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Anthropoloqy Austrian Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences 5-6 (2017)
v < iASTWEST >
sobjceumtcs
- ISSN 2310-5593 (Print) / ISSN 2519-1209 (Online) -
Anthropology Антропология
UDC 13.130.2 DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.20534/AJH-17-5.6-3-14
Y. H. Doci 1
1 European University of Tirana
ALBANIA'S INTER-RELIGIOUS HARMONY AND TOLERANCE: THE CASE OF MALBARDH
Abstract
25 years after the fall of Communism the religious life ofAlbania has changed dramatically. The full impact of this change with regard to the social cohesion of Albania is yet to be felt, because the first generation living with religious freedom is only now coming of age.
Albania still enjoys a remarkably harmonious religious environment. However, a poor understanding of the underlying reasons for such harmony and the understandable eagerness for exaggerating the apparent inter-religious tolerance of Albanians may induce a sleepy ignorance of weaknesses in the face of the global social and religious currents present. This reality could result in upheavals similar to those experienced in other countries with mixed religious populations.
Therefore, a good understanding of the much discussed case of the village Malbardh, reflecting the typical shape of Albanian inter-religious harmony, will help in distinguishing the characteristics of true inter-religious tolerance. This requires adding pluralistic wisdom to the Malbardhian goodheartedness.
To start this important discussion, I shall present an analysis of the Malbardh case contrasting what I call inter-religious harmony with tolerance. I shall then suggest a way to develop an informed and enduring Albanian religious tolerance.
Objectives: The objective in this paper is helping the understanding of the nature and meaning of the inter-religious environment of the village of Malbardh selected as a good case of the Albanian environment of inter-religious interactions.
Methods: In the context of writing an ethnography the methods included here are interviews and focus groups with participant observation.
Results: Determining the nature of such an environment as harmony and distinguishing it from the designation of inter-religious tolerance is the unique contribution of this work.
Scientific novelty: I consider the clarification of the sense ofharmony and tolerance in relation to different entities such as the two differing religions of Christianity and Islam, is a novelty with special application in our understanding of the Albanian environment of Malbardh.
Practical significance: The practical significance of this study is related to the intentional work to be done in preserving what is valuable in the traditions of the Albanians as evident in the village of Malbardh in order to ensure transitioning from harmony toward tolerance.
Keywords: inter-religious tolerance, harmony, case study, pluralism.
1. Introduction: Albanian inter-religious tolerance as illustrated in the case of the village ofMalbardh 1.1. The broader context of inter-religious toler-
ance
Through the media we learn of frequent conflicts and acts of violence throughout the world that are religiously motivated [1, P. 78]. The history of religion is not comforting with regard to inter-religious tolerance. As indicated in a recent review [2, P. 194] quoting several studies [3; 4; 5], more than half of the wars between 1946 and 2001, 115 wars out of 225, happened in one decade between 1989 and 2001. Now that religions have moved even closer to each other in a world that is more interconnected and permeable than ever, inter-religious tolerance is needed all the more and as philosopher Michael Walzer said: "it sustains life itself" [6, P. 30].
In this disturbing context the example of harmony in Albania is very refreshing and possibly important in suggesting ways to foster inter-religious tolerance in our world today. At the same time, now that "Albania has become entwined in global processes," [7, P. 25] threats for turning this "garden of religious harmony" 1 into another theater of conflict are already at work with the globalizing currents felt among Albanians including reports of hundreds of Albanian Muslims in ISIS ranks.
Albanian inter-religious tolerance is held up as a good example by many including Pope Francis who visited Albania in September 2014, but before we go any further in understanding one sliver of this purported Albanian inter-religious tolerance with the case of the village Mal-bardh, we need to clarify how representative Malbardh is of the whole of Albania.
1.2. Qualifying the representativeness of Malbardh for this study:
The communist regime shaped Malbardh in a way similar to what one may find in any Albanian village. After a generation of active anti-religious propaganda in a country declared officially atheistic, and characterized by effective indoctrination coupled with harsh punishment for detractors, religion in Malbardh did not fare any better than in any other part of the country. Religion
1 I borrow this phrase from [8].
was reduced to being a very marginal reality. It was felt only in the presence of the church ruins, or in some sense of a person's traditionally having a Muslim or Christian background, both equally irrelevant as life orientations.
Malbardh's demographic make up is predominantly traditionally Muslim, that is, more than 900 of about 1000 inhabitants. There is also an indigenous Christian population of about 9 households living side by side the Muslims. This is similar to the general Albanian population mix of Christians and Muslims, although percentages vary in different areas of the country.
