WAR CONFLICT IN MINDANAO-(CHRISTIAN-MUSLIM CONFLICT IN THE PHILIPPINES) Introduction We live in a pluralistic world. We also live in a conflict-torn world.

Sad to say that some of these conflicts have been abetted if not aggravated by religions, flaring up in open armed conflicts and bloody repression as in Indonesia between Muslims and Christians; the bloody civil war between the Sinhalese Buddhist majority and the Tamil Hindu minority since 1983 in Sri Lanka; the communal violence between Hindus and Muslims in India; and, recently in Southern Thailand between its military and Muslim militants.1[1] In my own Philippine context we too have our share of open armed conflicts and bloody repression. The conflicts in Mindanao have been portrayed as Christian-Muslim conflicts. The challenge now is how to build a sense of community that goes beyond the traditional boundaries of clan, tribe, status, class, region and religion. A community with which each member and group can identify themselves, in which different groups feel responsible for resolving disputes and solving problems through joint action and dialogue and whose destiny, therefore, each can regard as its own. One of the steps to overcome the deadly and violent inter-religious conflicts is to know the root causes of these conflicts. In the Philippine context of causes of conflicts between Christians and Muslims will be mentioned namely: Colonization Marginalization of the Minority Violent Religious Traditions. Displaced and landless Bangsa moro (Muslim Nation) Socio-cultural discrimination

The colonial policies from the Spaniards to the Americans have dispossessed Muslims and other indigenous peoples of over 80 percent of Mindanaos open land. Thus colonial policy has sown the seed of legal and social injustice. These led to bloody and deadly conflicts over agricultural land between Muslims and Christians in Mindanao, obscuring the historical truth that colonialism was one of the root causes of these conflicts. Effects of the conflict: Displaced of more than 2 million people -According to the study UNICEF Some 80 percent of internally displaced persons (IDPs) caused by armed conflicts in the country are women and children. -Violence against women where they are forced to head the household after the Breakdown of a family and social networks. -Women might also be particularly at risk of sexual violence, as some of them are sometimes forced to prostitution in exchange for food, shelter or protection. -Human trafficking and rape are the other unfortunate by-products of war that women fall victim to Poverty and Hunger -Women and children are already in dangerwith the present economic crisis. 100,000 Still Uprooted by fighting -160,000 were dead. Mindanao situation attracts Islamic extremist Deteriorating economic conditions Loss of rights to self-determination Assets destroyed Devastation

Wounded Generation Homeless