of Aachen, Historia Ierosolimitana: History of the Journey to Jerusalem, ed. and trans. Susan B. Edgington (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 2007), 7. 20 Thomas S. Asbridge, The First Crusade: A New History (New York: Oxford University Press, 2004), 80. 19

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Jews. This event in the Rhineland came to be known as “the first holocaust.”21 Ironically, but not surprisingly, the second victims of the war were the Crusade of the Poor themselves who were poorly trained and organized. Eventually, almost all of them were executed and annihilated by the Turks.22 It was the beginning of a series of Crusades lasting two centuries that caused a great number of causalities. As history demonstrates, the Crusades were to become the symbol of Christian violence against the religious other, which continues to the present day. Although Buddhism is not absolutely a violence-free tradition, there has been no Crusade-like war against the religious other until modern times. On the one hand, it is because Buddhism is a religion of principled nonviolence (ahimsa). On the other hand, more practically, it is because the ruling power in Buddhist societies did not much use or need to use Buddhist teachings and practices to justify wars against the other, religious or secular. In other words, Buddhism might also have been violent if the political power needed it to. “Imperial-Way Zen” (kŇdŇ Zen)” in the postMeiji Japan is, I argue, the most notorious case of Buddhist violence. Under the imperialist regime in Japan, Zen monks and priests, with rare exception, uncritically supported the “Imperial-Way” that sparked a series of brutal wars. To be sure, it might have been an involuntary support because Zen Buddhists in modern Japan were not in the position to oppose and overcome the power of the imperial system. Brian Daizen Victoria’s Zen at War explicates how imperial government in Japan manipulated Zen, at times suppressing it and other times patronizing it. Nevertheless, the consequence of “Imperial Way Zen” was too destructive to be excused. Compared to the feudal, or pre-modern, Zen that “rarely

Jonathan Riley-Smith, The First Crusade and the Idea of Crusading (New York, N.Y.: Continuum, 2003), 50; Jonathan Riley-Smith, The First Crusaders, 1095–1131 (Cambridge, U.K.; New York, N.Y.: Cambridge University Press, 1997), 12. 22 Riley-Smith, The First Crusade and the Idea of Crusading, 49–50. 21

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became involved in” violence,23 “Imperial-Way Zen” was actively and systematically involved in war violence, both in its doctrinal teachings as well as its spiritual techniques. The most scandalous example, in my view, is the pro-war commitment of the Rinzai Zen Master Nantembo Tozu (1839–1925) and his student General Nogi Maresuke (1849–1912). Nogi was a merciless general who moved a great number of people to kill and be killed for the “Glory of Meiji.” To take an example, Nogi’s tactic in the Battle of Port Arthur in 1905 was to use his troops as “human bullets” which caused 59,000 casualties.24 At the cost of a huge number of lives, he became a war hero. Strikingly, however, Nogi was also one of Nantembo’s Dharma successors. When Nogi first met and asked Nantembo about the question of life and death, Nantembo answered: “Apart from loyalty and duty, there is no life and death.” Since then, Nantembo taught Nogi Zen teachings and meditation practices for some ten years, and approved Nogi’s satori (enlightenment). Furthermore, Nantembo later wrote that “Nogi’s great accomplishments during the Sino-Japanese and Russo-Japanese Wars were the result of the hard [Zen] training he underwent.” 25 He added unreservedly that “There is no bodhisattva practice superior to the compassionate taking of life.”26 As a matter of fact, the meditation techniques of Zen, such as zazen (sitting meditation), were used in the imperial army. “Certain Zen figures supported growing Japanese militarism in the 1920s and 1930s,” says Christopher Ives, “by directing Zen practice for soldiers as a preparation for combat, and a large meditation hall

Randall Collins, The Sociology of Philosophies (Cambridge, Mass.: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 1998), 332. 24 See Yoshihisa Tak Matsusaka, “Human Bullets, General Nogi, and the Myth,” in John W. Steinberg, ed. Russo-Japanese War in Global Perspective: World War Zero.(Leiden, NLD: Brill, N.H.E.J., N.V. Koninklijke, Boekhandel en Drukkerij, 2005), 179–201. 25 Brian Daizen Victoria, Zen at War (Lanham, M.D.: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc., 2005), 36–37. 26 Ibid. 23

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was erected in Tokyo for this purpose.”27 In short, the meditation hall was nothing but a place of military training, which was to kill, undoubtedly not save, the other. In sum, the four cases of violence in Buddhist and Christian mysticism I have dealt with thus far demonstrate the complicity between religion and power. Those who are religious utilize power in order to practice what they believe, and those who are powerful use religion in order to fulfill what they desire. In this complicity of religion and power, mystical experience can be a powerful tool to provoke and legitimate violence against the other. When all is said and done, in some historical contexts, mysticism may become a source of militarism.

III. MYSTICS WHO ARE AND MAKE PEACE I have demonstrated thus far that mystics may harm the other, within and without. Nevertheless, there is no need to be pessimistic of mysticism, because these vicious connections between mysticism and violence are extraordinary and extreme cases. In fact, in the history of Buddhist and Christian mysticism, there are more cases of nonviolence than of violence. In this section, I would like to describe four mystics in Buddhism and Christianity who embody the ideal of nonviolence: Purna, St. Francis of Assisi, Thich Nhat Hanh, and Martin Luther King Jr. Embodying Nonviolence: Venerable Purna and St. Francis of Assisi Venerable Purna is the one who best manifests the spirit and practice of nonviolence in Buddhism. Purna was one of the ten greatest disciples of the Buddha and was acknowledged by the Buddha as the foremost preacher of the Dharma. Thus, despite the lack of sufficient records, it will not be difficult to guess that Purna was “awakened” to the Dharma or the Truth. Indeed, the Purnavadana describes Purna‫׏‬s awakening: “Again told, ‫׎‬Come,‫ ׏‬by the Tathagata, he, shaven-headed and body enfolded in monastic Christopher Ives, Zen Awakening and Society (Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1992), 64. 27

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robes, instantly attained tranquility of the senses and thus remained by the will of the Buddha.”28 Above all, Purna embodied the Buddhist ideal of nonviolence in the midst of violence. The Purnavadana tells a story of a conversation between the Buddha and Purna. One day, after teaching the Dharma, the Buddha asks Purna where he would like to go and teach the Dharma. Purna says that he wants to go to his hometown, Sronaparantaka. But, knowing the people in Sronaparantaka are infamous for violence, the Buddha asks: “Purna, the people of Sronaparantaka are fierce, violent, cruel, abusive, wrathful and contemptuous. Purna, if the people of Sronaparantaka curse, abuse, and revile you face-to-face with evil, indecent and harsh speech, what will you think?” Purna answers: “Venerable, if the people of Sronaparantaka curse, abuse and revile me face-to-face with evil, indecent and harsh speech, then I shall think, ‘Good are the people of Sronaparantaka, kind are the people of Sronaparantaka: face-toface they curse, abuse and revile me with evil, indecent and harsh speech, but they do not strike me with their fists or with clods of earth’.” The Buddha asks several more questions, mentioning various types of violence that might be done to Purna. But, Purna always answers the same: he will endure any violence imposed on him. Finally, the Buddha asks. “If the people of Sronaparantaka deprive you utterly of life, what will you think?” Purna answers, with no hesitation. “If the people of Sronaparantaka deprive me utterly of life, I shall think, ‫׎‬The Lord has disciples who are so tormented, shamed and disgusted by this stinking body, that they even wield a knife against themselves, even eat poison, even kill themselves by hanging, even by flinging themselves from a cliff. Good are the people of Sronaparantaka, kind are the people of Sronaparantaka: with little pain they liberate me from this stinking carcass’!” Then, in the end, the Buddha let Purna go to Sronaparantaka to liberate the people there.29 Delighting and rejoicing in the Buddha’s words, Purna went to Sronaparantaka to live and teach the Dharma. The Purnavadana John Tatelman, The Glorious Deeds of Purna: A Translation and Study of Purnavadana (Surrey, U.K.: Curzon Press, 2000), 60. 29 Ibid., 62–63. 28

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continues: “Purna also converted five hundred other male laydisciples and five hundred female lay-disciples.”30 Then, according to a Theravadin version, Purna died after he fulfilled his mission to spread the Dharma. Having heard of Purna’s death, the Buddha affirmed that Purna attained final Nirvana,31 or, according to the Purnavadana, Arhatship.32 In other words, Purna perfected his life. This story shows the Buddhist ideal, cultivated by wisdom and compassion, of responding to violence with nonviolence. St. Francis of Assisi (1181–1226), the medieval patron saint of peace, tried to live the evangelical life. Voluntary poverty and peace were two wheels of the evangelical life Francis embodied in and through his life. When the Church enjoyed great wealth, Francis was passionate to live with “Lady Poverty.” When Christians continued the Crusades, Francis prayed God to make him “an instrument of peace.” When Christianity was too much anthropocentric, Francis expanded brother- and sisterhood to all existing beings. All this was the Christ-like life that Francis pursued throughout his life. It must be noted, however, that Francis himself was both a victimizer and a victim of war violence. In his early age, Francis joined a war against the city of Perugia, and was captured and imprisoned by the Perugians for a year. Despite his traumatic experience of imprisonment, and after his rescue and recuperation from illness, Francis attempted to join the Crusade of Pope Innocent III. But, thanks to God‫׏‬s illuminating grace, Francis gave up his plan and returned to Assisi, which I will discuss later. After this, he lived a life of peace, saying to the people of Assisi, “God give you peace and well being,” which was, according to Linda Bird Francke, “a salutation that no one in that violent time had presumably heard before”33 Similarly, Lawrence Cunningham says that “It is against that aura of urban violence that we must Tatelman, The Glorious Deeds of Purna, 64. Ibid., 15–16. 32 Ibid., 82. 33 Linda Bird Francke, On the Road with Francis of Assisi: A Timeless Journey Through Umbria and Tuscany, and Beyond (New York, NY.: Random House, 2006), 71. 30 31

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understand the Franciscan cry of ‘Peace!’”34 It was indeed the proclamation of nonviolence and peace in a world of violence and war. Francis’ most striking practice of nonviolence and peace was, in my view, his encounter with the Muslim Sultan Malik al-Kamil in Jerusalem. In 1219, when the Crusade was still in progress, Francis went to the Crusader camp outside Damietta. Not unexpectedly, Francis painfully witnessed the brutal violence of the crusading army against Muslims. Deeply shaken, Francis crossed the battle line in order to meet and dialog with the Sultan al-Kamil. What actually happened in the encounter is unknown, except what is available through imaginative hagiographical stories. In fact, some scholars view Francis’ attempt as unsuccessful in that he was ignored by the Sultan. Besides, Francis evidently wanted to convert Muslims to Christianity, surely, not by force but by gentle persuasion. Nevertheless, I do agree with Cunningham when he says: “At a time when violence was the rule of the day he dared cross enemy lines at the risk of painful death in order to speak face to face with someone who was demonized by the crusaders.”35 He crossed the line for peace. It is important to note that Purna and Francis lived during a time of war. Indeed, in the Buddha’s time, relentless and heartless wars among competing city kingdoms brought about unheard-of suffering. Koshala vanquished the tribe of the Sakhya, and Magadha’s warfare against the strong tribal confederation of the Vrijis lasted for fourteen years.36 As mentioned, Francis similarly lived in a time of inter-city and inter-religious war. That is to say, Purna and Francis embodied nonviolence not in times of peace but in times of war. They made clear that no matter how violent the world may be, there is always the possibility of nonviolence and peace, which contemporary Buddhist and Christian mystics continue to embody.

