Religion and War: Highlights
Religion and War in Bosnia
by Dr. Michael Sells, 6/12/96The worst atrocities committed during the conflict in Bosnia have been labeled "ethnic cleansing" even though what separates the people into groups of "cleansers" and "cleansed" is not ethnicity, but religious identity.
Many Bosnians are hesitant to call the conflict in Bosnia a religious conflict. The reason for the hesitation is grounded in a valid and genuine reaction to the abuse of history that can be called "Balkanism," i.e. stereotype used by Western policy makers and Balkan nationalists alike that Balkan societies are steeped in "age old antagonisms" that are destined to repeat themselves.
The premise of this thread is that religion must be examined as an element in the "ethnic cleansing" and that a careful examination of religion in the context of the Bosnian tragedy need not fall into Balkanist stereotypes.
Indeed, the Balkanist mythology that has served to excuse Western acquiescence to genocide in Bosnia can only be dismantled with the true nature of the conflict is understood in all its dimensions. . . .
To what extent was the destruction of the non-Christian population of Bosnia abetted by a passive complicity by wider leadership circles within Christianity?
A Higher Niveaux
By Petar Milic, 6/17/96The eternal question historians have grappled with is causation/motivation. The discerning historian knows that there are levels of causality. In this forum, Professor Sells chooses to focus on the politics of religion. While this approach may yield some productive insights, it fails to identify root causes. Is religion an hieroglyph masking cultural antagonisms? I submit it does. For this reason professor Sells' approach is conceptually flawed. The politics of religion is an outdated paradigm, a subset of an historiographic tradition jaded by particularist concerns. I am referring to the old Ottoman/Balkan dichotomy in academia, now seemingly in vogue. This framework was spawned in the intellectual milieu of the previous century. Solutions to intractable problems such as those discussed in this forum demand new constructs that supercede the old. Nothing short of sea-change will suffice. It is time for scholars to raise the level of this debate to a higher niveaux.
Response to Mirjana P.
by Nalini Lasiewicz, Los Angeles, 6/16/96There were many Serbs in Belgrade in 1988-1990 that were opposed to Milosevics words of war and of Greater Serbia at any costs, but their voices were silenced. Unfortunatly I have found that the loudest Serb voices in American these past four years supported a Greater Serbian state, at any cost. I would like to see the Serbs be more inclusive and critical about the steps that Milosevic took to destroy Yugoslavia, and the genocide of Mulsims in Bosnia-Herzegovina. And if the Serbian church made this Truth a clear priority, then it would be a refreshing change.
Decapitation
by G. Panic, 6/15/96The final nail in the Serbian coffin is being driven in Dayton, Ohio. The current tragic war will end with the decapitation of the Serbian nation at every level from the poor innocents to the kangaroo trial of its disempowered leaders, Dr. Radovan Karadzic and General Ratko Mladic, to the death of the functional society and economy, to the destruction of the moral/ethical fabric of a proud and honourable people - the Serbs.
