Clash of Civilizations and Interreligious Dialogue? Essay Example

and the influence of NGOs. Due to lack of scholarly studies that focus on impact of NGOs in shaping public opinion, I reviewed studies about development and general role of the NGOs.

Then, I will propose my research question, hypothesis and research design. I will conclude with expected findings of the study. Literature Review Clash of Civilizations Huntington argued that (1996:28), the most pervasive, important and dangerous conflicts will be between people belonging to different cultural entitie. And the most dangerous cultural conflicts are those along the fault lines between civilizations.

It is now the line separating peoples of Western Christianity, on the one hand, from Muslim and Orthodox peoples on the other. Huntington placed religion at the core of civilization and saw it as the source of conflict which led to an ongoing debate about relations between Islam and the West. Some scholars criticized Huntington for his notion of a single Islamic culture and ignorance of diversity within civilizations (Esposito & Voll 1996; Grim& Finke 2007; Hunter 1998). Said (2001) claimed that Huntington attempted to revive a ‘us’ vs. ‘them’ dichotomy and to substitute the old threat of communism with threat of Islam (as cited in Inglehart & Norris, 2002). Hunter (1998) argued that there is nothing intrinsic or historic in Islam that is anti-Western.

Inglehart & Norris (2002) tested ‘the clash of civilizations’ thesis by comparing social and political values of Muslims and Western societies. Huntington argued that the strongest cultural clash between Western and Muslim societies will stem from differences in core political values such as support for democracy. Contrary to ‘clash’ thesis, Inglehart & Norris (2002) found that there is no difference between Western

society and Muslim nations as far as the political values are concerned. Support for democracy was even slightly stronger among Muslim respondents compared to Western societies.

However, they found a sharp difference between two civilizations when it comes to social values such as gender equality and sexual liberalization. Western societies were found to have more liberal social values than Islamic societies. They also found that support for religious authorities is stronger among Islamic societies. Inglehart & Norris’s findings indicate that there is significant difference between social values of Islamic societies and Western societies but this is not sufficient enough to conclude that these differences will lead to civilizational conflict.

Inglehart & Norris argue that any claim of ‘culture clash’ between Muslim and Western world because of difference in social values is too simple since Muslims and Western societies share similar political values. Finke &Grim (2007) tested Huntington’s “the clash of civilizations” thesis as opposed to the proposition that religious regulation leads to religious persecution. For Huntington, civilization fault lines are a source of conflict; civilization homogeneity is source of unity and peace.

Although Huntington does not address whether religion should be regulated or not, Finke &Grim draw the conclusion that religious and cultural homogeneity should be promoted to avoid conflict according to Huntington’s thesis. Finke and Grim looked at the relationship between extent to which a country is composed of multiple civilizations (based on civilization maps used by Huntington) and religious persecution and found that civilizational heterogeneity or homogeneity does not have a significant effect on religious persecution.

On the other hand, they found that as religious regulation (legal and social restrictions that inhibit practice of religion) increases, religious

persecution (physical abuse or displacement due to one’s religion) increases. Contrary to the implications of ‘the clash of civilizations’ thesis, Finke & Grim argue that attempt to regulate cultural and religious consensus within countries results in greater religious persecution. In short, Huntington’s ‘the clash of civilizations’ thesis created controversy among political scientists.

His thesis is neither proved nor disproved yet. There are both optimistic and pessimistic claims about the future relations between different civilizations. Interfaith Dialogue Those who are opposed to Huntington’s pessimistic view of the relations between civilizations initiated interfaith/intercultural dialogue attempts. A huge number of NGOs are trying to promote interfaith dialogue through various activities such as interfaith dialogue dinners, international symposiums, conferences and centers for interreligious studies.

Suleyman Nyang defines dialogue as ‘a process by which member of two religious communities try to build bridges between their respective groups and seek greater understanding between two communities’ (as cited in Takim, 2004, p 345). If we look at the etymology of the word dialogue, ‘dia’ in Greek means ‘the act of seeing through’. Takim (2004) applies this meaning to interfaith dialogue and claims that dialogue strengthens one’s own interaction with the sacred based on the experiences of others.