Lawrence Cunningham, Francis of Assisi: Performing the Gospel Life (Grand Rapids, MI: W.B. Eerdmans, 2004), 3. 35 Ibid., 63. 36 Hermann Kulke, History of India (London, UK: Routledge, 1997), 57. 34

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Nonviolence in Today‫׏‬s World of Violence: Thich Nhat Hanh and Martin Luther King Jr. Contemporary Buddhist and Christian mystics who exemplify nonviolence are, I would say, Thich Nhat Hanh and Martin Luther King Jr. Both came from an era of unprecedented violence. Nhat Hanh initiated and led the Engaged Buddhist movement to plant seeds of peace amidst war, and King led nonviolent action against racial discrimination and imperialist war. Thich Nhat Hanh (1926–) is a Vietnamese Zen Master who coined the term “Engaged Buddhism.” His engagement in social activism to restore peace and people’s lives started in the turmoil of war. What is important here is that Nhat Hanh’s nonviolent peace activism is deeply rooted in traditional Buddhist teachings. In my view, the Buddhist teaching of the interconnectedness of all beings, or in Nhat Hanh’s term “interbeing,” is the heart of the teaching of Engaged Buddhism. Nhat Hanh himself explains the teaching of interbeing: “We have talked about the many in the one, and the one containing the many. ... I am, therefore you are. You are, therefore I am. That is the meaning of the word ‘interbeing.’ We interare.”37 This awareness of interbeing is also the essence of Buddhist mysticism, which provides the foundation for nonviolence and peace. “When we realize our nature of interbeing,” says Nhat Hanh, “we will stop blaming and killing, because we know that we inter-are.”38 Nhat Hanh lives what he realizes. In the early 1960s in Vietnam, when war was going on, Nhat Hanh founded the School of Youth for Social Service. In 1966, Nhat Hanh also founded the Tiep Hien Order (the Order of Interbeing) to protect people’s lives. One of the Fourteen Precepts of the order articulates the Buddhist ideal of nonviolence: “Aware that much suffering is caused by war and conflict, we are determined to cultivate nonviolence, understanding, and compassion in our daily lives, to promote peace 37

Thich Nhat Hanh, Being Peace (Berkeley, CA.: Parallax Press, 2005),

88. Thich Nhat Hanh, Love in Action: Writings on Nonviolent Social Change (Berkeley, CA: Parallax Press, 2001), 137. 38

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education, mindful mediation, and reconciliation within families, communities, nations, and in the world. We are determined not to kill and not to let others kill. We will diligently practice deep looking with our Sangha to discover better ways to protect life and prevent war.”39 This clearly shows the Buddhist sensitivity to the suffering of all beings and the absolute principle of nonviolence. Truly, Nhat Hanh and his order are resolute to champion principled nonviolence in every situation with no exception. “All violence,” says Nhat Hanh, “is injustice.”40 Nhat Hanh‫׏‬s nonviolent social activism for peace during the war was recognized by his contemporary social activists, religious and secular. Martin Luther King Jr. (1929–1968), a Christian minister and civil right activist, was one of them, and eventually nominated Nhat Hanh for the Nobel Peace Prize. In spite of their differences in faith, nationality, and race, Nhat Hanh and King became friends. I believe it was their mystic hearts that recognized each other when they met in times of war and violence. To be sure, some may question whether or not King was a mystic. Dorothee Söelle, a German liberation theologian, was one of them. When she was teaching mysticism at Union Theological Seminary, Söelle at first thought that King was an activist, rather than a mystic. Yet, when one of her students informed her about King’s “kitchen table experience,” she changed her mind.41 One night, after he was blackmailed for his anti-racist activism, King sat at the kitchen table and prayed to God in agony: “Lord, I‫׏‬m down here trying to do what’s right.... But Lord, I‫׏‬m faltering, I‫׏‬m losing my courage. And I can’t let the people see me like this.... But I’ve

Thich Nhat Han, Interbeing: Fourteen Guidelines for Engaged Buddhism (Berkeley, Calif. : Parallax Press, 1998), 47. 40 Anne A. Simpkinson, “What I Would Say to Osama bin Laden: An Interview with Thich Nhat Hanh,” in A Lifetime of Peace: Essential Writings by and about Thich Nhat Hanh, Jennifer Schwamm Willis, ed. (New York: Marlowe & Company, 2003), 264. 41 Dorothee Sölle, The Silent Cry: Mysticism and Resistance (Minneapolis, MN.: Fortress Press, 2001), 270. 39

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come to the point where I can’t face it alone.”42 Söelle interpreted it as the “dark night of the soul.”43 At that very moment, King listened to Jesus speaking inside him. “Martin Luther, stand up for righteousness, stand up for justice, stand up for truth. And lo, I will be with you, even until the end of the world.”44 Marshal Frady, a biographer of King, explains this experience as follows: “It may well have been from that midnight kitchen epiphany, in fact, that King would maintain through all the turmoils of the years afterword his peculiar mien of an almost galactic remoteness, as if the deepest center of him were lost in a secret communion with something far beyond the furors of the moment.”45 Four nights later, when his home was bombed, King said; “We are not advocating violence! We want to love our enemies—be good to them. This is what we must live by. We must meet hate with love. We must love our white brothers no matter what they do to us. Love them, and let them know you love them.”46 This episode tells us that King’s fearless commitment of nonviolent action sprang out of his inner mystical experience of the Christ. King’s dream of a nonviolent and peaceful world was not limited to the domestic issues in the United States. Instead, his dream extended to the world. “King’s messianic vision,” says Frady, “seemed only to wheel out farther, reaching beyond the nation to embrace now almost deliriously the world itself.”47 In his famous speech at Riverside Church in 1967, “Beyond Vietnam: A Time to Break Silence,” King exposed the imperialist nature of the Vietnam War and proposed a nonviolent anti-war movement. It is said that his encounter with Nhat Hanh helped him become aware of the nature of the war.48 When the war was being fought Marshall Frady, Martin Luther King, Jr.: A Life (New York, N.Y.: Penguin Group USA, 2005), 45. 43 Sölle, The Silent Cry, 270. 44 Frady, Martin Luther King, 46. 45 Ibid., 46. 46 Ibid., 46–47. 47 Ibid., 199. 48 Darrell J. Fasching and Dell deChant, Comparative Religious Ethics: A Narrative Approach (Malden, MA: Wiley-Blackwell, 2001), 155. 42

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between the U.S. and the Vietcong armies, it was radical and even scandalous “to see from the enemy’s point of view” with the “meaning and value of compassion and nonviolence.”49 Yet, it was, I believe, the embodiment of Jesus’ commandment: “Love your enemies” (Luke 6:27). The fundamental commonalities between Purna, Francis, Nhat Hanh, and King include the shared experience of mystical oneness, and, more importantly, their embodiment of nonviolence and peace in their lives in a world of violence. In sum, the four mystics exhibit through their lives that mystical experience can be the very source for nonviolence transcending the boundaries of faith, class, race, and even species. They indeed are nonviolent to every being, which is based on their understanding and experience of the Oneness of all beings.

IV. ANALYSIS: WISDOM AND COMPASSION MATTER AND MAKE A DIFFERENCE Purna and Devadatta lived in the same time and in the same community as the same disciples of the Buddha. Both Peter and Francis were evangelists, and lived through similar times and circumstances. In addition, they all were passionate about spiritual realization, and, arguably, had mystical experiences. Yet, as we have seen so far, their socio-ethical attitudes and practices were not the same at all. At this point, let us go back to the two fundamental questions I posed at the outset: Can immoral persons have the mystical experience of oneness? Can mystics who have the mystical experience be immoral? Can the Immoral Be Enlightened? Regarding the first question, it is generally thought that immoral or selfish persons cannot have the mystical experience of oneness. To be sure, it is true that there are some cases in which persons, regardless of their morality or immorality, are radically James Melvin Washington, ed., A Testament of Hope: The Essential Writings and Speeches of Martin Luther King Jr. (San Francisco, CA.: HarperSanFrancisco, 1991), 638. 49

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overwhelmed and transformed by the external power of the Mystery. And also, the mystical experience itself goes beyond the conventional criteria and norms of morality. Nevertheless, it is also true that a mystic’s mystical experience of oneness is deeply linked with her moral life. Although Richard H. Jones admits that one’s mystical experience itself does not necessarily bring about moral behavior, he stresses the compatibility between morality and mystical experience. “Mystics on the path need not treat others merely as means for their own mystical advancement—a genuine sense of the worth of others would work to weaken one’s selfcenteredness and thus could be incorporated into a mystical way of life. And in the enlightened state, a sense of selflessness is compatible with a concern for others.”50 That is, morality promotes mystical experience and mystical experience produces morality. Buddhism, which has systematically developed spiritual practices, clarifies the relationship between morality and mystical experience. In Buddhism, moral conduct (sila) is a prerequisite for meditation (samadhi) that leads into wisdom (prajna). Walpola Rahula, a respected Theravada scholar-monk, makes this clear: “Moral conduct is considered as the indispensable foundation for all higher spiritual attainments.” Thus, he concludes that “no spiritual development is possible without this moral basis.”51 Richard Gombrich also says that, in Buddhism, “only a moral person can meditate successfully.”52 In this sense, although the relationship of moral conduct, meditation, and wisdom is like a circle, the starting point of the circle is always moral conduct. To be sure, some Buddhist traditions that emphasize non-duality, such as Zen Buddhism, assert that experience of Enlightenment transcends the dichotomy of good and evil. But, even in such a case, it does not mean that Buddhists are indifferent of good and tolerant of evil. Richard H. Jones, Mysticism and Morality: A New Look at Old Questions (Lanham, Md.: Lexington Books, 2004), 73. 51 Walpola Rahula, What the Buddha Taught (New York: Grove Press, 1974), 47. Emphases mine. 52 Richard F. Gombrich, Theravada Buddhism: A Social History from Ancient Benares to Modern Colombo (London; New York: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1988), 46. 50

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For example, though D.T. Suzuki says that “Zen is on the other shore of good and evil,” he himself adds: “[B]ut this does not mean that Zen is unconcerned with ethics.”53 Furthermore, the Mahayanan ideal of the Bodhisattva of compassion makes it impossible to separate moral conduct from the mystical experience. A similar circumstance can be found in Christian mysticism. Christian monasticism, which has promoted and preserved mysticism, has dealt not only with the mystical union with God but also union among monastics. For instance, monastic rules are mostly about the moral relationship among other monastics. More importantly, the moral relationship is expressed and experienced as love. In his discussion on the Verba Seniorum (the Words of the Elders), Thomas Merton says: “All through the Verba Seniorum we find a repeated insistence on the primacy of love over everything else in the spiritual life: over knowledge, gnosis, asceticism, contemplation, solitude, prayer. Love in fact is the spiritual life, and without it all the other exercises of the spirit, however lofty, are emptied of content and become more illusions.”54 In other words, without loving their neighbors, mystics cannot love their God. Steven T. Katz states that the moral standard of mystics is higher than that of the world.55 Thus, if one says that mystical experience goes beyond good and evil, it does not mean that mystics may commit evil. Rather, it means that mystics are pursuing higher good than ordinary people do in the world. Although the morality and ethics of the world encourage people to love their neighbors, the love cannot be legalized forcefully. But, in the world of Christian mystics, to love one‫׏‬s neighbors—including enemies—is the Divine Commandment. To take an example, for John Colobos, a desert father, the Commandment of Love was the D.T. Suzuki, Zen Buddhism: Selected Writings of D.T. Suzuki (New York: Doubleday, 1996), 310. 54 Thomas Merton, The Wisdom of the Desert: Sayings from the Desert Fathers of the Fourth Century (New York, N.Y.: New Direction Books, 1960), 17. 55 Steven T. Katz, “Mysticism and the Interpretation of Sacred Scripture,” in Steven T. Katz, ed., Mysticism and Sacred Scripture (New York: Oxford University Press, 2000), 19. 53

