The Monk and the Imam: Inter-Religious Comrades for Peace
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Abstract
The research aims 1) to look for methods and activities that would allow religious leaders to work together in order to weave the relationship within one’s community and between Buddhists’ and Muslims’ communities, 2) to examine the obstacles to Buddhists and Muslim relationship in the southernmost area, 3) to formulate policy recommendations on Buddhists’ and Muslims’ reconciliation and on promoting the wellbeing of different religious communities who would live together harmoniously in multicultural society. This research is a qualitative one. The method consists of collecting data from related documents, doing the in-depth interview of 15 Buddhist monks and 15 Muslim leaders from the three Southern Border Provinces and organizing one Inter-religious dialogue. By using content analysis and description, the findings of the research are as follows:
1) One method to restore good relationship is to jointly organize concrete activities that are not contrary to religious principles such as health care activities. 2) The challenge to the restoration of the harmonious relationship and social coexistence that had existed before the violent incidents is to overcome the painful experiences of deadly violent conflict especially in the context of ongoing violence and of no-guarantee that the respected religious leaders of both sides will not be targeted again. 3) The restoration of a close relationship between religious leaders so as to become “comrades” is one of the effective ways and methods to restore, to a larger extent, the Buddhists’ and Muslims’ relationship that would transcend the divide and consolidate the fragile relation and support peacebuilding among the two cultural communities. Such restoration would require the support of concerned policy makers among others. Important policies include the promotion of inter-relgious and cross-cultural relations, the safety guarantee for all religious leaders, and the medical and health policy for peace.
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Views and opinions expressed in the articles published by The Journal of MCU Peace Studies, are of responsibility by such authors but not the editors and do not necessarily reflect those of the editors.
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