How to prevent religious conflicts: early 2021
The same tools are used as in previous centuries. The initiative may come from the government: Sudan adopted a new constitution guaranteeing freedom of religion and refused to consider Islam the state religion. In the UAE, next year they plan to open a temple of three Abrahamic religions: Islam, Christianity and Judaism.
In Kazan, since 1994, the Temple of All Religions has been built, currently including an Orthodox Church, a Muslim mosque, a Jewish synagogue, a pagoda, in total it is planned to build elements of 16 religions - approx. ed.
Believers take steps towards each other. In Cameroon, Muslims and Christians have united in “vigilance groups” to protect mosques and churches from attacks by extremists. Joint patrols are organized in Nigeria. In Iraq, Muslim volunteers are rebuilding churches and homes of Christians, urging them to return home.
Following reports of the persecution of Christians in the Middle East, there has been a sharp increase in the activities of Christian charities aimed at helping those affected.
How religious conflicts were prevented: examples from history
Throughout human history, the search for common ground between different religions and the possibility of establishing contact between them has not stopped. Examples from different periods of history show how success can be achieved. During the reign of King Ashoka in India (III century BC), in order to prevent religious strife, a mechanism for interreligious disputes was established, when representatives of many religious groups sat down at the negotiating table.
In the Islamic state centered in Medina, founded by the Prophet Muhammad in the 7th century, the "people of the book", which included Christians, Jews and Zoroastrians, were free to practice their religions and in internal affairs to obey their own religious laws and leaders. Conversion to Islam was a matter of choice.
In China during the Song Dynasty (10th-13th centuries), the policy of “unity of three faiths” was proclaimed - Buddhism, Taoism, Confucianism.
The Mongols, who conquered a significant part of Eurasia in the 13th century, were tolerant of the religions of the peoples in the conquered territories.
In the Mughal Empire (India), Emperor Akbar in the late 16th and early 17th centuries. called on scientists - representatives of Hinduism, Islam, Buddhism, Zoroastrianism, Judaism and Christianity to establish constant contacts and conduct discussions on religious and spiritual topics. The meetings of scientists, which were attended by Emperor Akbar, lasted for at least four years.
Japan during the shogunate tried to regulate relations between religious groups belonging to Buddhists, Shintoists, and Christians on the basis of contacts between them.
The Ottoman Empire allowed the activities of non-Muslim religious communities; the state and Muslims were tolerant of the religious values of non-Muslims - this ensured the peaceful coexistence of representatives of different religions in the Ottoman state.
The practice of congregational prayers in times of crisis has occurred throughout history; sometimes religious places of worship were used for prayers by representatives of different religions. It was noted, for example, that during the Gulf War in the 1990s, prayers were held in various places of Muslims, Christians and Jews standing together before God and praying together for peace.
Thus, the main tool in resolving interreligious issues has always been dialogue; the initiative for joint action could come from both the rulers and the believers themselves.
