Editor’s note: Every Wednesday from March 4 until April 1, St. Paul’s Episcopal Church will host religious leaders for its annual Thorne Sparkman lecture series. Ahead of each lecture, the Times Free Press offers a conversation with the speaker as part of the weekly “Religion: Got Questions?” series.
The Rev. Dr. Gary Mason is a Methodist minister and director of “Rethinking Conflict,” a nonprofit organization focused on peace-building and reconciliation. Mason and his Belfast-based parish played a role in Northern Irish peace negotiations in the 1990s, for which he was recognized by the Queen of England in 2007.
This conversation has been edited for clarity and length.
What will your lecture in Chattanooga be about? How did you choose that topic?
My background is I’m a Methodist clergy person but was very actively involved in the Northern Irish peace process. I’ll often say in lectures, conflict primarily involves three factors, and that’s land, identity or religion, or a mixture of those three. The talk is going to look at the role of religion, good and bad, dealing with conflict because there’s no question what I would call “toxic religion” has undoubtedly fermented conflict globally.