Religion,Conflict& Violence

The continuing,accelerating technological & socioeconomic changes of the contemporary world transformation are exceedingly stimulating and hopeful in their promise fr prosperity 7 eace,yet simulltaneusly difficult and in some ways even dangerousand alarming to many people across a variety of societies.The quest for smaller & simpler communities has been revived in earnest.One aspect of this has been an intensification of religious fundamentalis,sometimes carried to the point of fanatical behaviour.Nowhere is this more evident than in the worldwide resurgence of a sector in each of the worlds major religions that reacts t o resist to such bewildering change with all its complexity,ambiguity & deep uncertainty.Such religious movemnet offer simple,dogmatic answers to life basic questions,including life aftewr death.Often though not necesarily,theygo beyond a stabilizing,comforting position to one of harsh intolerance of other religions or other groups altogether.Such intloerance can be transated by charismatic leaders into fanatical behaviour,hostile zealotry,even soe kind of holy war commitment.This is most vivid now in the Islamic fanatical haters of modernity,the Unitd States,the West,Jews,and infidels.These Islamic fanatics are the main purveyors of catastrophic terrorism.But hateful zealots from other religions are also active i todays international arena.To proponents of intense religious commitmens in the Eastern World,religious revival is the answer to the ills of modern societies that they blame on a perceived failure of secular states.Such religious nationalists are often individuals with both religious & political interests.They do not necesarily reject secular politics,but they reject the notion that what constitutes a nation and legitimates the State is a rational compact that unites everyone in a geographical region through common laws and political processes!