Strengthening Social Peace through Strengthening Humans

Approaches, Tools and Cautions

Dr. Michel E. Abs

Secretary General of the Middle East Council of Churches

This speech was delivered at an international consultation on Civil Peace

Man is an integrated whole, a social, economic and psychological being at the same time. Moreover,  it is not possible to separate these dimensions from each other, nor to work on one of them without working on the other. The same could be said about the main dimension which is religion: it enshrines the story of creation and the path of salvation for the human being who has been discovering his weakness day after day, and his helplessness before the greatness of the Creator and of creation, despite the progress of science and knowledge. This statement is moresow true of humankind, the greater is his knowledge, the greater is his realization of the greatness of his Creator and the more he becomes conscious of his weakness as he ignores the necessity of His support.

A number of ideologies, creeds as well as intellectual and political trends have tried to attack religion, denying the Creator, and destroying the whole body of people’s belief that formed the cornerstone of human progress, it did not succeed. Rather, it fell with the fatal blow that came from the believers who have a close relationship with their Creator and those who seek His inspiration and seek His blessing and care in everything they do, at every time and in every place.

Religion, then, is a givenness that cannot be ignored or evaded. Rather, it must be considered in all that is to be drawn in social or educational policies, especially in terms of the values ​​that it manifests and that constitute the best controls for normal social behavior.

In addition, history has proven that people are ready to lay down their lives for the sake of their belief as well as for being ready to consider  that such a termless sacrifice is priceless for the Lord sees and rewards such a selfless offering abundantly.

Based on all that has been mentioned, we consider that freedom of belief is the epitome of freedoms as it deals with the roots of human destiny, and this as from time immemorial to eternity. This means that there is no way to try to curb down freedom of belief or interfere with it, as long as those who practice their belief adhere to the boundaries of faith, and their practices do not harm their brothers in religion or in humanity.

However, humanity is moving more and more towards the pattern of diversified and multi-religious societies, races, ethnicities, political beliefs, as well as of other dimensions of identity and areas of human affiliation, a fact that inescapably would entail social disorganization and several confrontations, and God only knows what would result from that in terms of security upheavals that could lead to states of civil wars.

Hence the necessity of building the societal-being, the new human being, who belongs to the notion of comprehensive citizenship, which breeds diversity, and which improves the management of this diversity, transforming it from a potential curse into a realized blessing.

We are today in an era of a human-rights culture, in a time when everyone's voice is required to be heard, and in which people are able to express their thoughts, opinions, orientations, and choices, in order to have life and to have it abundantly, as stated by the Incarnate Master.

Therefore, although the freedom of faith and belief constitutes a basic freedom, and indeed the cornerstone of freedoms, it leads us to other freedoms that a person needs to enjoy in order for his life to be abundant.

Since we consider that the human person is an integrated whole, and that “development is the growth of every human being into full maturity”, as the pioneer of Lebanese development thought, Dr. Hassan Saab put it, then furthering growth by working on expediting the development of one dimension of human life only is barely enough. For if freedom of faith and creed is the cornerstone of all other freedoms, then the importance of such a cornerstone lies for us in using it as a fundamental mainspring for erecting the whole building

Therefore, we consider that working on one of the components of citizenship only incubating diversity is not sufficient, even if such a component is of uppermost importance, as development studies have shown that if one social component is developed while the rest of the components are left in a state of backwardness, then  stressing such a component would surely wipe out the component itself that we had set out to develop .

Based on this societal fact, we consider that working on the development of social values ​​and culture in order to reach comprehensive citizenship, or inclusive citizenship, is the most appropriate and comprehensive approach that must be worked on as an incubating framework for all activities that lead to the growth of a normal person who respects others in their belief, color, ethnicity and political affiliation, as well as in their class or familial choices. All this should be taken into consideration in formulating a specific framework of the applicable conditions and controls to be stipulated by the law.

Scientifically and practically, I cannot build up a person who respects the religious belief of others while he does not respect the rest of the social and cultural dimensions of his being. On the contrary, if we succeed in building a person who accepts the other - and sometimes it is the other ego - then we will have succeeded in reaching a radical shift in social values ​​and behavior.

This path is difficult and arduous, and its results are not guaranteed due to the setbacks that we have witnessed in this field, where apostasy is sometimes the only outlet for a person suffering from the syndrome of resistance to change.

Yes, this path, the path of building up a new human being, a societal human being, who is aware that he treasures in his person all the wealth and characteristics of society, is a dangerous and difficult path that can only be trodden  by those who are firmly decided to reach their final and irreversible choices, leading to a new social contract. Otherwise, psychological mechanisms, the most important  of which is resistance to change, are on the lookout in order to push such mechanisms into the tunnel of insecurity and return it to square one,  that is to the square of discrimination, fanaticism, the condemnation of the other, and his rejection.

In this context, we must differentiate between two types of affiliations, referring in our stress of religiosity:

The first type of affiliation is based mainly on the principles of open, tolerant faith, linked to a beautiful relationship with the Creator and with man his brother in religion and humanity. This type of affiliation is directed to the heart of a person, to his faith, piety, and love for the Creator, and is based on the essence of belief, so it is a rule, not directed against others. These are the people I interact with on a daily basis in my community, and I call them the Normal Christian or the Normal Mohammedan.

As for the second type of affiliation, it is the case of someone who has not grasped anything about religion, so he considers that his religious affiliation is directed against others, and this is a case of ignorance of the essence and dimensions of religious faith. This type of a person is the one who carries in his mind and psyche the main threat to human society as well as to civil peace.

Here the challenge posed to religious leaders and institutions is to build the right person, who understands the meaning of religion, and considers it as an instrument of peace, not as an instrument of conflict and strife.

But the challenges facing the rest of the community's leaders and references are much greater.

