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The Role of Religion in Conflict Resolution: A Case Study

Pillay, Gerald
June 4, 2015

Source: (2000) Paper presented at the Just Peace? Peace Making and Peace Building for the New Millennium conference, held in Auckland, New Zealand, 24-28 April. Auckland, New Zealand: Massey University, School of Social and Cultural Studies, Centre for Justice and Peace Development.

In this paper, Gerald Pillay focuses on the role of Spirit in peace making – “Spiritâ€? being a dimension of human society not wholly exhausted by political or social analysis, and not reducible to some form of societal or psychological function. Without reference to particular religious perspectives, Pillay identifies Spirit as that sense of the transcendent expressed in various religions. While religion has often sparked and inflamed conflict, Pillay points out the vital role religion has also played in resolving conflict. With all of this in view, he goes on to explore South Africa as a case study of spirituality and religion in relation to conflict, conflict resolution, and restorative justice.

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