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foundation of building a spiritual house. He said that “A house is not built by beginning at the top and working down. You must begin with the foundations in order to reach the top.” Colobos explicates the centrality of the love of neighbor more precisely: “The foundation is our neighbor, whom we must win, and that is the place to begin. For all the commandments of Christ depend on this one [Mt 22:39–40].”56 Without this foundation of love, one cannot build a spiritual house. In this sense, mystics who experience the mystical oneness have fulfilled the prerequisite of morality, which is compassion or love. Thus, as Ursula King says that “the mystical and moral always go together,”57 the relationship of the mystical experience and morality is that of an unbreakable circle. At this point, it must be noted that when a circle is once formed and begins its cyclical movement, the start and end of the circle become indistinct. That is, the morality of compassion and love is not only the starting point but also the ending point of spiritual and mystical life. Therefore, the fundamental difference between the mystics who are involved in violence and the mystics who are not is whether or not their experience and their life after the experience are rooted in compassion and love. When the Buddha allowed Purna to go to Sronaparantaka, he saw Purna’s “forbearance and compassion.” A hunter, the first convert in Sronaparantaka, also saw the same forbearance and compassion that Purna radiated.58 In contrast, Devadatta did not have compassion. The Virokana—JĆtaka tells a story that Devadatta posed as a Buddha but evil had befallen him.59 He could pose or imitate a Buddha’s wisdom and meditation. But, as his Douglas Burton-Christie, The Word in the Desert: Scripture and the Quest for Holiness in Early Christian Monasticism (New York : Oxford University Press, 1993), 264. 57 Ursula King, Christian Mystics: Their Lives and Legacies throughout the Ages (Mahwah, N.J.: HiddenSpring, 2001), 24. 58 Tatelman, op.cit., 63–64. 59 Robert Chalmers, trans., E. B. Cowell, ed. The JĆtaka or Stories of the Buddha’s Former Births, Vol. 1 (London, U.K.: Cambridge University Press, 1895), 306–307. 56

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commitment to violence shows, Devadatta did not or was not able to embody a Buddha’s compassion. Likewise, it is unarguable that Athanasius was one of the greatest theologians of his time, and probably within Christian history. But, it is also unarguable that he did not love his Christian brothers and sisters who had different theological viewpoints. Needless to say, Peter and Nantembo also lacked love and compassion toward the other-without. The climax of the mystical experience, which is promoted by and produces compassion and love, is that it has no boundary. Speaking from a Christian stance, the capacity of loving one’s enemies is sprung from the mystical experience of oneness. That is, as Francis and King’s lives unfold, mystics’ compassion and love extend even to enemies; Francis loved the Sultan, and King the Vietcong. It must be noted that both Christian mystics lived in times of war when showing compassion and love to enemies was considered an outright act of betrayal. They went beyond enemy lines to love their so-called enemies, which was distinctively Christian in that Jesus taught “Love your enemies” (Matthew 5:44). Buddhism also is not only compassionate to the victims but also to the victimizers. Purna was ready to die by the hands of evildoers without any hatred, only with compassion. Nhat Hanh does not take sides; he is determined to be compassionate to both victims and victimizers because they all suffer. Indeed, mystics in Buddhist and Christian traditions, with their experience of oneness, embody unconditional and undifferentiated compassion. To sum up, the morality of compassion and love is both the starting point and the ending point of mysticism. Seen from this perspective, there is a possibility that Devadatta, Athanasius, Peter, and Natembo would not have had genuine mystical experience, because, as described, they were cruel to the other within and without, rather than compassionate. Yet, note that I am talking about possibility, not factuality. There are two reasons for that. First, it is because we do not know how they actually lived before their mystical experience due to the insufficiency of historical records, except Nantembo. Instead, what we know about their lives is mainly based on scriptures, legends, and hagiographies. Thus, we cannot prove whether or not they had moral lives which were sufficient for having genuine mystical experience. Second, more importantly, it is possible that, though they had morally perfect lives before their mystical experience, they, after the experience,

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might have been corrupted and involved in violence. To be sure, some may argue that their immoral lives after their experience indicate that their experience was imperfect. Yet, whether their mystical experience itself was perfect or not cannot be proven in any objective way. For this reason, instead of examining if the mystical experience is perfect or imperfect, I would like to emphasize that being perfect does not mean being permanent. That is to say, a perfect experience can be lost or forgotten afterward according to some internal and external conditions. The scriptural stories of fallen angels and corrupted deities imply the impermanence of perfection. Seen from the possibility of corruption in the life of mystics after their genuine mystical experience, Devadatta can be seen as a “corrupted saint,” not simply a “condemned saint.” After all, no matter how perfect one‫׏‬s mystical experience is, the experience might be corrupted or evaporated unless it continues to flow through moral channels. Can the Enlightened Be Immoral? Considering the possibility of post-Enlightenment corruption, the answer to the second question—whether mystics who have mystical experience can be immoral—is, unfortunately, yes. As already discussed, there are many cases in which mystics who have mystical experience are involved in social injustice and violence. What is important here is whether their immoral behaviors are related to their mystical experience. Katz does not think so. He says that antinomian or immoral behaviors of mystics are “due to other beliefs held by the group … rather than their mystical principles or experience as such.”60 It means that, though the mystical experience is a necessary condition for practicing compassion, love, and nonviolence, it is not a sufficient condition for that. That is to say, mystics have further tasks to do after their mystical experience. As long as they continue to live in communities, whether religious or secular, mystics need to interpret and embody their experience not only individually but also socially. To do so,

60

Katz, op.cit., 59.

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mystics should have a kind of self-reflexive wisdom to interpret and discern their experience. Katz, op.cit., 59. The reason why the self-reflexive wisdom is so important is because without it the mystical experience can be used in destructive ways. For instance, though both Peter and Francis had similar mystical dreams, their responses and reactions to their dreams were totally different. As stated, in Peter’s dream, Jesus commanded him to stir people to restore Jerusalem through military action. In Francis’ dream, according to St. Bonaventure, God showed him a “palace full of military weapons emblazoned with the insignia of Christ’s cross.”61 Unquestionably, the two dreams have militant meanings and images. But, while Peter interpreted the dream literally, Francis was able to see the true meaning behind the signifiers of the dream. More accurately, it is said that God illuminated Francis to the true meaning of the dream. Bonaventure describes: “At first Francis misinterpreted the dream, thinking it directed him to military service. He set out for Apulia to cast in his lot with a certain count, hoping to win the glory of knighthood for himself. But during the night he received from God instructions that the dream had a spiritual meaning and was not to be taken literally. So he abandoned his military plans and returned to Assisi.”62 Francis would have become a warrior, not the patron saint of peace, if he had misinterpreted the dream. That is why mystical experience needs to be interpreted through wisdom. If not, as Peter‫׏‬s case illustrates, mystical experience may become a cause of destructive violence. It is wisdom that enables mystics to understand and interpret their experience correctly and wisely. The wisdom of discernment is more urgently needed when mystics interact with a broader society. The pursuit and experience of mystical oneness can be either the source of the harmonious oneness for peace and nonviolence or, in some extreme cases, the source of the totalitarian oneness of fascism and violence. To be sure, Ewert H. Cousins, “Francis of Assisi: Christian Mysticism at the Crossroads,” in Steven T. Katz, ed., Mysticism and Religious Traditions (New York: Oxford University Press, 1983), 169. 62 Ibid. 61

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I am not saying that genuine mystical experience itself can become the source of violence. Rather, as stated, mystics who have the experience become involved in violence because of their corruption or of the appropriation and manipulation by the powerful. Fascist mysticism will be an extreme case of that. As history shows, fascists denied and destroyed the other, who did not belong to their racial and political community, for the sake of totalitarian oneness. What is important here is that mysticism can be used for fascism. In fact, the fascist in Germany, Italy, Rumania, and Japan justified their violence against the other within and without through appropriating and manipulating some external (not internal) forms or techniques of mysticism. For instance, in his definition of “fascist mysticism,” Matthew Fox writes: “The Nazis succeeded partly by manipulating mystical techniques such as chanting, processing, and lighting candles in the darkness to achieve a sense of ‫׎‬entering the mysteries.‫”׏‬63 Such fascist mysticism aims at realizing totalitarian oneness that denies and destroys the other within and without. Mystics should cultivate their wisdom, because they live in a society where various social groups compete or collaborate with one another. The problem is that the powerful among the groups tend to cause social suffering by harming the other because of their greed, hatred, and ignorance. Thus, mystics need to have a form of social wisdom by which they can discern correctly the fundamental causes of social suffering. To do so, mystics need to utilize “social analysis” in their lives after their mystical experience. If mystics fail to see and understand correctly the structural causes of social suffering, they may misconduct or be manipulated by the powerful. In my view, Martin Luther King‫׏‬s critical awareness of the imperialistic nature of the Vietnam War was a form of social wisdom. And, Thich Nhat Hanh‫׏‬s Engaged Buddhism is also based on the Buddhist social wisdom that enables the Buddhist to see and understand mindfully what is going on in their society.

Matthew Fox, The Coming of the Cosmic Christ: The Healing of Mother Earth and the Birth of a Global Renaissance (San Francisco: Harper & Row, 1988), 45. 63

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To be sure, mystics might have different social wisdoms, which might contradict one another, according to what groups they belong to in society. Mystics might become either patron saints of the oppressors or patron saints of the oppressed because of their social positions. Therefore, all self-reflexive and social wisdom needs to meet a moral standard, which is the principle of compassion and love. Such social wisdom, rooted in compassion, can be nurtured and guided by taking the point of view of suffering people and by living with them. In Christianity, this social wisdom and compassion are embodied in prophetic action, and in Buddhism in compassionate action. Above all, as William Johnston says, the prophets in the Judeo-Christian tradition were “mystics in action.”64 Johnston continues: “[T]heir inner eye was awakened so that they saw not only the glory of God but also the suffering, the injustice, the inequality, the sin of the world. This drove them into action and often led to their death.”65 To prophetic mystics, to be one with God was to know God, and, as Jeremiah said, to know God was to do justice. Consequently, prophets proclaimed the divine message to protect the least. In doing so, many prophets were involved in spiritual and social conflict with the powerful. This prophetic mysticism has continued to inspire Christians to care for the poor and oppressed and to be concerned for justice. Buddhist mystics also cultivate and practice compassion toward all suffering beings based on their experience of the interconnectedness of all sentient beings. Vimalakirti, a lay disciple of the Buddha, said: “I am sick because all sentient beings are sick.” This means that compassion toward suffering beings is the natural outcome of the wisdom of interconnectedness; compassion and wisdom are one. The embodiment of this co-suffering is, above all, the Mahayanan ideal of Avalokiteshvara Bodhisattva, the “hearer of the cries of the world.” She not only hears but also helps. Karuna, the Buddhist term for compassion, has a verb root kr, meaning “to

William Johnston, The Inner Eye of Love: Mysticism and Religion (London: Collins, 1978), 11. 65 Ibid. 64

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act.”66 Thus, compassion is action to end the suffering of the world; the bodhisattva compassion is the bodhisattva action. The Bodhisattva action or compassionate action reminds Christians that the Latin root of the word “compassion” means “to suffer (pati) with (com)” another. It is through such Christian prophetic action and Buddhist compassionate action that mystics can best acquire the social wisdom that will protect them from efforts and influences that seek to manipulate mysticism for the purposes of violence or aggression. It is through active engagement with and for those who are suffering that mystics can best remain faithful to their unitive experience. At this point, the prophetic action of Christianity and the compassionate action of Buddhism show a significant difference. While Christians, especially liberationist Christians, take sides socio-politically with the poor and oppressed, Buddhists do not take sides with anyone because both the oppressors and oppressed are conditioned. Because Buddhists do not take sides with anyone, they do not denounce anyone. If they take sides, they take sides with all, which is very different from the Christian idea of the preferential option for the poor and oppressed against the oppressors. Which view is more necessary and effective is not the central question of this essay. Nevertheless, one thing I want to stress is that this difference will be the very place where Buddhists and Christians can challenge and contribute to each other for mutual transformation.

