Annual Report

Transcription

1 Annual Report

2 About the Berkley Center The Berkley Center for Religion, Peace, and World Affairs at Georgetown University, created within the Office of the President in 2006, is dedicated to the interdisciplinary study of religion, ethics, and public life. Through research, teaching, and service, the Center explores global challenges of democracy and human rights; economic and social development; international diplomacy; and interreligious understanding. Two premises guide the Center s work: that a deep examination of faith and values is critical to address these challenges, and that the open engagement of religious and cultural traditions with one another can promote peace. The rapid growth of the Center has been made possible through the generosity of William R. Berkley, a member of the University Board of Directors, and other members of the Georgetown community. The Berkley Center is critical to Georgetown s efforts to advance dialogue and understanding across the world s countries, cultures, and religious traditions. Dr. John J. DeGioia georgetown university president

3 contents 1 from the director 2 Student engagement The Doyle Engaging Difference Initiative 3 Strategic Partners 4 knowledge Resources 5 Programs Religion and Ethics in World Politics Globalization, Religions, and the Secular Religion, Conflict, and Peace The Church and Interreligious Dialogue Law, Religion, and Values Religion and Global Development Religion and U.S. Foreign Policy Religious Freedom Project 6 Staff & Campus Partners ANNUAL REPORT 3

4 from the Director The Student Dimension What do you teach? As of this year, we can answer this in some new ways. Our faculty have always taught a wide variety of courses for Georgetown students. In we pursued three innovations. A Certificate. In January 2011, the Center announced an undergraduate certificate on Religion, Ethics, and World Affairs, to be offered through the Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service. The certificate, the equivalent of a minor, gives students an opportunity to take courses at the intersection of religion, politics, and society that culminate with a capstone seminar. The certificate grows out of collaboration between the Center and the SFS, supported by a grant from the Luce Foundation. Collaborative Courses. With the support of the Doyle Engaging Tolerance Initiative, we created a new course model this past year. Collaborative, four-credit seminars give students an opportunity to cooperate as a group, with a faculty member, in the conduct of original research and the production of a report for publication. Two courses in Spring 2011 addressed Business, Values, and Law and The Future of Track-Two Diplomacy. Summer Research Fellowships. In Summer 2010, the Center launched a new summer fellowship program that supports student-led research on education and social justice around the world. Hosted by Jesuit institutions, the students conduct interviews and gather evidence about innovative anti-poverty efforts. On their return they publish a report under faculty supervision. A first set of fellows conducted research in Chile, Kenya, and the Philippines. Through our courses and these programs, the Center is exploring new forms of teaching and learning, both inside and outside the classroom. Students also work with faculty across the Center s program areas and in the production of publications and on-line resources. You can read more about our student programs and other Center activities in the pages that follow. Other important milestones in included: the inauguration of a multiyear Religious Freedom Project in collaboration with the Templeton Foundation; the completion of a series of six global workshops on religion and development, supported by the Luce Foundation; a series of short courses for military officers on religion and world affairs, also supported by Luce; ongoing collaboration with the Archbishop of Canterbury s Building Bridges seminar, a high level Christian-Muslim dialogue; and the third in a series of dialogues with Chinese government officials about religion and world affairs. Thomas Banchoff Berkley Center Director 4 BERKLEY CENTER FOR RELIGION, PEACE & WORLD AFFAIRS AT GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY

5 2 Student engagement Religion, Ethics, and World Affairs Certificate Starting in Fall 2011, the Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service will offer a certificate on Religion, Ethics, and World Affairs in collaboration with the Berkley Center. The attacks of September 11, 2001 and the struggle against international terrorism, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, Muslim-Hindu tensions in South Asia, protests by Buddhist monks in Burma these and other global issues have a strong faith-related dimension. They also intersect with long-running ethical questions in international relations, including just war, social justice, and human rights. The certificate, the equivalent of a minor, will give students an opportunity to explore these issues across three thematic areas: Faith and Ethics in International Relations; Religion and Politics in Comparative Perspective; and Religion in History and Culture. It will culminate in a capstone seminar organized around student research and an annual spring colloquium. Education and Social Justice Project In early 2010 the Berkley Center collaborated with the Center for Social Justice Research, Teaching and Service and with Rodney Jacob (B 86), a member of the Board of Regents, to create the Education and Social Justice Project to engage students and build knowledge about the deep connections between global challenges of poverty and education. Only through better access to education will the world s poor be able to seize opportunities in an increasingly global economy. While policy analysts have documented the widespread failure of governments to meet this imperative, we still know relatively little about successful local efforts to advance economic and social development through education. The project provides students with summer research fellowships to travel abroad and conduct in-depth examinations of innovative initiatives, with a focus on the work of Jesuit secondary and post-secondary institutions. Under faculty supervision, the students gather information through interviews, analyze best practices, and share their reports and conclusions with a wider global audience. In the program s first year, three students were hosted by St. Aloysius Gonzaga School in Nairobi, Kenya; Ateneo de Manila University in Manila, Philippines; and the Universidad Alberto Hurtado in Santiago, Chile. Their report brings together the main results of the field work, including background and analysis of each of the initiatives and excerpts from extended interviews with educators and activists in each country ANNUAL REPORT 5

