| dc.description.abstract | This thesis argues that religion impacts peace between members of
different religious groups, but it is at times not in the manner that some religious
leaders and some of those who favourably comment on religious
peacebuilding hold. It makes this argument based on primary data collected in
Abuja, north-central Nigeria and evidence collected from the academic
literature on religion, peace and conflict in northern Nigeria and other areas.
Rather than take the common path of evaluating the role of religious
peacebuilding in conflict or post-conflict settings, the research explores
lessons that could be derived from “zones of peace.” This term is used in the
study to refer to religiously mixed communities where violent interreligious
conflicts have not occurred. While conflict-affected parts of northern Nigeria
have been studied by several researchers, relatively peaceful areas in the
region have received less empirical attention. One such area is Abuja, which
has a unique identity as the capital of a heterogeneous Nigeria. Hence, this
research aimed to explore the impact of three interrelated religious factors on
the relative peace existing in the territory and draw on academic literature to
interpret the findings and contribute to the fields of religious peacebuilding,
interreligious relations, and Christian-Muslim relations in northern Nigeria. The
factors are religious leaders, religious peace norms, and religious peace
activism.
Guided by an interpretive paradigm and adopting a case study design,
the author conducted fieldwork in Abuja from January to August 2019. The
study discovered that religion matters to lay Christians and Muslims in Abuja
in a variety of ways, for example, as a source of strength amidst life’s
challenges and as a marker of identity that helps to define oneself and the
other. Within this context of religiosity, various forms of religious peacebuilding,
which are supposedly motivated primarily by religious peace norms, take
place. This suggests that religious leaders, religious peace norms and religious
peace activism have helped to sustain the relative peace in Abuja. However,
while various kinds of religious peacebuilding take place in the area, and while
there is a common perception among religious leaders that religion is a crucial
source of the relative peace in the territory, interviews with lay Christians and
Muslims there show that these religious factors (leaders, norms and activism)
are rarely at the centre of their choice or decision to have peaceful attitudes
towards religious others, despite the interreligious divides existing in the
territory. Instead, it was self-protection, concern for family, a desire for survival
and progress, and the prevention of the harmful consequences of physical
violence. These practical issues often matter strongly to believers, sometimes
more than religious differences or the religious peacebuilding that responds to
them. The study also discovered that interreligious dialogue between top-level
Christian and Muslim religious leaders in Abuja, which is one of the methods
of religious peacebuilding being carried out in the territory, seems to have a
limited impact on the peace that exists on the ground. Furthermore, the
research showed how the interreligious peace in the area partially depends on
factors that are primarily nonreligious, even though they are often interwoven
with religion. These include Abuja’s demographics, governance, and policing.
These findings serve as the major basis of the above-stated argument of the
thesis. While showing the relevance of religion in the dynamics of interreligious
peace, the study highlights the importance of believers’ practical interests in
these dynamics. | en |