In other words, learning about other faiths and other people’s interaction with God provides an opportunity to reexamine and strengthen one’s own faith. Takim (2004) argues that many Muslims became more visible, vocal and extrovert, after 11 September. Interfaith dialogue activities also increased due to the need for interaction and better understanding of each other. According to Takim (2004) this new environment led to a shift from attempting the ‘conversion of’ others to that of a ‘conversation with’

others.

He claims that goal of dialogue is not to reach doctrinal agreement but to increase sensitivity for others. According to an international survey about education and teaching of intercultural and interreligious dialogue (done by UNESCO in 100 countries in 2000), most frequently mentioned goals of dialogue are: harmony, peace and agreement between peoples, progress and development, dissolution of fears through reduction of ignorance and prejudices and reduction of intolerance, fanaticism and confinement.

Tsutsumibayashi (2005) argues that the goal of dialogue is not just preventing future clashes; it goes beyond that and aims providing a global ethic in order to solve global problems that states fail to address such as human rights violations, environmental problems and terrorism. The majority of the scholars who discuss possibility of dialogue or clash between civilizations focus on Muslim-Christian relations due to the emerging threat from extremist Islamic terrorism. Kerr (2002) argues that Christian-Muslim studies became an emerging field of scholarship after September 11.

He talks about Western stereotypes about the Muslim world and criticizes Huntington for his selective reading of history. He draws attention to peaceful relations in history between Eastern Christian people (who lived in the Muslim world) and Muslim people. He believes that Christian-Muslim relations should be reinterpreted within ‘total complex’ of their past. Griffith & Saritoprak (2005) examines Fethullah Gulen’s approach to relations between Muslims and ‘the people of the books’ (Christians and Jews).

Gulen is a famous Muslim scholar in Turkey and one of the pioneers of the interreligious dialogue whose adherents initiated interreligious dialogue activities and expanded then all over the world. Turkish volunteers who are inspired by teachings of Gulen opened peace and friendship schools and branches

of the Institutions like the Institute of Interfaith Dialogue (IID) in Turkey, Europe, Central Asia, Africa and the US. Griffith & Saritoprak claim that Gulen’s dialogue efforts are very important for humanity at a time hatred is widespread.

There is a consensus among scholars and general public for the need for dialogue. Then the question comes: How can we foster fruitful dialogue? First of all, there should be willingness to learn about other religions. One should not fear from interfaith dialogue. Illman (2007) argues that insecurity in one’s own identity leads to fear and vital obstruction to the dialogue. Then, purpose and specific intent of dialogue should be made clear (Haney, 2004).

According to Haney, theological engagement and historical, social, interdisciplinary, comparative and critical study of religions are necessary for fruitful dialogue. Tsutsumibayashi (2005) claims that interreligious dialogue should be conducted primarily at the civil society level and it should be free from political interference. He argues that delineation of cultural boundaries and articulation of cultural contents can be prone to political manipulation. He believes in the significance of NGOs in promoting dialogue. The Impact of NGOs Lester M.

Salaman argues that proliferation of has a great impact in this century. He stated the following: “A striking upsurge is underway around the globe in…the creation of private, nonprofit or non-governmental organizations…Indeed we are in a midst of a global associational revolution that may prove to be as significant to the later 20th century as the rise of nation state was to 19th century” (as cited in Clarke, 1998, p. 36). Indeed, NGOs have enormously proliferated and have become increasingly influential in world politics in past three decades.

According to

Union of International Association’s Yearbook of International Organizations, international NGOs increased in number from 985 in 1956 to nearly 21,000 in 2003 (Reimann, 2006). Reimann (2006) argues that international political opportunities in the form of funding and political access have expanded in the post war period and enabled NGO growth. Donor states and intergovernmental organizations also promoted spread of NGOs to non-Western countries. According to Courville and Piper (2004), globalization led to feeling of disenfranchised and powerlessness and lack of trust in governments to address social and environmental problems.

