Religion: A Missing Component of Professional Military Education PKSOI Paper | Page 23

of making space for secular state actors, religious actors are frequently relegated to the margins of military
and civilian intervention efforts, and increasingly,
secular non-state actors that possess the resources to
advance their interests, irrespective of local needs, are
contributing to the marginalization of religious actors.
Prescriptive approaches to conflict resolution dominate, and guide secular non-state approaches taken by
secular foundations.
But, religion remains ever-present, and rarely does
anyone seriously suggest its imminent demise.39 So
beneficial is religion to human evolution, contemporary research advances the view that it may be a part
of human DNA. Religion provides a mythology and
moral grounding that benefits society, and societies
with strong moral development were privileged over
those without such a foundation. Privilege, over time,
became part of human DNA, and individuals and
societies with religion evolved, those without it did
not.40 From a peacebuilding perspective, “democracy
depends on moral stances which stem from prepolitical sources,”41 and religion shares in the domain of the
prepolitical.
Religious Illiteracy
The phenomenon of religious illiteracy permeates
western diplomatic, development, and military thinking and policy. As an essential element, religion needs
to be included in peacebuilding and stability narratives.42 Successful PSO interventions will r