Author: Dmitri V. Safonov, Sergey V. Melnik
Communicology. 2017. Vol.5. No.5
Safonov Dmitry Vladimirovich, priest, Cand. Sc. (Hist., Theol.), secretary of the academic council of St Cyril and Methodius School of Postgraduate and Doctoral Studies (115035, Moscow, Pyatnitskaya St., 4/2, p. 1; e-mail: ucheniy.sovet@doctorantura. ru);
Sergey Vladislavovich Melnik, Cand. Sc. (Philos.), member of the Secretariat for Interreligious Relations of the Department for External Church Relations of Moscow Patriarchate, Research Associate at RAS Institute of Scientific Information on Social Sciences (117997, Moscow, Nakhimovsky Prospekt, 51/21; e-mail: melnik.s.vl@yandex.ru).
Abstract. The paper is dedicated to the analysis of meetings between the religious leaders of Azerbaijan, Armenia and the Russian Orthodox Church aimed at the settlement of the Karabakh conflict. The authors describe the main principles of peacekeeping documents adopted as a result of interreligious meetings: (1) the assertion that the conflict is devoid of religious ground and is of a political nature; (2) an indication of the commonality of the followers of Christianity and Islam (belief in the One God, the closeness of moral standards, the need to search for a joint answer to the challenges of our time); (3) an appeal to pacifist religious values (including a characterization based on scriptural quotes of enmity between people as sin, and appeasement of the conflict as a charitable cause); (4) a call to various social groups to help resolve the conflict; (5) unacceptability from the religious point of view of any acts of violence and extremism, etc. The authors conclude that the example of the participation of spiritual leaders in overcoming the Karabakh conflict forces us to reconsider the widespread idea of the undesirability of the presence of religion factor in peacekeeping projects. Religion can be a serious unifying social tool and this resource should not be excluded from peacekeeping initiatives. E conrario, it is necessary to learn how to make the best use of it. The examined approaches to peacekeeping are universal, and therefore can be used to resolve various social conflicts that involve religious factors.
Keywords: interreligious dialogue, peacemaking, social conflicts, Nagorno-Karabakh, religious factor, extremism, Christianity, Islam, post-Soviet countries, Russian Orthodox Church
Text: PDF
For citation: Safonov D.V., Melnik S.V. Peacekeeping potential of interreligious dialogue (on the example of participation of religious leaders in the resolution of the Karabakh conflict). Communicology (Russia). Vol. 5. No. 5. P. 116-135 DOI 10.21453 / 2311-3065-2017-5-5-116-135
References
Appleby R.S. (2015). Religious violence: The strong, the weak, and the pathological. In: The Oxford handbook of religion, conflict, and peacebuilding. NY: Oxford Univ. Press. P. 33-57.
Asrjan G. (2012). Usilija duhovnyh liderov i rol' religioznogo faktora v processe mirnogo uregulirovanija karabahskogo konflikta [Efforts of spiritual leaders and the role of religious factor in the process of peaceful settlement of the Karabakh conflict]: http://theanalyticon.com/?lang=ru&p=2309 (accessed: 16.08.2017).
Bormans M. (2000). Dve religii: obshhie doktrinal'nye osnovanija i tochki soprikosnovenija v razlichnyh obshhestvennyh sferah [Two religions: common doctrinal foundations and common ground in various social spheres]. In: Christians and Muslims: Dialogue Problems / Ed. by A.V. Zhuravsky.
M.: Biblical and Theological Institute of St. Apostle Andrey. P. 533-611.
Cavanaugh W. (2009). The Myth of Religious Violence: Secular Ideology and the Roots of Modern Conflict. NY: Oxford University Press.
Huntington S. (1996). Stolknovenie civilizacij? [The Clash of Civilizations?]: http://gtmarket.ru/ laboratory/expertize/2007/2498. (In Russ.).
Informacionnyj Bjulleten' Otdela vneshnih cerkovnyh snoshenij Moskovskogo Patriarhata [Bulletin of the Department for External Church Relations of Moscow Patriarchate]. (1993). No. 2. P. 3. (In Russ.).
Informacionnyj Bjulleten' Otdela vneshnih cerkovnyh snoshenij Moskovskogo Patriarhata [Bulletin of the Department for External Church Relations of Moscow Patriarchate]. (1993). No. 4. P. 1-2. (In Russ.).
Informacionnyj Bjulleten' Otdela vneshnih cerkovnyh snoshenij Moskovskogo Patriarhata [Bulletin of the Department for External Church Relations of Moscow Patriarchate]. (1993). No. 9. P. 3-4. (In Russ.).