2. Research preliminaries: Toward a working definition of inter-religious tolerance
2.1. Tolerance, ideas and persons:
To address more directly the issue of the inter-religious tolerance in Malbardh 2 we need to start with the question: What is tolerance and when can we say that tolerance obtains?
As it has been pointed out by Newman, there is a distinction between "tolerance" and "toleration" [9, P. 5], but here we shall seek to come up with and use a working definition of tolerance. The main discussion here focuses on distinguishing the important emphasis in tolerating people with differing or opposing ideas rather than tolerating differing or opposing ideas per se.
So, what does it mean to tolerate another's beliefs? This is important to clarify, because there are different perspectives on this issue [1, P. 82]. I would put forward that to tolerate another's beliefs does not mean that one accepts them as true. As Jay Newman clarifies, "Tolerating a religious belief, then, does not involve a half-hearted acceptance or endurance of the belief in itself, but rather it involves acceptance or endurance of someone's holding that belief, that is of a certain case of believing" [9, P. 8].
This definition by Newman is important to grasp, especially with regard to inter-religious tolerance, in order
2 I am bypassing here the discussion of observational terms such as 'coexistence' or 'cooperation,' which are used frequently to describe the Albanian situation of Muslims and Christians, choosing to focus on the more qualitative terms 'harmony' and 'tolerance,' which focus on the nature of interaction between Albanian Muslims and Christians.
to avoid the common practice of slipping into the stance of tolerating ideas rather than people. Barua advocates this latter approach in his article "Ideas of Tolerance." 1 My disagreement with this suggestion is not to say in any way that ideas are not important in the existence of tolerance. On the contrary, my main point in this writing hinges on the importance of ideas in the existence of inter-religious tolerance, but it is people and not ideas that we tolerate.
2.1.1. The disappointing promise of relativism:
Relativists who adjust the meaning of tolerance to make it more of a propositional attitude, which considers respecting another's religious beliefs as being of equal truthfulness to the truth claims of one's own convictions, open the door for this stance being considered as nonsensical. This is the case because a person could end up holding as equally true both propositions: his own, and at the same time and in the same respect that of the religious other, even if they are obviously contradictory. My concern here is not the important discussion of the concept of truth, but the impact of the relativistic view of truth on tolerance, if it is the view of the religious adherents. It practically dissolves the ground on which tolerance depends and this is a serious deficit in a pluralistic context. It is appropriate in this respect to listen to the concerns of an astute social observer of our time, namely Frank Furedi, who argues that tolerance can become a vice. In his words:
"Tolerance as an act of not interfering or attempting to suppress beliefs that contradict one's own sentiments has given way to the idea that it also involves not judging other people and their views. So instead of serving as a way of responding to differences of views, tolerance has become a way of not taking them seriously. Arguably, when tolerance is represented as a form of detached indifference or a polite gesture connoting automatic acceptance, it becomes a vice rather than a virtue" [6, P. 31].
We need to detect and expose the relativistic stance because it actually removes the conditions for tolerance to exist. Newman writes: "Tolerance, after all, does not
1 Here it is written: "To tolerate X, which may be an idea or activity, is to voluntarily exercise some form of self-restraint towards X which we otherwise object to or believe to be deviant" [10, P. 74].
demand that one believe that every other person's metaphysical views are as true or as reasonable or as profound as his own. Indeed ... tolerance is possible only because we are capable of putting up with things that we do not like ... or agree with" [9, P. 61].
The conditions for tolerance then include: (1) having a certain belief and (2) interacting with another person who holds beliefs with which you disagree. If we didn't have to put up with those who hold beliefs contrary to ours, there would be no need for tolerance. If all believed the same thing or basically 'truths' of the same value, then all religious beliefs are not to be taken seriously. Thus they could be considered merely as different keys on a piano, which may be different but not true or false. What, then, would there be to tolerate [11, P. 75]?
Tolerance can be exercised in different contexts, political, social, religious and personal [11, P. 169-173], and it is important to keep in mind these overlaying contexts in order to ascertain the nature of the tolerance we witness in Malbardh.
2.2. A working definition of 'tolerance':
From our analysis of the conditions for tolerance, the following may be inferred: For tolerance to obtain there needs to exist (1) some appreciable level of conviction with which religious beliefs are held in order to feel the dissonance with the beliefs of another. This implies a perceivable level of awareness of the difference or contradiction of one's ideas vs. the other's views. 2 Also, (2) some real life context where two people or groups in interaction can exert some level of restraint or endurance toward the other holding the opposing view or idea. This amounts to (3) some level of observable respect for the space and freedoms of religious others to live according to their convictions.
