Theorising Religion and Violence: René Girard and Samuel Huntington
In this module, we think about two theories on the relationship between religion and conflict, offered by René Girard and Samuel Huntington. We focus on: (i) Girard’s argument that religion exists to limit violence, which actually stems from “mimetic rivalry” - the desire of people to have what others possess; (ii) how religion removes the need for conflict according to Girard by producing scapegoats which bind individuals together; (iii) Huntington’s “clash of civilisations” thesis, which argues that markers of difference between civilisations, like religion, will the main cause of conflict in the post-Cold War world; (iv) the popularisation of Huntington’s writings as a way of framing the relations between the Muslim and Christian worlds after 9/11; (v) the argument, derived from Girard, that the risk of conflict between Christianity and Islam is not due to intrinsic antipathy, but rather the process of “othering”.
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This lecture is part of a larger course exploring the relationship between religion and conflict: https://massolit.io/courses/religion-...
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