V. CONCLUSION: RETURNING TO THE WORLD If people in the past saw our “everyday life” today, they would have considered it “mystical.” Through world news reports and through the internet, we can immediately know and feel what is happening in parts of the world we have never visited. Besides, people constantly travel and migrate around the world. Because of Stephen Jenkins, “Do Bodhisattvas Relieve Poverty?” in Action Dharma: New Studies in Engaged Buddhism, Christopher S. Queen, Charles S. Prebish, Damien Keown, eds. (London, UK: RoutledgeCurzon, 2003), 41–42. 66

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such technological possibilities of communication and movement, contemporary people’s lives are more closely interrelated to one another’s than ever before—politically, economically, and culturally. If the essence of mysticism is the experience of the interdependence of all beings, contemporary human beings in a “global-village,” which is interrelated through highly advanced communications network and transportation system, are experiencing at least the external forms of mystical oneness. But this experience can go deeper. Martin Luther King Jr. not only dreamed but already felt and lived this interrelatedness in his time: “[A]ll life is interrelated. We are all caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied into a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly. We are made to live together because of the interrelated structure of reality. … We aren’t going to have peace on Earth until we recognize this basic fact of the interrelated structure of all reality.”67 Indeed, as Thich Nhat Hanh says, we really “inter-are,” visibly and tangibly. Despite their everyday experiences of interdependence, however, it does not seem that people today are coming to the mystical experience of interconnectedness that enables them to feel suffering of others as their own. To be sure, many of them are interested in spirituality. But, their spiritual lives are often disconnected from their social lives. More problematic is that they are so poisoned by the culture of violence and death that they are numb to the suffering of the other within and without. What people, who are potentially everyday mystics, need in order to be aware of the suffering of others is not a more advanced technology, but a deeper wisdom of the interdependence and a broader compassion toward all beings. When people are genuinely wise and compassionate, they cannot ignore the suffering of others. The reality of global interdependence can provide them with the opportunity to feel the suffering of others as their own suffering. In this mystical experience of interdependence, violence has no place, for those who are mystically wise and compassionate know Martin Luther King, Jr., A Testament of Hope: The Essential Writings and Speeches of Martin Luther King, Jr., ed. James M. Washington (New York: HarperCollins, 1986), 254. 67

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and feel that violence against the other is nothing but violence against oneself. Therefore besides their practices that enable them to wake up to their unity with the Sacred and all sentient beings, mystics must also cultivate their responsibility and responsiveness to the suffering of others. In a world where social suffering persists and worsens, Buddhist and Christian mystics must engage in and return to the world in order to embody their experience of Oneness. Such engagement with the world is not an obligatory task that mystics have to carry out; rather, it is a spontaneous act springing from their experience of the mystical unity with all beings. Indeed, throughout the history of religions, we see that mystics return to the world after their mystical experiences. Perhaps, a powerful image of this will be the “Ten Oxherding Pictures” of Zen Buddhist tradition, which depicts one’s spiritual growth to become a bodhisattva. In the Pictures, after a long and hard process of searching the truth, symbolized as a white ox, the oxherder finally awakens to the truth and “returns to the origin.” But this is just the ninth picture; the Ten Oxherding Pictures ends with the tenth, “Entering the Marketplace with Helping Hands.” Indeed, the Bodhisattva path is completed through social praxis in the world. Nhat Hanh’s following words will represent the Buddhist view of social engagement. “If you are awake you cannot do otherwise than act compassionately to help relieve suffering you see around you. So Buddhism must be engaged in the world. If it is not engaged it is not Buddhism.”68 Thus, I might dare to say, if it is not engaged it is not mysticism. Indeed, what I want to call “socially engaged mysticism” was already embodied in the origin: After their Enlightenment, the Buddha went to Sarnath to teach the Dharma, and Jesus went to Galilee to proclaim the Kingdom of God, and so did their disciples: Go monks and travel for the welfare and happiness of the people, out of compassion for the world, for the benefit, Thich Nhat Hanh, in a 1983 Buddhist Peace Fellowship Newsletter, quoted in The New Social Face of Buddhism: A Call to Action, Ken H. Jones (Somerville, MA.: Wisdom Publications, 2003), 179. 68

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welfare and happiness of gods and men. No two of you go the same way. Teach the Dhamma, monks ... and proclaim the pure holy life.69

Then Jesus called the twelve together and gave them power and authority over all demons and to cure diseases, and he sent them out to proclaim the kingdom of God and to heal. (Luke, 9:1–2).

69

Vinaya. I. 21. Quoted in Gombrich, op.cit., 14.

CHAPTER 16 PEACE CONCEPTS IN ICONOGRAPHY. CAN ORTHODOX ICONS TEACH A PEACE-THEOLOGY?— AN ICONOLOGICAL INTERPRETATION PROF. RICHARD SCHNEIDER, ST. VLADIMIR’S SEMINARY INTRODUCTION: ARE ORTHODOX ICONS TEACHING PEACE? In a volume of essays devoted to the modern search for peace between people, and peace in the public square—and for that ultimate Peace which is the theme of Christ’s final words of teaching (John 14:27)—what should be the function of an essay on Orthodox iconography? What can icons add to the discussion, what teaching can they contribute to the search for a solution that speaks of peace, not conflict, as Christ’s way? At first glance, the answer to this question is not simple or apparent. If we consider popular subject matters for icons, victory in battle seems to be a very common theme, either depicting a real military battle1 or as a metaphor for the Spiritual Warfare—which For example, the well-known 15th century icon from the Novgorod Integrated Museum showing the 12th century battle between Novgorod and Suzdal; Helen C. Evans, ed., Byzantium: Faith and Power (1261–1557), New Haven: Yale University Press/New York: Metropolitan Museum, 2004, cat. No. 79, pp. 155–7. 1

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is in fact the title of a very popular monastic book.2 We easily discover that there are numerous icons of warrior saints, dressed in their battle uniforms (Fig. 1)3 and sometimes portrayed engaged in heroic acts of fighting (Fig. 2). Not only are the soldier-subjects of the icons seen as belligerent, but even the icons themselves have miraculous power which includes exacting revenge on opponents.4 In Late Antiquity, even Christ himself sometimes appears dressed

Unseen Warfare: the Spiritual Combat and Path to Paradise of Lorenzo Scupoli, edited by Nicodemus of the Holy Mountain and revised by Theophan the Recluse, London: Faber and Faber, 1952, repr. Crestwood: St. Vladimir’s Seminary Press, 1987 and 1995. Further see David Brakke, Demons and the Making of the Monk: Spiritual Combat in Early Christianity, Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2005. 3 For a monographic treatment of the warrior saints and their iconography, see Christopher Walter, The Warrior Saints in Byzantine Art and Tradition, Aldershot: Ashgate Publishing Co., 2003. Any collection of icons will illustrate numerous examples of this type; see Helen C. Evans, ed., Byzantium: Faith and Power (1261–1557), New Haven: Yale University Press/New York: Metropolitan Museum, 2004, cat. No.121, pp. 202–3 for a 15th century Cretan icon of St. Demetrios which is practically identical to our figure 1, which reveals how traditional the iconography of the warrior-saint is. 4 The Letter of the Three Patriarchs, a 9th-century treatise defending icons written during or just after the “Second Iconoclasm,” emphasizes the miraculous powers of icons, which include not just miracles of healing but also retribution on assailants; this becomes a common topos in hagiography. See Alexander Kazhdan, “Letter of the Three Patriarchs,” Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium 2:1219–20 and references there. See further the stories told by Theophanes in his Chronicle of the revenge of the Mother of God against a soldier Constantine who desecrated her image during iconoclasm, and in the same story, the protection of Nicea from siege through the power of the portraits of the Fathers: Theophanes, Chronographia tr. in Cyril Mango, The Art of the Byzantine Empire 312–1453, Toronto: University of Toronto Press/ Mediaeval Academy, 1966, p. 152. Examples of this sort can be multiplied almost infinitely in hagiographical writing. 2

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in full Roman uniform-armour, as a military protector.5 And then many icons show those scores of other “heroic warriors” for Christ, the martyrs, whose very sainthood is a consequence of the seeming inevitability of violence in the world from which they suffered. Icons have been painted commemorating famous battles which ended in Orthodox victories, and icons themselves have been carried into battle, almost as if in their very existence as objects they were part of the protective armour.6 Clearly, as we will demonstrate in detail, “victory in battle” is a favoured theme and subject in Orthodox iconography. This hardly makes it seem as though iconography is promoting peace. But this reading of icons as talismans or pallia in war and promoters of a military cult is only a first impression, and it stems from too much concentration on the subject matter, rather than from a theology of the icons themselves. If we learn to encounter icons correctly, to find the message of the icon by understanding the interpretative language with which icons are read rather than merely identifying the surface subject matter, we can discover that even the icons of the warrior saints can have a voice which promotes peace. There are, in fact, many icons which directly As in the full-length mosaic in the Archbishop’s Palace of Ravenna. See Ernst Kantorowicz, “Gods in Uniform,” Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society 105 (1961): 368–93, repr. in his Selected Studies. Locust Valley: J.J.Augustin, 1965, pp. 7–24; see fig. 40 and pp. 19–20; the image represents the victory or triumph of Psalm 90 (91): 13. A parallel treatment of the Mother of God is found in hymnography, for example “O Champion Leader,” the later added prooimion of the Akathistos kontakion, in which she has “irresistible might” and is thanked for the victory of the city “freed from terror” (Constantinople?). See Kontakia of Romanos, Byzantine Melodist, tr. Marjorie Carpenter, Columbia: University of Missouri Press, 1973, vol II, p. 300; cf. Saturday of the Akathistos in The Lenten Triodion, tr. Mother Mary and Archimandrite Kallistos Ware. London: Faber and Faber, 1978, repr. 2002, p. 422. 6 In the Novgorod-Suzdal icon (note 1) a painted icon of the Mother of God is depicted carried—as was historically actually the fact—to the ramparts, and protecting the Novgorodians form the arrows of the Suzdalians. 5

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reveal the values and attitudes that lead us to peaceful vision rather than to conflict and power as the approach to establishing the kingdom of God. But such reading requires that we first understand just how icons communicate, what they are as functional objects, and how they contribute to the Orthodox liturgical vision. Only by a proper approach to what icons are will we be able to use them as a support in a search for a peace-theology, rather than as signifiers of power and triumph.

HOW ICONS FUNCTION, AND HOW THEY ARE READ In order to recognize that it is possible for a contemporary theological iconology to utilize icons as teachers and promoters of a “peace theology,” we must first begin with some basics, some fundamentals about how all icons are perceived and interpreted, and how they function in a liturgical and homiletic context. Identifying this “basic grammar” of reading icons and iconography is all the more essential because there are a lot of clichéd misconceptions about icons current in Orthodox practice and culture. Icons are very commonly treated, and spoken of, as if they were “spiritualizations” of their subjects, representing not an experiential subject matter but rather a transcendentalized interpretation.7 In this common view, icon-images represent not human behaviour, but rather the transfigured role-modelling of life in the heavenly kingdom.8 Since this “otherworldly” nature is the Egon Sendler attributes this to a Byzantine world-view grounded in Neo-Platonism; Egon Sendler, The Icon: Image of the Invisible, Redondo Beach: Oakwoood Publ., 1988 [Fr. original L’Icone 1981], pp. 57–8. But a far more common Orthodox explanation derives from the language and theology of hesychasm, see following note. 8 Leonid Ouspensky, “The Meaning and Language of Icons,” in Leonid Ouspensky and Vladimir Lossky, The Meaning of Icons, rev. ed. tr. G.E.H. Palmer and E. Kadloubovsky, Crestwood: St. Vladimir’s Seminary Press, 1982, pp. 25–49; see esp. pp. 34–9. It should be noted that on p. 41 Ouspensky stands his language on its head by saying that this transfiguration of mankind in icon-imagery is not an idealization but is “realism,” but he is actually claiming that the ideal is the reality, and the 7

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common understanding of the objective status of icons, then, again in this common view, the proper response to them is a psychological posture and attitude of “contemplation;” the true icon should elicit in the faithful beholder a state of ascetical prayer,9 and any intervention of human thought or interpretation is an intrusion, preventing the viewer from grasping the way to his own transfiguration.10 Such a “hesychastic” theology of icons has several very significant consequences for the topic of icons as teaching peacetheology, the subject of the present essay. The first is that, seen from this “absolute” point of view, the meaning conveyed by an icon is understood to be inherent in the icon itself, a consequence of its faithfulness to tradition and especially of its adequacy as a spiritual creation;11 but if this is so, it would prevent any human search for new understanding or new interpretation of meaning in traditional icons. But more directly pertinent is the fact that the “spiritualization” and “transfiguration,” which are supposedly the essential properties of a “real icon,” are exactly what encourage a Byzantine-style reading of military icons as justifying warfare and violence; the wars and combats which would be commemorated in icons would have been fought for the safety and protection of the “God-protected Empire”12 and thus would be a representation of experienced world transitory. It is not necessary for purposes of this essay to list here the dozens, almost scores of books on the theology or “spirituality” of icons; they almost all repeat, in much the same language, more or less romanticized, the interpretative model summarized so succinctly by Ouspensky; as a typical example, see Sendler, p. 62. 9 Sendler p. 58; Ouspensky, pp. 41–2. 10 Ouspensky, pp. 39ff. 11 Ouspensky, pp. 35–37. This is why Ouspensky can say that even “defective” poorly-understood icons can still be representations of the Prototype, p. 37. 12 The phrase is still in use liturgically today in litanies and other prayers of petition, although the name of the state has of course changed. Even in completely practical Byzantine manuals about military tactics such justification by theological moralizing can be found: “I know well that war is a great evil and the worst of all evils. But since our enemies clearly look