Thus, for tolerance to appear there needs to be some level of personal conviction, interpersonal interaction, and respected personal freedoms 3. But the level of freedom is important to ascertain. With regard to the measuring of freedoms, endurance of the other, we can have
2 Referring to Boersma () tolerance is perceived 'as a social concept about which one has to reflect philosophically' - 2012. [1, P. 83].
3 Referring to Potgieter et al (2014:3) writes that tolerance 'involves decision-making based on a certain value system, ethical behavior, reasonable argument, difference, as well as a spectrum of behavior' [1, P. 83].
a spectrum of strength achieving (1) refraining from hindering the other unjustly to declare freely whatever view one choses to hold and (2) to propagate his idea for the consideration ofothers. It also includes (3) refraining from hindering unjustly the free conversion of anyone to the other's idea 1. This is in agreement with Furedi who writes: "... tolerance can be measured in relation to the extent to which people's belief and ehavior is not subject to institutional and political interference and restraint" [6, P. 31].
Now we may put forward a working definition of robust inter-religious tolerance: Tolerance exists between two people or groups when intentionally or knowingly one respects the other who holds and practices opposing views to the point of having both parties endure, without unjust hindrance, even the free conversion of anyone to the other's point of view.
Granted this working definition of tolerance, we can move on to reflect on what is considered to be an example of Albanian inter-religious tolerance: the case of Malbardh.
3. Research descriptions: Understanding the case of Malbardh regarding inter-religious tolerance
3.1. Questions arising about the Albanian inter-religious tolerance in Malbardh:
From my visits to the village of Malbardh, several questions arose in mind about the nature of inter-religious tolerance I studied there: (1) One villager expressed the view, common to many Albanians, that religions are actually nothing more than political parties. What are we to think of this reduction of religions to human creations (Interview with L.A, Sept. 29, 2015)? (2) How does our analysis of inter-religious tolerance fit with the view in this village that a reason for religious harmony there is the absence of foreigners (Interviews and focus groups in the Spring and Fall of 2015)? (3) What is signified by the fact that the greatest distinction the villagers are aware of with regard to their inherited religions has to do with who eats pork and who doesn't? More correctly who is
1 Here is a good discussion of the meaning of religious freedom indicating the legitimate limitations in light of other human rights and pointing out illegitimate ones while emphasizing "a famous ruling by the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) dated May 25, 1993,.. [saying] 'The freedom of thought, conscience and religion is one of the foundations of a democratic society" [12, P. 72-75].
supposed to, because as they told me jokingly: "the price ofpork has risen due to the Muslims consuming ofpork" (Malbardh focus group in April 2015).
3.2. The case of Malbardh as an ethnographic study:
3.2.1. Malbardh, the media's take on the story and methodology:
We are interested in Malbardh because of a televised story, aired in February 2014 [13]. It portrayed the alleged tolerance between the Muslim majority and the Catholic inhabitants as being expressed through the participation of Muslims in the building of the church in their village.
The history of the building of the church can be told in different ways. The way it was told by Marin Mema through the aforementioned TV documentary captured the attention of many and set the stage for the discussion of Malbardh's inter-religious tolerance. The point of this TV presentation is that religious tolerance between Christians and Muslims in the village is expressed unmistakably in the building of a Catholic church with the enthusiastic participation of the Muslim majority population in the village.
In September 2014, Henry Jardine, as a representative of the American Embassy in Tirana, gave the village of Malbardh the award "Act Now" in recognition of "Their inter-religious cooperation and the voluntary initiative to build an all-inclusive place of worship" moreover, the journalist Marin Mema, received a prize for this documentary in December 2014 as "Journalist of the year" [14].
Another way the story was told by another j ournalist, Kastriot Marku [14], included bringing in the details of financial arrangements, which revealed the underbelly of the at first glamorously painted picture of the documentary. The import of this other presentation is that the building of the church was not done by the voluntary work of the Muslim villagers, but by paid work of these villagers financed by the Catholic Church in the region. While this article brings a welcome balancing of facts, its author also did insist on the wonderfully harmonious relationship between Muslims and Catholics in the village so the substance of the story being the admirable harmony of the people of Malbardh still stands.