Informacionnyj Bjulleten' Otdela vneshnih cerkovnyh snoshenij Moskovskogo Patriarhata [Bulletin of the Department for External Church Relations of Moscow Patriarchate]. (1993). No. 23. P. 2. (In Russ.).
Informacionnyj Bjulleten' Otdela vneshnih cerkovnyh snoshenij Moskovskogo Patriarhata [Bulletin of the Department for External Church Relations of Moscow Patriarchate]. (1994). No. 4-5. P. 9. (In Russ.).
Informacionnyj Bjulleten' Otdela vneshnih cerkovnyh snoshenij Moskovskogo Patriarhata [Bulletin of the Department for External Church Relations of Moscow Patriarchate]. (1994). No. 7. P. 5-6. (In Russ.).
Informacionnyj Bjulleten' Otdela vneshnih cerkovnyh snoshenij Moskovskogo Patriarhata [Bulletin of the Department for External Church Relations of Moscow Patriarchate]. (1995). No. 11. P. 1-2. (In Russ.).
Isaacs M. (2016). Sacred violence or strategic faith? Disentangling the relationship between religion and violence in armed conflict. In: Journal of Peace Research. Vol. 53 (2).
Melnik S.V. (2016). Istorija i opyt mezhreligioznogo dialoga v proshlom i nastojashhem [History and experience of interreligious dialogue in the past and present]. In: Interreligious dialogue and its role in the protection of Christians in the Middle East and North Africa from persecution: scientific papers. M.: Poznanie. P. 185-262. (In Russ.).
Safonov D.V. (2016). Rol’ Russkoj Pravoslavnoj Cerkvi v uregulirovanii Karabahskogo konflikta [The role of the Russian Orthodox Church in the settlement of the Karabakh conflict]. In: Communicology. Vol. 4. No. 2. P. 153-168. (In Russ.).
Taylor C. (2007). The Secular Age. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Vsemirnaja konferencija Religioznye dejateli za spasenie svjashhennogo dara zhizni ot jadernoj katastrofy [World conference The Clergy for Saving the Sacred Gift of Life from Nuclear Catastrophe]. (1983). Moscow: Moscow Patriarchate. P. 7.
Communicology. 2017. Vol.5. No.5
Safonov Dmitry Vladimirovich, priest, Cand. Sc. (Hist., Theol.), secretary of the academic council of St Cyril and Methodius School of Postgraduate and Doctoral Studies (115035, Moscow, Pyatnitskaya St., 4/2, p. 1; e-mail: ucheniy.sovet@doctorantura. ru);
Sergey Vladislavovich Melnik, Cand. Sc. (Philos.), member of the Secretariat for Interreligious Relations of the Department for External Church Relations of Moscow Patriarchate, Research Associate at RAS Institute of Scientific Information on Social Sciences (117997, Moscow, Nakhimovsky Prospekt, 51/21; e-mail: melnik.s.vl@yandex.ru).
Abstract. The paper is dedicated to the analysis of meetings between the religious leaders of Azerbaijan, Armenia and the Russian Orthodox Church aimed at the settlement of the Karabakh conflict. The authors describe the main principles of peacekeeping documents adopted as a result of interreligious meetings: (1) the assertion that the conflict is devoid of religious ground and is of a political nature; (2) an indication of the commonality of the followers of Christianity and Islam (belief in the One God, the closeness of moral standards, the need to search for a joint answer to the challenges of our time); (3) an appeal to pacifist religious values (including a characterization based on scriptural quotes of enmity between people as sin, and appeasement of the conflict as a charitable cause); (4) a call to various social groups to help resolve the conflict; (5) unacceptability from the religious point of view of any acts of violence and extremism, etc. The authors conclude that the example of the participation of spiritual leaders in overcoming the Karabakh conflict forces us to reconsider the widespread idea of the undesirability of the presence of religion factor in peacekeeping projects. Religion can be a serious unifying social tool and this resource should not be excluded from peacekeeping initiatives. E conrario, it is necessary to learn how to make the best use of it. The examined approaches to peacekeeping are universal, and therefore can be used to resolve various social conflicts that involve religious factors.