This vacuum has been filled with formation of the NGOs. Courville and Piper (2004) argue that NGOs can play a crucial role to regain hope and address global problems such as economic injustices, human rights violations, migrant rights and fair trade. Matthews (1997) argues that transnational NGOs deepen global democracy by promoting power shift from states to liberal private organizations. Moreover, Charnovitz (2006) point out that NGOs contribute to the development, interpretation, judicial application and enforcement of international law.

He supports this argument by providing some historical examples such as achievement of women rights in America and Universal Declaration of Human rights where NGOs contributed to the process. NGOs have become an influential actor not only in the international arena, but also at the domestic level. NGOs make significant contribution to political life in developing countries, strengthen civil society and engender stability in transitional societies (Clarke, 1998). Faith based NGOs play an important role in promoting peace and stability through elimination of public bias towards different cultures and religions.

Smock (2004) emphasizes the role of religious NGOs in peacemaking and interfaith dialogue reconciliation. He mentions the faith based NGOs

that succeeded to promote interfaith dialogue and peace even in countries where religion has been source of conflict such as Bosnia, Macedonia, Mozambique, Nigeria and Jerusalem. Many religious oriented NGOs are working to overcome barriers to reconciliation. For example, there are more than 600 international NGOs active in Bosnia and Herzegovina as of the end of the 1990s (Leban, 2003).

Smock (2004) argues that more public recognition and support should be given to those religious NGOs so that they can reach their full potential as international peacemakers. In conclusion, The NGOs has become as a major actor on the world scene and more research needs to be done to explore influence of this major actor. There is no quantitative study done about the role of NGOs in shaping public attitudes. This research projects aims to contribute to existing literature by filling this gap. Research Question Political scientists made little contribution to NGO literature (Clarke, 1998).

I think one of the reasons for the lack of the research in this area is decentralized nature of the NGOs which makes it difficult to track what is going on. Some of them work globally whereas some work at the local level. Although it might be hard to figure out exact number and size of the NGOs in a country, the internet provides abundant resource that can be used to achieve an estimated number and size of the NGOs in a certain region. Most of the NGOs publish information regarding the history, mission and activities of themselves.

Official web sites of the United Nations, UNESCO and Council of Europe also provide information about list of NGOs associated with them and their activities.

There is also lack of empirical research about interfaith dialogue and public attitude about dialogue attempts and the clash of civilizations. Generally, current literature about interfaith dialogue and the clash of civilizations consist of qualitative articles that focus on historical cases (either positive or negative), personal assumptions, experiences which takes a side on this clash or dialogue of civilizations debate.

What we can learn from these studies is political scientists’ perceptions about the issue but we still do not know general public opinion and the power of the NGOs in shaping the public opinion. Given the growing NGO activism in addressing international problems in general and promoting peace and interfaith dialogue in particular, examining effectiveness of those NGOs in shaping public attitudes (which is the purpose of this study) would make a significant contribution to the existing literature.

Investigating this topic is important for international relations because, it will provide empirical evidence about the effectiveness of NGOs that are believed to be one of the most important actors in the international relations. Moreover, learning people’s attitudes towards other religions and testing Huntington’s thesis at the individual level will contribute a lot to the current debate about clash or dialogue of civilizations. Since both the concept of interfaith dialogue and the NGO activism are recent developments, there is no existing pertinent theory about this topic.

I will be the first one who is testing the relationship between NGO activism and public attitude to people of different religion and culture. Hypothesis and Variables Hypothesis: As the number and size of NGOs that engage in interfaith dialogue increases in a country, public attitude to people of different religion and culture becomes

more positive. In other words, people become more tolerant towards people from other religions and cultures and optimistic about future relations with other civilizations as the number and activities of the NGOs that engage in interfaith/intercultural dialogue increases in a country.

Dependent Variable: Public attitude to people of different religion and culture. Attitude is defined as: “a complex mental state involving beliefs and feelings and values and dispositions to act in certain ways” (wordnet. princeton. edu/perl/webwn) Independent Variable: Number of NGOs that engage in interfaith dialogue activities in a country. NGOs are defined as: “formal independent social organizations whose primary aim is to promote common goals at the national or international level” (Martens, 2002, p. 282).