Others, like Marenglen Rexha, who is one of the villagers from Malbardh, discussed the nature of the harmony between the Muslims and the Catholics in the village with the provocative title "Our Harmony is not Religious" [15]. This piece offers insights for questions to ask in order to understand the dimensions of the obvious harmony between the villagers of different religious backgrounds in Malbardh, a harmony accepted broadly by others who discussed the case of this village as well [16].
In the following, I shall attempt to provide a better understanding of the main issue of the story: the make up of the inter-religious tolerance purported to exist in Malbardh in connection with the building of the church there and the resulting developments 1.
3.2.2. Removing the superficial clutter in the discussion of Malbardh:
The members of a poor village, such as Malbardh, cannot be expected to give more than they did. Therefore the discussion should not be framed by an analysis of financial statements which, admittedly, show the undeniably important role of the leaders of the Catholic Church in the region. More relevant in this context is the respectful and even reticent attitude of those Catholic leaders, who were convinced by the efforts of the religiously mixed group of representatives of Malbardh who instigated the project, to invest in building this church in such a predominantly Muslim village. The Catholic leaders recognized that they were receiving a sincere and unanimous request of the villagers through their representatives, without any known reservations by the whole village, to have the church built (Interview with M.Gj. in April 2015).
The building of the church is significant with regard to understanding the reality of inter-religious harmony in this village. However, how it relates to their understanding of God and religion is more important. To enter this inner world of thoughts and ideas one must over-
1 In order to find what the fuller picture was I spoke numerous times and did several interviews with one friend from that village. In addition, I went to the village in the spring and autumn of 2015 where I met with more than 30 individuals at different times, spending full days in conversation, interviewing and conducting two focus groups, eating and socializing with them, and participating in the celebrations at the occasion of the church's namesake day, the day of Shen Mehilli on September 29, 2015.
come several barriers connected with their immediate struggles and life concerns in a poor village. The fact that the villagers needed to have the road paved did not overcome the truth of their sincere respect of what the church signifies and genuine desire to have the church built to facilitate their pilgrimages and candle lighting. 2 Such inter-religious attitudes on the part of the villagers would become clear to any sincere observer who interacted with them 3.
3.2.3. Describing some relevant elements for understanding Malbardh's inter-religious harmony:
Malbardh's harmony is familial or natural.
The villagers I interviewed and talked with in other contexts emphasized the fact that they would involve their fellow villagers of either religion in celebrations of weddings and in their funerals, not simply as participants but with significant functional roles. One needs to appreciate the importance of such celebrations among Albanians to appreciate the significance they attach to such roles. But it suffices for our purposes here to say that such roles meant they relied on people of other religious persuasion in their village just as they would rely on their own family members for the successful management of important social functions. The formal interfamily bonds akin to alliances of close kinship called "Kumbari" between Muslims and Christians were also examples of this long-standing harmony that I noticed.
The more telling statement, which was not intentionally presented as a reason to believe the existence of their harmony but which was said in other contexts of the conversation, was their statement: "we have no foreigners in our village." This meant that anybody who was not a descendant of the original inhabitants of their village was a foreigner. There is no doubt in their minds, and no reason to challenge their conviction, that they are all
2 My awareness of such issues from my discussions with a friend from this village helped in avoiding some sensitive topics that would sidetrack the conversation. My goal was to get to their religious reasoning and posture. I did genuinely care for their needs and made allowance for their mixed motives in their words and actions toward me, an outsider, even though I came as a friend of their co-villager.
3 I went into this analysis with the confidence that being an Albanian myself I would be able to see through everything but my villager friend's help with the background information and correction of some of my takes on the conversations was invaluable.
descendants of two families that came to that place from further up the mountain about 200 years ago, namely, the Smaci and Buzebolla families. This self-understanding as living without foreigners shows their perception of their fellow villagers as indistinguishably equal partners of the community without any reference to religion 1.
A Catholic man in the group said that his mother used to keep a whole set of separate plates and utensils for their Muslim guests, who might be concerned about touching pork, simply to show consideration and respect for their guests. In the same conversation a Muslim villager jokingly said that "the price of pork now has increased and the Catholics are mad with us Muslims because we are eating it too." We laughed together as one, as Albanians, though we were Muslims, Catholics and Protestants in that conversation.
The building of the church was building the village's church.
One reason mentioned in my presence as an argument given by the village representatives in their request for the building of the church was the fact of visits by every family of the village to the ruins of the church for lighting candles at least yearly or whenever the need was felt (Interview with M.Gj. in April 2015).
