The role of religious authorities in constructing peace: The case of Albania

Abstract

Today’s communities have a more heterogeneous structure ever before. It is an observable fact that people, who have different religions, languages and ethnic origins, live in the same society. In such societies which have differences, the peace and tranquility is provided by mutual understanding, dialogue and tolerance. For this reason, the governments, politicians and religious institutions need to take more responsibilities. The aim of this study is to put forth, by means of the Albanian case, that religious institutions and organizations in general and religious officials in particular have the influence on raising consciousness and guiding people not only about religious subjects but also about social issues. Within this context, in 1997, in northern Albania, Shkoder city, it has been analyzed how H. Faik Hoxha the Mufti of Shkoder, Lucjan Avgustini the Parson of Catholic Church of Shkoder and Aleksander Petani the Archpriest of Orthodox Church of Shkoder played an effective role as religious officials in preventing the provocation which was fictionalized by taking advantage of political authority gap. In this study, qualitative research methodology has been used and aforementioned Shkoder incident has been analyzed as the case study. Along with the articles authored by those who witnessed the incident being in the first place, the other books and articles have been examined by scanning method and the findings have been evaluated. The study concludes that religious officials also play an important role in a state of chaos and anarchy probable in societies giving its place to indulgence and reconciliation and also they are effective upon restoration of peace by contributing to creating an atmosphere of dialogue and tolerance.