Today, religion is often considered a root cause of war. The question is whether this is indeed so. Is religion an obstacle to, rather than an instrument for, peace? It is important to investigate in what ways religion may contribute to either war or peace. This should be done both at an ideological and a historical level. What meanings and values have religions attributed to the ideas of war and peace? And in what ways have they put such ideas into practice in past and present times? These long disputed problems need to be examined and considered anew at the beginning of the 21st century.

Religion can be seen as a system that mediates nature to humanity. In fact, religions have produced various systems of ideas and practices according to which people live and die in their natural environment. Such systems inevitably reflect the technological resources of their time and place. Contemporary innovations in techno-sciences and -industries are not only destroying indigenous religious systems of knowledge, but also introducing new questions concerning the human body, natural environments, humankind's and nature's life and death, that are often problematic. Addressing these unprecedented difficulties is one of the tasks confronting scholars today. In view of the long history of religions, it is also an urgent task for scholars of religion.

Some religions show a tendency to universal expansion, attempting to transcend the cultural and regional limits in which they originally emerged. At the same time, religious traditions are deeply rooted in particular regional cultures. The so-called world religions have to integrate themselves in a local culture and become indigenous in a sense, in order to fully actualize their universal aspirations. The combined processes of globalization and localization (glocalization) of the contemporary world necessitate revising traditional dichotomies and terminologies, such as world religions and ethnic religions, monotheisms and polytheisms, and others.

Religions offer epistemological schemes to understand, evaluate, and order objects, events and humans in the world. Drawing clear lines between 'us' and 'others', inner and outer groups, etc. is one important function religion may assume. Today, however, the drawing of boundaries and the creation of segregation should be examined in relation to the universalist claims of human rights. In fact, religions have often recognized the importance of particular distinctions among humankind, for example those of men and women, and as a result legitimized certain forms of discrimination. In some cases, religious groups, despite advocating the fundamental equality of humankind, have nevertheless deemed certain people or groups to fall outside this category -- to be inhuman, in other words -- thus justifying aggression towards that which is deemed external to society. These aspects and functions of religion need reconsideration from a wide perspective.

Methodological reflection is a continual task in the study of religion. The complex interplay between method and theory in the human and social sciences plays an integral role in academic reflection and scholarly debates related to it. In recent decades, it seems that under the influence of sister-disciplines as well as because of other factors, the study of religion has witnessed remarkable changes and developments in the fields of method and theory, in comparison with earlier eras. Further evaluations and discussions need to be carried on in order to refine methodological reflection and debates. These debates are even more compelling, in the light of the main theme of this congress.

Recently, as scholars have been discussing the idea of a 'clash of civilizations', incidents and events have been happening around the world as if to prove the timely and urgent nature of this discussion. Many people believe that the cornerstones of civilizations are their respective religious traditions. Considering the wars and conflicts in many parts of the world that have taken place since the late 1970s, we may be persuaded that differences in religion and the way these religions have helped structure differing civilizations, are factors that have greatly contributed to the wars and conflicts of recent years.

In light of these developments there has been a growing appreciation of the need for dialogue between civilizations. For some time now there have been attempts among the religious communities of the world to undertake a dialogue between religions. Scholars have been trying to construct theories of religious pluralism and to organize religious cooperation in many parts of the world.

At present, when people wish ever more seriously than before to maintain a dialogue, develop mutual understanding and reconciliation between religions, we should ask how we can learn from the experiences of these past endeavours. What kind of ideas and activities do we need for the 'new' dialogue?

The symposium will be open to the general public. It will provide an opportunity to think and reflect on what religions can do contribute to peace in the world, and what role the scholarly study of religion might have in this respect. While this symposium will demonstrate the hope for peace to society at large, it will also deepen the academic understanding of the problem of the dialogue between civilizations and religions.