Control Variables: Religiosity, Education, Gender, Age. Testing the Hypothesis Since most of the time debate about clash of civilizations focus on relations between Muslim civilization and Western civilization and NGOs that promote interfaith dialogue are more abundant in the West, Western countries are suitable to test my hypothesis. I chose European countries as my sample due to constraints in the availability of public opinion data set. Unfortunately there is no data set that reflects public attitude towards people from different religions and cultures in the US.

Even if there was data available, searching all the NGOs in the US would be too much time consuming and would be beyond the scope of this study. I think European countries will be an appropriate sample for this study because there is considerable number of immigrants from other nations and religions (especially Muslim immigrants) in Europe. According to Eurobarometer survey in Intercultural Dialogue in Europe (2007), 65% of Europeans had interactions with people of a

different religion or culture.

If I were to chose countries that are more homogenous (in terms of culture and religion), respondents from those countries could have little or no idea about clash of civilizations or their responses could be misleading since they would not have much interaction with other nations and religions. I will use Eurobarometer Opinion Poll (1997), round one European Social Survey (2002) and Flash Eurobarometer survey on Intercultural Dialogue in Europe (2007) to operationalize my dependent variable.

However, there are some useful internet sources such as United Nations Department of Public Information Nongovernmental Organizations, Council of Europe Nongovernmental Organizations, UNESCO Intercultural Dialogue and United Nations Alliance of Civilizations. Official web pages of those institutions provide the lists and location of associated NGOs that engage in interfaith dialogue. I will use these sources to figure out number of NGOs that have links to UN and Council of Europe. I will also make more internet search to reach other local NGOs.

Generally, almost all NGOs have web pages that can be captured by Google search. The estimated numbers might not reflect the reality. Nevertheless, I believe that it will be close to real case since those official sites are reliable and provide information about at least active NGOs. The NGOs that might be omitted in this study would probably be local based, small scale ones which may not even have a great impact on public attitude. The surveys that I will use include questions that ask religious views as well as demographic information about the respondents.

Therefore, operationalizing control variables will be easy. I will use multivariate regression model to test my hypothesis. I decided to use quantitative

methods as opposed to qualitative methods and case studies since there is the lack of quantitative study in this topic. I will create dummy variables for each country in order to measure country variations in public attitudes as the number of NGOs vary. I will also check change in public attitudes and change in number of NGOs in each country as time passes. The surveys that I will use are implemented in 1997, 2000 and 2007.

The number of NGOs has considerable increased after September 11. Therefore, these surveys will allow me to observe whether increase of the NGOs have a positive influence on public attitude or not. Conclusion I expect to find a positive relationship between number of NGOs that engage in interfaith dialogue and public attitude to people of different religion and culture. I believe so, because negative attitudes stem from media stereotypes, misconceptions and lack of education. These NGOs increase public awareness and empathy through various activities. The role of religiosity could be mixed.

On the one hand, those who define themselves as religious and who have radical conservative beliefs might be less tolerant to other religions. On the other hand, those who define themselves as religious and who have moderate religious beliefs are more interested in interfaith dialogue activities and more tolerant towards other religions. I do not expect to find any significant relationship between gender, age and public attitude. Annotated Bibliography Charnovitz, S. (2006) Nongovernmental organizations and International law.

The American Journal of International Law. 00: 348-372 Charnovitz focuses on NGO activities aimed at influencing International relations, particularly International law. He examines identity of NGOs, legal status of NGOs and impact of NGOs

on transforming international law. Charnovitz argues that NGOs contribute to the development, interpretation, judicial application and enforcement of international law. He supports this argument by providing some historical examples such as achievement of women rights in America and Universal Declaration of Human rights where NGOs contributed to the process.

Clarke, G. (1998). Non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and politics in the developing world. Political Studies, 46: 36-52 Clarke argues that political scientists made little contribution to the NGO literature which has become a crucial actor in the new world order. His article aims to fill this gap by examining main political themes in NGO literature. He discusses the role of NGOs in developing world where political parties are weak and tensions between NGOs and governments because of NGOs challenge to the status quo.

