In Tetova, Macedonia, numerous renowned colleagues from Europe and beyond gathered to present their views on the relationship between violence and religion . Within the focus of the theme for the conference, the current discussions on the position of violence in the name of Islam are certainly of central importance . In this regard, the question emerged whether Islam, as a religion, promotes violence or off ers a strong basis for the legitimation of violence .Since the media has begun to focus on Islam, a closer analysis of such debates increasingly reveals that one question has crystallized, namely, how much religiosity is acceptable in a pluralistic society . Two further polarizing positions have come to be recognized with regard to this question .On the one hand, many critics of religion have seen current events as an occasion for profound attacks on religion, emphasizing again and again that religion is the real root cause of violence and that the less religion there is, the more peaceful secular societies will be . On the other hand, representatives of religions denounce such modern secular fundamentalist positions, pointing out the potential for peace in religions and the fact that a peaceful world would be inconceivable without the contributions of religions .It can be inferred from these two positions that religions are under enormous pressure to highlight their contributions to peace, let alone to demonstrate their peaceful contributions with concrete examples . Th e particular pressure on Islam is due to the fact that, even more so than other religions, Islam, for whatever reason, is predominantly associated with violence and confl icts undertaken in its name, not least because this violence is, in no uncertain terms, committed in the name of Islam . Th e situations in Iraq or Syria, but also in other traditionally Muslim-majority countries, make it very diffi cult to convince the world public by arguing otherwise, since the images of violence committed in the name of Islam