In a time when religion has come under attack for being a divisive force and responsible for bloodshed across the globe, Professor Scott Appleby, director of the Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies at the University of Notre Dame, told an audience Sunday night that he looks for hope in a conversation with a Belfast cab driver.
The driver, a Protestant, lived in an area where nearly all the youth were recruited by paramilitary groups, Appleby said. But the driver refused to join any of the groups because he spent three weeks with Catholics when he was younger and realized they weren’t so different from Protestants.
Appleby used the story to send a message to listeners at his lecture at the Sheil Catholic Center. Religion itself is not divisive, he said, but problems arise when people dismiss different faiths as “the other.”
“I want to talk about the destruction that religion can wreak in society and the incredible harmony and healing that religion is capable of in society,” Appleby said.
To illustrate the difference, the speaker distributed a sheet of definitions to the audience distinguishing religious extremism from religious peacemaking, two equally militant causes differentiated by their views of other religions.
The sheet characterized extremists as exclusivist and engaged in a battle of pure good versus the pure evil of outsiders. The extremist philosophy dehumanizes the opposition, Appleby said.
“Violence is not only acceptable, it’s a duty, a sacred obligation,” Appleby said, explaining their view.
In contrast, Appleby advocates religious peacebuilding as tolerant of “the other,” even though it may not always be pacifistic. Practicers of inclusivism can find the positive elements in all faiths, he said.
“The inclusivist holds that there are many viable religious communities, many ways to God but that there is one option that is best,” Appleby said.
For Appleby and others in attendance, Catholicism can exemplify the inclusivist philosophy.
“I see Catholicism as an Evangelical religion. It’s something that’s going out and trying to convert people and bring them into the Catholic faith but not in a coercive way,” said Robert Meagher, a chemical engineering graduate student. “It’s a way of peacefully bringing people together into one church.”
Appleby also discussed the difference between today’s Catholic youth and older generations who were more integrated into the religion through their upbringing.
“I think his assessment of Gen X Catholics was pretty accurate,” said graduate student Michele Cyr, who views her upbringing as different but not necessarily worse than older generations. “I probably am not able to articulate my faith as well but other than that I don’t think of it as a negative thing.”