Clarke concludes that NGOs make significant contribution to political life in developing countries, strengthen civil society and engender stability in transitional societies. Courville, S. & Piper, N (2004). Harnessing hope through NGO activism. American Academy of Political and Social Science. 592: 39-61. This article explores the relationship between hope and agency with power and role of hope in social change. They define hope as ‘desire for certain events to happen’. They argue that hope without agency does not lead to activism and NGOs help to reclaim certain level of agency.

Emotions shared within NGOs increase hope and enable empowerment process to begin. Thus, NGOs help to address global problems such as economic injustices, human rights violations, migrant rights and fair trade. They conclude that NGOs can play a crucial role in translating individual hopes into combined efforts of action. Cox, M. Russet, B. & Oneal, J. R.

(2000) Clash of Civilizations, or Realism and Liberalism Deja Vu? Some Evidence. Journal of Peace Research, 37:583-608 Esposito, J. & Voll, J. (1996). Islam and democracy. New York: Oxford University Press Finke, R. & Grim, B. 2007) Religious persecution in cross-national context: clashing civilizations or regulated religious economies? American Sociological Review, 72 (4): 633-658. Grim and Finke argue that role of religion in social conflicts is overlooked and there is the lack of quantitative study in this issue. They test Huntington’s “the clash of civilizations” thesis as opposed to the proposition that religious regulation leads to religious persecution. They use data coded from 2003 International Religious Freedom Reports to measure religious persecution and religious regulation in 143 nations to test religious regulation hypothesis.

They use Herfindahl-Hirschman Index to measure religious monopoly to test impact of civilizational diversity in religious persecution. . Their findings show that religious persecution increases as religious regulation increases and civilizational divides have only limited effect on religious persecution. Griffith, S & Saritoprak, Z. (2005) Fethullah Gulen and ‘the people of the book’: A voice from Turkey for interfaith dialogue. The Muslim World, 95 (3): 329-340. This article examines Fethullah Gulen’s efforts for interreligious dialogue and analyzes his perspective of Muslim-Christian relations.

They discuss Gulen’s statements about interfaith dialogue which is based on Quran, Sufi tradition and life of Prophet Mohammed. They also discuss the activities of Gulen’s followers that aim building bridges between religions. This case study shows peaceful face of Islam and provides evidence for optimistic views of civilizational relations. Hunter, S. T. (1998), The future of Islam and the West: Clash of civilizations or peaceful coexistence? Westport, Conn. : Praeger. This

book is an attempt to refute the clash of civilizations thesis.

Hunter provides a pragmatic analysis of relations between Islam and the West. Her book gives a realistic and accurate assessment of the relative role of civilizational factors in determining the nature of the state and the prospects for Muslim-Western relations. She concludes that that there is nothing intrinsic or historic in Islam that is anti-Western. She claims that Western hatred in the Muslim world has much to do with America’s support of Israel, history of colonial rule and socio-economic change in Muslim countries and less to do with religion. Huntington, S. P. (1996).

The clash of civilizations and the remaking of world order. New York: Simon & Schuster Haney, M. S. (2004) The practice of theological engagement in interreligious dialogue: The need for a clarification. The Muslim World, 94 (3): 357-371 Haney explores prerequisites for a successful interreligious dialogue in his article. He argues that there are two main prerequisites for a successful dialogue: to seek understanding and clarity of purpose. First of all, there should be willingness to learn about other religions. Then, purpose and specific intent of dialogue should be made clear.

He believes that women have the ability to foster dialogue since they have ethic of risk (risk of entering an unfamiliar religious landscape), ethic of responsibility and commitment, an affirmation of religious diversity as an opportunity for creative conflict and comprehension of importance of dialogue as an integral to both Christian mission and Islamic dawah. According to him, theological engagement and historical, social, interdisciplinary, comparative and critical study of religions are also necessary for fruitful dialogue. Illman, R. (2007). Words of worth: Talking

religiously about peace and dialogue.