Keywords: interreligious dialogue, peacemaking, social conflicts, Nagorno-Karabakh, religious factor, extremism, Christianity, Islam, post-Soviet countries, Russian Orthodox Church
Text: PDF
For citation: Safonov D.V., Melnik S.V. Peacekeeping potential of interreligious dialogue (on the example of participation of religious leaders in the resolution of the Karabakh conflict). Communicology (Russia). Vol. 5. No. 5. P. 116-135 DOI 10.21453 / 2311-3065-2017-5-5-116-135
References
Appleby R.S. (2015). Religious violence: The strong, the weak, and the pathological. In: The Oxford handbook of religion, conflict, and peacebuilding. NY: Oxford Univ. Press. P. 33-57.
Asrjan G. (2012). Usilija duhovnyh liderov i rol' religioznogo faktora v processe mirnogo uregulirovanija karabahskogo konflikta [Efforts of spiritual leaders and the role of religious factor in the process of peaceful settlement of the Karabakh conflict]: http://theanalyticon.com/?lang=ru&p=2309 (accessed: 16.08.2017).
Bormans M. (2000). Dve religii: obshhie doktrinal'nye osnovanija i tochki soprikosnovenija v razlichnyh obshhestvennyh sferah [Two religions: common doctrinal foundations and common ground in various social spheres]. In: Christians and Muslims: Dialogue Problems / Ed. by A.V. Zhuravsky.
M.: Biblical and Theological Institute of St. Apostle Andrey. P. 533-611.
Cavanaugh W. (2009). The Myth of Religious Violence: Secular Ideology and the Roots of Modern Conflict. NY: Oxford University Press.
Huntington S. (1996). Stolknovenie civilizacij? [The Clash of Civilizations?]: http://gtmarket.ru/ laboratory/expertize/2007/2498. (In Russ.).
Informacionnyj Bjulleten' Otdela vneshnih cerkovnyh snoshenij Moskovskogo Patriarhata [Bulletin of the Department for External Church Relations of Moscow Patriarchate]. (1993). No. 2. P. 3. (In Russ.).
Informacionnyj Bjulleten' Otdela vneshnih cerkovnyh snoshenij Moskovskogo Patriarhata [Bulletin of the Department for External Church Relations of Moscow Patriarchate]. (1993). No. 4. P. 1-2. (In Russ.).
Informacionnyj Bjulleten' Otdela vneshnih cerkovnyh snoshenij Moskovskogo Patriarhata [Bulletin of the Department for External Church Relations of Moscow Patriarchate]. (1993). No. 9. P. 3-4. (In Russ.).
Informacionnyj Bjulleten' Otdela vneshnih cerkovnyh snoshenij Moskovskogo Patriarhata [Bulletin of the Department for External Church Relations of Moscow Patriarchate]. (1993). No. 23. P. 2. (In Russ.).
Informacionnyj Bjulleten' Otdela vneshnih cerkovnyh snoshenij Moskovskogo Patriarhata [Bulletin of the Department for External Church Relations of Moscow Patriarchate]. (1994). No. 4-5. P. 9. (In Russ.).
Informacionnyj Bjulleten' Otdela vneshnih cerkovnyh snoshenij Moskovskogo Patriarhata [Bulletin of the Department for External Church Relations of Moscow Patriarchate]. (1994). No. 7. P. 5-6. (In Russ.).
Informacionnyj Bjulleten' Otdela vneshnih cerkovnyh snoshenij Moskovskogo Patriarhata [Bulletin of the Department for External Church Relations of Moscow Patriarchate]. (1995). No. 11. P. 1-2. (In Russ.).
Isaacs M. (2016). Sacred violence or strategic faith? Disentangling the relationship between religion and violence in armed conflict. In: Journal of Peace Research. Vol. 53 (2).
Melnik S.V. (2016). Istorija i opyt mezhreligioznogo dialoga v proshlom i nastojashhem [History and experience of interreligious dialogue in the past and present]. In: Interreligious dialogue and its role in the protection of Christians in the Middle East and North Africa from persecution: scientific papers. M.: Poznanie. P. 185-262. (In Russ.).
Safonov D.V. (2016). Rol’ Russkoj Pravoslavnoj Cerkvi v uregulirovanii Karabahskogo konflikta [The role of the Russian Orthodox Church in the settlement of the Karabakh conflict]. In: Communicology. Vol. 4. No. 2. P. 153-168. (In Russ.).
Taylor C. (2007). The Secular Age. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Vsemirnaja konferencija Religioznye dejateli za spasenie svjashhennogo dara zhizni ot jadernoj katastrofy [World conference The Clergy for Saving the Sacred Gift of Life from Nuclear Catastrophe]. (1983). Moscow: Moscow Patriarchate. P. 7.
