Overcoming violence - the parable of the tribes

Unitarian Universalists have joined in association and covenanted to affirm and promote the goal of world community with peace, liberty, and justice for all. For religious liberals social ethics arise out of commitments made in community, and take the form of promises we make to each other. We have promised our God, the wider world community and our children that we would work for peace.

Some Unitarian Universalists believe that the best way to work for peace is through the political system, and they become Democrats, or Republicans. Soon they end up rationalizing the policies of the Democratic politicians, or the Republican politicians, and presuming that they only "realistic" way to peace is to continue to play the two party political game.

For me, both of the parties are morally bankrupt. To realize our commitment for peace we need to ask the question, what is the source of violence? How can I contribute to ending the cycle of violence? When we say that we wish to build religious community that presents an alternative to the dominant culture, what do we mean? Do we limit our purpose to providing a respite from the rat race? Do we mean it when we say that religious community is intended to witness to the transformation of the world?

If we commit ourselves to not "studying war no more" perhaps we should begin to study peace. I offer this resource to that end.

In his review of the "The parable of the tribes: The problem of power in social evolution" by Andrew Bard Schmookler, Michael Sky writes:

Imagine a group of tribes living within reach of one another. If all choose the way of peace, then all may live in peace. But what if all but one chooses peace?

So begins this paradigm-bending book, an elegant theory of social evolution, as well as a brilliant prescription for modern peacemakers. Schmookler not only accounts for the origins of the ancient cycle of human violence, he provides a path from domination, competition, and unilateral decision-making to partnership, cooperation, and multilateralism. As Schmookler guides the reader through possible answers to the parable, it becomes clear that, when faced with violence, whether one chooses to fight back, surrender, or run away, each "solution" tends to spread the power dynamics of violence through the system. Even the most peaceful culture, when forced to defend itself, must shift to that degree of militarism deemed necessary for survival.

The liberating message for peacemakers is that violence is neither a hard-wired aspect of human nature nor God the Father's indelible curse on humankind; rather, violence arose as a regrettable solution to human conflicts and has since spread from person to person and culture and culture like a social virus, or meme. By focusing on what Schmookler calls "the problem of power in social evolution," we can chart a new course through personal and political conflicts and find lasting, nonviolent answers to the parable's dilemma.