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God’s Will, i.e., of that self-justifying “moral theology” which was known as Just War: Surrounded as the Byzantine Empire was by enemies, its rulers were obliged to defend their people, destroying their enemies, as the Israelites had the Philistines. Since the Byzantines were frequently at war, soldiers and military service were highly esteemed. A victory gained by decimating the enemy was not shameful but an occasion for glorification .... What [the Byzantines] acquired from the Early Christians was a symbolical discourse, in which the language used for war against human enemies was elevated to a moral or spiritual level. Christ revealed that the world was submitted to Satan, against whom all Christians were at war.13 It was not difficult to identify the terrestrial minions of Satan with the enemies of Christianity.14

So if we operate with this customary—and, I repeat, absolutely clichéd—conception of how icons communicate, then the problematic with which this essay began still holds: how can one read “peace” from icons which celebrate the holiness of military saints and Orthodox battles? Moreover, there would be no possibility of reading traditional Orthodox iconography in reference to a peace theology; the traditional Byzantine reading that there are righteous and godly wars would be justified and would reinforce an apologetic for militaristic understandings of such prayers as the Troparion of the Cross:

upon the shedding of our blood as one of their basic duties and the height of virtue .... we have decided to write about strategy,” The Anonymous Byzantine Treatise on Strategy (mid 6th c.), in George T. Dennis, Three Byzantine Military Treatises, Washington, DC: Dumbarton Oaks, 1985, p. 21. 13 See footnote 2 above. 14 Walter, p. 41.

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O God, save Thy people, and bless Thine inheritance; Grant Victory to the Orthodox Christians over their adversaries, and guard Thy commonwealth with Thy Cross.15

Even more, soldiering in a “just war” would be eschatologically sanctified by the icons, i.e., we would apply to ourselves the rolemodeling images of the soldier-saints as military defenders of the Christian oikumene.16 In our post-Gulf-Wars era, we have all seen first-hand the sanctimoniously disguised modern “imperialism” that results from such direct adoption of the”Christian” imperial world-view that it is appropriate to use military might to impose our values. However, under the influence of modern conceptions of hermeneutics and reader-reception, this commonplace idea that icons represent a fixed and unchangeable tradition is being replaced by another view, an approach to icons dependent on a sense of dialogue and response between viewer and image,17 which is much closer to the exegetical and homiletic conception of eikon—i.e. “image,” whether visual or verbal—which prevailed in the era of the Fathers of the Church. In this newer view icons are recognized to be texts, much like the text of a sermon, whose function is didactic and instructive. And like the sermon, the icons are to be venerably heeded with attention, understood hermeneutically, and usefully applied by our interpretation to our own lives. With this awareness of the function of the icon as an aspect of worship, it is absolutely legitimate to ask the core question: can traditional icons communicate the absolute value of a theology of peace? After all, Troparion of the Cross for the Third Sunday of Great Lent; The Lenten Triodion, p. 336. 16 Walter, p. 277–84; for the application of such apotropaic thinking to actual soldiers, see esp. p. 280: “The public image of Byzantine soldiers was highly favourable. In his Tactica, Leo VI (886–912) wrote of them as soldiers of God and champions of the Church.” 17 Anna Kartsonis, “The Responding Icon” in Lina Safran, ed., Heaven on Earth: Art and the Church in Byzantium, University Park PA: Pennsylvania State University Press, 1998, pp. 58–80. 15

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the truth which they teach us is the truth which Christ taught us, and His message was of an eschatological legacy of Peace, His Peace.18

READING ICONS: THE BASIC LANGUAGE But in order to establish a “peace-theology” reading of the icons which are the illustrations of this essay, it is first necessary to understand in general how any icon is to be read. Icons may not have fixed traditional meanings, but they do have a “standard language” which makes it possible to grasp their message even if the question, the issue which one seeks to answer using them is a quite new one. While we cannot explore here every aspect and nuance of that iconographic language, there are a few very basic principles which will be constantly called on in the following “peace-reading” of our nine examples. Underlying structure, order, and zones of significance: Foremost among these formal principles of iconography is the reliance on a foundational underlying structure which is found in every liturgical icon. Every icon is composed with an organization which depends on an implied vertical central axis; in our examples, the body of St. Demetrius in Fig. 1 is placed directly on that axis, while in Fig. 6 the axis runs up the middle between Sts. Cyril and Methodius, emphasizing their balance as figures and making them a pair. The same axis of central organization can be seen in every other icon as well (especially Figs. 5, 7 and 4, but all the others, too); it is a vital component of composition because it establishes an order, an implication of harmonious symmetry, between the left and right halves of the icon. This design principle is not accidental; it stems from a fundamental theological principle, that creation is orderly, a reflection of that absolute order (ƴƜƮƩƲ) which is a sign of the world’s orderly measure.19 Whether explicitly or implicitly, the sense of order or balanced symmetry around this vertical center

John 17:27, 16:33, and passim in the Psalms and the prophets [Ps 84(85):8, Isa 60:17–18 etc.]. 19 Wisdom 11:20 (LXX). 18

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plays an important role in the design of icons, and in the discussion of peace as a theme we shall need to refer to it frequently. In a similar way, meaning or significance of images is established by their positioning in distinctive zones of the composition. Chief among these is the distinction between a high or upper position, as against a position in the lower portion or near the bottom; the former carries the implication of that which is holy or heavenly, the latter that which is earthly or mundane. This is especially clear in an icon such as Fig. 2, in which the torso of St. George—appropriately occupying the central vertical axis—is placed in the upper zone, while the body of the evil dragon is placed horizontally at the bottom of the lower zone. This, too, is a design principle to which we will advert often. Iconographers are constantly using this “play of position” to establish theological meaning in the image. Figural types and poses: A third universal design principle of iconographic representation, which will figure largely in our peace-reading of the nine examples of this essay, is the distinction between hieratic and narrative posing of figures. The distinction is quite clear in a comparison of Figs. 1 and 2. St. Demetrios (Fig. 1) is hieratic; he is posed fully frontal, with strong symmetry, immobile and immovable, implying an eternal timeless present rather than an arc of story which accompanies a narrative. In contrast, St. George (Fig. 2) is purely narrative; everything in his scene—George himself, the horse, the dragon—are all in motion and action. The scene reflects a developing story and one historical moment, the power of holiness acting out deeds in time and in the world of concrete experience. Both types of figures represent holiness, but a hieratic figure shows the eternal, timeless verity of sanctity, while a narrative scene reflects holiness in action, in the same world of historical time in which we ourselves live. The interplay of these two approaches to presenting figures is a major compositional and thematic element in icons—see Fig. 4 for an excellent example—and will be called on frequently in our thematic analysis of the peace-question in these icons. Attributes: Besides the design and compositional elements of the iconographic language just outlined, there are also aspects of figure-depiction that help to communicate intended meanings. Chief among these is the concept of attributes, which are characteristic details that help to specify the qualities or nature of a

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figure, or are sometimes so specific that they identify which individual personage the figure represents. In Fig. 1 and 2, both Demetrios and George show characteristic attributes of any warrior-saint: stylized Roman body-armour, a spear as weapon, sword, buckler-shield, booted feet, riding a spirited horse.Similarly, their “personal type” is appropriate for a warrior-saint: young, handsome, robust, quite capable of engaging in battles.20 In the analysis which follows I will show that these standard attributes of a warrior-saint can be interpreted as bearers of significant meaning, but for the moment the point to make is that military details are part of the identification of a warrior saint.21 The concept of attributes will also be a major component of the analysis of the peace-issue in our nine examples; many more attributes can be seen in our figures. Haloes are an attribute of sanctity; Christ uniquely has a halo with an inscribed cross (Figs. 8 and 9), kings have crowns (Fig. 9), angels have wings (Fig. 4), St. Methodius wears an omophorion-stole because he was a bishop (Fig. 6), and so on. Recension; text-and-gloss reading: the principles of recension, and of reading “text-and gloss” are two final concepts, which, while they do impact on the appearance of the figures and images in icons, say more about reception, about ourselves as readers of icons who seek to convert our own grasp of God’s message Henry Maguire, The Icons of Their Bodies: Saints and their Images in Byzantium, Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1996, pp. 48–99, 140– 194; Alexander Kazhdan and Henry Maguire, “Byzantine Hagiographical Texts as Sources on Art,” Dumbarton Oaks Papers 45 (1991):1–22, esp. p. 3: “By contrast with the ascetics, saints who assumed a military role were portrayed, both in literature and in art, as vigorous and well-dressed and equipped.” Compare Kazhdan-Maguire’s Fig. 3, St. Demetrios from Hosios Loukas, to our Fig. 1 to see how very consistent the use of attributes is (and cf. n. 16 on p. 4 above for the literary sources). 21 It is noteworthy than in the rare very early representations of the military saints they are not necessarily portrayed wearing military garb or attributes, Walter, p. 270. This suggests that devotion to them may have stemmed as much from their status as martyrs as from their roles as warrior-protectors, a point I discuss below. 20

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through our own interpretation and understanding (see note 17 above). Recension is a term which speaks of many sorts of dependence- relationships between one icon and another: a later icon might, for example, be a copy of an earlier one, and so would be spoken of as a “recension” of the original. But the relationship need not be so strict as in a copy—there are recensions of influence, or general ideas. In particular, attributes transfer from one subject to another (the latter an especially important feature in the discussion of St. Demetrios below). While recension is a visual aspect directly discernible by simultaneous looking at several icons which form a recensional group, “text-and-gloss” is a purely interpretative or exegetical concept. It refers to the notion—familiar even from the New Testament itself22 and all-pervasive in the church fathers—that, when we read a text (and icons, in this sense, are understood as “texts”), the meaning is not just what the words literally say, but also includes a deeper, beneath-the-surface significance which is the true message, the saving theology which the surface text communicates indirectly and rhetorically. It is this “text-and-gloss” reading, so familiar to the church fathers, which is at the heart of our possibility of seeing a peace-theology in seemingly military icons; in contrast to the common clichéd view that icons are bearers of an intrinsic and unchanging meaning, the message and function of icons is dependent on our understanding, on our reading which takes account of tradition but re-reads that tradition from within the context of our own theological culture. Discovering the possibilities for peace is our theological concern; and tradition itself—the tradition of the icon as communicating meaning to a receptive reader by using its own language—tells us that it is today appropriate to seek a “peace-theme” reading when we use Orthodox icons to guide our prayer. Galatians 4:22–24, where this way of reading is identified as “allegory.” The chief patristic introduction to this all-pervasive idea of “text-and-gloss” reading is St. Augustine’s De doctrina christiana (which can be read in several excellent English translations); in general, see Henri de Lubac, Medieval Exegesis, 2 vols., tr. Marc Sebanc, Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans, 1998. 22

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While the visual design of icons is far more complex than the few elements discussed here, the basic tools of “iconographical seeing” needed toproduce the analysis of peace in the final section of this essay have now been established. On this basis, I can proceed to analysis of the question of whether a “peaceinterpretation” of our nine icons—especially of those with “military” subject-matter—can be maintained.

PEACE AS A THEME IN NINE REPRESENTATIVE ICONS The warrior-saint as figure for devotion: St. Demetrios (Fig. 1) and St. George (Fig. 2). The icon of St. Demetrios with which this analysis begins suggests on a first, literal observation that Orthodox iconography does indeed have a tradition of sanctifying warriors. The saint himself occupies the entire picture field—no distinction of meaning is made in this icon between the upper and lower zones—and the icon offers for our contemplation and devotion a hieratic—a timeless and absolute—image of a haloed saint all of whose attributes, those details which constitute his meaning and significance, are military: Roman body-armour over a short tunic (i.e., the standard dress of a Roman soldier), a spear in his right hand and a medieval-shaped gladius (longsword) in his left, with military boots and a round shield hanging behind him—the archetypal picture of a soldier. Is there any possibility of saying that this image communicates any meaning beyond the glorification of a military hero? However, a reading of this image couched in both historical and iconological contexts reveals that the answer to this question is not so straightforward, and that the image of St. Demetrios, in all his youthful power as a fully-armed soldier, still has distinct contributions to make in the search for an iconology of peace. The historical evidence is particularly striking. It seems that, while Demetrius is acknowledged as a protective saint from very early times in Thessaloniki, he is not thought to be a warrior at all, neither in hagiography nor in iconography before Iconoclasm.23 In his own votive church in Thessaloniki, in the early mosaic panels, 23

Walter, pp. 68, 72, 77, 90–91.

