Group Dynamics, Religious Group Relations and Terror Management Theory

Terman, Mikhail

Group Dynamics, Religious Group Relations and Terror Management Theory

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Date

2016

Authors

Terman, Mikhail

Advisor

Le, Benjamin

Department

Haverford College. Department of Psychology

Type

Thesis

Language

eng

Access Restrictions

Open Access

Terms of Use

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/

Abstract

Conflict between religious groups has been a predominant theme throughout human history. Given this legacy, it is important to understand why religion has proved to be such a powerful force in inciting conflict, especially given that religious teachings often call for their followers to treat others with love and kindness. Considering the propensity of human beings to engage in violent action against people of different religious groups, it is vital to examine the ways in which prejudice develops between various religious groups, and ways to combat the activation of stereotypes and reduce religious prejudice in people. Additionally, it is important to understand how and why religious conflicts can so easily escalate over time. Religious conflicts have continued into recent times as many of the conflicts in the world today involve some sort of religious component. Recently, the Pew Research Center (2014) released a report detailing hostility against religious groups across the world. Their report revealed that religious hostilities between groups have been on the rise during the last eight years. It showed that seventy-four percent of the world’s population lives in areas where there were high levels of religious restrictions, meaning that most people live in areas where government laws restrict religious behaviors. In recent years, the report revealed that more and more countries have had incidents with religious minorities (Pew Research Center, 2014). Indeed, “Incidents of abuse targeting religious minorities were reported in 47% of countries in 2012” (pg. 10). For example, Sri Lanka has recently seen Buddhists attack a mosque and forcefully change a church into a Buddhist temple. The disturbing practice of using violence to force people to follow certain religious practices “occurred in 39% of countries, up from 33% in 2011 and 18% in mid-2007” (pg. 11). These findings illustrate that conflict between religious groups is something which continues to be prevalent in the modern era. Religion’s role in creating conflict between groups is not entirely surprising when we consider how deeply intertwined religion can be with our cultural beliefs. Religion is a powerful motivator in the lives of many people. Steger, Pickering, Adams, Burnett, Shin, Dik, and Stauner (2010) explain that religion is useful in that it forms a fundamental part of many people’s cultural worldview which helps them interpret the meaning of their existence. Thus religion serves as a fundamental part of our culture, which will be explored at length in this paper. The role of religion in dictating conflicts between groups is especially important today given the rising religious diversity in the world. Modernity has increasingly brought religious diversity to places where it did not previously exist. For example, the Pew Research Center (2015) projects that the most non-Christian groups (including unaffiliated people, Muslims, Hindus, and Buddhists) will grow in Europe in the next 35 years, while the number of Christians in Europe will drop over the same time period. With people of different faiths increasingly coming into contact with each other, more conflict between religious groups is likely, and thus it is vital to investigate how to best defuse religious conflict. Will increasing religious diversity bring even more conflict in the future? Or will increasingly diverse populations make people more familiar with other religious groups and lead to less conflict?