6 Student engagement The Doyle Engaging Difference Initiative Engagement with cultural and religious diversity is a centerpiece of the Georgetown educational experience. Since 2006, the Center has developed three undergraduate programs that promote this engagement, both inside and outside the classroom. The Undergraduate Fellows Seminars brings faculty and students together for joint D.C.- based research projects that explore the broader political and policy implications of cultural and religious diversity. The Junior Year Abroad Network links students studying abroad and their encounters with cultures around the world back to the Georgetown community. And the Undergraduate Learning and Interreligious Understanding program tracks the knowledge and attitudes of students around interfaith and intercultural issues over the course of their Georgetown careers. Since 2009, these three programs have been part of the Doyle Engaging Difference Initiative, a campus-wide collaboration between the Berkley Center, the Center for New Designs in Learning and Scholarship (CNDLS), and Georgetown College, designed to promote tolerance and intellectual engagement with diversity in the curriculum and in co-curricular activities. The Initiative is made possible through the generosity of William J. Doyle (C 72), a member of the Georgetown University Board of Directors. Undergraduate Fellows Seminars The Undergraduate Fellows Program combines a four-credit seminar with a collaborative research project that addresses issues at the intersection of religion, culture, society, and politics. Along with the in-depth reading, writing, and dialogue typical of an upper-level seminar, student fellows conduct original research and formulate policy recommendations culminating in a written report. In Spring 2011, the Berkley Center hosted two Undergraduate Fellows Seminars: Business, Values, and Law: Forging a New Dialogue, Professor Michael Kessler This seminar investigated the duties of businesses and their leaders toward the social good, the moral framework of economic activity, and the role of government and law in regulating business and financial transactions. The Future of Track-Two Diplomacy, Professor Eric Patterson This seminar explored whether and how the United States can more effectively engage civil society abroad to advance foreign policy goals, using society-centered track-two diplomacy. 6 BERKLEY CENTER FOR RELIGION, PEACE & WORLD AFFAIRS AT GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY

7 Junior Year Abroad Network About half of Georgetown undergraduates spend their junior year studying abroad in universities around the world and immersing themselves in local cultures. But too often their international experience is disconnected from the rest of their education. Their new knowledge and insights are not shared widely with students and faculty while they are away or on their return. In 2006, the Berkley Center created the Junior Year Abroad Network to help address this problem. Through the network, students post letters online with their observations about the intersection of religion, culture, society, and politics in their host countries. On their return, they get together to share their experiences and publish a report on their findings. So far, more than 240 students in more than 50 countries have participated in JYAN. This year, we have introduced a new web-based feature facilitating student and faculty comments on student letters which helps to advance student-faculty dialogue on critical issues in today s world. Junior Year Abroad Network Annual Report The experience in the Pakistani refugee settlement (in Jodhpur, India) overwhelmed me with questions and concerns about democracy, identity, justice, and religious tolerance. By engaging with the refugees, I will be able to use my voice to share their story and use the knowledge gained from this interaction to inform my understanding of social justice. Lauren Reese Georgetown College 2012 Undergraduate Learning and Interreligious Understanding The Berkley Center and Georgetown s Center for New Designs in Learning and Scholarship (CNDLS) are analyzing the results of a five-year longitudinal study to track student attitudes towards religious diversity and their evolution in response to experiences at Georgetown in and outside the classroom. The project aims to help educators at Georgetown, throughout the United States, and around the world identify best practices in building tolerance. In , final interviews and a comprehensive senior survey were administered to the students who were graduating. Insights from their four years at Georgetown will be analyzed and then outlined in a project report to be prepared for publication in ANNUAL REPORT 7

8 3 Strategic Partners World Faiths Development Dialogue Established in 1998 by World Bank President James Wolfensohn and Archbishop of Canterbury Lord George Carey, the World Faiths Development Dialogue (WFDD) is an NGO based at the Center bridging the worlds of faith and secular development and supporting research and dialogue on global policy challenges. Katherine Marshall, who leads the Center s Program on Religion and Global Development, serves as Executive Director. Luce/SFS Program on Religion and International Affairs Since 2006, the Berkley Center and the Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service (SFS) have worked closely with the Henry Luce Foundation. The Luce/SFS Program on Religion and International Affairs has supported two program areas Religion and U.S. Foreign Policy and Religion and Global Development as well as the Center s outreach to government and other academic centers and institutes around the world. World Economic Forum In 2007, Georgetown and the Center began a collaboration with the Geneva-based World Economic Forum around issues of faith, values, and the global agenda. In January 2010, the Center co-produced a report on the topic released at the Forum s annual meeting in Davos. In September 2011, Georgetown and the Forum will convene a conference on campus to explore efforts to close values deficits in business and government. The John Templeton Foundation In January 2011, the Center received a generous grant from the Templeton Foundation to create a Religious Freedom Project. Led by the Center s Thomas Farr and Timothy Shah, the project seeks to advance the study of religious freedom as an interdisciplinary field. A series of conferences and publications will examine its significance for efforts to advance human rights, democracy, and economic and social development. Washington Post On Faith Georgetown/On Faith is an online partnership between the Berkley Center and the Washington Post designed to provide knowledge and inform debate at the intersection of religion, politics, and society. It features faculty blogs including Katherine Marshall s Faith in Action, as well as links to the Center s online Knowledge Resources. 8 BERKLEY CENTER FOR RELIGION, PEACE & WORLD AFFAIRS AT GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY

9 4 knowledge resources The Center s Knowledge Resources serves as a trusted destination for students, scholars, policymakers, and citizens who want to learn more about religion and world affairs. The fruit of collaboration between Center faculty and students, the Resources consist of: overviews of the world s major religious traditions; country and topic resource pages; interviews, syllabi, case studies, and high school lesson plans; and a mapping of organizations and people working at the intersection of religion, peace, and world affairs around the globe. Additions this year include: Interview Series The Center has published more than one hundred in-depth interviews with leading scholars, practitioners, and policymakers working at the intersection of religion and world affairs. The Center s Katherine Marshall and the staff of the World Faiths Development Dialogue have led the effort. Syllabi Project The last decade has seen an explosion of teaching about religion outside traditional theology and religious studies departments. A new online resource gathers hundreds of syllabi from Georgetown and other colleges and universities that address religion, politics, and society. Users can search and sort courses across disciplines. Religion and International Affairs Network In the United States and around the world, interdisciplinary research institutes and programs have sprung up to address religion s changing global role. This online resource provides an overview of the most important centers and tracks their major events and publications. It is supported by the Henry Luce Foundation ANNUAL REPORT 9

