Religion and Peacebuilding - Assignment

conflicts, explore how religious education situates itself within the “4Rs”.
Self-Reflection
As a Nichiren Buddhist and member of SGI-UK, education and self-improvement is one of the
foundations of my spiritual belief. Study, in terms of studying the religious learnings of our faith –
the Lotus Sutra, the Gosho, which were letters written by Nichiren to his followers, and the
writings of the current and former Presidents of Soka Gakkai and the SGI - is one of the “Three
Practices” adherents should carry out on a regular basis to develop and strengthen one's faith.
However, secular education also has a very important role in our practice, in enabling us to make
the very best of our own lives and contribute to society to the best of our abilities. It is not simply
the accumulation of knowledge that is important, but the application of it to create value in
society 1 .
As such I am aware that I view education as vital, and religious education as something that
improves the lives of others. It is clear, however, that religious education has been frequently used
to cause harm and foment violent conflict. R. Scott Appleby's seminal work “The Ambivalence of
the Sacred” contains an entire chapter dedicated to the what he calls “Violence as a sacred duty”.
In summary, he views religious violence coming about at the point where religious extremists use
religious teachings to galvanise religious, or ethnoreligious, actors into violent conflict against a
perceived enemy 2 (Appleby:1999). I must, therefore, be aware that my view of religious education
as always being a benign force may be at odds with much of the evidence I will be examining.
Secondly, in light of my own religious persuasion, I have carefully chosen a definition of religion to
reflect the fact that some religions, including Buddhism, do not have an all-powerful god as their
1 “Persons merely excelling in such areas [as book learning and technology] are nothing more than component parts
of a colossal mechanism of the state and society. Truly desirable people of ability are creative people who untiringly
pursue lofty ideals, who have rich individuality and who can make free and effective use of their knowledge and
skills." (Ikeda:1968)
2 “Religious violence occurs when extremist leaders, in reaction to perceived injustices in the structural environment
of the society, successfully employ religious arguments designed to mobilize religious (or ethnoreligious) actors to
retaliate against their enemies.” (Appleby: 1999, p.282)
2