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views, texts, sanctified places, ethics, or organizations that relate humanity to the
supernatural or transcendental. However, there is no scholarly consensus over what
precisely constitutes a religion. People nowadays always argue on their religion and
perspective beliefs. some people belief that their religion can save them.
The program in Religion and Conflict Transformation seeks to partner with religious leaders in
developing a theology, theory and practice of faith-based conflict transformation. The Religion
and Conflict Transformation program carries this work not only into faith communities but also
into the realm of the public square with reference to local, national and international conflict.
Churches and communities of faith are not simply local and parochial bodies but are parts of
wider communities of faith and practice. They function in the public square as much as within
the bounds of particular traditions. They raise the question of not only how to be faithful, but
also how to live faithfully in a world of difference. Churches and communities of faith have
their own agendas, but they are also drawn into conflict as faith is easily hijacked for other
purposes. Religion can be a source of conflict as well as an instrument for peace. In recognition
of particular areas of conflict in today’s world, this program seeks to lay out principles essential
to the building of a culture of reconciliation.
Our focus is on training religious leaders for work in faith-communities located in a multi-
cultural, multi-faith World. We believe that ideally every student ,we should have such a multi-
cultural, multi-faith experience, and think of their work in communities of faith with a multi-
cultural, multi-faith perspective. Our classroom itself is a multi-cultural world, with a large
percentage of our students coming from outside the United States. In doing this work, we are
sensitive to the cultural differences, helping to train people to elicit those ways of promoting
peace that are part of the local culture. All this is about appreciating differences and learning to
live in a multi-cultural world, in a multi-cultural international church. Our international trips and
the opportunities for practica outside of the United States are focused on religious communities
and their role in peacebuilding. This includes Christian communities, but also communities of
other faiths. We are working, for example, on how we address exclusivist claims, having a strong
center, but very porous boundaries. We are working with our students to understand a theology
of reconciliation as well as a theology of religions, believing with Hans Kung that we will not
have peace in this world without dialogue and peace among the world religions.