The rhetoric of love in religious peacebuilding

ABSTRACT

Religious leaders involved in peacebuilding initiatives often refer to the religious value of love to encourage groups in conflict to live peacefully together. In this article, I suggest that references to love as a religious value might contribute to bridging social capital, meaning social bonds between groups who have experienced conflict. However, without simultaneously addressing questions of justice, which is often necessary in violent conflicts, creating social bonds through references to love constitutes a weak contribution to peace. The article uses the study of a religious peacebuilding project in Ethiopia as an example and illustrates how religious leaders failed to make a substantial contribution to peace by evoking love but avoiding questions of justice.

KEYWORDS:

• Religious peacebuilding
• the rhetoric of love
• social capital
• religion and violence
• religion and peace

Acknowledgments

I would like to thank all those who participated in the study of religious peacebuilding in Ethiopia. In addition, I am grateful to the University of Agder for giving me the opportunity to conduct research on this topic.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1. Here he refers to Freud’s Civilization and its Discontents (Freud 1961).

2. The term ‘positive peace’ was coined by Galtung and suggests a situation where justice and equality prevail and are structurally embedded (Galtung 1991, 31).

3. The term ‘spiritual capital’ is taken from the web site of the Metanexus Institute and is elaborated by Brewer, Higgins, and Teeney (2011, 22).

4. Jon Abbink (2008, 117) explains Sufism in the following way: “Sufism (taصawwuf) is a mystical movement affiliated (mostly) with Sunni Islam, aimed at the adherents gaining a closer connection to and higher knowledge of Allàh. It is geared to personal spiritual growth and union with Allàh, performed collectively, in fraternities or brotherhoods.”

5. There are signs that the Ethiopian polity is reforming and opening up under Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, but it is too early to say whether the authoritarian state will change profoundly.

Additional information

Funding

This work has been supported by the University of Agder in providing the author with research time.

Notes on contributors

Tale Steen-Johnsen

Tale Steen-Johnsen holds a PhD in sociology and teaches and conducts research at the University of Agder in Kristiansand, Norway. Her research interests include understanding connections between violence, religion and peace, and relationships between majority and minority populations in different contexts. She has worked as a peace practitioner for NGOs, focusing on strengthening civil society in peacebuilding in various African contexts. CORRESPONDENCE: Department for Sociology and Social Work, University of Agder, PO Box 422, Gimlemoen, 4606 Kristiansand, Norway.