Is It Possible for Humanity to Create a Peaceful World with Religion in it?

[Kernel Sohcahtoa]

Now, if we're discussing the sort of mutual understanding referenced, don't we also have to include an understanding of the validity of some other groups violent and oftentimes negatively valued responses to our own and to others actions? To put it another way, is i simply impossible to make the case for horrific violence, or are we being intolerant and expessing a deplorable lack of empathy and understanding when we fail to recognize that for some (and even for us)..life is a matter of life and death?

Is this “life is a matter of life or death” way of living linked in any way to survival and the need to preserve one’s identity and culture?  If it is, then IMO, we have a very human concern and interest that is ultimately underlying destructive conflict management behavior.  Now, one specific area that I know of where people can help conflicting parties uncover their interests and transform destructive conflict management into constructive conflict management, is mediation (I will elaborate on this below). 
 
 

That you can;t get ahead of some problems, you can; talk your way around them...and despite the civil patina of our modern lives, beneath it the world practically seethes with the sort of misery that none of our ingroups understanding will ever be able to solve?

 
I don’t know.  However, assuming there is even the slightest chance of understanding this misery and promoting constructive conflict management, then IMO, the conflict resolution techniques employed in mediation may be useful in this endeavor.  Specifically, in a nutshell, mediation is an effective conflict resolution tool for the following reasons: the mediation process upholds the conflicting parties’ self-determination and provides a safe atmosphere for them to understand their conflict and engineer their own outcome/resolution; the mediator acts in an impartial, non-judgmental manner and helps the parties communicate with each other; mediation is a voluntary process (the parties choose to go to mediation, which demonstrates a joint desire to find a resolution); the mediator lets the parties tell their stories (one at a time/uninterrupted) and reframes the stories (free from personal bias) to construct a more objective third story; the mediator ensures that there are no power imbalances and that the parties can openly participate in the process; the mediator has no personal interest in the outcome and is primarily concerned with upholding the mediation process; the mediation process allows the parties to get out of their past and explore ways to build a more constructive future.  (Moore, 2003)  

In addition, Christopher Moore, an experienced professional mediator and author of The Mediation Process, said the following about the effectiveness of mediation as it relates to conflict management and the global environment and to the ideas/conflict resolution strategies expressed in his book:
 

Social conflicts are often played out in the context of a natural environment that sets significant parameters for what is and is not possible.  As worldwide awareness of the interlocking relationship between our social and natural worlds increases, there will be a greater impetus to explore how more sustainable societies can be developed, at the local and global levels.  Mediation has been an effective procedure for addressing certain critical environmental issues and will increasingly be used to handle major problems such as transboundary air pollution, global warming, and limited water resources.  Large environmental issues, more and more of which are cross national boundaries or are regional, will be highly appropriate for mediation, because no one international actor has the authority or the power to impose a unilateral decision.

Today, people around the world are in need of effective means to help manage and resolve conflicts in all aspects of their lives.  Mediation has proven itself in the past to be a helpful tool in accomplishing this goal in a variety of situations and cultures.  It is my hope that the detailed elaboration of the mediation process in this book will help both parties and intermediaries to develop better, more creative, and more acceptable solutions to joint problems; promote more positive working relationships between and among the people; and create a deeper peace in all aspects of society (Moore, 2003, p. 471).

To be clear, I’m not suggesting that mediation is the key to solving the world's toughest problems.   In writing this post, my aim is to suggest that mediation, along with the constructive conflict resolution techniques that it employs, may be helpful in our quest to understand those whose sense-making processes are radically different from our own.  What do you think?

Thank you for your time and attention, sir.

References

Moore, Christopher (2003). The Mediation Process: Practical strategies for resolving conflict.  USA: Jossey-Bass.