Religion and Conflict, Religion and Peace: Demystifying the Role of Religion in Conflict Dynamics

Dear Colleagues,

Oversimplifying religion as simply a cultural phenomenon unrelated to political organization or as solely dealing with soteriology can lead to, at best, misguided recommendations for conflict resolution and, at worst, progressively escalating and protracted episodes of injustice and violence in the name of religion. Conversely, by overemphasizing the importance of religion in conflict, other factors like economic disparity or structural violence may get short shrift. This Special Issue takes as a premise that it may only be possible to follow Richard Horsley's (2003) advice, namely that, when striving "for critical studies of religion, we must almost certainly be thinking in terms of ‘religion and...’".^[i] In other words, religion, in Horsley's sense, cannot be understood as a stand-alone social phenomenon, and therefore concepts like ‘religious conflict’ are inaccurate and misleading. In this reading of religion as an institutionalized collective belief system, compound ideas like ‘religious conflict’ become meaningless due to the broad connotations and presumptions they arouse.

This Special Issue aims to comparatively explore ‘Western’ and ‘Non-Western’ conceptions of religion and faith-based lifestyles and to explore what  divergent conceptions mean for understanding the role of religion in peace. Of specific interest will be manuscripts that explore both the key factors and best means of overcoming violent religious militancy (or, to put it another way, the best means to countering violent extremism— Countering Violent Extremism (CVE) of the ‘religious’ variety). What role does religion and religious belief and doctrine play in conflict transformation and positive peace? What can be learned from adopting methods of religious studies in analyzing conflict dynamics and peace processes? Aiming to overcome mispreceptions about the role of religion in peacemaking and peacebuilding processes, this Speical Issue will demystify the common conception that ‘religious conflicts’ are a special and incommensurable category of social conflict. Of particular interest to the Guest Editor are manuscripts that address the following broad sub-themes:

• Religious leaders’ attempts to counter violent extremism;
• Use of religious langauge and doctrine to justify either violence and/or peace;
• Attempts to redefine conflicts, like the protracted conflict in Palestine–Israel, as being other than religious;
• Interfaith encounters and dialogue as unique means of building peace;
• Persistent beliefs in violence and force as religiously sanctioned and justified forms of conflict-management, resolution, or even transformation.

We expect that this Special Issue will have broad and deep impact on policymakers and peace practitioners working in conflicts that are often chacterized as being primarily of a religious variety.

We request that, prior to submitting a manuscript, interested authors initially submit a proposed title and an abstract of 200–300 words summarizing their intended contribution. Please send the title and abstract as an expression of intersted by 31 January 2026 to the Guest Editor, or to the Assistant Editor of Religions. Abstracts will be reviewed by the Guest Editor for the purposes of ensuring proper fit within the scope of this Special Issue. Full manuscripts will undergo double-blind peer review, with full manucscripts being due by 28 February 2026. We look forward to receiving your contributions.

NOTES:

i Richard Horsley, "Religion and Other Products of Empire," Journal of the American Academy of Religion (71: 1, 2003), 39.

Dr. Jeremy A. Rinker
Guest Editor

Dr. Daniel Rhodes
Co-Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a double-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Religions is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1800 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• religion and conflict
• religion and peacemaking
• interfaith dialogue
• interreligious contract
• religious miltants
• Countering Violent Extremism (CVE)
• conflict dynamics
• values conflicts
• belief/faith
• peacebuilding