Abstract
Following the tragic events of September 11, 2001 a politics of fear permeated so-called Western societies, accompanied by a growing interest in collaborative cosmopolitan solutions to counter global risks, such as terrorism and, more recently, climate change. This chapter suggests that the multifaith movement at the turn of the twenty-first century is exemplary of these cosmopolitan strategies—aimed at addressing risks and advancing common security—both locally and globally.
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Notes
- 1.
There is very little explanation available regarding the terminology used to describe relations among different religions, and among religious groups. Patrice Brodeur and Eboo Patel (2006: 2) observe that there has been a tendency to use the word interfaith among Protestant circles and to use the word interreligious among Catholics. In addition, the term interfaith has historically often referred to interaction between two religious groups, such as Jewish–Christian or Christian–Muslim dialogue. While the term interfaith is widely used in the USA, multifaith has been more frequently used in the UK and in Australia in the late twentieth century, implying that diversity of faiths is something that should be welcomed, in the same way that the term multiculturalism advanced a respect for cultural diversity (Beckford and Gilliat 1998: 4). The terms interfaith, interreligious and multifaith are often used interchangeably, however, for the purposes of this study the term multifaith is preferable as it affirms a commitment to promoting religious pluralism, and also differentiates this inquiry from research on bilateral interfaith relations, which have been the focus of extensive scholarship. This book, however, is primarily concerned with interactions among multiple communities of faith, with one another and with state and non-state actors, for peacebuilding purposes.
- 2.
Marcus Braybrooke (1992) refers to the 1893 Parliament of the World’s Religions (PWR) as the World’s Parliament of Religions (WPR). The Council for the Parliament of the World’s Religions (CPWR) was established to coordinate the 1993 PWR and future PWRs. CPWR is now simply called the Parliament of the World’s Religions (PWR). Parliament of the World’s Religions (PWR) has been used throughout the text to describe all WPR, CPWR and PWR events in order to avoid confusion.
- 3.
The 1993 PWR, commonly described as the second PWR, was actually the third. The second, much smaller PWR was held in Chicago in 1933, convened by the World Fellowship of Faiths (WFF) (Braybrooke 1992: 39).
- 4.
Sociologist of religion Jean-Paul Willaime (2006: 78) coined the term ‘ultramodernity’ in 1998. It is used throughout this book in preference to other terms such as postmodernity or late modernity, which commonly describe the period from the 1960s onward. A more detailed description of Willaime’s concept of ultramodernity is provided in Chapter 2.
- 5.
Religious and multifaith peacebuilding initiatives have, however, been examined in detail within the field of peace theory. These case studies have typically focused on situations of post-conflict reconstruction in non-Western societies in Africa (Johnston 1994: 177–207; Kraybill 1994: 208–257; Sampson 1994: 88–118; Nyang and Johnston 2003: 210–230; Botman 2004: 243–260; Nurayn Ashafa and Movel Wuye 2006: 21–24; LoWilla 2006: 25–28; Smock 2006: 17–20); Asia (Wooster 1994: 153–177; Embree 2003: 33–75; Seneviratne 2003: 76–90; Morris 2004: 191–212; Philpott and Cox 2006: 5–8); Central and South America (Nichols 1994: 62–87); former Yugoslavia (Steele 2002: 73–88, 2003: 124–177; Johnston and Eastvold 2004: 213–242); Macedonia (Mojzes 2006: 29–34); the Middle East (Young 2002: 63–72; Gopin 2003: 91–101; D’Souza 2004: 169–190; White 2006a: 9–12, 2006b: 13–16); and Northern Ireland (Liechty 2002: 89–102; Grant 2004: 261–278). The development of global multifaith organisations such as the Appeal of Conscience Foundation (Schneier 2002: 105–114), the United Religions Initiative (Gibbs 2002: 115–126), the World Congress of Faiths (Braybrooke 1996) and Religions for Peace (Klaes 2004: 199–224) have also been examined in these case studies. Religious peacebuilding theory is discussed in more detail in Chapter 4.
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Halafoff, A. (2013). The Multifaith Movement, Global Risks and Cosmopolitan Solutions. In: The Multifaith Movement: Global Risks and Cosmopolitan Solutions. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-5210-8_1
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