Peacebuilding in a fractious world: on hoping against all hope

In January 2017 Mikhail Gorbachev, former president of the Soviet Union, said that it looks as if the world is preparing for war. And Pope Francis noted that war is already being fought piecemeal around the world. In this book we argue that since violence begets violence, we must privilege soft power over military might, if we are to have peace on earth. Gandhi used soft power in India overcame British military might, and King used it to bring about integration in the 1960s. Soft power brought about the nuclear nonproliferation treaty, the Kyoto climate agreement, and Iran's agreement to refrain from making nuclear weapons. Soft power involves both dialogue between world leaders and conflict resolution, and privileges diplomacy over war. As General James Mattis said in 2013, "If you don't fund the State Department fully, then I need to buy more ammunition

Introduction / Richard Penaskovic and Mustafa Şahin -- Three dimensions for reflective dialogue / Donal Carbaugh -- Ethics and the problem of lnterpretation in sacred scriptures / Ori Z. Soltes -- The importance of interreligious dialogue for peacebuilding : a Muslim's itinerary / Abdelwahab Hechiche -- "Whirling diversions" in Turkey / John A. Tures -- Peacebuilding according to Daisaku Ikeda and Soka Gakkai International / Richard Penaskovic -- The Israeli-Palestinian peace process, the United Nations, and nongovernmental organizations / Jason R. Tatlock -- The symbolic power for peace in the encounter between Saint Francis and Sultan Al-Kamil / W.M. Loyd Allen -- Roger Williams, religious freedom, and the path to peace / Robert N. Nash Jr. -- In the steps of Pope John XX.III, the Reverend Doctor Martin Luther King Jr., and Archbishop Oscar Romero / James M. Dawsey And Adam Y. Wells -- Reflections on refugee and asylum policy in the United States and Germany : bringing peace to a fractious world / Paul A . Harris and William E. Baker