The Role of Religon In Diplomacy - Essay Example

Faith and diplomacy According to Samuel Huntington, “The clash of civilizations will dominate global politics. The fault lines between civilizations will be the battle lines of the future” (Huntington, p.22). In other words, majority of the current global conflicts are cultural disputes and it is difficult to solve such disputes with the help of political diplomacy. Faith based diplomacy is a concept which is growing day by day since majority of the historical conflicts between different countries are still remaining unresolved even though politicians and diplomats are struggling hard to find amicable resolutions. Politicians and diplomats approach global issues in a particular manner- earn more and sacrifice less. In other words, in dialogues between diplomats of two clashing parties, each side will try to safeguard their interests as much as possible. In faith based diplomacy such adamant approaches may not be there. One of the prominent advocates of faith based diplomacy is former U.S. Secretary of State, Madeleine Albright who is teaching at the Georgetown School of Foreign Service at present. In her recent article, “Faith and Diplomacy”, she stressed the necessities of the involvement of religion in making foreign policies of a country. This paper critically analyses the views of Madeleine Albright. According to Albright, “Religion is a powerful force, but its impact depends entirely on what it inspires people to do. The challenge for policy-makers is to harness the unifying potential of faith, while containing its capacity to divide” (Albright, p.3). Faith inflected diplomacy proposed by Albright has many advantages and disadvantages. Majority of the global conflicts are culturally motivated rather than politically motivated. So, cultural elements such as beliefs, ideals, customs, etc should be given more prominence while settling cultural disputes. East West institute also supported the ideas proposed by Albright. “U.S. government establish a distinguished group of international political and religious leaders to form a task force whose authority, expertise, and influence can be brought to be bear on the prevention, resolution, and transformation of religiously-based conflicts around the world” (Faith and Diplomacy). Religious leaders can understand the causes of conflicts more clearly than politicians. Religions work on the principles of morals whereas politics work on the principle of utility. In other words, politics always try to exploit as much as from a negotiation whereas religions may give more importance to the settling of disputes even if it sacrifice something. So, culturally motivated politics can be settled more effectively with the help of religions or religious leaders since the dialogues between religious leaders may help both the parties to realize the issue more deeply. At the same time it is difficult to solve all international disputes with the help of faith or religious leaders. There are many conflicts in which both the parties happens to be from the same religion. It should be noted that Iran and Iraq have engaged in a fierce battle few years before even though both the countries are dominated by Muslim religion. The influence of religion in Iranian politics was more than that in Iraq few years before. Even though Muslim leaders tried to solve Iran-Iraq conflicts amicably, Saddam’s dictatorship prevented them from doing so. Nobody can argue that Hitler like dictators will even hear the words of religious leaders. In short, settling cultural disputes between countries with the help of faith based diplomacy is difficult in some cases as cited in the above examples. Majority of the religions teach the importance of love in solving problems between people and cultures. Religious leaders should teach diplomats and politicians the necessities of solving cultural disputes based on moral and values rather than selfishness. In the current globalized world, religious leaders can play more useful roles in solving cultural problems. For example, Pope can interfere more effectively in the Middle East conflict since both America and Israel has some respect towards Pope. Even hardcore politicians like Ahmadi Najad is aware of the necessities of bringing religious belief into politics to solve cultural conflicts. In an open letter to former American president George Bush, Najad ridiculed some of America’s controversial foreign policies with the help of religious principles. Mr President, If prophet Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Ishmael, Joseph or Jesus Christ (PBUH) were with us today, how would they have judged your behaviours? Will we be given a role to play in the promised world, where justice will become universal and Jesus Christ (PBUH) will be present? Will they even accept us? My basic question is this: Is there no better way to interact with the rest of the world? Today there are hundreds of millions of Christians, hundreds of millions of Moslems and millions of people who follow the teachings of Moses (PBUH). All divine religions share and respect on word and that is “monotheism” or belief in a single God and no other in the world (Ahmadi Najad’s Letter to George Bush, p.6) It is evident from the words of Najad that he sees some common elements in the belief structure of all religions. In other words, Najad says that a single God is existing in this world even though different religions define the Almighty in different ways. In that respect, all people are the sons of the same God and therefore, the disputes among the global public can be settled with the help of the ideals taught by that single God. So, religious figures definitely can play an important role in bringing peace in many of the cultural conflicts. Therefore federal government should definitely be involved in faith-based or at least faith-inflected diplomacy instead of leaving such responsibilities to private organizations. The involvement of federal government in faith based diplomacy will bring more credibility to the peacemaking efforts. On the other hand such credibility may not be obtained if federal government leaves the responsibility of solving cultural conflicts to the private organizations. In short, faith based diplomacy is essential in solving some of the culturally motivated disputers in this world. Albright’s opinions are extremely relevant and logical when we analyze some of the cultural conflicts existing in this world. Faith based diplomacy with the help of morals and values will be more effective than political diplomacy. Works Cited “Ahmadi Najad’s Letter to George Bush”. Web. 17 November 2011. Read More