During my participation in the celebration I was not prepared for a very unique greeting I had never heard before: "t'nimofte," which means, "May it help you." The villagers said this to each other as they came across each other coming and going in the vicinity of the church but not outside of that area. My friend told me later that it meant 'may the church help you' or may this sacred place
1 Very interestingly, my interlocutors in the village did not even consider it important to mention the religious change from Catholics to Muslims. Explaining to me in much detail how they exchanged land related to a previous church they belonged to, the Shen e Premte church, before coming to Malbardh for land in the area around Shen Mehill church in their current village, shows how they still keep alive the memory of their church affiliation. This is so even though, as my friend from the village clarified the chronology for me, they had become Muslim by the time they arrived in this village. My friend also said that this conversation helped him to understand why his village celebrates faithfully every 25th of July the day of the "Shen e Premte" church, which is not in their village.
help you. Truly, the villagers seem to have built a place where they came, even when it was a ruin, to bring their concerns and needs for some miraculous help via this sacred place. In this context what the representative of the American Embassy gave in 2014 as a description for the prize for this village's participation in building the church seems observationally correct, namely a 'place of all-inclusive worship' 2; a place where Muslims and Catholics come for worship on their own without distinctions 3.
Harmony without reference to any specific religious teaching.
The existence of the harmony in Malbardh is easy to see, but the motivation for this harmony is important to understand. In this context, the response I received by one old villager in answer to the question "what is religion" is significant because it is very common: "religions are like political parties" (Interview with L.A on Sept.29, 2015).
Another older friend of this 76 year old man, who was one year short of 90 years old, answered my direct question about what a villager would understand of the religion in his village to which he does not adhere. In answering this question he gave me a long and complicated speech mentioning Martin Luther and concluding with "the builders of the mosque have spent the money in vain," referring to the new mosque built that summer. 4 Voting with his feet, even though a Muslim by tradition, he was also expressly saying that the villagers didn't care about the labels of Muslim and Catholic, but knew that if there was a place to go for help from God this sacred ancient place, Shen Mehilli church, was it. Fitting his answer to my question then, he basically was saying that the villagers don't care about the content of
2 Motivation of award "Act Now" given to the village by the American Embassy [14].
3 [13] In one comment from this TV program it was said "... we don't specify that it is a church only for Catholics, but it is a general church, for Catholics and Muslims together", says one of the villagers Muharrem Capani.
4 In analyzing this difficult answer with my villager friend afterwards in order to decode the different tracks he was running on and see through the intention to show off his extensive reading, we came to the simple conclusion that he, though traditionally a Muslim, was saying that he like others would rather come up the mountain on foot as he already had done that day and hang out in the church vicinity, considered a sacred place, rather than go to the Mosque, which was literally around the corner from his house.
their religions; and thus, even if they know the stories or respective religious symbols, these don't mean much to them. They all believe that this sacred place of the church is important for spiritual concerns, and they go there without bothering to evaluate what one's religion is supposed to say about this practice. They do not suspect there exists a contradiction in a Muslim going to a church for help from above.
If there is one specific religious belief that the villagers can distinguish as of some importance to distinguish between the two religions in the village, then it is pork consumption, which, as we said earlier, is the butt ofjokes already.
3.2.4 The media publicity and the future of harmony in the village 1
The impact of the media attention has produced a long lasting influence on the life of the village, because it is easy to connect it with the building of a new mosque during a few weeks in the summer of 2015. I could see a very tangible indication of what I suspected to be happening in Malbardh as the result of media attention when I saw the mosque's foundation that spring. In that same April conversation the mayor let slip that somebody from outside Albania had called him and asked if they wanted to build a mosque "now they had the Church." He was offered help with the funding, which he had naturally accepted (Focus group in April 2015).
According to one villager I have spoken to personally, another thing that also has happened for the first time this summer is the coming of a Muslim leader to perform a Muslim religious ceremony for the death on a
1 When I visited the village during the celebration of the patron saint of the church, the Mayor of the village, a Muslim, took me to the stand close by the entrance of the church where one of his friends, another Muslim, offered me a Martini to raise a toast. He then apologetically said that the celebration this year didn't include music and other entertaining events because of some deaths in the village during the summer. All around there were groups of people grilling meat and socializing around food, obviously enjoying the day. I knew that the previous year, 2014, was a bigger celebration because they got the prize for their inter-religious harmony, and in relation to that I understood why the Mayor was apologetic. The media had set a glamorous standard, which they somehow felt was lacking this year and they were apologetic.
young man of the village. Being in his 30's, he had never seen a Muslim cleric do a funeral in his village before this summer, which is also after the media publicity and after the mosque was being built (Interview with M. R. Sept. 2015).
