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". … To the person who shall have done the most or the best work for fraternity among nations, for the abolition or reduction of standing armies, and for the holding and promotion of peace congresses."

—Alfred B. Nobel, testament, 1895

Swedish industrialist Alfred B. Nobel could not imagine how prestigious his Peace Prize would become, nor the great wars that would scar the planet after his death. Since the bestowing of the first Nobel Peace Prize in December 1901, the laureates have shone like faint stars in the dark night of the most violent century on record.

By the end of this month, 100 Christmases will have been celebrated since the first Nobel awards ceremony—a century greatly in need of peacemaking. The field has often been so bleak, indeed, that the Nobel Committee has forgone making awards in 19 of these years (nine of them coinciding with the two World Wars).

The dawn of the new century finds an uncharted world filled with conflicts mapped more by cultural and ethnic than geopolitical boundaries. Harvard political scientist Samuel Huntington warned of a world "anarchical, rife with tribal and national conflicts" as he surveyed post–Cold War realities in The Clash of Civilizations (Touchstone, 1998). The end of the 20th century was marked by an "eruption of a global identity crisis."

Religious factors in these tangled thickets have been unavoidable. Where culture and ethnicity overlay all boundaries, religious differences easily serve as markers—something readily evident in the protracted struggles of the Middle East, the Balkans, Northern Ireland, and parts of India, Indonesia, and Africa.

At the same time, a growing body of evidence suggests that religion in these same locations can and does serve as a resource for unraveling the tensions, alleviating fear or suspicion, and calling people to live up to their own highest values.

Christians have engaged in a groundswell of local actions for peace and justice in the past two decades. The immense amount of prayer and relationship-building behind the rescue of negotiations for democratic elections in South Africa in April 1994 is a case in point.

Civil war seemed imminent when international mediations broke down, just two weeks before the mandated election date, and the three main political parties were further than ever from agreement. According to Michael Cassidy of the evangelistic organization African Enterprise, when Henry Kissinger and British statesman Lord Peter Carrington left the country after their mediation efforts failed, Christians who had been bathing the entire process with 24-hour-a-day prayer for a year were devastated.

"The cost of failure to prevent civil war was projected by one knowledgeable source at more than 1 million lives," Cassidy says. "Violence would break out if elections went forward without the participation of the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP), which was holding firm on its intention to boycott the elections. But the townships would explode in rage if elections were postponed." Under resolute leadership, Christians continued to pray around the clock for God to save the nation from catastrophe.

Cassidy brought professor Washington Okumu of Kenya to lead backstage negotiations. Appointed adviser to the international mediation team, Okumu remained after the other mediators departed.

"The climactic and successful breakthrough synchronized with a 'Jesus Peace Rally' where 25,000 Christians gathered to pray amidst high political tension," Cassidy says. "It was extraordinary. With only 10 days until the election, what the newspapers called 'the miracle' of peace descended on South Africa as the IFP decided to participate in the elections at almost the very last moment."

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December 4 2000, Vol. 44, No. 14