Occasional Paper #10:OP:5  

by Ralph R. Premdas

In a world currently engulfed in communal and ethnic conflicts that have witnessed unspeakable atrocities, created massive refugee populations, destroyed numerous multiethnic communities of longstanding friendship and threatened international peace, this paper attempts to provide some insight into the turmoil from the perspective of the role of christian ecclesial institutions. Among the tangle of institutions and forces directly or indirectly affecting communal conflict and peace is religion. The inquiry focuses on the connection between religion and communal and ethnic conflicts using three illustrative cases: Fiji, Guyana and Trinidad. In each of these countries, ethnic conflict was pronounced and christian church organizations played a role. In the cases examined, a number of critical questions were pursued: How do Christian churches conceive their role and responsibility where entire communities, which often include their own members, are engaged in collective fratricidal and even genocidal struggles? Are the churches indifferent to or are they a part of the problem in the struggles that attend the communal claims of the communities that are engaged in deep, prolonged and destructive inter ethnic conflicts? Should the churches be active in these issues? On what spiritual, scriptural and practical resources can the churches rely to serve as reconciler?

Dr. Ralph R. Premdas is visiting professor at the University of Toronto, Canada.
 

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