religious conflicts what do they make
you think of you probably thought about
one of the many conflicts going on in
the world
maybe regarding territory or beliefs but
what I want to talk about to you today
is inner conflicts those religious and
spiritual conflicts that go on inside of
us religion and spirituality can be a
religious conflicts are ever-present in
the world we live in both in the past
and in current times they’re often the
source of war and discrimination but
also internally within the individual
person they can take place religion and
spirituality can be a very valuable
resource and need to positive health
outcomes and good well-being but they
can also cause severe emotional distress
also known as inner religious or
spiritual struggles these however are
linked to poorer health outcomes and
even to psychopathology with religious
conflicts shaping our world it’s
politics borders and people at the
University of Bern an interdisciplinary
group of over 40 people has gotten
together to research this and many other
dimensions of religious conflicts many
different faculties are getting together
here to understand better religious
conflicts their sources and their coping
strategies and in the case of my team
are bridging together practical theology
and clinical psychology so what are
these internal struggles that I’m
talking about what could these look like
feel like they show up in many shapes or
forms maybe has doubts questioning one’s
religion and one’s beliefs or the
purpose of life is there one may be
their moral struggles struggling to
follow moral principles or spiritual
principles or interpersonal with someone
else maybe a congregation member or
clergy or just someone else that you’re
having a disagreement about religion or
spirituality about they might be
directly related to the divine are you
angry at God or to the demonic maybe you
believe that the devil or evil spirits
have been involved in your life but
maybe also they could be related to Holy
Scripture am i understanding what I’m
reading correctly and what does it all
mean except for this last one these have
been studied especially in the u.s. with
the religious and spiritual struggle
scale developed by Julie xline and
colleagues but we think this struggle
with Scripture is also very relevant and
is something we want to include in our
studies so how do we cope with this type
of struggle and who especially is
experiencing them a way in which we are
constantly trying to cope with our
environment is by trying to maintain
harmony consistency between our needs
our motivational goals and reality the
consistency theory by Klaus gravis
states that consistency is actually the
core principle of mental functioning we
all have basic needs such as attachment
and need for orientation and control for
self enhancement and to seek pleasure
and to avoid pain and our behavior is
motivated to then protect or fulfill
these basic psychological needs when our
needs are not met however we feel and
insist
CNR system a mismatch between our needs
and reality and the mechanisms we use to
avoid our correct this type of
inconsistency are known as defense
mechanisms effect regulation or coping
strategies so as you can tell
inconsistency very much might be a
source for inner conflict for example if
God is benevolent then why do bad things
happen to good people and how do we cope
with this perception in a world that’s
ridden with conflict while we all may
experience these types of conflicts from
time to time especially those of us
being faced with having to flee our
countries and having to come into a new
environment we’ll be faced with this
challenge of inconsistency as one as in
a new culture there are different
religious practices and a different
emphasis in society on these and just as
religious conflicts are a constant
thread in the fabric of history so is
displacement worldwide more than 65
million people are currently displaced
that’s almost 1 percent of the global
population so in our research team we
asked ourselves how is it for refugees
here in Switzerland
what inner religious and spiritual
struggles do they face and how do they
cope with them is religion more of a
source of conflict or actually of
strength and of hope which brings me
back to coping coping is a cognitive and
behavioral process that takes place in
order to handle a stressful situation
and religious or spiritual coping then
relies on religious or
ritual practices belief systems
relationships or experiences to make
sense of and deal with our world and
this is where religion and spirituality
can really play a very positive or
negative role in your life and how you
deal with it as we can as we can cope
negative coping has to do with an
underlying tension or struggle spiritual
struggle with the self with others or
with the divine here one might be faced
with questions or conflicts or doubts
regarding God or faith some examples
might be believing that one has been
abandoned by God
or that one is being punished or that
the devil or evil spirits have been at
play however in positive coping there’s
an Associated secure relationship with a
transcendent force a benevolent
worldview and a spiritual connectedness
with others during positive coping one
is very likely to interpret a traumatic
situation in a positive way maybe you’ll
take a negative event and actually
reinterpret it as a valuable lesson to
be learned or as an opportunity for
growth some more examples of positive
coping would be seeking a stronger
connection to God maybe asking God for
forgiveness or for help and letting go
of anger and there’s a reliance on
religion and spirituality to lessen
worries and let go of tensions so as you
see there’s a collaborative relationship
going on here with oneself and something
beyond you so religion and spirituality
can
a very positive role regarding your
health and well-being it can be a very
valuable resource and have a positive
impact on your health or it can cause
severe emotional distress but these
struggles can actually paradoxically
enhance people’s lives as growth often
occurs through suffering so at the
interfacial tea Research Corporation
here in Bern we’re working together to
better understand this and many other
dimensions of religious conflicts better
and the reason why we want to do this is
because we believe in a future where
with a better awareness and
understanding of each other of the past
and present conflicts in the world and
how these have or have not been coped or
dealt with effectively we can contribute
to a lessening of the divisions and
suffering caused by religious conflicts
both among people and within individuals
and to lead us to more effective coping
strategies for more peaceful coexistence
we believe that with the better
understanding that our research will
gain we can promote better communication
amongst each other and therefore better
integration into society we need to
grasp not just how religion can be a
source of conflict but how it can
actually be an instrument to help
overcome it and to gain a better
understanding of what criteria make
religiousness a tool for fostering peace
because by fostering peace within
ourselves and within others we can then
spread it beyond a world I like to imagine because anything is possible
