Sacred Pathway to Peace and Harmony: Assessing the Role of Contemporary Religious Movements on Peacemaking and Peacekeeping

Abstract

Religion has made a significant impact on shaping human nature in an individual and social aspect. The consequence of the religious movement in the entire civilization has been affecting both positively and negatively in the entire human civilization and existence. Evidentially, it witnesses that religion can be affected originate, and sustain the conflicts and peace in any society or nation. However, the change is a phenomenon which present even in religion, and contemporary religion has transformed from the traditional perspective and acts as an agent toward the development of inner and outer peace. Therefore, this qualitative study majorly focused on evaluating the utility of the contemporary religious movement for peacemaking and peacekeeping under the thematic analysis method. The traditional religious movement has negatively affected peace and harmony in every religious context. Since religion has engendered the seeds of racism and extremism. Therefore, the traditional religious movement has negative effects on sustaining the peace and harmony in the society. However, contemporary religion has withdrawn from the traditional utility and performs as a mediator in the enrichment of individual and social well-being. Present religion is more oriented toward generating a positive impact and enriching secular living. Further, contemporary religion consists of a shared faith, and without borders, individuals enroll in the activities of all religions. Moreover, individuals are moving toward the experience of spirituality through religious practices. Therefore, contemporary religion has transformed from the traditional perspective, and conflicts that originated through religion have disappeared and present religious activation contributes to the development of both inner and outer peace in the society