Now that the mosque is built, and the Muslim call to the prayer ritual is heard every day through the amplification of a recording, a new reality has dawned, one where the distinction of the invisible religious divide between Muslims and Catholics is emphasized visibly and audibly every day. This was not the case only a few months ago, before the news of the church building was publicized and going back at least two generations. I consider this new reality to be precipitated significantly by the publicity of the case.
I asked the elders of the village directly how they think they will protect their inter-religious harmony now that the distinctions are set to be developed between the two poles of Albanian religiosity, especially in light of the new mosque that was not there for generations. Their answer was spontaneous, and obviously not pre-consid-ered. It amounted simply to a declaration that the forms of life in this village will not change at least as long as they are alive but no one can predict the future. 2 It was obvious that they perceived the possibility of change, but it had to be far away and after they died.
4. Research results: Arriving at a conclusion with regard to tolerance and harmony in Malbardh
4.1. Inter-religious harmony or inter-religious tolerance?
We defined tolerance as obtaining "... when intentionally or knowingly one respects the other who holds and practices opposing views to the point ofhaving both parties endure, without unjust hindrance, even the free conversion of anyone to the other's point of view." I need to clarify here the difference I see between 'harmony' and 'tolerance' as they apply to the situation in Malbardh. The reason I accept, with reservations, calling the obvi-
2 In this connection I am reminded of a very astute insight of Os Guinnes with regard to the important difference between USA and Europe with its "tradition and close-knit living situations" as a factor in preserving society facing change. This is in line with the basis for the hope of these villagers to preserve their inter-religious harmony in their village through fostering naturally their traditional way of life [17, P. 133].
ous harmony of villagers of Malbardh inter-religious harmony is that it is the harmony between people whom we have to call Muslim or Catholic based on the perceived different traditional religious background. My reason for using the term 'inter-religious' is strictly sociological and descriptive 1. I have reservations because of the unqualified assumptions carried with the term 'religious' in that phrase. The language of harmony when talking about different religions is misleading if religions are correctly understood as represented according to their historic and publicly available scriptural profiles. Religions by nature, at least the two religions represented in Albania, Islam and Christianity, are mutually exclusive and therefore there cannot be real harmony between them or between people who do justice to these two religions 2. The proper word for the desirable interaction possible between these two religions is tolerance.
4.1.1. Harmony as a team's play vs. tolerance as endurance of competition:
There is a sense in which harmony is a higher development than tolerance, and there is another sense in which harmony and tolerance relate to two different kinds of possibilities. In order to illustrate this important second sense of the relationship of 'harmony' and 'tolerance,' it seems helpful to understand the difference between the environment of a team effort to which 'harmony' is the appropriate optimal result, and the environment of a competition between teams to which 'tolerance' is the desired result required, usually called 'good sportsmanship.'
Tolerance is more like giving the other team the op-
1 The very loose way the term "Muslim identity" is used here can only be justified as a label to identify people in a region by a name but it is very problematic if one assumes the name 'Muslim' to mean more than a label. Of all the cases at least this is definitely true if one uses the label 'Muslim' for Albanians of post Communist Malbardh until today [18, P. 242].
2 The term "mutually exclusive" here refers to Christianity
and Islam's opposing views about important aspects of reality both in the theoretical realm and as the prescribed goals of such religions in important areas of life for their adherents. For example, the deity of Jesus Christ is foundational to Christianity while this is definitely opposed by Islam. And important goals of Christians, such as their worldwide witness to their faith, is opposed by the goal of Muslims, who are involved in making Islam supreme over all religions in the whole world. So these specific views and goals make it impossible for these two religions to be in harmony as defined in this writing.
portunity to play against our team according to rules of equal respect. This requires enduring, according to the rules of good sportsmanship, the other's moves to outdo one's own team without interfering unjustly in a field of acceptable competition of goals.
4.1.2. Do Malbardhians intentionally or knowingly endure others?
A Catholic together with a Muslim was part of the delegation from the village that went to the regional Catholic leadership to ask for funding of the village church building in the early 2000's. During a meal with a few villagers, this Catholic man told me that the Muslim representative approached him in 2014 to ask him to go back to the Catholic leaders and now ask them to provide money for the building of a mosque.
