BREAKING THE WALLS OF RELIGIOUS INTOLERANCE: THE MINDANAO EXPERIENCE

Abstract

   Mindanao in the southern Philippines which is now populated by around 13 million of mainly mix Christian, Muslim and Indigenous People communities has a long history of religious intolerance spanning for five centuries. Religious intolerance had been identified as one of the essential causes of division and conflicts among groups of people in the Philippines, particularly between Christians and Muslims, which has resulted into several violent confrontations and devastating wars from the colonial period until the most recent times. This Christian-Muslim discordance later developed into political conflict that resulted in decades of dreaded insurgency wars waged by Muslims in the south against the Christian controlled central government. It is described by many as one of the longest standing conflict in the Southeast Asia region.