b'Marianist Father James Heft (left)chats with student Emily Oh inthe kitchen of his communityresidence at the dinner precedingthe final session of his Religion& Violence course.Drawn by a topic thats very, very familiar in our In fact, I know of no religion that officially rec-world today, Makmak said she enrolled in the class ommends violence. What it can do is recommend with the goal of becoming more open-minded in this and often doesthe use of lethal force under certainkind of issue, especially with modern conflicts and conditions, the equivalent of the just war theory. Youhow it relates to this. can find terrorists in every religion. You see that inMission accomplished. Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Buddism; its very impor-I used to feel that whenever you tant for people to understand that.HE REALLY EMBRACES saw some kind of religious conflict, Of course, Fr. Heft brings a Catholic perspective,youre like, Oh, there it goes explaining the ways Catholic social teaching hasTHE ARGUMENTS WITH again, said Makmak, a sophomore wrestled with these issues. He pulls no punches inOPEN DIALOGUE AND majoring in international relations. delving into historical religious conflicts, such as theAnd after taking the class, I got a Crusades and the Spanish Inquisition.CONVERSATIONS. broader look at how the link is not He doesnt gloss over any sensitive issues, saidvery direct between the two. Chris Aranda, a senior majoring in history with aChris ArandaIn this day and age of instant re- religion minor. He really embraces the arguments,action and 24/7 commentary on so- with open dialogue and conversations.cial media, that broader view might The lively discussions also lead to disagreement,be drowned out, dismissed or ignored, though classes but thats fine, Fr. Heft said, adding, I always saysuch as Fr. Hefts offer a wider perspective. that one of the purposes of the course is to raise theReligion is rarely the major factor in causing vio- level of informed rejection. If youre going to reject anlence, but thats quite contrary to the general publics idea, get it right.belief, Fr. Heft said. All you have to do is put together Fr. Heft also leans heavily on religious scholars withJoseph Stalin, Adolph Hitler, Pol Pot and Mao Zedong whom he has become friends in 16 years at USC, in four atheistsand you get a conservative estimate particular through the Institute for Advanced Catholicof 110-120 million murdered in a period of one century. Studies (IACS) that he founded at the university in 2006.All the religious violence through history cant match Weve got great scholars here who are Muslim,thatso, dont blame it all on religion. It is less a who are Jewish, who are Buddhist, who are Hindu,question of what causes more violencegovernments who follow Confucian traditionI dont know a lotor religions; rather, it is about people, how they think about some of these religions, so they come and talkand what they do. to the class, Fr. Heft said, adding that the scholars14 Call 1.800.348.4732'