The Catholic villager pointed out the ridiculousness of that request in the presence of two other villagers there with us who are Muslims. "How could Catholics build the place of worship of a religion they don't agree with?" His point was clear without these words, but not much was said in the awkward situation created as we pondered the significance of the Muslim's request.
It seems that the Malbardh Muslim representative is not aware or does not care of the significance of the difference of beliefs between Islam and Christianity, while also assuming that at least the Catholics of his village and their leaders should think the same as he does. A likely interpretation is that the Muslim representative didn't suspect his request as strange not because he is not smart but because he assumed religions are simply different labels for the same reality, much like the work in each other's harvest.
Making sense of the above-mentioned request by a Malbardhian Muslim representative, beside the descriptions offered above and other comments available even in the TV program aired nationally, indicates that our Mal-bardh Muslims were not really building the church as Muslims. Malbardh Muslims didn't act as Muslims per se but as members of the same community who go to be helped in the same way, in the same place, the church, perceived by them as "an all-inclusive place ofworship" 3.
3 One villager told me "I would see frequently everyone from the village walk by my house going to the church ruins to light candles so it was obvious everyone would like the church rebuilt."
Comparing this conclusion with the requirements for obtaining tolerance, namely the awareness of the differences, this condition for tolerance is missing in Malbardh. Thus Malbardh Muslims did not show tolerance in building the church but goodhearted village harmony as ifwork-ing in each other's fields to the benefit of everyone.
Does the comment of the old man ofMalbardh about religions being like political parties fit this condition of tolerance, namely that there are different goals consciously held? The context of this comment being the question "what is religion" should help to see that this comment is an expression of understanding religion as parties of different but irrelevant ideas. This explanation fits better with the well-meaning request of the Muslim for the Catholic Church to build the mosque, reflecting a rela-tivizing of contradictory religious beliefs. As previously stated, this relativizing stance inherently undermines the ground for true religious tolerance.
From my interaction in the village, ending the day in conversation with an almost 90 year old man, I got the clear impression that the vast majority of the villagers would not be able to identify any more important belief differentiating Christians from Muslims than whether one should eat pork or not. This is at least one belief that is identified as differentiating and some sacrificing is required for the sake of this belief, indicating some level of conviction 1. In light of the comment about the price of pork rising due to Muslim's consumption, we should infer that the level of commitment is low to non-existent. Neither Muslims nor Catholics are stigmatized with regard to eating pork or not and are endured relatively easily, more easily than in the past generation before Communism, when the mother of the Catholic villager kept separate utensils for Muslim visitors.
With a low level of conviction we have a low level of effort to endure or show tolerance. One could say there is no serious occasion for tolerance. So there is a good relationship of Albanians of different religious labels around the table, but in the absence of real convictions associated
1 Somebody may point to some cases of fasting during Ramadan, but as my friend from the village told me, the same person while fasting goes and lights candles at the church indicating a freely personalized way of dealing with contradictory things without taking them to mean what a religiously educated person might understand their meaning to be.
with those labels this conviviality is not an expression of tolerance but simple familial harmony.
4.1.3. What do the cases of conversion in Malbardh mean?
The last aspect to look at for signs of tolerance is as we defined earlier "... the measuring of 'freedoms,' endurance of the other in (1) refraining from hindering the other unjustly to declare freely whatever view one choses to hold, (2) to propagate his idea for the consideration of others and (3) refraining from hindering unjustly the free conversion of anyone to the other's idea." The fact that I met with at least three Malbardhians, all around 30 years old, who are converts to Christianity from Islam, without any signs of ostracism is very significant.
Conversion is absolutely a litmus test of the existence and the level of tolerance in any inter-religious community because, at least on the part of the converted, we can assume some level of commitment to specific religious ideas at variance with those of one's family of origin. These bring up in the closest circle of the family the issue of belonging. But what I have heard in Malbardh in this regard has more to do with "how it will be perceived by others" outside of the family, and how it would affect the continuation of the family's desired and foreseen material flourishing, rather than a strictly religious objection and enduring or objecting for religious reasons 2.
Hence, in the case of conversions I would grant that in Malbardh there is toleration in a small scale at the level of family; but it is hard to consider this an example of inter-religious tolerance as would be the case if different 'teams' of religious believers in the village were enduring each other while they propagated their views openly yet respectfully. This just is not yet the reality in Malbardh.
