Communities that Taste for More:

Abstract

Many individual Roman Catholics — I am a Roman Catholic myself and address my subject primarily from that perspective — as well as Roman Catholic Church leadership have frequently spoken and acted to protect the victims of genocide and participated as well in processes towards healing people and societies traumatised by genocidal violence. Nevertheless, given the fact that in the course of history Roman Catholics and members of other religions have also often been accomplices to genocide, some critical questions should be raised. Are there structural and institutional features of Roman Catholicism, and in a more general way of the many existing religions, that may lead to such extreme violence as seen in genocide? How can it be that Christian religions — as well as other religions — may end up lending support to genocidal acts instead of stopping or preventing them? What are the conditions for this to happen: ideological and theological convictions, collective fears and resentment, bad leadership, association with existing authoritarian regimes or strong identification with parties involved in the conflict?