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he is seen wearing a chlamys, a simple tunic but with attached tablia that show courtly rank, offering personal protection with his arms around his devotees, rather than military guardianship.24 Even as late as the 11th century, the famous Harbaville Triptych,25 which includes four military saints in full soldier-outfit in the upper zone of the open wings, presents Demetrios in those same wings in the lower zone, among the martyrs not the soldiers, and dressed as a courtier in a chlamys with an attached tablion; the group of four saints in his zone are not apotropaic and protective fighters, but martyrs who die as witnesses. And indeed, until the end of the 9th century it is exclusively as a martyr that Demetrios is liturgically celebrated,26 a traditional emphasis which continues right into our own day; on the Feast day, Oct. 26, Demetrios is commemorated as “Great Martyr Demetrios” and the liturgical texts pick up this theme over and over. In the Vespers verses for “Lord I call upon Thee” we hear: Imitating by suffering the suffering of Christ, You have received from Him, O glorious champion Dimitrios The power to work wonders;27 Wolfgang Fritz Volbach, Early Christian Art, tr. Christopher Ligota, New York: Harry Abrams, n.d., plates 216–217 and pp. 353–4. In significant comparison to our “military” St. Demetrios of Fig. 1, the saint in Volbach’s pl. 217 is also completely hieratic, i.e. timeless and eternal, even though he wears civilian dress and even though the two donors he is protecting represent key historical moments, viz. the founding of the original church c. 412 and its rebuilding after the fire of 629/34. 25 Helen C. Evans and William D. Wixom, eds., The Glory of Byzantium: Art and Culture of the Middle Byzantine Era A.D. 843–1261, New York: Metropolitan Museum/Harry Abrams, 1997, cat. No. 80, pp. 133–4; also Carolyn L. Connor, The Color of Ivory, Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1998, figs. 7–8. 26 Walter, p. 79. 27 Among other wonders, this is certainly a reference to the Holy Oil or Myron which in Byzantine times regularly seeped from the shrine of St. Demetrios in his commemorative church in Thessaloniki; the Apostikha verses of Vespers explicitly refer to the healing powers of this myrrh. See Walter, pp. 80–81. The “recourse” in the quoted verse would include, 24

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By recognizing this emphasis on Demetrios as a “suffering” martyr, one who sheds his own blood for Christ’s sake,28 we can recognize that in liturgical verses, when the “military references” occur, they are present as metaphors: when Demetrios is “dripping with blood,” he has “won the victory against the boaster,” when he is “transfixed by a lance for the sake of Christ,” then he himself becomes “a two-edged sword against the foes,” and so on. The protection, the defense, the battle in which Demetrios grants protection from “dangers” and defeats “the enemies” are, in the verses, eschatological and spiritual struggles, won against demons, the impious, his own persecutors, and so on. When we do finally start to see St. Demetrios as one of the fully-armed warrior-saints with all the standard military attributes, no earlier than the later 10th century,29 we have to realize that, then, more than prayer; the shrine was a favoured locus of pilgrimage in search of concrete healing. 28 Later in the same verses, we hear “Dripping with your own blood, O Dimitrios, you were offered to Christ, the Giver of Life, Who emptied out His precious blood for your sake.....” 29 See the ivory panel from the Cloisters Collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Glory, cat. No. 81, p. 135. Walter, p. 91, suggests that Demetrios is not a fully recognized military saint until the 13th century, but this is probably too late in the light of evidence, e.g. the Cloisters ivory and the 11th c. Byzantine panel on the West facade of St. Mark’s in Venice (below, note 34). Ioli Kalavrezou suggests that even the more recognized military saints of the upper register of the Harbaville triptych are just beginning to carry weaponry instead of the cross, the latter being an attribute of a martyr-saint; see note 25. But on the 10thcentury ivory triptych of the Forty Martyrs of Sebaste in the Hermitage (St. Petersburg), the warrior saints who dominate the wings—including St. Demetrios—are well-armed, carrying weapons and wearing classical armour; see Connor, The Color of Ivory, colour plates XII-XIV, and Walter, plate 46. Henry Maguire, Art and Eloquence in Byzantium, Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1981, pl. 19 does not show the wings of this triptych, but see below, note 38.

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through recensional transfer of attributes, the original image of the courtly martyr has been re-interpreted by assimilation to the military figure of long-established warrior-saints and of Christ himself (see note 5 above); St. Demetrios has been transformed by a militaristic culture—the expansive militarism of the Macedonian dynasty or the defensive stance of the Comnenians—into the kind of protective soldier-saint who was a social role-model. But even in those battle-dominated circumstances faithful Byzantine Christians would not have stopped at the simplistic literal-minded reading which can see nothing but a saint who is an armed soldier in an iconic image like our Fig. 1; in their exegesis, Byzantines would habitually refer even the armour and weapons, and the entire figure of a noble soldier, back to an eschatological and spiritual meaning derived from exegesis of scripture (see note 22 above), reading the military appearance as a spiritual metaphor: Grow strong in the Lord, in the strength of His power. Put on the full armour of God so as to be able to resist the devil’s tactics. For it is not against human enemies that we have to struggle, but against the principalities and the ruling forces who are masters of the darkness in this world, the spirits of evil in the heavens. That is why you must take up all God’s armour .... with truth a belt around your waist, and uprightness a breastplate, wearing for shoes on your feet the eagerness to spread the gospel of peace, and always carrying the shield of faith so that you can use it to quench the burning arrows of the Evil One. And then you must take salvation as your helmet and the sword of the Spirit, that is, the word of God.30

Ephesians 6:10–17 [NJB, emphasis added]. The Fathers are uniform in their metaphorical application of this passage to the eschatological spiritual warfare against the devil; see Mark J. Edwards, Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture, New Testament VIII: Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians. Downers Grove IL: InterVarsity Press, 1999, pp. 206–12 [ACCS]. It is iconographically interesting that, despite the emphasis on the helmet in the Epistle, in icons the warrior saints are most frequently shown bareheaded, to emphasize their youthfulness, even at the cost of omitting one of the key attributes from the Ephesians passage. 30

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Thus the hieratic ex voto icon of St. Demetrios (Fig. 1), with its straightforward image presenting a fully armed soldier-saint, cannot be read only in a purely militaristic light. The prevailing themes we can gather from ancient tradition are that Demetrios is victorious through his martyrdom, through his self-sacrifice and not his slaughter of others—on the contrary, his primary saintly reputation is as protector and guardian, and miraculous healer; the warfare in which he leads to victory is the eternal struggle of the Spirit. If a military, war-based middle Byzantine culture could appropriate the martyr and re-present him as a soldier, then in our own quest for a peace iconography we can re-appropriate the image yet again, and see in it the true victory of bravely surrendering our aggressive selfpreservation for the sake of not losing our legacy in Christ. Most of the observations we have made in such detail about the image of St. Demetrios apply equally well to the icon of St. George slaying the Dragon (Fig. 2). But in this case, the temptation to see in the icon a glorification of violence is even stronger. The icon is fully narrative, with St. George riding a spirited horse in the moment of winning the battle, spearing the head of the fearsome dragon. Although St. George, like Demetrios, is known liturgically as a “Great Martyr,” the inscription of the icon in our plate instead emphasizes that he is “Victorious” (ƴƱƯươƩƯƶƼƱƯƲ).31 Surely this iconography is a recipe for trust in the strength of warrior power and might? But once again—as always with the exegetical nature of iconography (note 22 above) and our purposeful response to it (above, p. 5 and note 17)—we need to look deeper than the surface appearance or “story” and ask how the icon might be applied to the modern quest for a peace-theology with which this book is engaged. In the first place, we must keep in mind and apply to the icon of St. George the insights gained in our analysis of the St. Demetrios icon; St. George is wearing the same allegorical armour of a Christian warrior (note 30 above). Even his attribute of horseriding, holding the reins in one hand, is a well-known iconographic symbol, indicative of his ability to control passion and energy For studies of these various epithets and their history, see Walter, p. 109 note 1. 31

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through virtue.32 And as was the case with Demetrios, St. George’s passion-history as a martyr becomes a major aspect of his hagiography, which is incorporated into many of his iconic representations, and early on was the dominant theme of his imagery, only being replaced by the rescue from the dragon somewhat later on.33 As was true of Demetrios, martyrdom is exactly the point of the liturgical hymnography for St. George; the verses for “Lord I call...” for Vespers on the Feast of St. George (April 23) emphasize this: You suffered with the Saviour, O glorious George, united with his death by death. You reign with Him in splendour, Arrayed in a robe dyed in the bright purple of your blood, Adorned with the sceptre of your sufferings, magnificent for eternity in the crown of victory, O holy Greatmartyr George!34

The equestrian figure derives from a recension going back to civil iconography of the emperor’s authority and ability to rule; the equestrian of Marcus Aurelius in the Campidoglio in Rome is well-known. For a famous Byzantine example see the Barberini Rider ivory; Volbach, p. 219 and pp. 354–5 (Emperor Anastasius?). See also the icons of Sts. Sergios and Bacchus, Byzantium, Faith and Power, cat. nos. 229, 230, pp. 374–5. 33 Walter, pp. 111ff., 135–40. See the early 13th-century vita-icon of St. George from Mt. Sinai, Byzantium, Faith and Power, cat. no. 228, pp. 372–3. Vita-icons, in which a hieratic image of the saint was surrounded on all four borders by a cycle of narrative scenes from the hagiographic lives, were a new development—this is one of the very earliest—and of the 20 scenes of the life-cycle in this icon, only four are miracles or deeds, while 15 are scenes of the martyrdom, and a mere one shows the maiden and the dragon story! 34 The metaphorics of this verse, in which through his martyrdom St. George takes on the attributes of an emperor—arrayed in purple, holding a sceptre, reigning, and so on—are translated into striking visual iconography in an embroidery of St. George on a throne, with the dragon defeated under his feet [Psalm 109 (110):1] from Moldavia, c. 1500, given to the Mt. Athos monastery of Zographou which was dedicated to St. 32

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And the very next verse relates this martyrdom directly to the armour-allegory of Ephesians: You were armed with the shield of faith, The helmet of grace and the spear of the Cross!

This line of metaphoric relation between the martyrdom and the “soldier” is found passim in the Office; see especially the Aposticha for Vespers. This martyr/soldier link is discussed on the following page. With this liturgical evidence in mind, a further look at our icon, using the iconological language which was outlined above, helps us to understand that, for all the dramatic combat of the narrative and all the violence of the impaling, the image in Fig. 2 is a representation of spiritual victory rather than a glorification of militarism. The compositional order is the clue here. St. George’s body is vertical, upright, placed squarely on the central vertical axis which is the organizing principle of good order; his torso occupies the upper zone. In contrast, the dark dragon is not only horizontal, but is placed in the lowest possible zone, along the bottom margin; there can be no doubt that we are seeing here an imagistic representation, not of a mundane battle but rather of that very George. Byzantium, Faith and Power, cat. no. 194, pp. 321–22. To be sure, the contextual situation of this donation was thoroughly military; the donor Stephan the Great, the Prince of Moldavia, was the last independent Orthodox ruler still fighting the Ottoman Turks. However, the iconography of the soldier-saint as seated (enthroned) ruler, wearing his armour and holding his sword as a scepter, long predates the embroidery; see, for example, the 11th century Byzantine sculptured plaque of St. Demetrios, found today flanking the main entrance of the central portal of San Marco in Venice (possibly as spolia from the 1204 sack of Constantinople); see Kantorowicz, fig. 43b and p. 20. Kantorowicz mistakenly thinks the parallel St. George plaque (fig. 43a) is one of a pair, but it is 13th c. Venetian work modeled on the Demetrios sculpture; see Ettore Vio, ed., St. Mark`s: the Art and Architecture of Church and State in Venice, tr. Huw Evans. New York: Riverside Book Co., 2003, p. 168, 172. The frontispiece of this book contains a panoramic view of the West façade which shows the two plaques in situ.