10 5 Programs Religion and Ethics in World Politics Globalization and the resurgence of religion in public life have brought faith and values into politics in new ways, in the United States and around the world. The program examines the political and policy significance of religion and ethics, with an emphasis on democratic institutions and value conflict. September 2010 Reverend Jim Wallis of Sojourners taught a virtual course on Faith, Social Justice, and Public Life. The course, which featured Elizabeth Warren and other prominent guest lecturers, is available on the Berkley Center website. December 2010 Georgetown University hosted a third annual meeting with China s State Administration for Religious Affairs (SARA), one in a series of events designed to foster dialogue around issues of religion, culture, and society. April 2011 Professor Thomas Banchoff and Princeton Professor Robert Wuthnow co-edited a book, Religion and the Global Politics of Human Rights (Oxford University Press), in which scholars and specialists surveyed the ways in which human rights and religion interact. 10 BERKLEY CENTER FOR RELIGION, PEACE & WORLD AFFAIRS AT GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY

11 Religion in U.S.-Chinese Relations The United States-China relationship is the most important in the world today. China s rise as an economic, military, and political power marks a fundamental shift in international affairs. How China evolves and the United States responds will shape both bilateral ties and prospects for global peace and prosperity into the future. There are two particularly difficult problems to navigate. The first is a political divide. China s system of one-party rule does not tolerate any form of organized political opposition; the Communist leadership directs the country s political, economic, and social development. This contrasts strongly with the United States, with its multiparty democracy, market economy, and civil society. This political divide, and the different values that inform it, will be an ongoing source of tension in U.S.-Chinese relations. A second, related problem is a knowledge gap. Chinese and U.S. leaders and citizens know too little about the historical and institutional sources of their differences. Ignorance compounds mutual suspicions and deepens the political divide in practice. Of course, fuller understanding will never eliminate deep differences on human rights and other issues. But a better grasp of those differences and their causes can help manage relations peacefully into the future. At the Center we are tackling an important dimension of those relations: religion. In we held three dialogues with China s State Administration for Religious Affairs (SARA), the national bureaucracy that oversees religious life in the country. The meetings, two in Washington, D.C., and one in Beijing, involved about ten participants from each side, a mixture of scholars and policy officials. Topics ranged from differences over religious freedom to the role of religious organizations in promoting economic and social development. We learned a great deal Thomas Banchoff faculty leader about specific issues, developed some shared insights, but also brought basic underlying differences into focus. The Chinese government acknowledges the freedom of belief but insists on state oversight of worship and practice. Religious communities are required to acknowledge the leading role of the Communist party and be free of foreign influence. This is the logic of one-party rule, but also an outgrowth of China s historical experience under imperialism, when Western powers supported Christian missionary work in the country. China s leaders reject any significant public role for religion in their society. The U.S. model of state-religion relations is very different. The first amendment to the Constitution prohibits a political establishment of religion while protecting its free exercise. Religious liberty extends beyond belief and worship to encompass all manner of engagement in social and political affairs. In U.S. history, in contrast to China, religion has not been viewed as a threat to state authority or an instrument of foreign powers. It has emerged as a core component of civil society supportive of democratic institutions. The ongoing dialogue with SARA is a critical part of the Center s Project on Religion in China and the United States. The project has two other main components. The Center hosts a postdoctoral fellow in religious studies from China every year. And we are developing a set of bilingual online resources that map different constellations of religion, society, and politics in both countries. Dialogue and understanding matter most where culture and politics diverge. We are pursuing our work with China in that spirit. Thomas Banchoff is Director of the Berkley Center and Associate Professor in the Government Department and the School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University ANNUAL REPORT 11

12 Globalization, Religions, and the Secular How does globalization intersect with the resurgence of public religion? To what extent do we live in a post-secular world? The Globalization, Religions, and the Secular program brings together leading scholars across disciplines to explore these and related questions. August 2010 Professor José Casanova gave a series of lectures on the sociology of religion at the seventh annual Summer Institute for the Scientific Study of Religion in Beijing, China. The lectures, currently available on the Berkley Center website, will be published as a book. December 2010 Professors Casanova and Banchoff convened a workshop in New Delhi, India on globalization, the resurgence of religion, the transformation of the secular, and its implications for the US, India, and China. These essays are being prepared for publication in a volume entitled The United States, India and China in a Post-Secular World. January 2011 Professors Casanova and Banchoff convened a workshop at Oxford University on the changing role of religion in American and British society and politics. Supported by the Luce Foundation, the workshop examined the shifting boundary between the religious and the secular, and responses to the growth of Muslim minorities. 12 BERKLEY CENTER FOR RELIGION, PEACE & WORLD AFFAIRS AT GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY

13 The United States, India, and China in a Post-Secular World Are we witnessing the global consolidation of a Secular Age or the emergence of a Post-Secular World? Is America exceptional or is Europe the exception to the desecularization of the world? What should be the role of religion in domestic politics, in foreign affairs, and in global governance? In the last two decades, these have become hotly disputed issues in academia, in the media, as well as in public policy forums. Even the field of International Relations, the most secular of all domains, is being shaken by the global resurgence of religion. Yet there is no emerging consensus about the meaning of this resurgence and realists insist rightly that national states, not religious communities, still dominate world politics. But governments everywhere must increasingly grapple with religious actors, identities, and issues in both domestic and foreign affairs. This is certainly the case in the United States, in India, and in China, three emerging global powers which will likely play a crucial role in shaping global developments in the 21st Century. All three countries are secular states, with very different systems of religious pluralism and different modes of regulation of religion in society. As post-colonial states, all three have developed their systems in dynamic contradistinction with European patterns. Today, all three are facing the need to reassess their secular settlements and their religious civilizational heritages. The U.S. and India are multiparty democracies with, respectively, Christian and Hindu assertive majorities but with vibrant systems of religious pluralism and a significant multiplicity of religious minorities. In both cases secular neutrality is understood as a condition for the protection of religious pluralism, under the assumption José Casanova faculty leader that religion is a private and public good that is best served by being autonomous from the state. But the Indian model of religious pluralism, based on categorical group identities or communalism, is markedly different from the radically individualist American model of religious denominationalism. China, by contrast, is a one-party authoritarian state with a Confucian tradition, no majority religion, and a very diverse religious landscape. The post-imperial state with its progressive goal of modernizing the Chinese nation made China secular by disestablishing the imperial Confucian state cult. But it also became pronouncedly secularist through aggressive intervention wherein the state has officially recognized and regulates five religions (Buddhism, Daoism, Islam, Protestantism, and Catholicism). Every other form of religion is in principle illegal, must lead an underground existence, and is subject to repression. These three countries are facing the increasing mobilization of religious communities around social and political agendas, as well as the need to redefine their national identity in a globalizing, post-secular world. To explore these issues comparatively, the Berkley Center has gathered a working group of prominent scholars of India, China, and the United States. They had a first meeting in Shanghai, at Fudan University, in August 2009, and met again in December 2010 at the Center for the Study of Developing Societies in Delhi. An edited volume with contributions of all the participants is being prepared for publication, offering a rare and timely three-way comparison between the emerging global powers. José Casanova is Professor in the Department of Sociology at Georgetown University and a Senior Fellow at the Berkley Center ANNUAL REPORT 13

14 Religion, Conflict, and Peace The Religion, Conflict, and Peace program examines the intersection of religion with other cultural, social, and political factors in the generation and resolution of conflict. Activities include the production of critical case studies and the development of knowledge resources for government professionals. December 2010 Professor Eric Patterson led a simulation planning game, Reconstruction Operations in Highly Religious Societies: The Afghan Case, at the U.S. Naval Academy. During , the game was also played at the U.S. Military Academy, the National Defense University, the Marine Corps University, and the Armed Forces Chaplain Center. January 2011 Professor Patterson convened a National War College faculty seminar on how to integrate resources on religion and world affairs into the professional military curriculum. Participants came from across the military academies, colleges, and universities. March-April 2011 The Berkley Center partnered with the Joint Staff and the U.S. Air Force to provide two conferences for over 100 USAF and Army chaplains. The first, held at the Pentagon, was the second annual conference for senior combatant command chaplains. The second, held at the Armed Forces Chaplains Center, was sponsored by the Air Force chaplaincy. 14 BERKLEY CENTER FOR RELIGION, PEACE & WORLD AFFAIRS AT GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY

15 Putting Knowledge About Religion to Use How can a better understanding of religion help the U.S. armed forces contribute to peace and security? Since 9/11, U.S. foreign policy has focused on national security challenges recurring in highly religious, generally Muslim, societies. However, the government has never had a structured framework for understanding the nexus of religion and security, much less the wider role of religion in contemporary international life. Thus, government agencies desperately need frameworks for understanding the role that religious factors play in world affairs today. This goes beyond terrorism, sectarian conflict, and ethnoreligious war to include the efforts of faith-based actors in development, the impact of religious freedom policy on other U.S. foreign policy goals (e.g. as regards China or Saudi Arabia), and the relationship between religion and democracy in local contexts. My new book, Politics in a Religious World: Building a Religiously Literate U.S. Foreign Policy (Continuum, 2011), shows why past foreign policy paradigms have neglected faith and how we can change course for the future. The book also highlights how the government can use the rich religious capital of American society to aid in this effort. The Berkley Center seeks to change the way the next generation of government leaders understands religion in the world today. With funding from the Henry Luce Initiative on Religion and International Affairs, we have engaged with partners at the National Defense University (NDU) and in the military chaplaincy. Eric Patterson faculty leader For the past two years we have worked with NDU s Institute for the Study of National Security Ethics and Leadership. Located at Ft. McNair in Washington, D.C., NDU is the premiere senior service school of the armed forces. Prototypes of the Afghan Provincial Reconstruction Simulation were played at NDU and now the game is part of their course on Religion and World Affairs; faculty from Georgetown and NDU have lectured in one another s classrooms. In November 2009, the Pentagon issued a new directive on the role of chaplains as religious advisors to their commanders. The new directive indicates that chaplains may provide counsel to their commanders on the religious context of the theater and may meet with local religious leaders all with the intent to promote peace. In addition to individual speaking engagements, in the past year the Center has co-sponsored three chaplains conferences to provide a set of resources on religion and global issues to the chaplaincy, equipping them for this new role. The Center has now developed instructional materials, including syllabi, case studies, and film guides on religion, conflict, and peace; all are freely available on our website. Eric Patterson is Associate Director of the Berkley Center and a Visiting Assistant Professor in the Department of Government ANNUAL REPORT 15

16 The Church and Interreligious Dialogue Since the Second Vatican Council ( ), the Roman Catholic Church has been a key player in interreligious dialogue. The Center examines the Church s interaction with other religious traditions as well as the challenges posed by increasing cultural and religious pluralism worldwide. October 2010 In partnership with the Interfaith Youth Core, the Center worked with the White House Office of Faith-based and Neighborhood Partnerships to give 300 student leaders and university staff from across the country the skills to help improve interfaith cooperation on campus. November 2010 The first in a series of four seminars on Christian Theological Engagement with Islam was held at Campion Hall, the Jesuit community in Oxford. The seminars enabled a group of Roman Catholic and Anglican scholars to consider questions of Christian response to key aspects of the faith and practice of Islam. April 2011 Professor Jean-Luc Marion of the University of Paris-Sorbonne and the University of Chicago presented a talk at Georgetown entitled What are the Roots of the Distinction between Theology and Philosophy? 16 BERKLEY CENTER FOR RELIGION, PEACE & WORLD AFFAIRS AT GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY

17 Student Leadership in Interfaith Dialogue University and college campuses are emerging as critical spaces for the advancement of interreligious and intercultural understanding. As globalization continues to progress and the United States grows more culturally and religiously diverse, institutions of higher learning have a key role to play in building knowledge and promoting the exchange of ideas. Leading universities must adapt their core educational mission forming tomorrow s thinkers, citizens, and leaders to the imperatives of a world that is simultaneously more interconnected and more fragmented. As a globally engaged center for higher learning, Georgetown is committed to educating students from around the world both on the Hilltop and in locations around the world. And we are committed to scholarship in action, partnering students and faculty in the common Jesuit mission of service for others whereby academic learning on campus is connected to seeking solutions for challenges confronting our global neighbors. Many Georgetown students have taken the lead in developing new initiatives that engage commonalities and differences across traditions and advance collaboration around issues of democracy and social justice on campus, across the country, and around the world. The Berkley Center is helping to support the work of students who are participating in one such outreach, President Obama s Interfaith and Community Service Campus Challenge. In response to a recommendation by the President s Advisory Council on Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships to scale up interfaith service on campuses, in June 2010, the Berkley Center participated in a White House session designed to advance interfaith and community cooperation on college and university campuses across the United States. From October 22-26, 2010, the Chicago-based Interfaith Youth Core (IFYC) delivered an intensive leadership training at Georgetown University hosted by the White House Office of Faith-based and Neighborhood Partnerships. The Institute gave 200 student leaders and 100 campus faculty and staff allies from Chester Gillis faculty leader across the country the skills necessary to help improve interfaith cooperation on campus. The Berkley Center facilitated some of the training sessions on campus and created the online resource Interfaith Dialogue on Campus that tracks existing efforts to promote dialogue and cooperation at colleges and universities around the country. A second interfaith leadership training session will be held at Georgetown in July 2011 as part of Georgetown s participation in President Obama s Interfaith and Community Service Campus Challenge, formally launched in April This yearlong initiative is designed to advance interfaith and community cooperation on college and university campuses across the United States around specific service priorities. Georgetown students will focus on combating poverty and improving educational opportunity in the Washington, D.C. community through a transformative program of action that deepens connections between campus faith communities through interfaith service and furthers faculty-student interaction around faith, ethics, and social justice issues. This work will also strengthen ties with the local community as we partner with diverse faith groups in the Washington, D.C. area. We will create further web resources that enable this heightened connectivity and a greater commitment to service and dialogue. The dedication and energy of Georgetown students to seek solutions to such complex problems both in our local D.C. community and around the world is both a testament to their embrace of the Catholic, Jesuit ideals of Georgetown and their commitment to service of their neighbors in the new global reality of cultural and religious diversity. Chester Gillis is the Dean of Georgetown College, a Professor in the Department of Theology at Georgetown University, and a Senior Fellow in the Berkley Center ANNUAL REPORT 17

18 Law, Religion, and Values The program in Law, Religion, and Values supports teaching, research, and scholarly conferences that explore how religion and values legitimate, shape, and conflict with global political, cultural, and legal systems in transnational and comparative perspective. November 2010 E.J. Dionne, Ross Douthat, and Damon Linker discussed the Religious Lives of Political Leaders addressing how politicians navigate conflicts between their religious beliefs and the demands of office and whether religious morality should influence views on social policy. January 2011 Rebirth, a documentary about the reconstruction of the World Trade Center site and the post-9/11 lives of five people affected by the 9/11 attacks, premiered at the Sundance Film Festival. The Center is preparing companion educational materials addressing the interreligious challenges after 9/11. March 2011 Over the course of the academic year a series of four seminars on Christian Theological Engagement with Islam was held at Campion Hall, the Jesuit community in Oxford. The fourth seminar focused on religion and law in Islam and Christianity. 18 BERKLEY CENTER FOR RELIGION, PEACE & WORLD AFFAIRS AT GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY

19 The Power of Film to Heal Interreligious Challenges Disasters can bring communities together and rip them apart, exacerbating religious and cultural differences and tensions. Are there strategies to help community, political, and religious leaders keep peace and build understanding after terrible catastrophes occur? The Center s collaboration with Project Rebirth is aiming to find the best answers to that question and equip community leaders with the resources and insight to help the healing process. Over the past two years, I have had the privilege of working with a group of Georgetown alumni who have created a powerful film, Rebirth, about the aftermath of the September 11th terrorist attacks. Rebirth is a documentary about the rebuilding of the World Trade Center site and five individuals whose lives were changed forever by the September 11th attacks. After ten years of production, the film premiered at Sundance in January 2011 to a standing ovation and enthusiastic reviews. Directed and co-produced by Jim Whitaker (C 90), Rebirth was created as part of Project Rebirth, which plans to use the film s profits to further honor and assist survivors of traumatic disasters. Brian Rafferty (C 79) serves as Chairman of the Board of Project Rebirth, overseeing the philanthropic support for the film and the development of long-term projects to support trauma and disaster recovery. On its own merits, the film is an amazing cinematic production, but Rebirth also has great potential to open dialogue between diverse groups affected by the attacks of 9/11. The film portrays the horrendous impact of ideological terrorism that cuts across the spectrum of American societies. Christians, Muslims, and Jews alike, as well as persons from many other cultural and religious groups, were harmed. Likewise, the film follows the rebuilding of lives over time and is a testament to the perseverance of the human spirit. Jim Whitaker turns a mirror to the subjects and captures Michael Kessler faculty leader their resilience as they work through tremendous loss, grief, and anger. Without intending to be, they become guides for our own journeys through life. The Berkley Center is working with the Rebirth team to develop classroom and web-based resources for high school teachers, college professors, and community discussion leaders to examine the challenges to intercultural and interreligious understanding after traumatic events, especially in the period after the September 11th attacks. These teaching tools will examine the causes and impacts of the attacks, the challenges they presented to intercultural and interreligious tolerance, the successes and failures of recovery and reconciliation efforts, and the lessons we can learn from the 9/11 recovery. Georgetown s collaboration with Project Rebirth also involves a partnership with Columbia University s Center for New Media Teaching and Learning and Georgetown s Center for New Designs in Learning and Scholarship (CNDLS), which has led the creation of multimedia tools and therapeutic content to students, disaster response teams, and health care professionals. Georgetown s Film and Media Studies Program has engaged with Project Rebirth to explore the uses of film for social justice purposes. Our hope is that as the nation marks the tenth anniversary of the September 11th attacks, our work with the Rebirth team can provide educational resources for those who work in communities to mitigate the harms arising from traumatic events, harms which too often tear at the fabric of society along ethnic, cultural, and religious lines. Michael Kessler is Associate Director of the Berkley Center, a Visiting Assistant Professor in the Department of Government, and Adjunct Professor of Law at the Law Center ANNUAL REPORT 19

