By Thomas D. Williams, Ph.D.
Rome provides a “neutral brokerage” where religious leaders can work together for peace, says Jerry White, the US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State in the Bureau of Conflict and Stabilization Operations.
In an interview with Vatican Radio, White spoke of the need for faith leaders to work harder to prevent religiously motivated violence. Islamic state extremists have brought the question of faith and violence to the fore, and the world religions must be in the forefront of the peace process.
The type of violence growing in the world is “religion related,” says White. “Religion is a vocabulary that is being used, even every day as we look in the paper, to justify violence.” For this reason, “religion has to be part of the solution.”
“How can we isolate that virus?” asks White. How could we all work together to prevent the killing of innocent civilians in the name of God?”