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Thomas Farr
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Thomas F. Farr is Director of the Religious Freedom Project at the Berkley Center for Religion, Peace, and World Affairs and a Visiting Associate Professor of Religion and International Affairs at Georgetown’s Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service. A former American diplomat and leading authority on international religious freedom, Farr has published widely,...
Thomas F. Farr is Director of the Religious Freedom Project at the Berkley Center for Religion, Peace, and World Affairs and a Visiting Associate Professor of Religion and International Affairs at Georgetown’s Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service. A former American diplomat and leading authority on international religious freedom, Farr has published widely,...
RELATED PROGRAM
Both the practice and analysis of US foreign policy has traditionally marginalized religious questions. With the support of the Henry Luce Foundation, the Berkley Center explores the role of religion in US policy. This program gives special attention to issues of human rights and international religious freedom.
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RELATED RESOURCES: RELIGIOUS FREEDOM
Hillary Clinton on Religious Freedom at the Seventh Day Adventists Annual Religious Liberty Dinner
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The International Religious Freedom Act: Ten Years Later
In October 1998 Congress passed, and President Clinton signed, the International Religious Freedom Act (IRFA). The IRFA mandated the promotion of religious liberty around the world as a central element of American foreign policy. In 2008 three symposia at Georgetown examined the origins and promise (February 25), performance (April 21), and future (October 10) of IRF policy. Experts from across the spectrum of American public life—scholars, policymakers, activists, and journalists—as well as informed officials and observers from around the globe, addressed the strengths, the weaknesses, and the prospects of a policy designed to advance international religious freedom.
This series was hosted by Georgetown University and co-organized by the Berkley Center and the Council on Faith & International Affairs at the Institute for Global Engagement. Co-sponsors include:
International Center for Law and Religion Studies at Brigham Young University
Council for America's First Freedom, Richmond, Virginia
Ethics and Public Policy Center, Washington, DC
Religious Liberties Practice Group of The Federalist Society, Washington, DC
Leonard Greenberg Center for the Study of Religion in Public Life, Hartford, Connecticut
Council on Foreign Relations, New York, NY
The series was also made possible in part through the generous support of the Henry Luce Foundation and the Luce/SFS Program on Religion and International Affairs.
International Center for Law and Religion Studies at Brigham Young University
Council for America's First Freedom, Richmond, Virginia
Ethics and Public Policy Center, Washington, DC
Religious Liberties Practice Group of The Federalist Society, Washington, DC
Leonard Greenberg Center for the Study of Religion in Public Life, Hartford, Connecticut
Council on Foreign Relations, New York, NY
The series was also made possible in part through the generous support of the Henry Luce Foundation and the Luce/SFS Program on Religion and International Affairs.
PUBLICATIONS
The Future of U.S. International Religious Freedom Policy: Recommendations for the Obama Administration
March 10, 2009
Building off three symposia on the occasion of the tenth anniversary of the International Religious Freedom Act in 2008, Thomas Farr of the Berkley Center and Dennis Hoover of the Institute for Global Engagement crafted a series of detailed policy recommendations for the Obama administration....
Report of the Georgetown Symposia on U.S. International Religious Freedom Policy
December 1, 2008
This report reviews a series of three symposia held over the course of 2008 to commemorate the tenth anniversary of the International Religious Freedom Act. The symposia series, sponsored by the Berkley Center and the Institute of Global Engagement, brought together experts from academy and the...
"Diplomacy in an Age of Faith: Religious Freedom and National Security"
March 1, 2008
Foreign Affairs, March/April 2008
Thomas F. Farr
The United States is a religious nation, but neither scholars of U.S. foreign policy nor its practitioners have taken religion very seriously. From the inception of international relations as a discrete discipline, its approach has been defined by...
RELATED EVENTS
The Future of U.S. Religious Freedom Policy: Recommendations for the New Administration
October 10, 2008
The Berkley Center hosted the third of three symposia commemorating the tenth anniversary of the International Religious Freedom (IRF) Act in October 2008. Panelists addressed U.S. IRF policy as it relates to democracy promotion, civil society, religion-based terrorism, law (domestic and...
U.S. International Religious Freedom Policy: Assessing the Results
April 20, 2008
This event was the second in a series of three symposia on the occasion of the 10th anniversary of the International Religious Freedom (IRF) Act of 1998, which mandated the promotion of religious liberty around the world as an element of US foreign policy. Its focus was on the impact of US...
Why Religious Freedom? The Origins and Promise of US International Religious Freedom Policy
February 24, 2008
This event was the first in a series of three symposia on religious freedom on the occasion of the 10th anniversary of the International Religious Freedom (IRF) Act of 1998, which mandated the promotion of religious liberty around the world as an element of US foreign policy. This first symposium...