20 Religion and Global Development The Berkley Center s Religion and Global Development program tracks the engagement of religious communities around global policy challenges and brings together stakeholders to examine best practices and advance collaboration. The program is supported by the Luce/SFS Program on Religion and International Affairs. January 2011 Professor Katherine Marshall convened a meeting of leaders from religious organizations, academics, and international development agencies in Dhaka, Bangladesh entitled Global Development and Faith-Inspired Organizations in South and Central Asia. February 2011 Professors Marshall and Banchoff attended a meeting of the United Nations Alliance of Civilizations to present the results of the four-year study on the role of faithinspired organizations in development around the world and display the Center s online knowledge resources related to religion and development. March 2011 Professor Marshall convened a consultation on the faith dimensions of addressing global water needs with the aim of better understanding the actions and experiences of religious institutions and leaders in the water sector. 20 BERKLEY CENTER FOR RELIGION, PEACE & WORLD AFFAIRS AT GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY

21 Voices of Wisdom From Practice It began as frustration. Over many years of leading teams of professionals working on international development, I found that their written outputs became increasingly technocratic and cryptic. The form-based approach of reporting systems with boxes to fill in and numbers and stark assessments to provide made comparisons and aggregations possible, but it was nigh impossible to discern the complex, human stories behind the work. The soul of what was happening seemed to be lost, yet when you asked someone about a country or project or a problem, stories and insights poured out. As the Berkley Center embarked on its ambitious explorations of the role that religious institutions and faithinspired people played in development, we wanted to capture the living wisdom of practitioners, but knew that writing papers might not be the best method. In institutions, writing may be carefully massaged, resulting in a blend of technocratic jargon and promotional prose. Producing an academic paper was not likely to merit the highest priority for busy practitioners trying to run programs to change the world for the better. Therefore for the first conference we ran, focused on the United States, we told invited speakers that if they would talk to us for an hour or so, we would do the grunt work of writing. We would write it up, fill in the spaces, and let them edit a near finished product. The result was a set of some ten interviews, polished and made available on the Berkley website. The results were fascinating and full of meat and insight. Our interviewees were amazed at how much they were able to convey in a short time. And we had fresh, living, usable material that touched directly on the issues we were trying to understand. The Berkley Center interview series has developed from there. Most of the interviews are undertaken for a specific event or meeting, but we also interview interesting people as we encounter them. Thus, we have wonderful interviews Katherine Marshall faculty leader with Rajmohan Gandhi, Sister Joan Chittister, Sulak Sivaraksa, Canon Gideon Byamugisha, and Father Dominique Peccoud that were not undertaken for a specific event. The interview approach is at the heart of the work of the World Faiths Development Dialogue (WFDD), which is housed at the Berkley Center. As we explore the work of faith-linked groups in Cambodia, our interviews examine the complex issues at stake: What makes the faith link distinctive? What are the different approaches to gender? Corruption? How do different actors see the risks and benefits of proselytizing that is linked to development work? Over time we have developed our own technique. First, we take careful notes or record a conversation, and then write it up, not as a verbatim transcript but as a coherent presentation. We then confer with the person we interviewed, often asking them to help clarify points or add materials. In some cases, the individual prefers not to see the interview on the website, and we respect that. But the great majority of people are delighted to see their ideas presented in the interview format. Some people say it is the first time they have felt truly listened to, and heard. The 170 interviews now on the website are critical inputs for the program s analytic work, and grist for meetings. They are a gold-mine for research on the important and often poorly understood work that faith-inspired organizations and individuals contribute to the field of development. The issues are always complex, and the nuance of dialogue enables progress towards better understanding. That is what the interviews help us to accomplish. Katherine Marshall is Director of the World Faiths Development Dialogue, a Senior Fellow at the Berkley Center, and Visiting Associate Professor in the Department of Government ANNUAL REPORT 21

22 Religion and U.S. Foreign Policy Both the practice and analysis of U.S. foreign policy have traditionally marginalized religious questions. With the support of the Henry Luce Foundation, the program in Religion and U.S. Foreign Policy explores the role of religion in U.S. policy, with special attention to issues of human rights and international religious freedom. October 2010 Professor Thomas Farr convened a symposium on religious freedom and U.S. national security. Panelists discussed the presence or absence of religious concerns in American foreign policy and then examined the conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq in particular. March 2011 Professor Farr s Religion and U.S. Foreign Policy Program brought together panels of Jewish, Islamic, and Christian scholars and practitioners to discuss the merits and promotion of the American approach to religion in politics and society. June 2011 Professor Farr testified before the House Committee on Foreign Affair s Subcommittee on Africa, Global Health, and Human Rights, at a hearing convened to discuss H.R. 1856, International Religious Freedom Act Amendments of BERKLEY CENTER FOR RELIGION, PEACE & WORLD AFFAIRS AT GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY

