The sacred realm: domain of new threats and challenges

Abstract

This chapter looks at the sacred realm –as distinct from both the public and the private realm- as a contested space, full of old and new threats and challenges. As to conventional inter-religious violence the challenge today is to preserve both a culture of tolerance and the rule of law as basic guarantees against political manipulation of religious sentiments. A new challenge lies in constructive responses to the current ideological ‘wars of words and discourses’ in a climate of rapidly growing sensitivity. In response to this clash between ‘Anti-Western Occidentalism’ and ‘Anti-Islamic Secularism’ it is suggested to approach the sacred realm not from the outside but rather from within. A major challenge is to remove ‘holy texts’ of an aggressive nature from the realm of practical politics. As the real ‘war’ is between moderate Islam and radical political Islam, it is not particularly wise to treat Islam as if it were just one monolithic threat. By providing a space for creative hermeneutics a more positive contribution might be made. Finally, violence may also be perceived in connection with a sense of powerlessness in attempts to address major injustices in our world today.