4.2. Conclusion on tolerance in Malbardh is harmony:
It should be clear now that Malbardh is a wonderful case ofharmony between compatriots ofdifferent religious traditions. The villagers of Malbardh manifest admirable
2 From the conversation with M. R., one of the converted villagers I extensively interviewed, I learned that his family was more concerned that he was losing time to religion, which is perceived as a worthless pursuit, more than anything else. I saw him interacting with his immediate and extended family as well as the broader community without any sign of avoidance or displeasure.
harmony and inclusion of those with other religious labels. While this reality is peaceful and harmonious, by indicating a low level of commitment to specific religious ideas and low level of endurance for purely religious reasons, Malbardh doesn't fit a strict case of inter-religious tolerance but of inter-religious harmony as explained earlier.
My conclusion is that this Malbardhian harmony of goodheartedness will be tested now that the realities of religious pluralism with church and mosque present include not only indigenous cultivation of different religious ideas but also easy transplanting of foreign ideas 1. Therefore, I hope that pluralistic wisdom with its learned criteria for a well-informed tolerance will be added to ensure that the existing harmony ofMalbardh will transition into no less than true inter-religious tolerance.
5. Conclusion and Significance: The significance of Malbardhian harmony for Albanian inter-religious tolerance
In Albania now, after Communism, we have the first generation raised in a religiously fertile environment coming of age as 20-35 year olds and determining the future of our country including its religious environment 2. Tolerance is not a given, on the contrary, with the growth of the awareness of the different beliefs held by religious others, intolerance is naturally more likely. In other words we need to be fostering a culture of tolerance as Furedi also implies: "tolerance is also a social/cultural accomplishment. A tolerant society is one where tolerance as a cultural orientation discourages and restrains social intolerance" [6, P. 31].
Based on the study of the Malbardh case I envision a few tolerance-building steps: (1) Intentionally cultivate the culture of democracy 3 both politically and socially as a nonnegotiable good for Albanian society 4.
More specifically (2) there is a great need for ap-
1 The ease of dissemination of intolerance today through internet is evidenced here: "... one of the principal ways in which evidence of religious intolerant behavior gets distributed around the globe, is that ofvideo material" [1, P. 78].
2 The current mayor of the Capital city, Tirana, is a bright 35-year-old man.
3 Tolerance is considered here as the most important democratic value [19, P. 49].
4 It is important to remember that: "... a community suitable for
free individuals. is what we call civilization" [20, P. 9-10].
proaching the study of religion by Albanians as world-and-life-views, paying attention to their truth claims and not simply or primarily studying religions as 'traditions.' This is important for the development of tolerance in Albania, as it has been proven to be for the civilized world. As Paul Johnson is quoted as saying, "the pursuit of truth in freedom is the essence of civilization" 5.
This brings us at (3) the importance of preserving the freedom of conversion of anyone to anyone's religion or point of view without coercion or manipulation in the context of respect for human rights as enshrined in International Law. It may seem unnecessary to say but even in talking about the culture wars in America one author writes that "the agreement that contending factions will not kill each other over their differences. Is no small accomplishment." [22, P. 319].
Attending a conference on religious tolerance recently, I put the question of conversion to two panels made of representatives of different religions; one international panel including high Muslim representatives from Iran and Egypt, and the other an Albanian panel [23]. The Albanian panel, made of the high representatives of the different religions in Albania including Islam, unanimously affirmed the freedom of conversion while the international one didn't. I am very optimistic that Albania will successfully move from the current stage of harmony into the more religiously mature one of inter-religious tolerance. How this can be accomplished is beyond the scope of this paper but I suspect that the basis will be a deep awareness of belonging first and foremost to a common family and being committed to the values of freedom, democracy and respect for international law as exemplified by the European civilization which Albanians overwhelmingly consider as their chosen destiny.
Mother Teresa spoke in a Bektashi event in March 1991 in the hearing of all of the Albanian representatives of different religions saying: "I will pray for you, for unity and that we live together in peace and joy" [24. P. 540]. I hope the prayer of our Albanian saint will bear fruit as long as there are Albanians on earth.
331].
quoting Paul Johnson, Enemies of Society, - Pg. 145. [21, P.
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Information about the author
Ylli H. Doci, PhD candidate in Social Anthropology at European University of Tirana.
Adress: Bulevardi Gjergj Fishta Nd. 70, H.1, Njesia Bashkiake Nr. 7, Kodi Postar 1023, Tirane, Shqiperi.
Tel: +355 4 2421 806
E-mail: info@uet.edu.al
E-mail: yd@albaniaccc.org
ORCID: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-8188-0526
