ANALYSIS OF THE ROLES OF RELIGIOUS INSTITUTIONS AND THE CHALLENGES FACING THEM IN MAINTAINING PEACE AND HARMONY: THE CASE OF SELECTED RELIGIOUS INSTITUTIONS IN THREE DISTRICTS OF EAST HARARGHE ZONE

Abstract

The study investigated the roles of religious institutions and the challenges facing them in maintaining peace and harmony in three districts of East Hararghe Zone. In doing so, the study employed a qualitative research approach as the issue deals with people’s perspectives and lived experiences. Explanatory cross-sectional and case study research designs were employed to uncover the reasons and go deep into the selected cases, respectively. The study used primary, i.e. key informant interviewee, in-depth interviewee, and focus group discussants, and secondary data sources like published and unpublished documents to gather relevant data. A purposive sampling technique was employed to select individuals who have sufficient knowledge in the area. The study employed thematic analysis to sort-out important themes of the data. The finding of the study demonstrated that religious institutions have preached about peace and harmony, condemned conflicts, and put religious doctrines into practice. Nonetheless, there were issues unaddressed in maintaining peace and harmony such as teaching words of God regularly and treating adherents who have different backgrounds on an equal basis to the level expected. The study also uncovered lack of entertaining ethnolinguistic differences among followers of the institutions, divisions of religious fathers based on ethnic group and language identities, and community categorizations on ethnolinguistic and religious basis as social challenges hindering the institutions in maintaining peace and harmony. Moreover, the study revealed government maltreatments, manipulations of religious fathers, and failure to entertain religious institutions’ cases and biases as political challenges facing the institutions in maintaining peace and harmony. The study recommends that religious institutions should entertain ethnolinguistic differences of the followers and cooperate with the government to the level expected of them. Additionally, the government should treat religious institutions found in the study equally and entertain religious institutions’ cases officially to maintain peace and harmony successfully