Overcoming Barriers to Interreligious Peace: Determinants of Preferences for Religiously Similar Others in Togo and Sierra Leone

The project „Religion for Peace: Identifying Conditions and Mechanisms of Interfaith Peace“ explored ways to build and maintain peace between different religious groups. This illustrated summary presents key findings and highlights what we learned about interreligious peace, challenges involved, and ideas about what can be done to put interreligious peace together.

Interreligious relations remain an important dimension of human coexistence and we currently observe an increase in religiously motivated violence and discrimination. Hence, we need to better understand determinants of interreligious peace.

Sometimes, people belonging to different religions do not get along well. In 2022 we travelled to Sierra Leone and Togo where interreligious relations were very peaceful. This comic depicts some examples of how to make interreligious peace: celebrating together, collaborating, being friends, and respecting each other despite differences.

People tend to seek out others who are like them. This preference for similarity can result in divided societies as people burrow deeper into like-minded groups. So, in the interest of social cohesion and peace, what would encourage people to engage with others across social divides?

23rd Jan Tinbergen European Peace Science Conference 2024, Dublin City University, Dublin Julia Köbrich (Speaker)

Facilitating contact between different groups to reduce prejudice and build trust is key in peacebuilding. Research shows intergroup contact benefits relations, but individual preferences for similar others (homophily) hinder this. Thus, studying what shapes these preferences is crucial for fostering peace.

Rising religious violence makes it imperative to develop strategies to foster and preserve interreligious peace. We examine the role of descriptive and injunctive pro-mixing ingroup norms in explaining interreligious contact and, indirectly, more favorable interreligious attitudes.

The project „Religion for Peace: Identifying Conditions and Mechanisms of Interfaith Peace“ explored ways to build and maintain peace between different religious groups. This illustrated summary presents key findings and highlights what we learned about interreligious peace, challenges involved, and ideas about what can be done to put interreligious peace together.

Interreligious relations remain an important dimension of human coexistence and we currently observe an increase in religiously motivated violence and discrimination. Hence, we need to better understand determinants of interreligious peace.

Sometimes, people belonging to different religions do not get along well. In 2022 we travelled to Sierra Leone and Togo where interreligious relations were very peaceful. This comic depicts some examples of how to make interreligious peace: celebrating together, collaborating, being friends, and respecting each other despite differences.