The Religious Roots of Resistance: Exploring Ecological Violence and Non-Violent Resistance Movements

This panel presents three distinct case studies that explore the religious and spiritual dimensions of non-violent resistance to colonial, military, and ecological violence. Engaging questions about how violence is embedded in and perpetuated through institutions and colonial and capitalist systems, the panelists show how violence can be understood as both visible and active, and insidious and obscured. They underscore the importance of understanding the detrimental impacts of forms of slow violence, including transgenerational and evolutionary violence that impact human and non-human organisms and environmental systems. These contributions address questions about boundaries, including where we draw the line between violent and non-violent forms of activism and what counts as sacred and worthy of protections and why. Together, these panelists examine how religious and spiritual beliefs inform social and environmental justice concerns and inspire religious and ecological resistance in the form of direct action protest, civil disobedience, and regulation and policy reform.