23 New Beginnings The academic year was marked by culmination and new beginnings. First, the John Templeton Foundation, having sought and received recommendations from some of the world s leading scholars and policy experts, decided to invest $2 million in a Berkley Center project to advance the study of religious freedom. The Religious Freedom Project will target a series of issues related to religious liberty, including its relationship to other individual, social, political, intellectual, and economic goods. We hope in future years to make it a permanent institute at the Center. For the fourth straight year, we conducted a major conference on religion and U.S. foreign policy during each academic semester. Held on Georgetown s campus, these conferences have routinely attracted between 120 and 150 attendees from Washington s academic, think-tank, media, and policy communities. Their consistent popularity appears to result from the high quality of panelists, the brief, focused presentations we encourage them to make, and the vigorous discussions that ensue when members of the audience are invited to participate. After each of these events, the Berkley Center produces a report with key excerpts from the discussion. Our first conference in October explored an emerging policy issue of considerable import in the 21st Century: the nature of the relationship between international religious freedom and American national security. One panel of national security experts and scholars examined whether U.S. national security policy might fruitfully employ strategies to advance religious freedom. Another focused the same question on a particular set of nations: Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Iraq. The American Special Envoy to the Organization of the Islamic Conference, Rashad Hussain, delivered a keynote address. The collective result was a fascinating, contentious, rich, and productive debate over the meaning of security, religious freedom, and American national interests. In March, we held a conference that pulled together the previous four years of events, including explorations of Thomas Farr faculty leader the relationships between politics and religion in Iran, Iraq, and Israel; the operation of the 1998 International Religious Freedom Act; the treatment of religion in the foreign policy of the Obama administration; and the vexed, important question of proselytism and religious freedom. The conference brought together some of the leading thinkers in the United States, across various religious traditions, to engage a critical question: is there anything within the American experience of religion and politics that offers itself as a useful model for emulation by other societies? Panelists discussed the American Jewish, Muslim, and Christian experiences from a variety of perspectives within those respective traditions. The Roman Catholic Archbishop of Denver, Charles Chaput, delivered the keynote. Among the questions that were addressed in this conference: What is the proper role of religious ideas and actors in the political life of the nation? May religious individuals or religious communities make explicitly religious arguments, or religiously informed moral arguments, for laws and policies? For example, may Christians and Jews legitimately make Scriptural arguments, or Muslim arguments from the Qur an or Hadith, for or against particular foreign policies or economic policies, for or against gay marriage, or for or against embryonic stem cell research? If so, why and what limits, if any, should obtain? If not, why not? The result was a lively and fruitful discussion, in this case a live demonstration of the American system of religious freedom at work. We have embarked upon an exhilarating dialogue in our first four years. With support from the John Templeton Foundation, we will continue this conversation to positively impact the role of religious freedom around the globe. Thomas F. Farr is a Senior Fellow at the Berkley Center and Visiting Associate Professor of Religion and International Affairs at Georgetown s Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service ANNUAL REPORT 23

24 The Religious Freedom Project The Berkley Center has received a $2 million grant from the John Templeton Foundation to support the interdisciplinary study of religious freedom. The Religious Freedom Project will engage a team of leading international scholars, led by Center Senior Fellow Thomas Farr, to explore different understandings of religious liberty and its importance for democracy, economic and social development, international diplomacy, and the struggle against religious extremism. Over the course of three years, the project will sponsor a series of publications, symposia, policy consultations, and courses to generate and disseminate knowledge about religious freedom among scholars, policy experts, educators, and the wider public. At a moment when religious freedom is under siege around the world, the Religious Freedom Project will mobilize scholars, promote teaching, support policymakers, and inform a wider public about the value of religious liberty. Project Director, Thomas Farr Thematic Areas Religion as Intrinsic to Human Experience Historical Origins of Religious Freedom Religious Freedom in the U.S. and Europe Religious Freedom and Economic, Social, and Political Development Religious Freedom and the Struggle against Extremism Project Leadership Thomas F. Farr, Director and Visiting Associate Professor of Religion and International Affairs at the Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service Timothy Samuel Shah, Associate Director and Visiting Assistant Professor of Government Kyle Vander Meulen, Project Associate 24 BERKLEY CENTER FOR RELIGION, PEACE & WORLD AFFAIRS AT GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY

25 Exploring the Many Dimensions of Religious Freedom Freedom. It s the yearning of millions who have braved bullets and truncheons from Cairo to Benghazi to Hama since the Arab Spring began. Yet full political freedom will remain a distant goal if it excludes an element that is too rarely discussed: religious freedom. One person who has suggested that religious freedom is essential to a positive future in the Middle East is President Barack Obama. In his major address on the region on May 19, 2011, President Obama said this: America will work to see that all faiths are respected, and that bridges are built among them And for this season of change to succeed, Coptic Christians must have the right to worship freely in Cairo, just as Shia must never have their mosques destroyed in Bahrain. Indeed, the full political freedom for which millions continue to struggle in the Middle East requires full religious freedom. Yet it is essential to clarify that religious freedom is more than securing freedom of worship for religious minorities and other long-suppressed religious groups. The task of clarifying the nature of religious freedom and linking it to broader social and political reform has been a central focus of the Berkley Center s new Religious Freedom Project from its launch in January 2011, just as the Arab Spring was beginning. The Project seeks to emphasize that religious freedom is one part freedom from religious repression but also one part freedom of religious expression. While it is essential in a context in which Middle Eastern religious minorities such as Coptic Christians are under threat to demand that their basic right to worship be respected, it is also essential to stress that religious freedom also includes the full freedom of all religious groups majority and minority to voice their religious convictions in the public square. Timothy Shah Associate Director In fact, President Obama offered a glimpse of why broad religious freedom is so essential to broad political reform in his May 19th speech. The President made an argument for the empowerment of women that equally applies to the empowerment of religious individuals and communities: History shows that countries are more prosperous and more peaceful when women are empowered. And that s why we will continue to insist that universal rights apply to women as well as men The region will never reach its full potential when more than half of its population is prevented from achieving their full potential. What President Obama said about female empowerment is right on. Yet history also shows that countries are more politically prosperous, free, and peaceful when religious groups of all kinds are empowered to serve as independent civic actors, as I demonstrate in God s Century: Resurgent Religion and Global Politics (W.W. Norton, 2011) co-authored with my Religious Freedom Project colleagues Monica Duffy Toft and Daniel Philpott. The Middle East will never reach its full potential when its deeply religious citizens are prevented from achieving their full potential. Full religious freedom, therefore, must mean full freedom of civic participation for all non-violent religious groups. Freedom to worship, yes, but also freedom to form independent civil society organizations that can check otherwise unlimited state power. Without such freedom, the Middle East won t be free period. Without such freedom, the dream of the courageous millions who have made the Arab Spring will remain tragically unfulfilled. Timothy Samuel Shah is Associate Director of the Religious Freedom Project at the Berkley Center and Visiting Assistant Professor in the Government Department, Georgetown University ANNUAL REPORT 25

