Introduction to Essays from the Conference on Religion, Politics, and Peacemaking

The following essays by Jon Armajani, Suha Naimy, Wilbert van Saane, Paul Haidostian, and Mary Dana Hinton were presented at the conference “Religion, Politics, and Peacemaking” that took place on the campus of Saint John’s University in Collegeville, Minnesota in October 2018. The conference’s co-sponsors were the Jay Phillips Center for Interfaith Learning at Saint John’s University, the Department of Peace Studies of the College of Saint Benedict / Saint John’s University, and Haigazian University, with funding provided by the Jay and Rose Phillips Family Foundation of Minnesota. The essays approach religion, politics, and peacemaking from several disciplinary perspectives including Arabic Language and Literature, Armenian Studies, Cultural Anthropology, Literary Studies, Middle East Studies, Peace Studies, Psychology, Religious Studies, Sociology, and Theology. The essays address their topics keeping in mind the causes, mitigating factors, and peaceful approaches to conflicts in the modern and contemporary periods. One commonality of these essays is the idea that Christianity can be a meaningful framework for understanding peace and engaging in peacemaking

Julius Nyerere’s Understanding of African Socialism, Human Rights and Equality

Julius Kambarage Nyerere, African philosopher, anti-colonial leader, first president of the United Republic of Tanzania, and respected international statesman, served as president of the newly independent Tanzania from 1964 through 1985., after which he remained politically active in Tanzania and on the global stage. Trying to steer a post-colonial course of self-reliance, he developed and implemented African Socialism in Tanzania, articulated in the Arusha Declaration in 1967. As an anti-colonial leader, Nyerere referred to international human rights standards such as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and maintained a commitment to human rights as president and afterwards. In this essay we look at Nyerere’s program of African Socialism, and his understanding of the interrelated concepts of socialism, human rights, and equality. We close with a discussion of Nyerere’s controversial human rights violations as president, and a reflection on his legacy

“Solidarity: A Catholic Perspective” Chapter 10 from A Vision of Justice: Engaging Catholic Social Teaching on the College Campus

In memory of Fr. Peter Ignatius Gichure, we reprint this essay co-authored by Fr. Gichure and Ron Pagnucco, co-editor of the JSE. Fr. Gichure was working on an essay on Fratelli Tutti for the JSE when he died. Solidarity: A Catholic Perspective. Ron Pagnucco and Peter Gichure. Chapter 10, in A Vision of Justice: Engaging Catholic Social Teaching on the College Campus. Susan Crawford Sullivan and Ron Pagnucco, eds. Published in 2014 by Liturgical Press, Collegeville Minnesota, and in Kenya by Catholic University of Eastern Africa-Gaba Press, Eldoret, Kenya

An Overview of the Human Rights Movement in Kenya

In this essay we summarize early findings of our work in progress on mapping the human rights movement in Kenya. We begin with a brief history of the human rights movement in Kenya, and then present our preliminary findings on the number and main objectives of human rights non-governmental organizations (HRNGOs) in Kenya today. Our essay is a report of findings in the early stage of our research on the movement in Kenya. The survey of the transnational human rights movement by Jackie Smith, Ron Pagnucco and George Lopez (1998), in which they constructed a census of the movement and then gathered data on the goals, organizational structures and activities of the transnational NGOs, serves as the model for our project. We are currently completing the construction of our census, and we provide of overview of the goals of the HRNGO industry in Kenya