Religion and Global Security

A GOD OF ONE’S OWN: Religion’s Capacity for Peace and Potential for Violence. By Ulrich Beck, (Translated by Rodney Livingstone). Cambridge and Malden, MA: Polity Press, 2010. Pp. x + 231. ISBN: 9780745646190

THE SECULAR OUTLOOK: In Defense of Moral and Political Secularism. By Paul Cliteur.Chichester, West Sussex and Malden MA: Wiley-Blackwell, 2010. Pp viii + 317. ISBN: 9781444335217

THE FEAR OF BARBARIANS: Beyond the Clash of Civilizations. By Tzvetan Todorov. Cambridge and Malden, MA: Polity Press, 2010. Pp. viii + 233. ISBN: 9780745647104

RESENTMENT IN HISTORY. By Marc Ferro, (translated by Steven Rendall). Cambridge and Malden, MA: Polity Press, 2010. Ppiv + 150. ISBN: 9780745646879

From Greek antiquity to our contemporary times, the debate on the existenceof God and, if He exists, how much power He exerts over the affairs of men andwomen has raged on. Every human society has held on to some concept of asupernatural Being who commands from on high certain rules and behaviours.Whether this crave for a supernatural Being is intrinsic to human nature orsocially constructed has also been a matter of debate to this day. Much of thedebate centres around the verifiability of the claims made by the believers.Philosophers, theologians, anthropologists, sociologists and even scientistshave all devoted a great deal of effort and written volumes on these intriguingideas of religion and belief. In the process fundamental and pivotal issues ofepistemology have been raised.