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warfare with the Devil which the Fathers understood as the root meaning of Ephesians 6:10–17. Paradoxically, to win that battle is a victory of peace with God, exactly as stated in Ephesians 6:15. St. John Chrysostom identifies the point succinctly: This war against the demonic puts an end to the previous war against God. As we are making war with the devil, we are making peace with God. Have no fear, beloved; the victory is already won. This is the good news.35

Thus, while it may be that in militaristic eras St. George did become a fellow-warrior even to the point of intervening in battle,36 yet even in the Byzantine world this greatest of the military saints became more of a protector than a companion in arms.37 And even under the most militaristic of all possible situations, viz., defending the final frontier against an all-conquering Ottoman invader, the hope for victory requires us to identify not with the war potential of St. George’s feats of arms, but rather with the “power” represented by his own loss of life, his martyrdom; the Moldavian embroidery (see note 34 above) which shows St. George enthroned as the most imperial possible figure is surrounded by an inscription which reads “O great martyr and bearer of victory, George, in case of need of misfortune a prompt supporter, ardent helper, and inexpressible joy for the afflicted, receive our prayer......” In the embroidery, St. George is receiving a crown from two angels—placed, significantly, in the uppermost zone at the top margin—but this is not the crown of earthly rulership earned by military triumph; it is the “crown of victory” brought on by his martyr’s death, as the Vespers verse quoted above makes clear. Thus, in our quest to discover whether Orthodox iconography can be used to enunciate a peace-theology, the first two icons we have examined “set the scene” and suggest the direction for future St. John Chrysostom, Homily on Ephesians 24:6:14–17, quoted in ACCS, p. 211. 36 Walter, pp. 133–4. 37 Walter, p. 134: “In the Byzantine Empire [St. George] came to be needed as a protector against conquerors more than as an ally in a battle which might culminate in victory.” 35

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enquiry. Figs. 1 and 2, as images commemorating two of the great “warrior-saints,” ought to be above all the iconographic treatments which would glorify military achievement as God’s work. But, as our analysis revealed, reading with an Orthodox Christian “exegetical eye,” the prevailing theme in these icons emerges not as soldierly prowess, but as the courageous humility which allows perseverance as a martyr. Hence, the victory for which these saints stand is a triumph in the Spiritual Warfare, not in a worldly “Just War.”38 This opens the door to exegesis of a number of other iconographic subjects as having relevance to the question of whether Orthodox iconography can be seen to advocate peace. Violence and chaos in this world, vs. harmony and order—assemblies in heaven, in the church, and on earth in historical time: the Nativity of Christ (Fig. 3); the Synaxis of the Angelic Powers (Fig. 4) and Pentecost (Fig. 5); the Entry into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday (Fig. 8). The theme of paradoxical opposites—the fully-armed warrior saint is an image of martyrdom, so that humble submission is victory—outlined in the discussion of the two icons of warrior saints with which we began is made explicit in the composition of the highly complex icon for the Nativity of Christ seen in Fig. 3, but now as a contrast of opposition between peaceful order and military mayhem, which The same point could be made in regard to all of the other warriorsaints, but it is perhaps nowhere more explicit than in the numerous icons of the Forty Martyrs of Sebaste (f.d. March 9); the forty saints were all soldiers, but in the representation they lack any semblance of military gear or armour, and in contrast are shown almost completely naked and in a variety of poses of suffering from being frozen to death. Their victory, then, is their martyrdom, and as figures, they reflect extreme humility to the point of humiliation rather than soldierly prowess. A characteristic example of this iconography can be seen in Byzantium, Faith and Power, cat. no. 225, p. 369; note that this icon also includes the forty crowns (of martyrdom) which await them as a reward, cf. the crown offered to enthroned St. George, as discussed on p. 11 above. For a lengthy discussion of the use of visual rhetoric in this iconography see Henry Maguire, Art and Eloquence in Byzantium, pp. 36–42 and pl. 19–25; and cf. note 29 above. 38

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becomes the leading theological theme. This icon actually offers a very fine example of the text-and-gloss principle, because it is a greatly expanded version of a typical Nativity icon.39 But the crucial point here is that, in our example, the expansion is created not just to add more scenes and more narrative interest to the explicit story, but for iconological composition to make a concrete and explicit text-and-gloss statement about the contrast between a world ordered by peace versus a world dominated by the chaos of military violence. As with any icon, the vertical central axis becomes the organizing principle of the whole composition; the further meaning is made clear by the placement of scenes in significant zones, and by the contrast of hieratic and extremely narrative figures. Thus, reading the central axis from top to bottom, the pinnacle or highest point is the most hieratically ordered, a half-circle which represents the Star of Bethlehem (whose ray splits into three as a suggestion of the Trinity). Directly below are the Mother of God and the swaddled child;40 with the slight exception of the tilt of her head, her body is strongly hieratic, emphasized by the perfect symmetry of her two hands. Thus this upper zone of the central axis reflects order, stability, calm—in sum, peace—brought into the world through the Incarnation and Nativity. But if we look at the central axis in the bottom zone, we see with horror a scene of military men engaged in violence, mayhem, and murder of innocence, under the direction of the wicked King Herod (Matt 2:16–18). Nothing is hieratic; all is moving narrative with no semblance of order as the swords flash this way and that, Compare our Fig. 3 to the much simpler and more basic Nativity icon in Ouspensky and Lossky, p. 158; our Fig. 3 icon is aesthetically much closer to the crowded 17th century example, Ibid. p. 161. 40 A major iconographic point of departure in the modern icon that is our Fig. 3 is that the child is lying in a box-like manger (a tomb?); longstanding Orthodox tradition would have His manger enclosed in a dark cave, to make a typological connection with the cave in which He would be buried; this can be seen in both the 15th and the 17th century examples in Ouspensky and Lossky, cf. note 39 and Ouspensky’s discussion on p. 157. 39

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and severe violence is inflicted on naked babes. The contrast with the upper zone is deliberate and works detail by detail: the peaceful swaddled infant Jesus above versus the agitated and naked baby directly below him, the peaceful and hieratically symmetrical Mother of God above contrasted with the wild faint and extreme agitation of “Rachel weeping for her children” below.41 And—almost like an indication of the need for our own interpretative response, although it is a traditional element of the Nativity icon—on the central axis half-way between the blessed peaceful order above and the absolutely evil disorder and violence below, we see the scene of Joseph in dialogue with the “old man” (Rom 6:6), who is traditionally thought to represent the devil tempting Joseph to doubt (a glossing exegesis of Matthew 1:18– 19).42 The compositional placement of this scene on the central axis is highly significant here; normally it is a marginal incident, off to one side, but, placed here exactly at the transitional point between the themes of upper and lower zones, Joseph becomes a reminder that we, too, must choose, must decide which of the options—peacefulness or violence?—presented to us in this icon is going to be the basis for our life; are we willing not to heed “the old man” of this world of chaos and slaughter? Are we prepared to cast our eyes upward, to the Prince of Peace?43 This contrast is dramatically reinforced by a comparison of the Nativity icon to the icon showing the synaxis, or conciliar meeting, of the archangels (Fig. 4), [f.d. November 8]. Here we are looking, not at the agonizing choice between peace or violence in this world, but rather at an image of the heavenly realm, and we Matthew 2:18; for a discussion of the rhetoric of this scene see Maguire, Art and Eloquence in Byzantium, pp. 23–34 and fig. 2–26. The contrasts of parallelisms “above” and “below” is absolutely consistent in this icon even in the margins; we see the “good king” above in the Three Magi versus the “bad king” below in Herod directly beneath them, both in the left margin, and so on. 42 Ouspensky and Lossky, p. 160. 43 Isaiah 9:6, a passage parallel to Isaiah 7:14 which is actually quoted in Matthew 1:23, but implied by the reference to “governance” in the citation of Micah 5:2 found in Matthew 2:6. 41

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can see at a glance that all is harmony. While individuals among this group of “bodiless ones”—the name given in the inscription on the icon—may have slightly narrative poses in a tilt of the head, or a bend of the body, when we look at the group as a whole everything is perfectly in mirror-symmetry, not only overall, but even in small details (such as the way the tilt of one angel’s head is echoed by the reverse tilt of his neighbour). The central axis is distinguished from the two side groups both by having the only absolutely hieratic, totally frontal figures, and also by attribute—the stoles of the angels who occupy the central axis are tied liturgical-fashion (like the stole of a subdeacon; contrast this with the two angels in the front row, who are supporters of the youthful and absolutely symmetrical Christ, blessing with both hands inside the circle of glory, and who have their stoles draped, vaguely, like an imperial loros44 to suggest their role as “courtiers”). Thus, if we see with the “eyes of heaven,” we will expect all to be well-ordered, harmonious, peaceful. It is not an accident that all the angels in the icon are carrying the same staff as an attribute, because in many medieval icons of archangels, especially those showing St. Michael, it is quite common for an archangel to wield a spear narratively, sometimes very powerfully.45 But in our Fig. 4, all the power of the hosts of heaven, assembled into one congregation attending on the Lord at the center, results in perfect harmony, perfect peace. The figure of the Lord—young and beardless, a rolemodel for the soldier-youths of Figs. 1 and 2—blessing with both hands is what holds this harmony together; he is central, perfectly hieratic, an image of stability and peace despite the creative energy

Compare to the loros-wearing “Council” [synaxis] of Archangels, mid-q4th c. from Bulgaria, Byzantium, Faith and Power, cat. no. 83, pp. 161– 162. The recensional connections to our Fig. 4 are obvious, but the hieratic orans-figure of the Theotokos is added in the Bulgarian icon as a further gloss 45 One of the most dramatic examples is the use St. Michael makes of his spear to accomplish the Miracle at Chonai, saving the hermit Archippos from being flooded by the pagans. See Glory, cat. no. 66, pp. 118–9. 44

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of his act of blessing, and that peace is imparted to the order of the crowded assembly around him. The image of a perfect—i.e. absolutely harmonious, balanced, peaceful—order in the heavenly synaxis is exactly paralleled in the idealizing icon of the Church, viz. the icon of Pentecost (Fig. 5), which utilizes every one of the iconological elements described above, and combines design ideas seen in fig. 4 with those of Fig. 3. In this typical depiction of Acts 2:1–4, the central vertical axis is clearly the basis for a symmetrical organization, and figures are placed significantly high and low on it. At the very top is seen a set of concentric circles, with the dark—apophatic—center radiating outward into ever-increasing light, until finally the tongues of fire (Acts 2:3) point to the assembled apostles. Directly below this the leaders of the apostles, Peter on the left and Paul on the right, form a very orderly hieratic group with the Mother of God.46Indeed, the peaceful order of the entire image is in fact a gloss on the scriptural text, because the story in the text of Acts emphasizes a “mighty wind, which filled the house” (Acts 2:2), yet nothing of such energetic forcefulness and rush is to be seen in the icon. Instead the emphasis in the visual scene is all on balance, peace, harmony, accentuated by the significant central placing of the Peter—Theotokos—Paul group. Yet even so, the apostolic church is still “in the world” as much as it is in heaven, and so the other disciples of the Pentecost scene, despite their very symmetrical and orderly arrangement, show much more animation and narrativity than Peter and Paul. This can be seen in the tilt of The inclusion of the Mother of God in the Pentecost scene is uncommon, and a late development of the recension; but in fig. 4 she makes a very effective addition as the only purely hieratic figure at the center; Peter and Paul are shown slightly narrative, in ¾ view, but become a hieratic grouping with her by their symmetrical balance, rather like several of the archangels in fig. 4. This point is discussed further in the following paragraph. It is because of the inclusion of the Mother of God that fig. 4 has 13 tongues of fire descending, instead of the more customary 12 for the the 12 apostles. Theologically, her presence reinforces the theology of church believers as “children of God (ƴƝƪƭơ ƉƥƯƵ)” (John 1:12). 46