Peace and Change. 32(3): 415-434 Ilman address the question of what special contribution the engagement of religious communities and individuals offer to peace movement. He analyses approaches of the Christian churches in Finland for peace and dialogue. His analysis is based on interviews with four church leaders who signed Peace Appeal in 2004. The church leaders focus on commonalities between Islam and Christianity and refer to verses from Bible that encourages forgiveness, tolerance and peace. Like Gulen case, the efforts of these church leaders provide hope for better elations. Inglehart & Norris (2002). Islamic culture and democracy: Testing the clash of civilizations thesis. Comparative Sociology. 1: 235-263. Inglehart & Norris tested ‘the clash of civilizations’ thesis by comparing social and political values of Muslims and Western societies. They used World Value Survey and European Value Survey to examine political and social values in 75 nations and found that there is no difference between Western society and Muslim nations as far as the political values (support for democracy) are concerned.

However, they found a sharp difference between two civilizations when it comes to social values such as gender equality and sexual liberalization and support for religious authorities. Kerr, D. (2002) Christianity and Islam: ‘clash of civilizations’ or ‘community of reconciliation’? Questions for Christian–Muslim studies. Studies in World Christianity, 8: 81-98. Kerr argues that Christian-Muslim studies became an emerging field of scholarship after September 11. He classifies the studies in this field into three trajectories: Historical studies, comparative religious studies and dialogical studies.

He talks about Western stereotypes about Muslim world and criticizes Huntington for his selective reading of history. He claims that there is

no single history of Muslim-Christian relations and draws attention to peaceful relations in the history such as Eastern Christian perspectives who lived in the Muslim world. He also talks about common approaches to reconciliation in Christianity and Islam. He quotes the verse in the Quran which says that ‘Christians are closest in love to those who believe’ (5:82).

He emphasizes the need for dialogue and mutual understanding and believes that Christian-Muslim relations should be reinterpreted within ‘total complex’. He concludes with a quotation from Hans Kung (1988): ‘there will be no peace among nations until there is peace among religions” Leban, M. (2003). Faith-Based NGOs in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The International Journal of Not-for- Profit Law. Liyakatali, T (2004) From conversion to conversation: Interfaith dialogue in post 9-11 America.

The Muslim World 94 (3): 343–355 Takim examines interfaith dialogue attempts in America which gained considerable attention after 11 September. His article provides descriptive and explanatory information about concept of dialogue, development of interfaith dialogue and goals of dialogue. He also provides some normative suggestions for better dialogue such as being action oriented, confronting realities of past hatred and violence and increasing community awareness through schools, scholars and work places. Martens, K. (2002) Mission impossible?

Defining nongovernmental organizations. International Journal of Voluntary and Nonprofit Organizations . 13 (3): 271-285. Matthews, T. J. (1997). Power shift. Foreign Affairs, 76: 50-67 Reimann, D. K. (2006). A view from the top: International Politics, norms and worldwide growth of NGOs. International Studies Quarterly, 50: 45-67 This article examines reasons of rapid growth of NGOs. Reimann argues that international political opportunities in the form of funding and political access have expanded in the post

war period and enabled NGO growth.

He also argues that donor states and intergovernmental organizations promoted spread of NGOs to non-Western countries. Salamon, L. M. (1994) The rise of the nonprofit sector, Foreign Affairs, 73: 109 (14) Said, Edward (2001). A Clash of Ignorence. The Nation. Smock, D. (2004). Divine intervention: Regional reconciliation through faith. Harvard International Review, 25(4), 46-51. Smock focuses on religious organizations that try to contribute to international peace in his article.

He claims that religious causes of conflict gained plenty of public attention whereas role of religion as a source of peace building is neglected. His article provides information about activities of faith based NGOs that contribute to peace making and interfaith reconciliation. Those faith based NGOs succeeded to promote interfaith dialogue and peace even in countries where religion has been source of conflict such as Bosnia, Macedonia, Mozambique, Nigeria and Jerusalem.

Smock argues that more public recognition and support should be given to those religious NGOs so that they can reach their full potential as international peacemakers. Tsutsumibayashi, K (2005). Fusion of horizons or confusion of horizons? Intercultural dialogue and its risks. Global Governance 11:103-114. Tsutsumibayashi focus on requirements for meaningful dialogue in this article. First, he mentions need for dialogue and need for creation of global ethic. Then he explores risks that should be avoided during dialogue attempts and provides some normative arguments for better dialogue.