War and peace in the context of the theory of "ambivalence of the sacred"

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National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine

War and peace in the context of the theory of «ambivalence of the sacred»

Kulahina-Stadnichenko Hanna

Candidate of Philosophical Sciences (PhD)

Senior Research Fellow

In the conditions of Russian aggression, the question of the interpretation of war and peace in religious doctrines became too topical, already in view of the fact that the conduct of military operations of the Russian Federation against Ukraine is actively supported and sanctified by the Russian Orthodox Church. The manipulative accusations of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine of «non-canonicality» became one of the arguments for waging a «holy war» - the aggressive policy of the Russian Federation in seizing Ukrainian territories for its own benefit. Currently, on both sides of the military conflict there are believers of the same, Orthodox, religion. Once again, it became necessary to investigate the attitude of the Orthodox Churches to the war and the participation of their faithful in it. Examining this problem in historical retrospect, with the help of religious documents, catechisms (confessions of faith) theologians found out that the official doctrines of the Russian Orthodox Church and the Orthodox Church of Ukraine perceive the sixth commandment of the Law of God «do not kill» differently [3].

The above example confirms the thesis about the ambivalence of the sacred, which was proposed in the book of the same name by Scott Appleby, director of the Joan B. Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies, professor of history at the University of Notre Dame. According to the scientist, the ambivalence of the sacred means that the same religion can contribute to political violence and conflicts, and on the other hand, to produce non-violent civil activity [1]. Therefore, two main questions arise. First, why and under what conditions do some religious figures choose the path of violence, while others seek justice through non-violent means, work on the reconciliation of subjects? Second, what is to be gained by engaging what Scott Appleby calls «nonviolent religious militants» in peacemaking? [2]

Here, it is important to define the functionality of religious violence and religious peacemaking, since both phenomena stem from the same religious dynamics. The author designates this dynamic with the term «militancy», which means the readiness, even the desire of a person, under certain conditions, to sacrifice himself, his family, his loved ones, the most valuable property for the sake of a noble cause, which is considered sacred, exists outside of time and space, touches the deepest human feeling.

Already by definition, religion means a desire for transcendence, movement, going beyond the boundaries of the everyday, spatial and temporal, physical and conditional. In addition, it implicitly or explicitly emphasizes the purely human desire to «go beyond history». Self-sacrifice is one of the main models of human behavior, which follows from this statement.

At the same time, the meeting with the sacred in itself should not be perceived as an ethically unambiguous experience [4]. This experience is pre-moral, contains a variety of ethical behavior and interpretations: from suicide, murder, martyrdom, self-sacrifice, to consistent care for the poor, sick, and vulnerable. Such a wide range of activities is legitimized by religions with the concept of experiencing the sacred. According to the latter, a terrorist motivated by sacred power can be no less «religious» than an empathic person who knows how to sympathize and has completely renounced violence.

Ambivalence aside, world religions are intrinsically pluralistic. They have many generations, have existed for a long time, have undergone a significant spread, and have given rise to various schools, practices, religious orders that are constantly competing with each other. Each religion has a recognizable core identity, but it is also adaptable. The meeting of religion and the sacred occurs through different cultural contexts, points to a transcendent other, but most often, it is not captured in its language, symbols, ethics, and therefore will always be interpretive.

Currently, the «internal pluralism» of world religious traditions can allow religious figures to develop theology, moral commandments based on universal norms of human rights, and contribute to the development of a local «culture of peace». The challenge of the next phase of the human rights era lies in the ability of various faith leaders to identify and expand upon some common ground they share together. Certainly, religion is valuable in itself, but each appears as a player on a field with other players. Therefore, religious leaders can and should use their religious dynamics in the broader spectrum of peacemaking and peacebuilding. The idea of a religious peacemaker is to involve the resources and wealth of one's faith in more ecumenical, religious-secular, general societal processes, but it should not be limited to campaigning purely for one's own religious principles.

All of the above leads to some important conclusions. First of all, religion should be perceived as a social integrator, a mechanism for the consolidation of society, as it proclaims its own system of values and ethical guidelines. Being one of the social institutions, religion through the system of its social functions is actively included in social processes in the form of various models of social service. Social stability of society is possible only with harmony and peace in the religious environment, and therefore, religious communities should be actively included in various forms of dialogue communication. Ensuring the functioning and activation of social activity of Churches, as a guarantor of social unity, is possible due to the establishment of parity partnership relations between the state and the Church.

In the conditions of the military aggression of the Russian Federation against Ukraine, religions faced urgent challenges to which it is vitally necessary to find constructive answers, namely:

The «war of civilizations» started and conducted by the Russian Federation in Ukraine requires the revision of certain theological theories and the formation of new theological visions;

The issues of justice, heroism, good and evil, the impossibility of violence, ethical problems and their reflection in theological thought are significantly updated;

A civil position is required from religion, and here it is no longer possible to talk about secularization in the sense of separating religion from politics;

The attitude of religions to the national question is becoming more acute and problematized, since the war waged by the Russian Federation in Ukraine using terrorist methods threatens humanity with national genocide;

The issue of universal human values, humanistic paradigm and personal responsibility is raised, which brings all religious systems too close together;

Religion is meta-anthropologized, humanism is absolutized as a value, which means that the believer «goes beyond» simple existence in order to approach eternal truths, where the concept of «salvation» loses its narrowly individualistic nature.

References

[1] Appleby, R. Scott (2000). The Ambivalence of the Sacred: Religion, Violence, and Reconciliation. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers.

In: http://wwics.si.edu/subsites/ccpdc/pubs/apple/frame.htm

[2] Lynch, Damon. Summary of The Ambivalence of the Sacred: Religion, Violence, and Reconciliation. In: https://www.beyondintractability.org/bksum/appleby-ambivalence

[3] Коваленко, Георгій, протоієрей. Богослов'я війни і миру в Православній церкві. Відкритий Православний Університет святої Софії Премудрості. 10.02.2022. Вилучено з https://oou.org.ua/2022/02/10/bogoslovya-vijny-i-myru-v-pravoslavnij- czerkvi/

[4] Кулагіна-Стадніченко Ганна (2002). Сутність, структура, проблеми релігійного досвіду в контексті соціалізації особистості. Міжетнічні та міжконфесійні відносини в контексті сучасних суспільних трансформацій. С. 29-30. Вилучено з http://www.sociology.chnu.edu.ua/res/sociology /Conferenzija% 202010.pdf#page=10ht tp://www.sociology.chnu.edu.ua/res/ sociology/Conferenzija%202010.pdf#page=10

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