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

[Kernel Sohcahtoa]

I'm still not sure what the problem we're applying this -to- is supposed to be

I have observed that plenty of people can manage conflict quite well on an individual level; however, when conflicts approach the group/global level, constructive conflict management is not as common.  I'm curious to know why this is, and if possible, what we can do about it. As things approach a broader, global scale, is destructive conflict management more like a natural law that we ultimately have no control over; or, is this destructive conflict management solely dictated by our mindset and choices?

I think that we -do- use mediation, on a regular basis, and always have.  It's not a new idea, though it has many new descriptions.

I concur on this point.  The wisdom and conflict resolution techniques provided by AF members in the peacemaking thread shows that people are familiar with and make use of the conflict resolution techniques employed in mediation.

If mediation -isn't- the key to solving the worlds toughest problems, then in in what way does it lead to a more peaceful world in any meaningful sense beyond anything that we already do?  If mediation could, for example..help my wife and I who already don;t go to blows over what to watch on TV, but not stop people from legitimate conflict over limited resources.........then what are we talking about?  Ways to make the already civil, already comfortable, already peaceful......mediated?   It seems so much smaller than it's being made out to be, so much more myopic in scope and expected effect.

It appears that I presented mediation poorly here.  Many parties who voluntarily want to participate in mediation are usually entrenched in their positions and see the other party as the source of the problem; they are usually far from peaceful and understanding toward the other. As a result, mediation is specifically designed to help conflicting parties, especially those who are managing their conflict poorly/destructively, resolve their differences. 

mediation only works in context of difficult problems when both parties are already relatively peaceful or can be made to be peaceful...and then, it's the "made to be' that's making things peaceful, not mediation.  The parties agree in the presence of the mediator, wait a generation or two (or just a few years, sometimes) for the mediator to leave, and go right back at it...and that;s becase mediation doesn;t solve the problem that led to the conflict, it;s just a temporary state of refereeing the conflict.

The success of mediation ultimately depends on the parties; if they don't want to participate in the process, then mediation will not be effective.  In addition, if mediation is imposed onto people ( court-based mediation is one example of this), then the mediator might become more of a settler/fixer than a neutral intermediary; thus, the resolution of the conflict could end up belonging to the mediator, which could result in the parties agreeing to an incomplete, short-term resolution in order to get out of the mediation and look good in front of the mediator.  Hence, if the resolution does not belong to the parties, then they will ultimately find holes in it and create new ways to resume their conflict in the future. 

Overall, IMO, conflict is dynamic. Therefore, in order to effectively resolve it, people need to be educated in and practice many constructive conflict resolution techniques; they cannot rely on any individual approach.

During my studies, I came across school programs (after school conflict resolution clubs)  aimed at teaching youth constructive conflict resolution methods, such as those discussed in this thread (and the peacemaking thread too) along with teaching them how to effectively negotiate and mediate.    Do you think this is a good idea?