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many heads—it is noteworthy that a balance of tilt between neighbours is used, much as was the case in Fig. 4—but also in the gaze of their eyes; the hieratic Peter and Paul gaze inward to the center, focusing on the Mother of God, but the other apostles look outward, toward the viewer, a reflection of the evangelical preaching work which begins at this moment (Acts 2:4). The outcome of this harmonious order in the Holy Spirit can be seen at the bottom of the central axis, where the world (kosmos, shown as a king) is appropriately placed, but yet transformed by the Spirit and by the apostolic preaching, since his figure is perfectly hieratic and an imitation of the Mother of God above him, and he holds a cloth of honour on which are 12 scrolls, the gospel preached by all the apostles. What Fig. 4 adds to our discussion of the use of iconography in building a peace-theology is highly significant. A synaxis is more than just a meeting, a get-together. A successful synaxis, one that reveals a reflection of the assembly in heaven, emphasizes peace, harmony, good order. But even beyond that, as our visual analysis has demonstrated, such order requires many individual figures to be assembled together in one balanced composition. A heroic saint-martyr, such as St. Demetrios in Fig. 1, can manifest hieratic balance and order all alone, but an assembly, an ekklesia, shows visual order through the design-balance of the entire group; the whole composition is hieratic even if individual members of the assembly are narrative.47 And the social equivalent which achieves such peaceful harmony, in response to such an icon, is cooperation and responsiveness to others. This theme will be further developed in the following discussion of Figs. 6 and 7, but first mention must be made of Fig. 8, The Entry of the Lord into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, because it reveals that the theme of harmony in a gathering or assembly is not only to be found in the heavenly realm, as in Fig. 4, or only inside the boundaries of the apostolic church, as in Fig. 5, but also in our world and in historical experience. At first glance Fig. 8 is thoroughly narrative, relating the moment in the story when Christ makes His entry while the people lay palms ànd cloaks 47

See note 45 above.

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at His feet and assemble to greet Him, shouting “Hosanna to the Son of David”. (Matthew 21:7–9 and parallels). But a more iconological look at the icon—using the elements of seeing and understanding outlined above—shows that, in the arrangement of the crowd, the artist has carefully glossed the scriptural text; Matthew’s textual narrative portrays the “shouting crowds” as “in turmoil” (Matthew 21:10), but the artist has placed the people acknowledging Jesus into two extremely orderly groups which balance each other, left and right of the center.48 And quite distinct from the flanking groups, Christ himself occupies the centre and is the focus of attention and gaze; He is the principle of order, and the design is identical in principle to Fig. 4, even though Fig. 1 is totally hieratic and Fig. 8 maximally narrative. Where Christ is, peace and order are possible. Finally, there is a very important point made by the recensionrelationship between Fig. 8 and Fig. 2; they are linked by the motif of riding a horse. But Scripture gives us an interpretative gloss on the horse, since Matthew 21:5 quotes the text of Zechariah 9:9; riding the horse is a figure of the “humility” of the king. This has distinct recensional parallels to St. George’s mounted-warrior combat skill in his icon. Although it was observed earlier that the image of the equestrian is a sign of imperial authority (see note 32), even so the acknowledgement of George as a saint depended in the first instance on recognizing liturgically his humility as a Great Martyr. An image of peace in the co-operative pairing of people: Sts. Cyril and Methodius (Fig. 6) and Joachim and Anna meeting at the Golden Gate (Fig. 7). As the preceding discussion made clear, synaxis in iconography is a clear sign of a peace-theology, because its images depend upon the orderly and harmonious arrangement of large assemblies. But the principle holds good even at the level of individual saints; while heroes can There is a presumption that the left group is the disciples following Jesus and the right group is the townspeople, but the “apostles” do lack haloes, which is an oddity. Nevertheless, there is much more hieratic order in the left group—note the centralizing symmetry of the three heads in the foreground—than there is in the right group. 48

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be singled out for veneration and iconic depiction (as in Figs. 1 and 2), sometimes an achievement of sanctity is better shown by the presentation of saints together as pairs or even as a couple. Such images are a particularly useful source of iconographic depictions of the theme of peace as harmony, equality, and balance. The image of Sts. Cyril and Methodius (Fig. 6) reflects this idea powerfully. The two brothers, who began the Moravian mission in 863 A.D. worked together until the death of Cyril in Rome (869), but the historic brunt and long years of struggle of the missionary work were carried out by Methodius alone, as Bishop of Sirmium until his death in 885; they even have separate feast days (Cyril 14 February, Methodius 6 April). Nevertheless, the icon— which is liturgically venerated as the festal icon on both feasts— shows the two saints as an absolutely equal pair; the central vertical axis is an imagined or perceived balancing line, flanked in absolute symmetry by the images of the two brothers. Rather remarkably, they even share a common attribute of a standard figure of a single bishop; Methodius, the only one of the two to be consecrated to office, is differentiated from his brother by being shown wearing a bishop’s omophorion,49 and yet the characteristic pose for a bishop-saint—carrying the gospel book in his left hand while giving a Christological blessing with his right hand—is here divided, shared between the two brothers, so that Cyril (who was a monk but never a priest) uses his right hand to bless, while the right hand of Methodius remains firmly clutching the book.50 Mutuality, sharing, cooperation could not be more perfectly The painter has given him a modernized version of the lateByzantine polystaurion stole, common after the 12th century and from that time on placed on bishops no matter what their actual historical era; iconography is about themes and meanings, not about historical archeology. 50 This makes the two figures absolutely parallel; the symmetry is one of persons rather than visual mirror-symmetry. Also Cyril is given a book to hold not just to make him equal as a figure but also to show the most significant mutual work of the two brothers, viz. translation of the Bible into Old Slavonic. Andrew Louth, Greek East and Latin West 601–1071, Crestwood: St. Vladimir’s Seminary Press, 2007, p. 173. 49

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depicted. But what emphasizes the peace-theology of this icon even more is its total emphasis on balance, harmony, stability, mutuality of work; in historical fact, their years of mission—especially those of Methodius, who was in constant combat with Western bishops and rulers, even spending some time imprisoned51—were years of unrelenting strife against opponents, and were carried out, in part, during the complete turmoil of the “Photian Schism” of mutual excommunication between Pope Nicholas I and Patriarch Photius.52 But nothing of this appears in the icon; our brother saints are not portrayed as heroes who struggled to defeat their opponents, not even as victims of violence, but as an emblem of perfect order and harmony, evangelists of a peaceable kingdom. Much the same points could be made about the icon of the meeting of Joachim and Anna, the parents of the Theotokos, at the Golden Gate (Fig. 7), but with even more force. Here we see the pair as a couple—a point very strongly emphasized in the hymnography of their Feast (September 9)53—in the closest of embraces, arms wrapped around each other.54 Like the drama of the narrative text itself (see note 53), the visualized scene in the icon is passionate and fully narrative. And yet the compositional result is hieratic, and the icon speaks of peace and harmony Louth, pp. 174–6. Ibid., pp. 183–7, and see also Francis Dvornik, Byzantine Missions among the Slavs, New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press, 1970. 53 Many verses could be cited, but perhaps the strongest emphasis on this idea that their mutuality as a couple is the cause of salvation can be found in Ode Five of the Canon of Matins: “The all-famed Anna and Joachim, yoke-team of chastity and godly-minded twain, have brought forth the divinely adorned virginal throne….” The Menaion, Vol. One: The Month of September, Boston: Holy Transfiguration Monastery, 2005, p. 106. 54 The unusual pose derives quite literally from the text in the Protoevangelium (the so-called Gospel of James) 4:4 “And behold, Joachim came with his flocks, and Anna stood at the gate and saw Joachim coming and ran immediately and hung on his neck……” Edgar Hennecke, ed. Wilhelm Schneemelcher, New Testament Apocrypha: Vol. One: Gospels and Related Writings, tr. R. McL. Wilson, Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1963, p. 376. 51 52

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through the action of the couple themselves. As a pair, they create symmetry and balance—the vertical central axis runs directly up the line created by their touching bodies—and so the iconographic treatment of the subject strongly emphasizes mutuality. In both the Protoevangelium and in the liturgical texts, both of them prayed for this moment as the basis for the moment when salvation is most manifest. The resultant scene is intensely peaceful, even if her “running to greet him” (see note 53) is actually shown by the fluttering of her cloak. Thus, in our search for an iconography of peace-theology, the final theme which has emerged is the great significance of mutuality, common effort, harmonious working together. In modern language, we would say that peace requires teamwork based on equality and respect. Conclusion: the Resurrection [Anastasis] (Fig. 9). This essay opened with the question of how Orthodox iconography could be read as supportive of a peace-theology, when so much of it seems to have been created to justify an idea of Holy War and to enlist the soldier-saints as military protectors. However, every era, every culture needs to bring its own responses—and its own valid questions—to theological issues, including the understanding and the appropriate use of icons. Through a close iconological reading of eight icons in light of the question of finding a peace-theology, a number of significant themes have emerged, which shed much light on the theology of peace. We have seen that, in liturgical context, even the “military” iconography of the warrior-saints (Figs. 1 and 2) is metaphorical, revealing that their spiritual battle was their true victory; even more, this triumph depended not on their bellicose strength, but on the humility of their martyrdom, a humility based typologically on the humility of Christ himself (Fig. 8). We have seen that military violence and peace are strongly at odds with each other, and that the former is earthly but the latter is heavenly (Fig. 3). We have seen orderly synaxis and mutuality as images of a harmonious society, whether in heaven (Fig. 4) or in the world (Figs. 5, 8), and extended that idea to the cooperative image of saintly people acting in pairs (Figs. 6,7). All these themes work together in a climactic way in the Paschal icon, the image of Resurrection (Anastasis; Fig. 9). To be sure, it is a victory—death is overthrown (the troparion says “trampled down”)—but it is a victory of perfect humility, of the

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Cross (seen prominently in our example at the bottom of the central axis). And, whether Christ is presented in this iconography narratively, as in our Fig. 9, or hieratically,55 the end result is the same—order and peace are being restored through His most humble, yet victorious action: as a synaxis of witnesses looks on, the troparion reminds us that Christ has “trampled” death—by dying,56 preceding that ultimate act and type of humility57 with the ultimate act of peace—forgiveness.58 Note: the icons in the illustrations for this article are from the iconrepository of the Three Hierarchs Chapel at St. Vladimir’s Seminary; thanks and appreciation are offered to the Dean and Chancellor of the Seminary for permission to reproduce them in this publication.

Anna D. Kartsonis, Anastasis: the Making of an Image, Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1986; the hieratic arrangement is Kartsonis’s “third type” or recension of the Resurrection, a completely frontal Christ, p. 152ff. 56 I Corinthians 1:23–24. 57 John Behr, The Mystery of Christ, Crestwood: St. Vladimir’s Seminary Press, 2006, passim but especially p. 177: “The disciples, and those following them, always stand in the shadow of the Cross…… The ‘Passion,’ understood ‘in accordance with the Scriptures,’ is the catalyst for reading scripture, and the whole of human existence and history, in a new manner, making everything new.” Might it be that, in humility, “making everything new” could include exchanging our triumphalist militarism for a peace-theology? 58 Luke 23:34; cf. Matthew 18:35, the climax of the parable of the Unforgiving Debtor. 55

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Fig. 1 St Demetrius the Martyr

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Fig. 2 St. George the Great Martyr (“the Victorious”)

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Fig. 3 Nativity

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Fig. 4 The Synaxis of the Archangels (“of the Bodiless”)

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Fig. 5 Pentecost

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Fig. 6 Sts. Cyril and Methodius

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Fig. 7 Joachim and Anna Meeting at the Golden Gate

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Fig. 8 Entry of Christ into Jerusalem (Palm Sunday)

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Fig. 9 Anastasis (The Resurrection)

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BIOGRAPHICAL DETAIL: Richard Schneider is Visiting Professor of Iconology and Liturgical Art at St. Vladimir’s Seminary (Crestwood, New York), and Adjunct Professor and Coordinator of the Programme in Orthodox and East Christian Studies in the Faculty of Divinity, Trinity College (University of Toronto). He is Emeritus Professor of Church and Medieval History at York University (Toronto), and Emeritus Past-President of the Canadian Council of Churches.