26 6 staff & Campus partners Melody Fox Ahmed Director of Programs & Operations Melody joined the Berkley Center in June Previously she worked at the Corporate Executive Board and with the Buxton Initiative, an interfaith dialogue organization in Washington, D.C. She received her B.A. from Vanderbilt University and a M.A. in Global, International, and Comparative History from Georgetown. Paul Beccio Lead Software Developer Paul Beccio joined the Berkley Center in May Prior to Georgetown, Paul developed web-based applications for the Federal Aviation Administration. He has studied at the Lorenzo De Medici Art Institute. He also studied History at the University of Maryland, as well as American Indian Studies at the University of Arizona. Erin Coleman Events and Projects Coordinator Erin Coleman joined the Berkley Center as the Events and Projects Coordinator in March She graduated from Georgetown in 2009 with a B.A. in English and Italian and a minor in Government. She is also a graduate student in Georgetown s Communication, Culture, and Technology Program, focusing on globalization and its impact on cultural identity. Kyle Vander Meulen Project Associate, Religious Freedom Project Kyle Vander Meulen joined the Berkley Center in January Before Berkley, he completed his Masters studies in Divinity at the University of Chicago and worked for three years as an assistant to Michael Novak at the American Enterprise Institute. He holds a B.A. in Religion with a Secondary Field in Public Health from The George Washington University. Jamie Scott Program Associate Jamie Scott joined the Berkley Center as the Program Associate in June He graduated from Georgetown in May 2010 with a B.A. in Government and minors in Anthropology and History. He is enrolled in the Masters in Public Policy program at the Georgetown Public Policy Institute. 26 BERKLEY CENTER FOR RELIGION, PEACE & WORLD AFFAIRS AT GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY

27 Campus Partners The Berkley Center is at the heart of a campus-wide effort to build knowledge about the role of religion in world affairs and to promote interreligious understanding in the service of peace. Key collaborative partners include: Anthropology Department Catholic Studies Program Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service Government Department Institute for the Study of Diplomacy Mortara Center for International Studies Office of Mission and Ministry Prince Alwaleed bin Talal Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding Program for Jewish Civilization Sociology Department Theology Department Woodstock Theological Center Distinguished Non-Resident Fellow Jane Dammen McAuliffe, President, Bryn Mawr College Research Fellows Faculty Advisory Board Thomas Banchoff, Chair, Government/SFS Marjorie Mandelstam Balzer, Anthropology Daniel Brumberg, Government Gay Cima, English Patrick Deneen, Government Chester Gillis, Theology Ariel Glucklich, Theology Yvonne Haddad, CMCU/SFS/History Paul Heck, Theology Lise Morjé Howard, Conflict Resolution/Government Stephen King, Government Carol Lancaster, Dean, SFS John Langan, S.J., Philosophy/SFS Marilyn McMorrow, RSCJ, SFS Fathali Moghaddam, Psychology Peter Phan, Theology Siva Subramanian, Medical Center John Voll, CMCU/SFS/History Post-Doctoral Fellow Yi Liu Trond Bakkevig William Barbieri Rebecca Johnson Etienne De Jonghe Karsten Lehmann David Little Paul Manuel Rev. Michel Marcil, S.J. David Marshall Angela Senander Charles Villa-Vicencio Jim Wallis Research Assistants Nafees Ahmed Marissa Amendolia Avi Asher-Schapiro Jonathan Barsness Adrian Bautista Chloe Benson Diya Berger David Buckley Ayesha Chugh Deven Comen Lili Dodderidge Julie Espinosa Luca Etter Rahel Fischbach Michael Fischer Vanessa Francis Anny Gaul Brennan Gamwell Rachel George Walker Grooms Kevin Hardy Alyxie Harrick Jessica Holland Ryan Hunter Gregory Kollmer Elizabeth Laferriere Daniel LaMagna Tyler Landrieu Yuan Li Paige Lovejoy Luis Felipe Mantilla Carlos Martinez Michelle Munjanattu Keavy Nahan Emily Oehlsen Daniel Park Eitan Paul Javier Pena Mary Grace Reich Vania Reyes Emily Rostkowski Elizabeth Royall Karen Ruprecht Jonathan Sicotte Sara Singha Ella Street Eddie Tsibulevskiy Alexander Vagg Amy Vander Vliet Shuang Wen Kitt Wolfenden Saaret Yoseph ANNUAL REPORT 27

28 3307 M Street NW, Suite 200 Washington, D.C berkleycenter@georgetown.edu A Berkley Center publication, designed by Kevin Hardy and Adrian Bautista