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Part Two of Religious Violence Hanson links increased concern with purity with loss of political and religious control over the social body (1993, p. 215). These purity codes provide the society with meaning, orientation, and maps of behavior and belonging (Malina and Rohrbaugh, 1992) and groups display their purity against other cultural or political forces (Wellman and Tokuno, 2004, p. 292). The new world pluralism has threatened some and the response has been “civic and violent intolerance of outsiders” (Appleby, 2000, p. 58) that has led to ethnic, ideological, and theological cleansing (Holland, 2002, p. 474). In the Christian tradition, (and one can project to the Islamic tradition), fundamentalists who accept a hard version of religion, who see more tolerant forms as weak, and impure, tend to view the biblical call to holy living exclusively in terms of avoiding the 'contamination' of the world. This has often resulted in a 'separatist' mentality that sees disassociation from the concerns and activities of the dominant culture as necessary for moral purity and doctrinal preservation (Juergensmeyer, 2004c). Although, ironically, New Testament Scholar Marcus Borg makes the claim (in his words), that Jesus was an “advocate of the politics of compassion in a social world dominated by the politics of purity” (p. 13). There are groups that “emphasize holiness and purity as the Christian way of life, and they draw their own sharp social boundaries between the righteous and sinners.” In the New Testament, we find that Jesus violated a very large share of the purity code. He ate with those gentiles (non-Jews). He freely and often associated with unclean people. Jesus presents an alternative social vision: a community not shaped by the politics of purity, but by the ethos and politics of compassion. In another way of looking at it, Jesus replaces "Be holy as God is holy" (holiness meaning separation from everything impure and unclear) was changed by Jesus to "Be compassionate as God is compassionate" (Luke 6:36). Hund (2001) claims that we are “biologically predisposed to aggression and xenophobia but not hopelessly so” (p. 7). While “strains of violence can be seen in the deepest levels of religious imagination” (Juergensmeyer, p. xi, 2000), ethical formulations and religious proscriptions call people to higher standards (Pope, 1998, p. 545). As George C. Williams wrote, “An unremitting effort is required to expand the circle of sympathy for others. This effort may be in opposition to much of human nature” (Rolston 1999, p. 264). As Dawkins writes, “Let us teach generosity and altruism, because we are born selfish” (1976, 3). Culture allows for the development of moral claims that transcend human biology. Christian faith then, understood, interpreted and taught correctly can serve as a vital force not only for individual meaning and purpose, but as a cultural force as well that can reduce violence, in our lives, and in our world. As William Sloane Coffin wrote (1993, p. 24) in his book, A Passion for the Possible, "churches all over the world must see to it that non-violence becomes a strategy not only for individuals and groups, but one taught governments. If arms reductions are to become more likely and wars less so, then new measures have to be devised for conflict resolution." Aho, James A. (1994). This Thing of Darkness: A Sociology of the Enemy, (Seattle: Univ. of Washington Press). Alexander, Michele G. (1998). Theoretical, empirical, and practical approaches to intergroup conflict. Journal of Social Issues Winter. Alexander, R. D. (1974). The evolution of social behavior. Annual Review of Ecology and Systematics 5: 325-383. Allport, G. W. (1954). The nature of prejudice. 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