Religion: A Missing Component of Professional Military Education PKSOI Paper | Page 5

versity and more peaceful competition in secular and
sacred spaces.
Prof. Matyok’s work also speaks to Samuel Huntington’s assertion that the fundamental source of
conflict in the twenty-first century will not be primarily ideological or economic but cultural. The heart of
cultural systems is religion, and Huntington, so far,
appears right that inter-religious tensions increasingly
dominate conflict situations in the world, and the fault
lines between religious groups can form potential battle lines.
While Prof. Matyok’s monograph cautions us not
to be binary (either/or) in our thinking about religion,
many commentators are just that: “if you are not with
us, you are against us.” Former Prime Minister Tony
Blair is a case in point. He recently argued that Islamist ideology “is exclusivist in nature. It is a society
of a fixed polity, governed by religious doctrines that
are not changeable but which are, of their essence,
unchangeable.” In other words, Blair feels Islamic
extremism rejects the principles of religious freedom
and open, rule based economies.
It may be better to look at the problem in the terms
that Prof. Matyok proposes in his monograph. He
suggests we try to determine the criteria used to determine what is fanatical and what is tolerable, and within what range. By helping to find common ground
among conflict