The movement of society towards the social contract requires cooperation, backing and support from spiritual leaders, but a project of this type, if it is to be complete in order to reach success and enjoy permanence and sustainability, it must be a project for an entire country, and therefore it cannot be pursued without adequate framing by the state through all its component parts.

If we really want to move from a state of basic primary affiliations to a state of advanced societal affiliations, we cannot rely on that which differs from a frightening past  and move to some sort of a different changed parameter except through the full presence of the state.

We give that which belongs to Caesar to Caesar, and that which belongs to God to God, but this does not prevent us from saying to Caesar that God does not approve of people fighting because of Him, or because of the interests they harbor attributing them to His Name.

Therefore, we consider that the role of religious authorities presents itself in two main dimensions:

- The first dimension is pressure exerted on the political authorities in order to establish programs that lead to the unity of society and fortify its cohesion. Here, religious reference persons must inform the ruler, the decision-maker, and the detainers of solutions and linkages, that religion has no need for a disintegrating society, whose sons fight each other every few decades, and that the strength of religion lies in familiarity between people, not in hostility between them.

- The second dimension is in conveying the Good Word to the believers, because they usually listen to what the clergy says. There are clerics who exhort people to violence and fighting for sure, but there are thousands of them who preach harmony, affection and love. Religious institutions can play a role at the grass roots level as much as they are able to influence the elite level.

In this context, we must stress the need for the logic of mutual respect, as well as acceptance and respect for differences, to descend from the elite level to the popular level, otherwise these values ​​will turn into slogans that have no social impact.

As for the state, the great assembly of the people, the protector of the people and the guarantor of their interests, it has the greatest responsibility and the heaviest burden.

A government that seeks to build a cohesive society characterized by stability that stimulates investment that raises incomes, increases wealth, and secures prosperity, must adopt a policy of social integration in the context of building a society of full citizenship and an identity that embraces diversity.

This policy consists of several dimensions, which must be combined and worked with each other in order to achieve harmony in aiming at interim goals in order to reach the final goal.

The approach is both easy and difficult.

It is easy if intentions are pure and there are bright elites in power who want to achieve civil peace and build up a normal citizenry. But if there are groups of those in power who have mastered the manipulation of the feelings of the masses, sucking the blood of people and throwing them into the furnace of strife, then we what we try to reach is trying in vain.

The approach to building a societal human being, and bringing people out of the state of the jungle into the state of society, requires the following three dimensions: legislation, education, and media.

At the legislative level, laws must be reviewed and amended in order to eliminate every discriminatory dimension in them, be it racial, ethnic, religious, gender-oriented , class or family oriented, and the list could be long. Is it reasonable for a society to have personal status laws as many as there are sects, as is the case in Lebanon? Amending the law leads to correcting mandatory concepts that may foster discrimination between people, which leads to demonizing the components of society against each other. The unified legislation for all aspects of life is a primary means of equality between citizens and making them equal before the law, and thus the absence of any room for discrimination between people.

At the educational level, the plan requires building a modern educational system that spreads good values ​​among young people, qualifies them to enter society in the right way, and prepares them to be citizens with an identity that embraces diversity. Subject matters such as civic education, literature, and history are appropriate tools that must be relied upon in order to promote constructive values ​​that preserve the unity, peace, and future of society.

It goes without saying that youth activities, such as scouts, civil defense organizations, the Red Cross, environmental organizations, among others, constitute the appropriate place for education on getting to know the other, acquire training in democracy, full citizenship, and social responsibility. It is necessary for the state to encourage this through legislation and funding as well, and to ensure that these groups do not have any discriminatory dimension.

The third dimension, which plays a pivotal role, is the media.

Today, the media is considered as the supreme societal authority that is capable of socializing people -young and old alike. It has the ability to change minds and direct opinions, attitudes, and even values. It is considered, in the sprawling world of social communication, the force capable of shaping or reshaping values.

Therefore, society and the state must be active, hand in hand, in this field, first in order to prevent the use of the media to divide people, which is very difficult and fraught with dangers as it may affect public freedoms, and secondly in order to spread the culture of social unity and harmony.

In this regard, the state and civil society organizations can, through the media, carry out media campaigns, at all levels, in order to consolidate the culture of unity of life in the minds of people, especially the minds of young people.

This plan may seem ideal and far-fetched, but it has succeeded in more than one place in the world, with positive as well as negative impacts we acknowledge, however nothing prevents the adoption of these approaches for the good of society and of the people.

“He who uses a big stone does not reach his target”, says the popular proverb in Lebanon. However, in this brief paper, we are not in the process of using a big stone, but rather we are in the process of diagnosing the ideal situation and drawing up a plan and a general framework in order to reach the desired goals. Max Weber says, "You will not be able to reach the possible if you do not try to reach the impossible," especially if other societies have reached this "impossible."

In conclusion, we must emphasize that every attempt to deal with this matter through a few of its components that could be easily singled out and thus overthrown such as working on reaching the freedom of religious practice and belief, is a commendable attempt. However, if we choose to proceed thus, we would be dealing with the dilemma that we want to solve by singling out one component, and thus weaken or even eliminate its effect as we stated earlier. We may have no choice but to do so in the absence of the ability to implement a comprehensive societal plan, a plan in which all its component elements are coordinated and synergistic with each other and placed under the supervision of coordinated bodies of the state, of religious leaders and of civil societal organizations.

We must move forward on this path, betting on the anxiety that grips the hearts of people in our societies, and that weighs especially on the hearts of the members of the new generation who look suspiciously at tomorrow, in societies whose civil peace and stability is under the mercy of a statement or phrase written by a crazy fanatic on the wall of a house of worship or on the virtual wall of social media pages.

However , be it as it may, that goal is worth trying.

Rome, March 7, 2023.

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