Religious Peacebuilding in Chocó

Abstract

This chapter intends to explore how religion contributes to peacebuilding at the local and grassroots level in Chocó. It analyses the social and historical configurations that lay behind the actions of the Diocese of Quibdó, which allowed them to become active promoters of peace in the region. Religious peacebuilding is understood here as the (intellectual, political, social or economic) processes by which religion contributes to achieving peace during or after a conflict.⁶ The chapter starts with a brief reflection on religious peacebuilding and the influence of the Catholic Church in peacebuilding in Colombia. Then, it explains the influence of liberation theology on the local church. It continues with the analysis of the Diocese of Quibdó’s different types of strategies of peacebuilding as a response to different stages of violence in the region, from the defence of ethnic territorial rights to human rights.