Politicization of Religion, the Power of Symbolism

The Case of Former Yugoslavia and its Successor States

G. Ognjenovic, J. Jozelic, G. Ognjenovic, J. Jozelic, Kenneth A. Loparo, Kenneth A. Loparo, G. Ognjenovic, J. Jozelic, Gorana Ognjenovi?, Jasna Jozeli?

• Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
• Year: 2014
• Print ISBN: 9781349503377, 9781137484123
• eBook ISBN: 9781137477897
• Topic: Politics & International Relations
• Subtopic: European History
• Index: Politics & International Relations

This book examines the role religion played in the dismantling of Yugoslavia; addressing practical concerns of inter-ethnic fighting, religiously-motivated warfare, and the role religion played within the dissolution of the nation.

1

Introduction: The Power of Symbolism

Gorana Ognjenović and Jasna Jozelić

There is a great difference between a war being categorized as “religious” and religion being politicized for the purpose of achieving a political goal. However, it can at times be hard to tell the difference between the two. It can be especially hard to do so when the difference between “pretend to be” and “is” is obscured almost beyond a point of recognition. In this case it is the point when “making a choice” or “having many choices” is just a falsified picture, a one-dimensional image¹ of really having in fact no choice at all, since the objective choice would include the possibility of not choosing. This strategy thrives in today’s world of commercial economics, where the superficiality of commerce combined with the level of abstraction in theoretical economics moves any mountain as only religion is able to do, due to its belief that divinity turns the world into its own image.²

In this volume, by “politicization of religion” we mean the following: (ab)use of religion as a political means to an end—an end in this case meaning the achievement of nationalist political goals. Our primary goal is analyzing “how”: through which mechanisms this phenomenon has been and still is practiced in Southeastern Europe. More precisely, we shall analyze the mass production and use of counterfeit religious symbolism on different levels for political purposes. In volume 2 of this book, we focus on the politization of religion within the context of state, nation, and faith: the use of counterfeit religious symbolism to blur the essential distinction between “what is a real danger to a nation” and “what is not.”

Politicization of religion is a constant phenomenon in our daily lives, with only a difference in degree as to how much and how frequently it is conducted. One particular aspect we shall give much of our attention to in these volumes is the politicization of religion as systematic deleting of the distinction between ethnicity and religion. At the same time, we acknowledge that not all politicization of religion is negative.

What concerns us most, considering the history of the issue at hand, is that the abstract political battles of (ab)use of religious symbols continue in the old style—as battles of counterfeited religious symbolism—and are most likely to be used as blueprints for future conflicts. This is why we turn to this topic, analyzing the mechanisms behind it, which, if anything, over time have only become more powerful and subtle and therefore harder to detect. The empirical references to specific religions in the area are to be understood only as illustrations of the mechanisms at work.

The mechanisms behind these phenomena are universal and therefore applicable elsewhere—not least, due to the nature of the institutions, in the three main religions in the area, which have engaged in this activity historically, and which were actually the first-ever global religious conglomerates. For centuries, they have done business by systematically deleting the distinction between religion and ethnicity in Southeastern Europe: systematically synonymizing the two categories, or making the two distinct categories one and the same, at every opportunity.

When it comes to the analysis of the mechanisms behind the politicization of religion, instead of asking ourselves whether it was a question of religion or not, we choose to ask ourselves, “How well counterfeited was—and, unfortunately, still is—the religious symbolism” in this particular case?

As we mentioned earlier, the fact that debates on the nature of the conflict of the 1990s are still flourishing should not be of any surprise to anyone. The events from the territory of former Yugoslavia during the 1990s strongly challenged any idea of what one thought a religious or/and an ethnic conflict might be. If the global industry of counterfeiting of goods and services had taught us anything it must be that its method has been proven as profitable only when it is almost impossible to tell the difference between the “original” and the “fake.”

The blurring of two essentially different categories that always intrigue every scholar who is trying to find out more about Southeastern Europe, amongst others is: if one is Orthodox, everyone assumes one is ethnic Serb, and if one is a Catholic, everyone assumes that one is ethnic Croat.³ The question is how do these false synonyms occur, and as we shall see in the volume 2 of this book, what was and still is the purpose of these synonymizations?

