Luce/SFS Program on Religion and International Affairs
The Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service is the recipient of a two-year grant from the Henry Luce Foundation's Initiative on Religion and International Affairs (2006-08). In collaboration with the Berkley Center for Religion, Peace, and World Affairs, the Luce/SFS Program on Religion and International Affairs is examining two crucial topic areas in-depth: the religious sources of foreign policy in comparative perspective; and the evolving relationship between religion and global development.
Read the Luce/SFS Program 2006-07 Annual Report.
Religious Sources of Foreign Policy. The program addresses the impact of religion on the foreign policies of key states around the world, placing the US case in international context. Its key components include: new undergraduate and graduate courses in the School of Foreign Service; seminars and conferences that bring together scholars and policy experts around emergent issues; and joint Washington DC-Doha symposia that compare and contrast the role of religion in society and foreign policy in the United States and Muslim-majority countries.
Religion and Global Development. The program examines the role of religious groups and ideas in both donor and developing countries, and the prospects for greater religious-secular cooperation in the development field. Its components include graduate student research fellowships; a Religion and Development Database; and the creation and dissemination of “religious literacy” materials for development professionals in government, NGOs, and international organizations.
2006/07 PROGRAM HIGHLIGHTS
March 28, 2007 Symposium on Evangelicals and Foreign Policy, featuring Richard Cizik (National Association of Evangelicals), Richard Land (Southern Baptist Convention), and Luis Lugo (Pew Forum on Religion and Society) » more
March 29, 2007 Launch of Religion and Development Database. The database features resources for students, scholars, and policymakers available nowhere else on the Internet. » more
April 16, 2007 Symposium on Faith-Inspired NGOs and Development, featuring leading representatives of US-based development organizations. A second symposium will take place in Doha, Qatar, in November 2007. » more
April 23, 2007 The Forum on Religion, Migration, and Foreign Policy, with Cem Ozdemir, a member of the European Parliament, was cosponsored with the Institute for the Study of International Migration. » more
June-July 2007. Publication of first Religious Literacy Materials, providing background on the response of faith communities to HIV/AIDs and the problem of shelter. The publications will be presented at an event open to the DC-based policy community.
August 2007. Thomas Farr, first Director of the State Department's Office for International Religious Freedom (1999-2003), will become Visiting Professor in the School of Foreign Service where he will teach courses on domestic politics of foreign policy and international religious freedom. » more