How to mediate in religious conflicts? : From Desacralisation of Conflicts to Sacralisation of Peace. Towards a complementary complex approach

Abstract: This research is 1) a critical conceptual analysis of the existing theoretical framework of desacralisation of conflicts developed by professor Isak Svensson in relation to mediation practice in religious conflicts with explicit religious claims; and 2) a critical argumentation for the development of an alternative and complementary initial attempt of mediation methodology suggested by myself: sacralisation of peace. This methodology is based on aspects of the worldview conflicts theoretical framework of professor Jayne Seminare Docherty, the ritual theory for peacebuilding as proposed by professor Lisa Schirch, and a plural conceptual notion of peace.  The research concludes that the desacralisation of conflicts theory has four conceptual limitations when used as a mediation practice in religious conflicts. These limitations are related with 1) conceptual assumptions of secularisation project; 2) “issue-negotiation” processes proposed by the theory and their rational model for conflict resolution; 3) a reduced notion of religious issues to ideological or convictional aspects, and 4) a reduced notion of the ambivalence of the sacred and its associated processes of sacralisation and desacralisation. The research also concludes that these limitations could be overcome by introducing a complementary complex mediation methodological approach where sacralisation of peace and desacralisation of conflicts coexist.