After the meeting, he met with leaders of the Muslim, Serbian Orthodox, and Catholic communities to discuss the potential for religious leaders to play a constructive role in peacebuilding in that country. He also met with John Menzies, the U.S. ambassador to Bosnia, and representatives of several nongovernmental organizations. In his talks, Little found a strong connection between religious groups that feel threatened and the resurgence in religious identity. Religion has been the polarizing factor around which the different groups have organized. They all speak the same language and come from the same ethnic stock.
Religion is their distinguishing feature.
The nationalist impulse represents an effort by the religious groups to gain political control over the inhabitants of a particular territory. They think they need their own political defense, territory, and military to protect themselves against threats to their survival. Nationalism is simply an extension of their religious identity, Little says. Little's work on nationalism and religion has emphasized the importance of human rights norms that favor the free exercise of religion and nondiscrimination based on religion or belief. The reduction of conflict depends directly on developing, implementing, and nurturing human rights norms.