Our overarching goal is to develop a framework for better understanding the role of religion with respect to conflict and reconciliation. This will be achieved through investigating the following questions:
1. How does religion function in conflict and post-conflict societies in which religion has been considered a contributor to violence or peace? This question will be answered through detailed empirical case studies.
2. What resources may religions potentially use to nurture violence or support reconciliation? This question will be answered through theological and philosophical inquiry into the major tenets of the so called world religions and other religions.
3. How is the role of religion represented in situations of conflict? This question will focus on how religion is portrayed in the media, in educational textbooks, and other sources. It will be answered by drawing on previous social science research (including media studies) and on the case studies examined in this project.
4. How can theories on violence and reconciliation be systematised, clarified, broadened and deepened in order to facilitate peacebuilding on the ground, as well as dialogue within and between religions? Particular attention will be paid to developing concepts of reconciliation. These questions will be answered through socio-scientific and philosophical inquiry.
Achieving our goal for a framework for understanding the role of religion in conflict and post-conflict societies requires an approach that is systematic, transdisciplinary, and transnational in scope.
