Religion and peacebuilding
He argues that “it is important to promote indigenous ownership of conflict prevention and peacebuilding initiatives as early in the process as possible.” The second advantage Johnston presents is that faith-based NGOs carry moral authority that contributes to the receptivity of negotiations and policies for peace.
Some of which include: Project Ploughshares is a Canadian non-government organization concerned with the prevention of war, the disarmament of weapons, and peacebuilding.
[4] In the past, Project Ploughshares' work has included meeting with prime ministers to discuss nuclear disarmament, establishing and coordinating an agency for disarmament and security of the Horn in Africa, working with the UN and NATO on policy-making, and publishing research papers, one of which was endorsed by over 40 000 Canadians and had a serious influence over Canada's decision not to declare war on Iraq.
[5] It was founded after World War II as reconciliary movement by French citizens including Bishop Pierre-Marie Théas of Tarbes and Lourdes.
The Baháʼí Faith requires believers to avoid prejudice in daily life, to be friendly to people of all religions, social statuses, nationalities or various cultural traditions.
"[6] He warned of the dangers of religious fanaticism describing it as a ``world devouring fire",[7] prohibited holy war,[8] and condemned the shedding of blood, the burning of books, the shunning of the followers of other religions and the extermination of communities and groups.
It identifies the following barriers to peace: racism, economic injustice, uncontrolled nationalism, religious strife, inequality between man and women, an absence of universal education, and the need for an international auxiliary language.
The statement concludes with a call for establishment of the "oneness of humanity", a call which implies "no less than the reconstruction and the demilitarization of the whole civilized world — a world organically unified in all the essential aspects of its life, its political machinery, its spiritual aspiration, its trade and finance, its script and language, and yet infinite in the diversity of the national characteristics of its federated units.
Inspired by the Buddhist tradition of the Peace Wheel and the teachings of non-violence of Siddhartha Gautama, Engaged Buddhism has since spread to other conflicts in other countries, with groups in Tibet, struggling for self-determination; in Burma and Cambodia, advocating for human rights; in Sri Lanka, promoting the Sarvodaya Shramadana Movement; and in India, working with untouchables.
