Can Religion Heal Bosnia?

uring the war in Bosnia-Herzegovina, religion played a generally destructive role, fueling ethnic hatred and violence. But today, religion could play a major role in bringing about healing in that country, says David Little, the U.S. Institute of Peace's senior scholar in religion, ethics, and human rights. Little and Neil J. Kritz, senior scholar in the rule of law, visited Bosnia in July to assess reconciliation efforts under way and to explore opportunities for new initiatives.

Human Rights and Peace

Little--who for the last six years has worked on a comprehensive project on religion, nationalism, and intolerance--attended a conference on religion in Bosnia, held by the Academy of Sciences and Arts of Bosnia and Herzegovina in Sarajevo. After the meeting, he met with leaders of the Muslim, Serbian Orthodox, and Catholic communities to discuss the potential for religious leaders to play a constructive role in peacebuilding in that country. He also met with John Menzies, the U.S. ambassador to Bosnia, and representatives of several nongovernmental organizations. "Religious leaders have played their supporting role in this war, and that continues to be one of the key obstacles to reconciliation," Little says.

In his talks, Little found a strong connection between religious groups that feel threatened and the resurgence in religious identity. "In that sense, I think this was a religious war, with the religious groups seeing themselves in a defensive posture against the possible onslaught of another religious group," Little says. "Religion has been the polarizing factor around which the different groups have organized. They all speak the same language and come from the same ethnic stock. Religion is their distinguishing feature."

The nationalist impulse represents an effort by the religious groups to gain political control over the inhabitants of a particular territory. They think they need their own political defense, territory, and military to protect themselves against threats to their survival. Nationalism is simply an extension of their religious identity, Little says. One religious leader explained to him, "My dear brother, you must undersand, here religion is nationality, religion is ethnicity, religion is everything."

Little's work on nationalism and religion has emphasized the importance of human rights norms that favor the free exercise of religion and nondiscrimination based on religion or belief. "That is the key to peace in such conflicts," Little says. "The reduction of conflict depends directly on developing, implementing, and nurturing human rights norms. However, the job is extremely difficult."

Rule of Law

The legacy of war crimes and related atrocities weighs heavily on the prospects for reconciliation in Bosnia, according to Kritz. He held meetings with legal and political officials, academics, and others in Sarajevo, Banja Luka, Pale, and Mostar. In each of the three ethnic groups, he found a strong sentiment that peace requires some sense of acknowledgement and justice for the victims of abuses within that group. Kritz is planning a conference to bring together selected Muslim, Serb, and Croat officials, academics, and others involved in this issue; experts who have dealt with the question of justice and reconciliation in other countries (e.g., Chile, South Africa); and those engaged in the process of legal institution-building in Bosnia. © 1996 United States Institute of Peace