If we are to point out one single mechanism of politicization that perfected the “counterfeiting” or the “quality of blurring” of distinctions between the “real” and “fake,” it must be ethnic-religious mimicry⁴ (mis)used on the symbolic level. The studies show that this mechanism is so effective that as a result of the blur, moral compasses stop functioning. Once the moral compasses were incapacitated, one of the darkest episodes in the history of the territory of former Yugoslavia became a reality. In the name of one’s nation, some vicious genocidal acts and acts of ethnic cleansing toward other nations were committed; Killing, torture, and rape of women⁵ (men and children), seemed at the time to be an effective means to an end. In addition, acts of ethnic cleansing were committed against members of one’s own nation.

How?

In this context, each religious institution presented itself as the only legitimate moral institution providing moral judgment upon the acts of the individual within each nation. They were and still are the judge, the jury, and executioner. These moral institutions, as always, fed and are still feeding off the two primary feelings of ownership: the territorial ownership and the ownership of a nation (each religion of its corresponding nation), at any price, even when the price is self-destruction.⁶ The depth of the well of symbolism from which they were and still are pulling out the symbols necessary for this manipulation is by no means modest since it reaches all the way back to the Romanization of indigenous religions in Illyria-Dalmatia, to a time when differences between peoples were much bigger.⁷ At the same time, there is a failure to recognize another parallel between these two periods: religion at that time—just as now—was used as an instrument for economic gain. Some things never change.

What we are witnessing today is that the concept of “territoriality” is about the nationalist destruction of the cultural heritage of “others” and replacing it with objects that only resemble one’s heritage in order to mark the territory as “one’s own.”⁸ In other areas, where the territorial control has been lost,⁹ the battle has grown into a battle to control the nation beyond the territorial borders, through a (mis)use of religious symbolism: a survival strategy where physical security has been replaced by “ontological security,” by monopolizing a specific national religion-infused master narrative.

The choice of channels on which to spread the counterfeited message is of essence, since the more abstract the channels are, the more effective they seem to be. The standard, blissful example of the power of a definition is the media utilized strictly for defining what a nation is as well as what the role of certain groups is within the nation. As always, one first attempts to regulate gender roles (of women, primarily, as carriers of the nation), and by doing so exercise cultural influence over the entire society.¹⁰ The subtle but overpowering message is spread in the less obvious but still desperate battle for increasing one’s control over one’s population that still (in one’s eyes only) “suffers” from the long-lasting effects of secular existence.

Notes

   1. Herbert Marcuse, One-Dimensional Man, Studies in the Ideology of Advanced Industrial Society, New edition (London: Routledge, 2002).

   2. James G. Carrier and Daniel Miller (eds), Virtualism, A New Political Economy, (London: Berg 3PL, November 1, 1998).

   3. Gorana Ognjenović “Quo Vadis Vlachs? Project Čarnojević into the 21st Century.”

   4. See chapter 3 in this volume, Marjan Smrke, “Ethno-religious Mimicry in the War in Bosnia-Herzegovina.”

   5. See chapter 4 in this volume, Nena Močnik, “Religious Symbolism and Mythology in Sexual Violence and Rape during Balkan the Conflict, 1992–1995.”

   6. See chapter 5 in this volume, Frano Prcela, “The Catholic Pledge in the Croatian Identity.”

   7. See chapter 6 in this volume, Adam Lindhagen, “Political Control and Religious Life at Narona—A Case Study from Antiquity.”

   8. See chapter 7 in this volume, Amra Hadžimuhamedović, “Three Receptions of Bosnian Identity as Reflected in Religious Architecture.”

   9. See chapter 8 in this volume, Filip Ejdus and Jelena Subotić, “Kosovo as Serbia’s Sacred Space: Governmentality, Pastoral Power and Sacralization of Territories.”

  10. See chapter 9 in this volume, Zilka Spahić Šiljak, “Nation, Religion and Gender.”

2

Quo Vadis Vlachs? Project Čarnojević into Twenty-First Century

Gorana Ognjenović

In this chapter, I shall focus on a broader historic and political perspective of an ess...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title
• 1  Introduction: The Power of Symbolism
• 2  Quo Vadis Vlachs? Project Čarnojević into the Twenty-First Century
• 3  Ethno-religious Mimicry in the War in Bosnia-Herzegovina
• 4  Religious Symbolism and Mythology in Sexual Violence and Rape during the Balkan Conflict, 1992–1995
• 5  The Catholic Pledge in the Croatian Identity
• 6  Political Control and Religious Life at Narona: A Case Study from Antiquity
• 7  Three Receptions of Bosnian Identity as Reflected in Religious Architecture
• 8  Kosovo as Serbia’s Sacred Space: Governmentality, Pastoral Power, and Sacralization of Territories
• 9  Nation, Religion, and Gender
• Conclusion: Symbolism
• Notes on Contributors
• Index