you think of you probably thought about
one of the many conflicts going on in
the world
maybe regarding territory or beliefs but
what I want to talk about to you today
is inner conflicts those religious and
spiritual conflicts that go on inside of
us religion and spirituality can be a
religious conflicts are ever-present in
the world we live in both in the past
and in current times they’re often the
source of war and discrimination but
also internally within the individual
person they can take place religion and
spirituality can be a very valuable
resource and need to positive health
outcomes and good well-being but they
can also cause severe emotional distress
also known as inner religious or
spiritual struggles these however are
linked to poorer health outcomes and
even to psychopathology with religious
conflicts shaping our world it’s
politics borders and people at the
University of Bern an interdisciplinary
group of over 40 people has gotten
together to research this and many other
dimensions of religious conflicts many
different faculties are getting together
here to understand better religious
conflicts their sources and their coping
strategies and in the case of my team
are bridging together practical theology
and clinical psychology so what are
these internal struggles that I’m
talking about what could these look like
feel like they show up in many shapes or
forms maybe has doubts questioning one’s
religion and one’s beliefs or the
purpose of life is there one may be
their moral struggles struggling to
follow moral principles or spiritual
principles or interpersonal with someone
else maybe a congregation member or
clergy or just someone else that you’re
having a disagreement about religion or
spirituality about they might be
directly related to the divine are you
angry at God or to the demonic maybe you
believe that the devil or evil spirits
have been involved in your life but
maybe also they could be related to Holy
Scripture am i understanding what I’m
reading correctly and what does it all
mean except for this last one these have
been studied especially in the u.s. with
the religious and spiritual struggle
scale developed by Julie xline and
colleagues but we think this struggle
with Scripture is also very relevant and
is something we want to include in our
studies so how do we cope with this type
of struggle and who especially is
experiencing them a way in which we are
constantly trying to cope with our
environment is by trying to maintain
harmony consistency between our needs
our motivational goals and reality the
consistency theory by Klaus gravis
states that consistency is actually the
core principle of mental functioning we
all have basic needs such as attachment
and need for orientation and control for
self enhancement and to seek pleasure
and to avoid pain and our behavior is
motivated to then protect or fulfill
these basic psychological needs when our
needs are not met however we feel and
insist
CNR system a mismatch between our needs
and reality and the mechanisms we use to
avoid our correct this type of
inconsistency are known as defense
mechanisms effect regulation or coping
strategies so as you can tell
inconsistency very much might be a
source for inner conflict for example if
God is benevolent then why do bad things
happen to good people and how do we cope
with this perception in a world that’s
ridden with conflict while we all may
experience these types of conflicts from
time to time especially those of us
being faced with having to flee our
countries and having to come into a new
environment we’ll be faced with this
challenge of inconsistency as one as in
a new culture there are different
religious practices and a different
emphasis in society on these and just as
religious conflicts are a constant
thread in the fabric of history so is
displacement worldwide more than 65
million people are currently displaced
that’s almost 1 percent of the global
population so in our research team we
asked ourselves how is it for refugees
here in Switzerland
what inner religious and spiritual
struggles do they face and how do they
cope with them is religion more of a
source of conflict or actually of
strength and of hope which brings me
back to coping coping is a cognitive and
behavioral process that takes place in
order to handle a stressful situation
and religious or spiritual coping then
relies on religious or
ritual practices belief systems
relationships or experiences to make
sense of and deal with our world and
this is where religion and spirituality
can really play a very positive or
negative role in your life and how you
deal with it as we can as we can cope
negative coping has to do with an
underlying tension or struggle spiritual
struggle with the self with others or
with the divine here one might be faced
with questions or conflicts or doubts
regarding God or faith some examples
might be believing that one has been
abandoned by God
or that one is being punished or that
the devil or evil spirits have been at
play however in positive coping there’s
an Associated secure relationship with a
transcendent force a benevolent
worldview and a spiritual connectedness
with others during positive coping one
is very likely to interpret a traumatic
situation in a positive way maybe you’ll
take a negative event and actually
reinterpret it as a valuable lesson to
be learned or as an opportunity for
growth some more examples of positive
coping would be seeking a stronger
connection to God maybe asking God for
forgiveness or for help and letting go
of anger and there’s a reliance on
religion and spirituality to lessen
worries and let go of tensions so as you
see there’s a collaborative relationship
going on here with oneself and something
beyond you so religion and spirituality
can
a very positive role regarding your
health and well-being it can be a very
valuable resource and have a positive
impact on your health or it can cause
severe emotional distress but these
struggles can actually paradoxically
enhance people’s lives as growth often
occurs through suffering so at the
interfacial tea Research Corporation
here in Bern we’re working together to
better understand this and many other
dimensions of religious conflicts better
and the reason why we want to do this is
because we believe in a future where
with a better awareness and
understanding of each other of the past
and present conflicts in the world and
how these have or have not been coped or
dealt with effectively we can contribute
to a lessening of the divisions and
suffering caused by religious conflicts
both among people and within individuals
and to lead us to more effective coping
strategies for more peaceful coexistence
we believe that with the better
understanding that our research will
gain we can promote better communication
amongst each other and therefore better
integration into society we need to
grasp not just how religion can be a
source of conflict but how it can
actually be an instrument to help
overcome it and to gain a better
understanding of what criteria make
religiousness a tool for fostering peace
because by fostering peace within
ourselves and within others we can then
spread it beyond a world I like to imagine because anything is possible
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